Shark’s Evojet flip-up modular motorcycle helmet review.

Shark have become flip-front helmet specialists over the last few years, first with the Evoline series, then with the Openline, the Evo-One 2 and Evo ES. And now they’ve developed the concept that little bit further with the Evojet.

And hats off to Shark, because with each helmet they try and do something a little different and push the design on a bit.

This time, they’ve decided that the chin bar needs a honking great window in it to give you more of an open face feeling. And to make that work, they’ve attached the visor to the chin bar which means if you want some air, you’ve now gotta open the whole lot.

Novel.

Thing is, Shark usually gets things right when they try to do something different. So here’s what we’ve found out about the Shark Evojet.

• Thermoplastic modular helmet
• One-piece visor/chin bar
• All rounder helmet
• Sun visor
• Class 1 optically correct visor
• Micrometric fastener
• ECE (European approval) only
• 2 shell sizes
• Sizes XS-XL
• Expect to pay £200-£290

Overall/Summary

It’s great that Shark are trying something new with the Evojet. And enlarging the visor is always welcome for the extra vision and real feeling that you’re riding in an open face helmet. That said, combining the chin bar with the visor together might not be for everyone.

Of folks that have tried it, they say it takes a bit of getting used to – but once you do, it’s a good helmet. MCN even scored it 4/5 – though that was for quality and value rather than how easy it is to live with (though they did like it).

And you can see why. It’s well built, has a massive visor that’s antifog treated, it’s Sharktooth bluetooth ready, comfy and looks the part.

It’s just whether you’d be able to cope with pushing up the chin bar every time you want to get some air. As is the way with these things, some folks will love it and others will… love it quite a bit less. It’s your call which you think you are…

Best places to buy a Shark Evojet?

Please click below to visit the Shark Evojet helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Safety

 (more about helmet safety)

The Evojet has got a multi-density polystyrene liner to help absorb knocks and impacts of different intensities. It’s held in place by a micrometric fastener – they’re really easy to use and tested for safety as part of the ECE testing regime – meaning that despite being one of the easiest fasteners to use, they’re trustworthy and will keep the helmet in place during an accident (provided you buckle it up nice and tightly).

An integral sun visor is really useful from a comfort as well as a safety point of view too – I know people who have hit things while being dazzled by the sun so sun visors are a really useful piece of safety equipment.

So too is having a fog free visor – and the main visor has an antifog treatment on it. These factory coated treatments are becoming very good these days, and the road tester at MCN reckoned this one’s a goodie too so is well worth having.

Having said that, it sounds like there was a problem with the earliest batch of visors – read Neil’s comments at the bottom of the page. Hopefully those helmets are now out of circulation but if you do have a problem with the antifog treatment crystallising, then do contact your retailer and insist they give you a replacement visor from a recent batch.

Of course, it’s the helmet shell that’s the main factor in offering protection – that and the chin bar when we’re talking about a modular.

The Shark Evojet hasn’t been tested beyond the (stringent) ECE compulsory helmet tests required before a helmet goes on sale. That ECE test should mean it performs adequately in an accident, though it’s always nice to see a SHARP test result to see how well it performs in comparison to other helmets.

But since the Evojet hasn’t been SHARP tested, all we can do is see how other similar modular Shark helmets scored.

The Evojet is a thermoplastic-shelled helmet, and three thermoplastic Shark modulars have been tested over recent years: the Shark Evoline (5 stars, 57%), the Shark Evo One (4 stars, 100%) and the Shark Evo One 2 (4 stars, 100%).

As you can see, they’ve scored very well. 5 stars is the maximum score awarded by SHARP and the percentage figure relates to the percentage of tests where the chin bar remained locked and closed – with 100% being exactly the score you want to see!

So, Shark has a good record in making very protective modular helmets and, while we can’t say how protective the Evojet will be, it’s fair to say we’d expect it to score well.

