Best Karting Helmets in 2026: The Ones I Have Raced With

By Alessio Lorandi, 2013 CIK-FIA World Champion, KF-Junior. I only give an opinion on the helmets I have worn. Everything else on this page is the maker’s own published spec, checked on 5 October 2026.

Four brands, about ten models, and prices from 600 to 2,000 euros. Which one do you put on your head?

Listen, I am not here to promote anybody. Nobody pays me to write this. I can only tell you which helmets I have raced with, what I felt in them, and why I changed.

For the helmets I have not worn, I am not going to pretend. I give you what the maker publishes and I say so.

Which karting helmets have I raced with?

I have been using Arai all my life. Then recently I swapped to Schuberth, and to be honest I am having a really good time with it.

So my top three choices are Schuberth, Bell and Arai. Those are the ones I can talk about.

Here is where each one comes from in my own racing:

• Arai. My karting years, then F3 and F2. The most used helmet of my career.
• Schuberth. The one I race in now on my KZ.
• Bell. I tried it for a bit. Less time in it than the other two.
• Stilo. I wore it in GT cars. On the karting models I only give you the published numbers.

All four are FIA homologated brands and they all protect pretty well. Some of them are lighter, some of them are heavier. That is where the difference starts.

What is the best karting helmet right now?

For me it is the Schuberth. It is comfortable, it is high performing, it is light and it is very protective. I hope I will never have to test its safety measures.

Why did I choose it? To save up weight. A lighter helmet lowers the centre of gravity, and at the end of a long run your neck knows the difference.

The other thing is the shape. It is the helmet that I feel has the best aerodynamics, very similar to the one Max Verstappen uses in Formula 1. I have not made an actual test in the wind tunnel. But this is how it feels to me against the other ones I have worn.

And I really like the ventilation, not going to lie. The clip system on the visor gives you a double choice.

What does Schuberth itself publish? The karting models are the SK1 Carbon Evo and the SK1 Hybrid, both Snell CMR 2016. The carbon one has a hand made, autoclave cured carbon fibre shell, built with the same process as their F1 helmets. The Hybrid mixes carbon fibre and fibreglass. Both have a 3 mm injected visor and a two stage visor lock, where stage one lets a small amount of air in with the visor still locked. That is the double choice I was talking about.

Schuberth does not print a weight or a price on its motorsport page, so I leave those two out of the table below. For the price I can only tell you what I know from my own: about 2,000 euros with the painting.

Is Arai still a good karting helmet?

Yes. I used Arai all my life, so I am not going to tell you now that it is a bad helmet.

It fitted me very well, keeping the cheeks quite tight, which is what you want. And the ventilation is a good one.

So why did I leave? Weight. Of my three it is the heavy one, and that is the reason I moved to the Schuberth.

On the Arai site there are two karting models:

• Arai SK-6. The adult one, built on the shell of the GP-6 car helmet and using the same shield. Arai lists it as Snell K2015/K2020 certified, sizes XS to XL.
• Arai CK-6. The junior one. Arai says it is for junior racers too small to fit or support the weight of the adult SK-6. It meets the Snell/FIA CMR2016 standard, sizes XXS to L.

Arai does not publish a weight or a price for either of them.

One thing to check if you buy an SK-6: which Snell label is inside yours. The FIA Karting rules say K2015 is not valid after the end of 2028. K2020 has no end date in the 2026 rules.

By the way, there is also a newer model, the Arai SKV-R, on the FIA list of helmets homologated to the new karting standard, FIA 8878, since March 2026. I could not find it on the Arai Europe site today, so that is all I can say.

Is the Bell KC7 a good karting helmet?

Bell is in my top three and I stand by it. The interior is nice. The one thing I did not love when I tried it is that the visor felt a bit small to me, especially on the karting ones.

But Bell does something the others do not. It prints everything: the weight, the homologation and the price. So here you can compare for real.

