Last year, helmet maker extraordinaire AGV rolled out its new Legends collection to celebrate seven decades of helmet safety. Both models—the X3000 and the X70—were inspired by helmets worn back in the day by legendary racers Giacomo Agostini and Renzo "Paso" Pasolini. I recently picked up a full-faced X3000 Super AGV, modeled after Agostini's 60s-era full-face racing lids, and I've had a generally positive but overall mixed experience with it. Mixed? Yep, mixed. Let's talk about it, shall we?
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To start, let's talk about what the X3000 is and what makes it good. Based on Ago's 60s-era lids, the X3000 has a long oval-shaped ACF fiberglass shell complete with Agostini's signature contoured chin bar. The retro-styled visor is airtight, watertight, and is fitted with a dual button fastener and metal hinges that allow it to be opened with just the left hand. The removable, washable interior is made from premium leather and suede fabric and features an anti-bacterial coating. Ventilation is provided by a single, visor-mounted vent with a removable rubber cover that lets air into channels between the shell and soft interior (remember this bit for later).
Now that we have the techy stuff out of the way, let's talk wearability. The X3000 is extremely lightweight—clocking in at just over three pounds—and is both DOT and ECE rated. The broad strap has a double D-ring fastener complete with a snap embossed with AGV's logo. Thanks to the smooth, egg-like exterior, the helmet is extremely quiet at speed and it doesn't catch the wind and buffet you around when you turn your head. It's snug and comfy, and I found it easy to wear all day. Overall it's a comfortable, stylish, retro-cool helmet that'll keep your noggin safe while making you look like a famous Italian motorcycle racer. Not bad, right?
Now let's talk about what it is not. To be quite frank, the X3000 Super AGV is terrible in wet and humid conditions. Recently I did a little canyon carving in the mountains around San Diego, and I chose the X3000 as my lid since it's small, light, and easy to travel with. Bad choice.
See, January is peak rainy season down there, and our ride was both cool and, shall we say, soggy. Remember how I mentioned earlier how the visor is both watertight and airtight and the helmet only has that one vent? Thanks to this combination of features, the X3000 fogs up like crazy in humid and rainy conditions—especially cold ones—since there's no ventilation for the rider's face.
Even worse, at slow-ish speeds, my glasses fogged up inside the helmet adding an extra layer of hilarious danger to my ride. I'd get up to speed and while the visor slowly cleared, my glasses were still fogged and I couldn't see anything. Not what you want in a hairy, decreasing radius corner on wet pavement high on Palomar Mountain. In short, the X3000 is better suited for hot, dry conditions and for rides where you can keep your speed up.
So, is the X3000 bad? Not at all! In fact, it's quite good and is one of my favorite helmets right now. It's comfortable, stylish, and super easy to wear. That said, it desperately needs a chin vent to get some air on the rider's face. Like, I get that AGV built the X3000 the way it did to get the old school lines just right, and I respect that, but I won't be wearing it on rainy or humid days, you know?
The AGV X3000 Super AGV is currently available at your friendly neighborhood bike shop and goes for $449.95.