Five sports-touring helmets under £300 for performance and comfort on a budget

Sports-touring helmets are hugely versatile — they’re almost as aerodynamic and aggressively styled as a race helmet, while just as quiet and comfortable as one designed for touring. It’s no surprise, then, that some of the top options on the market command a premium price tag, with advanced composite shells, drop-down sun visors, plush multi-density liners, and even built-in comms.

But you don’t have to go top-shelf just to reap the benefits of a sports touring helmet for yourself. As long as it sports the ECE 22.06 sticker there’s little compromise to safety, and many cheaper helmets can be had that still have proper sports touring credentials. That’s why for this article we’ve set the budget at just £300.

But first: What to consider before buying

Fit and comfort

Your helmet should always fit you, and even though it’s important for any helmet, it’s critical to rule out any potential pressure points in your lid before you have to ride hours and hours in it.

Noise levels

Before you commit to your new helmet for the long haul, it’s worth checking how much wind noise you hear while riding at speed. Good sports touring helmets are aerodynamic which reduces neck fatigue, and that also makes them quiet which reduces ear fatigue.

Ventilation

If you’re riding in the peak of summer you’ll need some good ventilation, so check the size of the vents and how many are present. At a minimum, you’ll want to see a large chin vent and scalp vents, with a rear exhaust for each intake.

Pinlock

If it isn’t included, check if there’s a Pinlock anti-fog visor insert available for your helmet of choice, and factor it into the total cost. Fitting them is easily done, and they almost completely banish mist from your visor.

Extra features

Consider any extra features you might find useful, like an integrated sun visor, intercom compatibility, or grooves for glasses. Your head will be cradled in it for potentially days at a time on tour, so this is the time to make sure it has all the features you need.

Our favourite sports-touring helmets under £300

How MCN tests sports touring helmets

At MCN, our team of expert journalists have decades of experience gained over hundreds of thousands of miles in order to provide you with opinions and evaluations you can trust, alongside news of the most significant developments in motorcycling safety gear. We want you to stay safe, enjoy your riding and hopefully look great while doing so! 

We don’t test our kit to destruction; we use it exactly how you do, in the real world and in all conditions.

That means we can deliver impartial buying advice you can rely on. To make it onto this list, sports touring helmets must have been worn by our team of experienced testers, show no major flaws, and meet modern safety standards as well as offering exceptional value for money. 

Each of our expert reviewers tests their lids for a variety of things, both subjective and objective. Factors assessed include the helmet’s conformity to the latest ECE 22.06 safety regulations, whether comms systems can be installed, what type of chin strap fixture they have, how heavy they are and if they include details such as a drop-down sun visor, removable peak or any additional aerodynamic properties.

However, we also assess how they fit, their perceived build quality, how quickly we’re able to swap the visor out, what the venting feels like and how comfortable/adjustable the liner is during daily use. And of course, being a budget helmet article, we also assess carefully each lid’s positioning within the market to say if it’s great value or not.

We cover thousands of miles in these lids and regularly compare them with one another in the office, so collectively we’ve built the sort of knowledge base you can trust.

If you can’t see a review against a helmet on this page, it’s because we haven’t tested it yet or because it did not achieve four star or above. Only helmets that earn four or five stars make it into our best of buying guides. These helmets will only be included if we think they’re important and relevant in the market, and rest assured, we will be working on bringing you a review as soon as we’ve done the miles.

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Here’s a brief run-down of the star rating system we use, and what each score means:

• 1 star – Poor performance in this category or overall. A helmet with a single star rating has fallen below the expected standard and should be avoided.
• 2 stars – Basic performance in this area or overall. A helmet with a two-star rating has managed to perform to a barely acceptable level and there is room for improvement. It might be lacking safety features, be poorly built or far too expensive to recommend.
• 3 stars – An average performance in this area or overall. A helmet with a three-star rating has achieved a basic level of performance and is deemed adequate.
• 4 stars – A product has performed over and above the accepted averaged in this category or overall. A helmet with a four-star rating has surpassed expectation and delivered in a particularly impressive way.
• 5 stars – A helmet has performed at the highest possible level in a particular category or overall. A product with a five-star rating has delivered to the highest possible level, impressing the tester with its performance. We would happily spend our own money on it.

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