• Bell KC7-CMR. The youth helmet. Snell-FIA CMR2016, sizes 54 to 59. Carbon and fibreglass composite shell, 1,185 g in the small shell and 1,230 g in sizes 57 to 59 (plus or minus 3%). 597.80 euros, VAT included.
• Bell KC7 Ultra CMR. The carbon version of the same youth helmet. 1,095 g in sizes 54 to 56 and 1,130 g in sizes 57 to 59. 1,281.00 euros.
• Bell RS7-K. The adult karting helmet. FIA 8878 with Snell K2025, composite shell, 3 mm visor. 756.40 euros.
• Bell RS7-K Ultra. The adult one in carbon, sizes 54 to 61 and above. 1,342.00 to 1,390.80 euros.

So going from the standard KC7-CMR to the carbon one saves you 90 g in the small shell and costs 683.20 euros more. Is it worth it? That depends on your budget. The standard one already has exactly the same label.

Is Stilo a good helmet for karting?

I have to be honest here. My Stilo time is in GT cars. What I remember is a very light helmet with great visibility, and a shell that felt a bit too large in my opinion.

So for karting I give you the numbers Stilo publishes, and they are interesting numbers.

• Stilo ST6 CMR Zero. Snell CMR2016, carbon. 970 g in the smallest shell (sizes 53 to 56) and 1,010 g in the next one (sizes 57 and 59).
• Stilo ST6 CMR Lite. Snell CMR2016, carbon. 1,050 g and 1,120 g. The graphic editions are 1,140 g and 1,220 g.
• Stilo ST6 KRT Carbon. For drivers from 15 years up. FIA 8878 with Snell K2025. 1,150 g in the small shell, 1,390 g in the large one.
• Stilo ST6 KRT Composite. Same homologation. 1,340 g and 1,570 g.

Stilo gives those weights with a tolerance of 30 g either way. It does not publish prices on its site.

On paper the ST6 CMR Zero is the lightest helmet on this page. I am not going to tell you how it feels in a kart from a number on a page. If you can try one on at a race, do it.

By the way, the grams are not going to find you the lap time. Your driving will. If you want to work on that with me, look at my six month training program.

How do the karting helmets compare on paper?

This is only what the makers publish. Where a cell is empty, the maker does not give that number and I am not going to guess it.

Weights are the bare helmet as the maker lists it. The painting adds to that. Bell prices are from the Bell Racing Europe shop, VAT included, on 5 October 2026.

Which helmet for a child and which for an adult?

It is the age that decides, and the line is at 15.

The FIA Karting technical regulations for 2026 (Article 7.1) say that for drivers under 15 years old the helmet has to be Snell-FIA CM, which means CMS2016 or CMR2016. Nothing else.

So for a child you are choosing between these:

• Arai CK-6
• Bell KC7-CMR or KC7 Ultra CMR
• Schuberth SK1 Carbon Evo or SK1 Hybrid
• Stilo ST6 CMR

Over 15 the list gets longer. It includes Snell K2020, the new FIA 8878 karting standard (with K2025 only if the helmet carries both labels), and some car racing standards as well. That is where the Arai SK-6, the Bell RS7-K and the Stilo ST6 KRT come in.

And here is the part many parents miss. The same list for over 15 still includes the CMR and CMS helmets. So a CMR helmet does not expire on the 15th birthday. If it still fits and the label is still valid, your kid keeps racing in it.

Your national federation or your series can ask for something different, so read their rules before you pay. And if you want the step by step on fit and on reading the label, I did that in how to choose your first helmet.

How much does a good karting helmet cost?

I tell you what I know from my own gear. With a Schuberth, between the whole helmet and the painting, it is going to be about 2,000 euros. It depends where you buy it and the discounts you get. With a Bell I would say 1.7, 1.8 thousand, painted.

