Shark Evoline 3 crash helmet review

The Shark Evoline 3 was launched early 2012 and is a little lighter than it’s predecessor (though still relatively heavy because of the extra components needed to open the chinguard), good for glasses wearers and added an extra SHARP star to its safety rating. It’s also bluetooth (sharktooth) ready. Click to see reviews of all our other reviewed flip-up (modular) helmets – or here for our top rated modulars.

Summary

A well-built, SHARP 5 star safety rated (maximum) flip-up helmet that’s popular with owners. Open face only good up to about 50mph before things get noisy and it is noisier than many full faced crash helmets. If you want a flip-up though, this has some great features.

  • Sharp 5 Star safety rating
  • Weight – 1.8 Kg
  • Injected thermoplastic shell
  • Integrated sun visor & anti fog visor
  • Fully washable interior
  • Great for glasses-wearers
  • Sizes XS to XL
  • Expect to pay Ā£250-Ā£270 (Ā£300-Ā£400 for pro carbon version)
SkarkEvoline3 crash helmets
Shark Evoline Series 3

Safety

The Evoline 3 has been ECE approved for sale in the EU and was the first flip-up crash helmet to receive dual homologation. That means it was tested and approved to be worn with the chin guard up as an open face helmet and with the chin guard down as a full face helmet. Not all modulars are.

It was also tested by the UK SHARP safety testing organisation where it received a five star rating, which is the maximum possible score available. So far so good.

However, there’s a fly in the ointment.

If you check SHARP’s results, they also reported that the chin bar remained closed and locked in only 57% of impacts during testing. It’s not uncommon for chin bars to open occasionally during testing, but 57% is a pretty low mark by modular helmet standards. That’s especially true when you compare with a company like Nolan whose four tested flip-up helmets all scored 100%. The most recently tested AGVs (the Compact and Numo (discontinued)) both scored 100% too.

Because of this, we’ve knocked a point off our review stars for safety (at the bottom of the page).

Looking to buy this Shark?

We recommend SportsBikeShop (UK) for competitive prices, free delivery and 365 day returns backed by outstanding reviews, and Ghostbikes (UK) for amazing ratings, free delivery & free 30 day returns. Or you can click through to the Shark helmets pages at Amazon if you prefer to buy from there. If you like to buy in Euros, Motoin (Ger) are a quality German operation with decent prices and great review scores.

 

Shark-Evoline-Series-3-crash Helmets
Four of the Evoline 3s sixteen colour schemes

Noise

When the chin guard’s up, it’s reported to be pretty noisy above 40-50mph. This is dependent on the bike you’re riding of course (noisier on unfaired bikes) but with the chin guard raised, it catches some wind and therefore makes more noise.

When the guard is down, it’s obviously quieter but it’s relative – some owners report that it’s noisier than they expected and you need to wear ear plugs to make it tolerable.

That’s about par for the course with most system helmets – they are generally noisier than the equivalent full-face helmet and expect to wear ear plugs for most journeys.

Ventilation and Visor

That said, the latest Evoline 3 was designed to be slightly more aerodynamic than it’s predecessor and is reported to be slightly quieter and have better ventilation than the Evoline 2.

It has the usual chin and upper forehead vents which are easy to operate wearing gloves, as can the moveable chin guard. Owners say it’s reasonably well vented – about average for a modular.

The main visor on the Evoline 3 generally works without any problems. One nice feature is that when you open the chin guard and push it up past the visor, it’ll automagically open the main visor too, so you don’t have to. And, of course, the chin guard on the Evoline pushes around the helmet right to the rear of the helmet (like the dual homologated Roof Desmo) keeping the chin guard right out of the way.

Shark Evoline 3 open
Chin guard fully open

The Evoline has an integral tinted sun visor too which folks say works well.

Fitment

As for fit, Sharks are often reported as being on the large size, and the Shark Evoline 3 is no exception – so you might want to order a size smaller than normal. Eg. on one review site I found, a geezer was saying his head was usually a 63 or XL, yet with the Evoline, he wore a 58 M!

That said, one or two people do mention that it’s an over-large helmet shell too – making the helmet look large on their heads when wearing it. This can be a problem with some flip-ups and is probably because Shark have had to fit quite a lot of mechanism into the helmet shell to cater for the sun visor and moving chin guard.

Video

If you want to have a tour around the Evoline 3, here’s a vid from MotoLegends taking you round its features.

For other helmet reviews check out either ourĀ Ā Crash Helmet ReviewsĀ orĀ SHARP 4 & 5 Star Crash Helmet reviewsĀ sections! And if you’ve ever worn a Shark Evoline, please comment below and let us all know what you think. Thanks!

Best place to buy this Shark crash helmet?

Please click below to visit the Shark helmets pages at our recommended stores or Amazon UK. And if you buy from any, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you - a massive THANKS! (it's how we finance the site).

Buy Shark from Sportsbikeshop Buy from Ghostbikes UK Shop for Shark helmets at Amazon

Click above to drop onto their Shark helmets pages or *quick view retailer T&Cs here.

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Here you'll findĀ all our Shark crash helmet reviews and previewsĀ including full face, flip-up and open face helmets.

