AGV K5-S Helmet Review

Skip straight to a section of the review

1. Overview
2. Price
3. Quality and Safety
4. Size
5. Wind Noise
6. Ventilation
7. Visor
8. Styling and Colours
9. Other Features
10. Summary

Overview

The AGV K5-S is AGV’s premium sports helmet, in the mid range budget category. It’s aimed at the customer wanting a sporty helmet, lightweight and with lots of features for safe and comfortable road riding. Developed using a mixture of carbon and fibreglass, the shell is not just extremely tough, but light too. The aggressive styling makes this one of the best looking AGV’s currently available, and there’s over 20 colours options to choose from too. Customers at SportsBikeShop rate the K5S 5 out of 5, so let’s get into the detail and find out why.

Price

AGV, for me, are typically a brand that I’d look to for a great quality helmet, but without stepping into the realms of Arai/Shoei budgets. If you’ve read many of my posts you’ll know that I have worn an AGV for the past 5 years, so they’re a brand that I trust. I picked them because of the comfort and value. So let’s delve into the price of the AGV K5-S.

As I mentioned above there are over 20 different colour options available for this helmet, with some fetching higher price tags than others. The cheapest K5S is £199 with the most expensive priced at £299. At £199 it’s much lower than the average price of an AGV helmet, which is £283 based on the 111 different helmet options available. The average price of all makes and models of helmets at SportsBikeShop is around £180, but you’d probably expect AGV to come out slightly above average, especially as all the cheapy brands will skew the average.

The K5-S helmet benefits from a 4 Star SHARP safety rating, which I’ll explore a bit more shortly. But for price comparison purposes, you’d expect to pay on average, £185 for a 4 star helmet at SportsBikeShop.

Quality and Safety

The AGV K5-S gets a better shell construction that many helmets in this price category, which is a big plus for me. It’s made from a combination of carbon and fibreglass for a stronger, more durable and lighter helmet than traditional shells. The inner of the shell is made from EPS (basically polystyrene foam, as per the majority of motorcycle helmets). But like some of the more expensive helmets it features varying densities of foam to add more protection.

The goal of the K5-S is to deliver a stable, pressure free fit that maximises dynamic comfort. Sounds like Manufacturer marketing fluff, but what they’re getting at is spot on. They’ve developed a helmet that works so well aerodynamically, and with the greatest attention to detail on the inside that it’s incredibly comfortable. Don’t just take my word for it though, I’ve done some analysis (woah calm down). In total there are 125 customer reviews of the K5-S helmet at SportsBikeShop, of these 125, 60 of them mention comfort. And get this, all 60 are positive, saying how comfortable the helmet is. The problem with running this website, and writing this AGV K5-S review, is that it’s going to cost me a fortune as I’m now desperate to buy one, seeing as my AGV Horizon is over 5 years old now too.

Across the 125 reviews it scored a brilliant average of 4.5 out of 5 with 100 scoring the helmet 5/5 and 25 customers scoring it 4/5, so a pretty spectacular result for the AGV.

AGV K5-S Sizes

Having owned a couple of different AGV helmets over my riding years, my experience is that the sizes fit bang on true to size. But that’s just my experience, it will of course differ with head shapes. My suggestion having read plenty of reviews of the K5-S is to order true to size. You always have the peace of mind of free returns if it doesn’t fit right. The warning I will give you, is that with both AGVs that I’ve owned, the padding inside has been very snug for a couple of months. It’s important to persist and the padding will bed in, as long as the helmet feels the right size in terms of fitment, the padding will ease-in.

The K5-S is available in the following sizes.

XS = 53-54
S = 55-56
MS = 57
ML = 58
L = 59-60
XL = 61-62

Of the 10 mentions of sizes in the customer reviews, all suggest that the size ordered was a good fit.

Wind Noise

The oh so subjective wind noise now. I’ve found the best way to review wind noise on a helmet is to just use customer opinion. Of course there’s always going to be a difference of opinion. Particularly as so much can influence wind noise, from the bike ridden, the speed, style of riding and the customer’s experience with other helmets. But taking the general consensus across a large number of customer reviews always works best for me.