Does that match the price list? Pretty much. The carbon Bell for juniors is 1,281 euros on the Bell site. Nowadays you can get your helmet painted for 500 euros or so. Put them together and you are there.

And if that is too much? Then look at the bottom of the same list. The standard Bell KC7-CMR is 597.80 euros and it has exactly the same CMR2016 label as the carbon one.

The other way is second hand. You can save about 500, 600 euros on a helmet like that, and there are a lot of people selling theirs. But ask about the crashes. If it had big hits in the past, I would not buy it, because the fibres inside the shell probably broke a bit.

What I would never do is go for a cheap helmet with no proper label. If you try to be cheap, then you actually end up paying twice. Your head is the most important asset you have. For the rest of the kit and what it all costs, I went through it in what equipment you need for karting and in the cheapest way to start kart racing.

Is the most expensive karting helmet really the best?

Sometimes, yes. The one who costs the most is sometimes the one who is the best overall. I believe that is the case with the Schuberth. It costs more than all the others and I think it is the best option right now.

What are you paying for? Not for more protection, in my opinion. All the proper brands protect pretty well. You pay for a carbon shell, so less weight on your neck. You pay for the shape. And you pay for small things you only notice when you swap.

The sound is one of them. I tested different ones, and you can really notice a difference going from the Arai to the Schuberth, and from the Schuberth to the Bell.

But I am not married to a brand. I will not switch anytime soon, unless the other brands improve their versions. And looking at the weights Bell and Stilo publish now, they are working on it.

If you want to know how much the shape of a helmet is really worth on the straight, I wrote about aerodynamics in karting. Half a tenth maybe at the end of the lap, and it is very, very hard to measure.

So which karting helmet should you buy?

My top pick right now is the Schuberth. My most used overall is the Arai. And Bell is the one where you see every number before you pay.

If you do not want to listen to me, here is a simpler rule. Just go for the brands that the world champions, the European champions and the drivers who are winning races are using. That is not just marketing. If they are using it, it is because they think it is going to help them win more. That is exactly what I did for myself.

For a child under 15, start from the label, CMR2016, and then choose the one that fits your kid’s head best among the four above. A helmet that fits well beats a lighter one that moves around.

For an adult, any of the adult models here does the job. If the budget allows, go carbon. Your neck will thank you in the last laps.

And remember the helmet is second on my list. The first thing I would spend on is the rib protector, then the helmet, then the suit.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best karting helmet?

For me it is the Schuberth, the helmet I race in now. It costs more than the others, about 2,000 euros with the painting, and I think it is the best option right now.

What is the best karting helmet for a child?

Under 15 the helmet has to be Snell-FIA CMR2016 or CMS2016 under the FIA Karting technical regulations for 2026. The models with that label from the four brands on this page are the Arai CK-6, the Bell KC7-CMR and KC7 Ultra CMR, the Schuberth SK1 Carbon Evo and SK1 Hybrid, and the Stilo ST6 CMR.

How much does a karting helmet cost?

On the Bell Racing Europe site on 5 October 2026 the KC7-CMR is 597.80 euros, the RS7-K is 756.40 euros, the KC7 Ultra CMR is 1,281.00 euros and the RS7-K Ultra is 1,342.00 to 1,390.80 euros, VAT included. A Schuberth with the painting is about 2,000 euros in my experience. Painting a helmet is 500 euros or so.

What is the lightest karting helmet?

Of the weights the makers publish, the lightest on this page is the Stilo ST6 CMR Zero at 970 g in its smallest shell. The Bell KC7 Ultra CMR is 1,095 g in sizes 54 to 56 and the standard Bell KC7-CMR is 1,185 g. Schuberth and Arai do not publish a weight on their own sites.

Can an adult use a CMR karting helmet?

Yes. In the FIA Karting technical regulations for 2026 the list for drivers over 15 years old still includes Snell-FIA CMS2016 and CMR2016. So a CMR helmet stays accepted after 15, as long as it fits and the label is valid.