Star Rating

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Safety
Comfort
Noise
Features
Value
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shark-evoline-series-2-3-crash-helmets-for-saleA flip up helmet that's designed to be ridden with the chin guard up or down and that owners love. It's SHARP 5 star safety rated, though unfortunately the chin guard doesn't always stay locked on impacts (see the safety section). If you can live with that and the noise (only about as noisy as most modulars), we think you'll probably be a happy bunny if you buy one (just make sure you use ear plugs too!).

9 COMMENTS

  1. Do not buy this helmet. There is a serious fault with the pinlock touching the top of the helmet when opening/closing the visor. This means the pinlock gets scratched very easily. No point in buying another as the same will happen again., expensive. I did see this fault mentioned elsewhere after I brought the helmet and tried to close it by touching the back of the visor rather than the front as advised. I still only managed 5 trips out before I noticed the pinlock was becoming badly scratched and spoiling my vision – it will eventually become dangerous. This is what happen when you let French people design things, stick to the German/Jap helmets, or even Chinese LS2 are a fraction of the cost of this helmet and functional.

  2. I own a new Evoline 3 Hakka helmet that I purchased in the USA. I’m planning a trip through Southern France and all of Italy AND WISH TO USE THIS HELMET. Just to be sure, this helmet IS duel certified DOT and ECE? Right? Thank you for your help.

    • Well, I’m no lawyer, but I believe you can only use your helmet in Europe if its a genuine ECE approved helmet – with an ECE sticker on the back and a label inside. While the Evoline 3 is available in both DOT and ECE markets, if yours has a DOT sticker on the back you could theoretically get pulled over and fined. Sorry – that sucks šŸ™ It’s worth remembering that helmets do get tweaked for different countries too so they may actually be slightly different helmets (just to try and give a hint of justification for what’s a fairly annoying law!)

  3. Hi Mark I’m very surprised at your comments because I use a evo 2 helmet and is my second evo the first one I had was the evo 1 and the only criticism I had was the sun visor was to small . there is more wind noise with these helmets I know but I never ride without earplugs so this is not a issue covering 4000 miles in 2 weeks last year with no problem plus my mate also uses the same helmet and gets on just fine with it, i ride an Hayabusa with a touring screen and my mate aBMW LT ,I don’t see how the helmet should cause your problem dose it happen if you use another type of helmet . I would have thought they would have exchanged it for you anyway happy customers return.

  4. I am writing this letter to share my recent experience of my purchase of a Shark Evoline Series 2 Helmet from Mick Byrne motorcycles in Mansfield. I have a serious and dangerous problem with the helmet that nearly killed me and am totally disgusted by the after sales service by Mick Byrne and Shark. I upgraded to a Shark helmet due to the high levels of safety being advertised along with the 5 Year warranty that are sold with these helmets. I purchased the helmet a year ago and it has been in use for about 6 months and i have a constant blow of air directly in my eyes when the visor is down. I persevered with the seal lube as i thought it was a bedding in issue with this new type of seal being used. As the darker mornings approached , I no longer needed to use the sun visor and this made the problem worse as the internal visor deflected the air flow a little. The upshot is, that whilst going to work one morning in the dark on the motorway, there was so much distraction caused by the air in my eyes that I nearly ran straight into a lorry that had slowed down. I could not see where is was going. I took it back to Mick Bryne shop in Mansfield who sent it away to Shark. The first time they just sent it back. The second time, they changed a visor and re-lubed the seals and I was advised by Mick in his shop that he nor they can help me any further, despite having a 5 year warranty. I asked to talk to the shark rep whilst in the shop and would not talk to me. I have written to Shark complaining via their customer service website and no response at all. I wrote to Mick giving him 3 option.. like for like replacement, full refund, or replacement of a difference helmet and I pay the difference. His reply was that they cannot help me further and the problem is ā€œproblem could be caused as a result of your faring / bike or screen or even the position you are in when ridingā€. Quote Mick Byrnes email.

    Clearly if there are restrictions in the usage of these helmets as I have now been advised, surely, the manufacturer and the retailer should be making you aware of this at time of purchase. I have no faith in Shark nor Mick Byrne who is the retailer and clearly these crash helmets are not Fit for Purpose if problems can arise as a ā€œresult of your faring / bike or screen or even the position you are in when ridingā€. Quote Mick Byrnes email. This helmet is Dangerous and nearly killed me and neither the retailer nor Shark, the manufacturer are interested in resolving.

    I want to make your readers and fellow bikers aware of the potential safety issues with these helmets and the shoddy after sales I have received from Shark and Mick Byrnes whom I handed over my hard earned cash for a Crash Helmet supplied to me with a 5 Year warranty. They can then make their own mind up if this is fair treatment and they know in advance the treatment I received and what they can expect to receive if they are unfortunate enough to have a problem and have to take their purchase back.

    • I has a similar issue then found out it was user (my) error. Once you drop the chin guard back into position you must then push it backwards for a second lock position (I never knew that). The helmet is then perfect and safe with no safety issues. Love this helmet so much now, I have brought a second.

    • Mark, I have the same problem with the evoline 3. The draft isn’t a problem on my Pan European but on my Triumph Rocket on a cold day it’s horrible. Saying that I must try my old evoline 2 and see if that’s any different. Otherwise I love the helmet.

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