At the time of writing, the Evojet has only been approved for sale in Europe – so it’s not DOT and not on sale in the US. In Europe, it’s been dual homologated, meaning it’s been tested and approved in both full face and open face configurations so you can ride with the chin bar up and still be legal.

Helmet Noise

(more about helmet noise)

Modular helmets are always noisier than full face helmets, and we’ve heard similar stories about the Evojet. The chin bar mechanisms on flip-up helmets need space and that space gives somewhere for noise to reverberate around and that equals noise passing on to us riders.

So, if having the quietest helmet out there is your aim, you probably shouldn’t look at an Evojet, or any modular for that matter (and buy one of our quietest helmets instead).

Having said that, stick in some decent ear plugs – like you should in any and every helmet as a matter of course – and the Evojet will be absolutely fine.

Ventilation

(more about helmet ventilation)

Of course, being a flip-front helmet, you can pretty much get all the venting you need by pushing up the chin bar and riding in jet helmet mode.

That said, most of us will ride with the chin bar down so venting to keep cool and to help with demisting is important.

There’s a single chin bar vent and a single crown vent on the Shark Evojet – with a single rear exhaust at the rear. The chin vent is a large rocker that’s really easy to operate with gloves – and the same goes for the large slider up top.

Like most helmets these days, air passes through holes in the helmet shell and is distributed throughout the helmet by channels in the EPS liner, exhausting out of the back of the helmet.

The word is that plenty of air gets into the Shark Evojet, and coupled with the antifog coating on the visor, there should be enough ventilation there to keep things mist-free while riding.

Visor

(more about visors)

That huge visor is one of the main selling points of the Evojet, designed to maximise the forward and downward view like pretty well no other helmet this side of an open face helmet (oh, and maybe the Nolan N70-2 or N40-5).

The visor’s actually non-opening in the traditional sense – so you can’t stick your finger under a visor tab and pull up the visor, because the visor’s actually attached solidly to the chin bar.

So if you want to get some air into the helmet, you need to press the button under the chin bar and open up the entire thing. That’s very unusual and means that you need to set the chin bar in whichever position you want before setting off as raising chin bars on the move can be mega dangerous.

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A couple of useful links…

– Safest modular helmets –
– Want a more exclusive/expensive helmet? –

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For most of us used to traditional helmets, that might be a bit unnerving and it will take time to get used to it. But if you’re new to riding, it should be a bit easier to come to terms with.

And apparently you can get used to it after a few rides. And that huge visor might well be worth it because the word from owners is that it really does give an open face helmet type of experience, with masses more vertical space than your regular visor.

And the fact that the visor’s class 1 optically correct adds to that feeling that there’s no visor there.

Shark has treated the reverse of the visor with an antifog treatment, which is apparently very good (except for the earliest batches – read safety section and comments at the bottom of the page) – so no need for a Pinlock (though we don’t know how long the treatment will last, especially if the visor’s regularly washed).

It might not look like it but the visor’s actually quick release too so you can pull it off and clean it pretty easily. All you need to do is open the visor and pull forwards; replacement needs a bit of aligning of tabs and then pushing back in place.

All in all, it’s an interesting visor system that some will love and others will probably loathe, but if you do like to have as much of the outside coming inside your helmet for an uncluttered view of the world around, then it’s certainly worth considering.

Sun Visor

(more about sun visors)

That visor system’s topped off with a decent internal sun visor, operated by a slider on the left hand side of the helmet.

The sun visor drops down nice and low and it’s 95%+ UV protective (as are all polycarbonate visors and sun visors).

Having the slider behind the visor pivot frees up space on the bottom edge of the helmet to mount a bluetooth controller, so that’s well thought through.

Chin Guard

(more about chin guards)

The chin bar rotates up through 90 degrees to sit out of view but, unlike other Shark modulars, it doesn’t rotate to the back of the helmet.

