ICON Ultraflite Opal Mandala MIPS Helmet

Purple is a risky color on a motorcycle helmet. It either looks like a toy or it looks incredible, and ICON landed firmly on incredible with this one. The Purple edition of the Ultraflite Opal Mandala carries the same intricate geometric mandala engraving as the Ultraflite Opal Mandala Blue, but the Opal color-shift coat here swings between deep violet, smoky green, and near-chrome silver as light moves across the shell. On a dark bike it reads almost stealthy. In direct sun it turns heads at every junction. And because this is an Ultraflite underneath, the show comes with MIPS, a hand-laid fiberglass shell, and current ECE 22.06 certification, everything you should demand from a premium full face helmet, so nothing about it is style over substance.

Who This Colorway Suits

The Misanthrope shouts. The blue Mandala glows. This purple version does something slyer: it looks nearly black in shade, then reveals the full chameleon effect the moment light hits it. Riders on dark, murdered-out bikes pick this one because it matches at rest and surprises in motion. If you want stealth all the time rather than only in the shade, the Ultraflite Gloss Black is the straightforward answer. This one sits at the quiet end of the ICON helmet collection, which is otherwise loud by design. It also pairs naturally with ICON's Blurple Purple accessory shield if you want to push the whole helmet into full color-shift territory later.

One Thing to Know About the Photos

Product images of this helmet, including ICON's own, usually show a silver mirror shield installed for the photoshoot. That mirror shield is an accessory. What actually ships in the box is a Dark Smoke fog-free Ultrashield plus a clear Pinlock-prepared shield. We say this upfront because nothing annoys a buyer like opening the box expecting chrome. If you want the mirrored look, ICON sells Ultrashield tints separately, including the mirror and Blurple options, and they swap on in seconds.

The Safety Story, Told Straight

Start at the outside. The shell is fiberglass composite (FRP), laid up by hand rather than injection molded. Hand-laid fiberglass costs more to make, which is exactly why budget helmets don't use it: it manages crash energy better at a lower weight.

Inside sits the MIPS layer, the yellow low-friction liner you can see when you look into the helmet. During an angled impact, and most street crashes are angled, it lets the shell rotate 10 to 15 millimeters around your head in the first milliseconds, cutting the rotational jolt that causes many serious brain injuries. Think of it as a slip plane between the road's twist and your skull.

Then the paperwork, which matters more than most riders admit. This helmet is certified to DOT FMVSS 218, Japan's PSC, and ECE 22.06. That last one is the current European standard that added rotational-energy testing to the lab process. Helmets certified only to the older 22.05 are still legal to sell in many places, but they were never tested for the crash type MIPS addresses. This one passed the modern test.

Round it off with emergency release cheek pads, which let medics strip the interior and lift the helmet off an injured rider with minimal neck movement.

Fit First, Everything Else Second

No feature list saves a helmet that fits wrong, so get this part right. The Ultraflite is an intermediate oval, the head shape most people have, marginally longer front to back. Wrap a soft tape around your head roughly an inch above your eyebrows and ears, take the number in centimeters, and match it against ICON's chart. When you try it on, your cheeks should move with the helmet when you rock the chin bar, and nothing should press into your forehead. Snug now is right, because every liner beds in and loosens slightly over the first weeks.

Shields, Sun, and Airflow

Daily usability is where the Ultraflite earns its keep. The main Ultrashield releases with side plates and swaps in seconds, no tools. The internal DropShield Ultra sun visor is oversized, covers more of your view than typical drop-downs, and runs off an external switch you can find with winter gloves on. ICON's instruction is to deploy it only with the main shield fully closed.

Airflow comes through four intakes, one of them a big motocross-style port on the chin bar, and exits through two rear exhausts. The trick is inside: the EPS foam is carved with deep channels and a recessed twin-channel Supervent path, so air moves across your head instead of pooling at the front. Add the removable chin curtain and breath deflector, and you have a helmet that stays reasonably quiet in winter and genuinely breathes in summer.

The liner is Hydradry wicking fabric trimmed with Ax Suede, and the whole interior pulls out for a wash, which your passengers' noses will appreciate after a long summer.

Comms-Ready From the Factory

ICON shaped this helmet around its HelmLink Bluetooth system, sold separately in our helmet communication systems section. Speaker pockets and mount geometry are already in place, so adding intercom, calls, navigation, and music later is a ten-minute job, not surgery.