In total from the 125 customer reviews of the AGV K5-S helmet, there are 24 mentions of noise. 20 of these are positive, mentioning how well the helmet handles wind noise. 1 comment is neutral and 3 are negative. Well I say negative, they aren’t exactly terrible.

• “It’s a little bit noisy with all the airways open”
• “Yes there is wind noise but you get that with all helmets, close the vents and most of it goes away”
• “Nice fitting but a little noisy but with earplugs no prob.”

In summary I’d say the K5-S is very good in terms of wind noise, if that’s important to you.

Ventilation

You’re not short of ventilation and airflow on the K5-S, with 5 front vents and 2 rear vents that extract the air back out for a constant airflow. the IVS system (another AGV acronym, they love them) which stands for Integrated Ventilation System, has been designed and tested to provide maximum airflow, whilst keeping the helmet as aerodynamic as possible. They achieve this by hollowing the vents into the shell of the helmet to give a near-flush integrated design. With the 5 vents at the front and 2 vents at the rear extracting the air the K5-S provides a brilliant amount of airflow.

Here’s a customer comment on the vents: “The vents are very good for providing cooling air. They are in the chin and top of the helmet with ‘exhaust’ vents at the back. I rode with them open briefly and it got cold so should be beneficial in the summer.”

Visor

The K5-S visor features the magnetic pinlock system and includes a pinlock visor insert when you buy from SportsBikeShop. If you haven’t used this system before check out out guide on what pinlock is and how to fit the insert. They’re great for keeping away mist/fog inside your visor. The visor uses AGVs XQRS (Yes another pointless acronym) Extra Quick Release System to make visor removal simple and tool free. The visors also come in two different sizes, to provide the best match for the shell of the helmet, which is unusual for a helmet manufacturer to do. AGV claim that this helps to provide a better fit and less wind noise. Other than that the visor itself its pretty standard with nothing special to scream about.

It also benefits from an integrated sun-visor with a scratch resistant coating. Having ridden with an AGV with a sun visor for a few years, they’re really handy and work well to get the sun out your eyes. The release mechanism for the sun visor is on the side of the helmet, which isn’t the easiest thing to find or use. But a couple of weeks of helmet use and you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Styling

Choices, tons of choices. There are around 20 colour options to choose from on the K5-S, giving an option for all tastes. Personally I’m a big fan of the plain matt black, but some of the crazier paint jobs are pretty cool too. I’ve stuck some of the options below for you to have a look at. Other than that, in terms of styling this is one of the more aggressive looking AGVs. The sharp beak at the chin and the integrated spoiler on the rear give is a really cool race look. The whole style of the helmet has been designed with aerodynamics in mind. Which, if you’re not a racer, don’t think it’s all about getting more speed. Aerodynamics do a huge amount for putting less pressure on your head and neck too, so its not just about speed, it’s also great for long distance comfort.

Other Features

• Carbon and fibreglass shell
• Sun Visor built in
• Pinlock ready visor and one insert included
• Integrated ventilation system with 5 vents and 2 extraction vents
• Pressure free fit on the interior and cheek pads
• washable liner
• aerodynamic shell, designed using the latest wind tunnel testing
• Rear spoiler to provide increased stability
• Double D retention
• 1350g weight
• Suitable for use with the AGV Share Intercom style system
• SHARP 4 Star rating, ECE 22.05 and USA’s DOT certified
• 2 year warranty, plus 2 years extra warranty when registering with AGV within 60 days of purchase.
• removable breath deflector and chin curtain

Summary

The K5-S has a lot going for it. It delivers everything you want, and delivers it well. It’s the first helmet I’ve come across where there have been no real negative reviews, just minor niggles here and there. Overall it’s worth of it’s 5 star customer rating at SportsBikeShop. For me, the carbon/fibreglass shell and 4 Star SHARP rating help to set it apart from the competition. If you’re after a sporty looking helmet, this will do you proud.

Buy AGV K5-S at SportsBikeShop

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