It is dual homologated though, meaning you can legally ride with the chin bar of the Evojet fully raised – though don’t be tempted to raise it on the move as that’ll probably be deemed dangerous riding and could lead to a scary moment too!

As mentioned, the visor and chin bar are one unit, so raise the chin bar and the whole lot goes up, leaving you wearing the equivalent of an open face helmet – though the side bars of the helmet do wrap around quite a bit so you’re not as exposed as an open face.

Because you’ll be raising the chin bar/visor unit more often than a regular modular helmet, Shark has designed the chin bar with a bit of a snout. That makes it easier to find and squeeze the opening button under the chin guard with your thumb and open up the helmet. Nice bit of design that – helps with aero too.

Comfort and Sizing

(more about comfort and sizing)

Inside the Evojet is an anti-microbial liner made from a material called Aegis Microtech. Aegis seems to be an odour control technology from a company called Microban so I’m guessing that’s what this is. Essentially, it’s a treatment that kills bacteria and stops mold and mildew forming. According to the Microban website it’s also Oeko-tex certified so shouldn’t react with your skin if sensitivity’s a problem for you.

Aside from all that, it’s a fully removable and washable liner (machine washable at 30 degrees) and it contains glasses grooves so should accommodate glasses or sunglasses well.

There’s usually no problem at all with the comfort levels of Shark helmets but if you find it a bit too tight or loose, you can buy different size cheek pads – available in sizes XS-XL to adjust the fitment.

Looks & Graphics

The Evojet is available in quite a few subtle designs. Nothing too fancy, all subdued and classy looking.

You can buy one in matt or gloss black or gloss white, and there’s a plain mid grey version too. There’s currently 3 different ‘half’ designs where the bottom’s one colour and top another (white/black, red/black, blue/silver) then there’s the Vyda graphics in four subtly different colourways.

As always, we’ve scattered a number of designs up and down the page but for a closer view or to find any new graphics out there, we’ve put links straight through to the Shark Evojet helmets pages at our recommended retailers below.

Best places to buy a Shark Evojet helmet?

Please click below to visit the Shark Evojet helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Shark Evojet Video

Here’s Shark desperately trying to get their money’s worth from their sponsorship of the Lowes boys – 3m video giving you a look around the Evojet.

Other stuff – bluetooth, weight, glasses, aero, warranty

If you’re looking to fit a bluetooth headset, then there are speaker pockets inside and space for mounting and a boom mic inside. The Evojet is actually designed to fit the Sharktooth bluetooth kit and there’s an integrated battery slot at the rear.

The Evojet is pretty light weight for a modular helmet – weighing in around 1.45Kg (3.2lbs) in the smaller shell size.

As mentioned, there are glasses grooves inside the helmet (Shark calls it their EasyFit system) so it should work well if you’re a glasses or sunglasses wearer.

If you do buy a Shark Evojet, make sure you extend your warranty for free on the Shark website. The Evojet comes as standard with a 2 year warranty, but you can extend it to 5 years by registering it on the Shark site.

Best places to buy a Shark Evojet?

Please click below to visit the Shark Evojet helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Good Alternatives to the Shark Evojet?

If you’re thinking about buying a Shark Evojet but aren’t entirely sure, here’s a load of other modular helmets that we recommend – and don’t forget to check out our Top 10 Modular Helmets page and our safest flip-up helmets page.

Of course, Shark do some other great flip-front helmets – including the Shark Evo One 2 (4 star safety rating, Pinlock antifog included, more expensive), and there’s the newer Evo ES (slightly cheaper, chin bar that rotates to back, sun visor).

The Nolan N44 is another weird and wonderful helmet – massive visor, lots of versatility and good value for money too.

Nolan’s N100-5 is a well-liked helmet. It comes with a Pinlock, it’s dual homologated and it scores highly right across the board.

And then there’s the excellent value for money Caberg Duke II – SHARP 5 star safety rated, great price, Pinlock included, dual homologated, well worth a look.

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