We recently got the opportunity to review some motorcycles out in California and Icon was kind enough to give us some gear to test out at the same time.
I put about 800 miles on an Icon Ultraflite helmet over the course of 4 days and I'm happy to report that the helmet performed flawlessly. I was happy with airflow and wind noise regardless of riding position. I would recommend this helmet to anyone, and my reasoning is below if you need further convincing.
Let's start with the basics here. Icon helmets generally have a wild graphic and a face shield option to match so you are sure to look great even if you wouldn't normally (a la myself for example). But looks only go so far in the motorcycle world, at some point other factors like comfort and safety come in.
The first time anyone tries to put on an Icon helmet, they always think it is too small. Icon makes the neck opening small on purpose to limit the air flow into the helmet from the neck which in turn makes the helmets very quiet. I would put the wind noise from an appropriately sized Icon helmet against the best (most expensive) in the world any day. The key is to grab the neck strap and spread the helmet as wide as possible, rest it on the crown of your head at an angle, and then pull down while spreading the helmet across the ears. You may squeeze into the neck opening but you will most likely find a snug but good fit once you get it over your head. The process repeats when you take the helmet off, but after a few rides it all breaks in enough and you get used to the tight entry. That's not to say that you won't think the helmet is still too small when you try to take it off the first few times. It certainly will feel that way, but remember it is the fit inside the helmet that counts and the rest is just temporary.
For me, once the helmet is on and I've wiggled it a little side to side to straighten out my ears the fit is perfect. I found myself almost biting the inside of my cheeks which is what you want on a new helmet. The crown felt great out of the box, but after installing a Cardo system it felt like it was pressing down on my brow. I pulled the head liner to make sure the wires in the rear of the helmet were as smooth as possible and once I reinstalled it found the fit to be back to normal.
The Ultraflite has MIPS included, which anyone that has done some research on helmet safety will tell you at the very least doesn't hurt your chances of making it through a wreck. Anytime a manufacturer partners with a brand like MIPS or Koroyd I know they want their helmets to be as safe as possible even if it means acknowledging that you might need some outside help to get there and that kind of approach is welcome. The slip provided by the MIPS liner not only helps prevent traumatic brain injury but also helps me wiggle the helmet just enough to straighten out my ears as mentioned above. A real win-win.
Another great feature of the Ultraflite helmet line is the drop down sun visor. Easily worked with the left hand while riding, the sun visor can make a clear outer shield usable in the daytime or in my case it can help a tinted visor really block the afternoon sun when you are riding directly into it. My only call out is that the outer shields are typically anti-fog, so even someone that breathes as heavily as me when riding will find their field of vision clear, however the drop down visor does not have the same properties. I found it fogging up occasionally when stopped at a red light on a cool morning and either needed to raise the internal drop down or the outer shield to let some fresh air in to de-fog. The drop down visor is massive on this helmet and more than once I rode off with the outer shield open without realizing it. It happened to be a windy day, so I just chalked the minimal additional wind noise up to that which is crazy to say.
The Ultraflite has a large chin bar vent, two forehead vents, two top of the head vents, and 4 exhaust vents. The chin bar vent is actuated inside the helmet and has a 3 position switch: closed, partially open, or fully open. The forehead vents can be independently opened or closed easily with gloves on and the top of head vents are hidden under the rear spoiler housing. The rear spoiler can be extended by pulling it out from the helmet to the rear and this not only helps with some drag co-effecients presumably but it also opens up the vents to get even more air into the helmet. The rear exhausts are always open with two large openings under the spoiler and two near the neck. The venturi effect pulls the hot air out of the helmet through these vents.
Ok, so how did the helmet perform? I own several helmets from different manufacturers and I would put the Icon Ultraflite at the top for airflow, comfort, and wind noise. The biggest thing to remember is that all of these categories are subjective so what works for me might not be your experience, but I found it to be cooler and quieter than my other helmets and the comfort came once the helmet was broken in (after the first 8 hours of riding or so). Just be mindful, cheek pads break in but a crown pad that is too tight will always be too tight. And even broken in the helmet is still very tight getting on and off.
I was able to test this helmet on a variety of motorcycles in various conditions. The airflow worked great on sport and naked bikes whether semi-tucked or upright. Airflow was slightly lower on touring motorcycles behind a windscreen as expected but it still let enough air in that I never felt hot unless I was sitting still. The styling got some looks on touring bikes as the graphics were much louder than any wind noise but it was comfortable.
The replacement outer shield I used was in Boatdrink Blue and which is ece 22.05 rated due to the darkness of the tint, so it was a little darker than a 22.06 rated could be to pass the standard and the combination with the internal drop down meant that cresting over a hill into the setting sun didn't set my retinas ablaze. That's something my riding partners couldn't say in their helmets that only had one shield, judging by their reactions anytime it happened. Just be sure to keep a clear shield handy if you plan to ride at night.
It is worth noting that while my shield had an anti-fog coating Icon also offers a pinlock ready Ultraflite shield if you would rather go that route. Also, the helmet is offered in 3 shell sizes and you can switch internal padding within shell sizes (XS/SM - shell1, MD/LG - shell 2, and XL-3X - shell 3) for more/less room within the helmet if you just needed to tweak the fit a little bit.
The helmet itself is both DOT and ECE 22.06 rated (as long as you keep the stock 22.06 shield or a 22.06 replacement that is). There are other ratings out there, but for a non-racing helmet ECE 22.06 is about as good as you can realistically expect a helmet to be rated. The drop down visor means Snell wouldn't even look at it and FIM would probably just stare at you in Swiss if you took it to them for certification. DOT + ECE 22.06 + MIPS = pretty dang safe, but that's my personal safety rating scale that I thankfully haven't had to test out yet.
Overall, I give the Icon Ultraflite helmets a buy recommendation personally from my experience with them. I found the helmet to perform well in multiple environments and riding positions and look cool while doing it. - Mike, 01/15/2026
