Helmet review: Agrius Rage SV tried and tested

There is a well-known adage that you get what you pay for. Generally, this is true and suggests that the more you pay for something, the better quality it will be and conversely, if something is cheap, it is cheap for a reason. And normally, a helmet at the Agrius Rage SV’s price point of £60 would raise eyebrows, but for the wrong reason.

For that sort of money, you would normally expect it to be a knock-off of a proper brand sold online with no trail or comeback or a manufacturer you have never heard of – and probably never will again. However, while the name Agrius is not one that will be familiar to many riders, it should be, because this helmet could well be one of motorcycling’s greatest hidden bargains. It offers a staggering amount of performance for a tiny outlay.

First and foremost, it has earned four stars for safety from the British government testing scheme, SHARP so you know that, with those stars and the mandatory ECE22.05 approval, it will do a proper job of keeping your head safe. It even has ACU Gold approval for use on circuits in the UK – not something handed out lightly.

Its main shell is formed in polycarbonate so it’s neither particularly light nor heavy – it feels and – more importantly fits – just right. Its weight is quoted at 1,450g which puts it around halfway between say a carbon helmet and a flip-front. Putting it on is easy and the lining is surprisingly plush. It fits my head shape very well, with no tight or compressed spots and I wore it on several multi-hour trips with no issues at all.

It has a built-in drop-down sun visor that actually works without casting an odd tint to the world outside and the main visor is easy to remove if needs be, though this needs two slightly fiddly (if you have chunky fingers like me) plastic clips – you push the red clip in and turn the whole thing before removing it. In themselves, the clips aren’t difficult but my first thought was how long until I lose one and can’t fix the visor on… but that’s on me.

Vision from the aperture and the visor itself is excellent – the aperture is not particularly deep but it is wide and the visor is well made and suits most bikes, from slightly forward sporty positions to upright tall-rounders.

For me, the Rage’s main drawback is ventilation. I make a lot of breath and need decent airflow, to keep me cool as well as help prevent the visor from fogging, sometimes even with a Pinlock insert fitted. The Rage SV is Pinlock ready – the insert is an extra £20 – but even with one fitted, on a very wet ride, I still had to keep stopping to clean the inside of the visor though thankfully, it remained water-tight.

There is one chin vent, two top vents and two rear exhaust vents and on the bike, I tried them on – a Yamaha Tracer 700 – I simply didn’t get enough airflow in the wet or in the dry. In the wet, the insert fogged and in the dry, I got too warm. So if you ride a faired bike or one with a screen and with little airflow, you may struggle – I certainly had more of an issue on this bike than several other helmets I used with it.

Verdict

For the money, the Agrius Rage SV is amazing value. It’s a fairly light full-face sporty-style crash helmet that scores four SHARP stars, a feat which in itself is noteworthy, let alone at that price point.

Despite being undoubtedly basic, it is not heavy, it is comfortable and comes with that drop-down sun visor, large main visor, micrometric buckle and a breath guard and chin curtain.

A Pinlock insert adds 1/3 of the price again but you can’t really go anywhere without one nowadays though ventilation on bikes with screens may be an issue – I found it was. But for this sort of money, I’d say it is well worth a punt to see if you get on with it.

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