Five of the best... sports-touring helmets under £200

AGV’s K3 series has been popular for years, and this latest version lives up to its heritage. The first 31 customers to leave a review gave an average rating of 4.84, which is an impressive haul in less than 12 months on the market. It has a plastic shell, a Pinlock-protected visor that offers fantastic peripheral vision and it’s easy to fit your own choice of intercom. Customers are complimentary about the helmet in virtually every regard. If there’s a criticism it relates to wind noise. Eight of the 31 customers refer to it in their reviews, and six of those describe it in a negative way. If you take the plunge, make sure to look in the box for the clip-in chin curtain, which will cut down on airflow around the base of the helmet and reduce wind noise. To stay under our price threshold, you’ll need to stick to one of the four plain colours in the collection.

The third generation of Shark’s D-Skwal series is a significant step on from its predecessors. The helmet is now a much more polished offering with a far better securing system for the quick-release visor (changes now take seconds and involve far less fear of breakage). The sun visor is now treated to stop it misting up, the shell shape and liner are refined and the switches for vents are more securely positioned. Shark have altered the internal shape so some may find the fit doesn’t suit them as well as it has on previous D-Skwals (equally, some will find it fits better). As with other lids in this selection, staying under our £200 price threshold means limiting yourself to one of the four plain colours in the range. It’s early days on reviews, but five perfect ratings from the first six postings is a good start.

No need to restrict yourself to the plain colourschemes with this one as, at the time of writing, all designs fit within our price threshold. The Exo-491 is a decent offering with a few features that bely the price, including an anti-fog sun visor and easy-adjust Pinlock pins. The only trouble is the requirement to pay extra for the Pinlock insert in the first place. Still, with a relatively low starting price for the helmet itself and a £19 outlay for the insert, even the priciest paintscheme leaves enough room to buy a Pinlock and come in well under the £200 price limit. The Exo-491 has a plastic shell, a comfy liner, fastens with a quick-release strap buckle and has room at the temples for spectacle arms. Its average rating of 4.82 from the first 11 reviews shows buyers consider themselves satisfied with their purchase.

This is the only helmet in our selection that meets the older ECE 22.05 safety standard. It makes our top five because it’s been popular with customers and there is still plentiful supply at the time of writing (March 2024). It was considered good value at full list price, but clearance deals mean the C70 costs between £99.99 and £119.99. If you need a Pinlock anti-mist insert you’re in for another £30 or so, but that remains a solid return for your money and well under our £200 threshold. The first 100 customer reviews led to a respectable 4.77 average rating. The C70 has a polycarbonate shell, a comfortable and removable interior and a decent dropdown sun visor. The D-ring strap fastener goes against the norm for helmets for this price, which is particularly attractive to some riders.

Nolan’s entry-level sports-touring helmet packs a punch in the specification department - it comes with a Pinlock insert pre-installed, and anti-fog sun visor and a comfortable interior lining and has a starting list price of £149.99 at the time of writing (March 2024). It’s light, simple and available in a wide range of colours, with even the priciest coming in under our £200 threshold. Customers are generally very happy with the helmet, but there are some concerns. It’s considered relatively noisy, making this one for riders who wear earplugs, and some criticise the lack of a chin curtain as this means more draught and noise. It’s annoying, but thankfully the curtain from an N87 fits the N60-6 and that makes for a £10 fix. The N60-6 scored an average rating of 4.70 from the first 10 customer reviews. For those of a sportier disposition, the new-for-2024 Nolan N60-6 Sport adds a large aero spoiler for racing style but is otherwise the same lid.