NOLAN N103 CLASSIC N-COM WHITE, Weight 1700g for size small.

Looking for a flip-front helmet I went to look at the Nolan N90 in Hein Gerick in Newry Co.Down. Having tried the N90 on I was disappointed in the helmet. The lining felt rough on my follicly challenged head.
Having tried another in case it was a one off. No luck it was the same. One of shop assistants gave me the N103 to try. What a difference. The lining was soft and the shape suited my head, Comfortable from the start. The down side of this was the price, with a budget off £200 the Nolan N103 was £65 over. When told they had a promotion on any thing over £200 and the price dropped to £211 with the discount. I headed home with a new helmet.
That was about 8-9 months ago, having done around 10000 miles wearing it heres my option on it. The first thing, coming from a full face helmet was the noise. Its a must for me to wear ear-plugs when riding or audio ear-phones so I can listen to music on long rides.Because these helmets are Nolan N-COM compatible there is room around the ear for speakers (not fitted), so wearing ear-phones is comfortable for long periods. The vents work well on the top passing a cooling breeze over my head on the move. The flip-front is great opened when sitting or moving in slow traffic in towns when the sun shines. Also stopping for fuel or taking photographs I find it great, not having to remove it all the time. It opens easily with one hand and a solid click on the metal catches informs you it locked when lowered. Having come from wearing Arai helmets and the D ring fasteners, the Microlock chinstrap mechanism that Nolan uses is simple and effective in use. Coming supplied with a Pinlock Visor fitted my view remains clear on those wet and cold days when visor misting can be a pain. The built-in drop down sun visor works well and works from a slide on the left hand side of the helmet. My only problem so far is sometimes it will not retract using the slide and needs pushed back up into the shell. Compared to my Arai, visor removal is easy, push in the retaining button and pull forward. Result. Another thing being a flip-front its slightly bigger and heavier that a full face, but don't notice it when wearing. With a removable lining to aid cleaning, at lease it should remain more pleasant over it life span.
While riding with a Givi touring screen fitted I get very little buffeting wearing the Nolan. While my Aria would give you double vision with the same set up. It highlights the shape has on the buffeting you get from your screen. So if you can try before you buy.
Register you new Nolan and Nolan gives a five year guarantee.Like all guarantee's read the small print.
Its a good helmet and a couple of small problems like the sun visor drops the reliability marks . Over all I'm happy with it would buy again even at the full price.

I finally got round to treating myself to a new helmet a couple of months ago.
I went for the Nolan N90 Special Flip

www.hein-gericke.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/products_id/7950


I have quite a large, round 'ish head! and have always struggled to get full face helmets on & off past my ears without some discomfort.

Even though, technically, I measure up as large, I found that most full face helmets felt like trying to buy jeans from Next!
A tight fit!!!
The Nolan is so comfortable, easy on & off and excellent ventilation.
Being a flip helmet, it can be a quite noisy but no worse than my previous Caberg.
The flip can be locked in the up position if you're mad enough to want to ride with it up.
The visor comes off very easy, no fuss at all and the standard visor as a very subtle tint which just filters out the bright daylight nicely.
It also has a built in flip down sun visor which can easily be operated one handed whilst riding.
Best of all was the price, £200 quid down to £160 in the Hein Gerick 40th anniversary sale.
Very pleased indeed.

Ade