Nolan N30 half-helmet review

[fnfalman]

I figured what the hell, for buzzing around town on my scooter, it ain't bad. The Nolan N30 is DOT rated, of course, but it is gear more toward the urban rider and scooter rider because there is a selection of "girlie" graphics as well as the racy twin-stripes graphics in various colors available. I chose the matt red with ivory stripes. The helmet itself is rather handsomely turned out. Matt red paint seems to be pretty durable so far.

The liner is of a brown color that contrasts quite well with the paint job. Leave it to the Eye-tie to be fashionable.

The chin strap has an additional soft fake leather wrap to keep it from cutting into your cheek. A nice touch. The buckle is one of those quick insert/quick adjust thingie. Convenient but I seriously doubt that it's as good or safe as the typical D-ring. This same buckle is on my Nolan N102 flip-up as well.

Overall fit & finish is quite good though it is a loud helmet. Not a lot of insulation around the ears and there's some buffeting unlike the AVG Dragon helmet which is super quiet and smooth. However, the Nolan will be a lot cooler during the summer because of the lesser amount of insulation and liner thickness. I can feel more air flow around my cheeks and into my head.

The face shield only go half way up instead of all the way up. I guess I can remove it completely and just rely on my prescription glasses or maybe a set of goggles.

I think that the AGV Dragon is a superior half-helmet in design and practicality not to mention being significantly cheaper, but the Nolan N30 does have that cool retro look to it.

One caveat is that the sizing from Nolan doesn't translate from one model to another. The modular N102 helmet's Large size is a hair too large for me and a medium would have fitted me better. On this N30, the large is a bit too tight for me and I could have gone with an XL.