Nolan 100-5 First Impressions

[BF204]

I bought a new lid... I was torn between Shoei RF1200 and wanting to try a Nolan modular. (I've owned both brands before in full face). No one around here carries Nolan, so I took the plunge and ordered a 100-5 mailorder. I figured if I don't like the fit, their return policy is good, and I'd just return it... Also, the 100-5 seems (?) to be a pretty new model, with few owner reviews, so I thought I'd post my thoughts here...

 

First impressions out of the box is that it feels like a quality piece. Comes in a nice carry bag. Finish is nice (I chose solid colour, platinum silver). Liner etc, all seems like quality stuff. Top and chin vents feel solid and are very positively open or closed (almost hard to open/close). This is better than being loose with possibility of rattling I think. The chin bar release mechanism seems good, and is not tricky to do. The visor movement is a bit stiff (and loud) with the detente's being a bit harsh. The first detente on the visor is not just cracked open, it's about a finger width. It comes with pinlock in the box, but I haven't installed it yet. It you have the visor all the way up, and then open the chin bar, the chin bar slides up and nestles under the visor (so the visor would be closed when you pull the chin bar back down)... Seems ok, and I was glad that it works this way instead of having to close the visor before lifting the chin bar (I've never had a modular, so don't know how these things normally work). The P / J lock would probably be hard to slide wearing gloves. Sun visor seems to work ok, control buttons are intuitive and glove-friendly, but I'm on the fence whether it is something I will like/use or not.

 

As for fit, the helmet sizing seems to be as advertised. I ordered a medium, and the fit is excellent for my head. It fits me slightly better than an RF1200 (which are around locally, so I've tried on). I was concerned that the nolan cheek pads would either be squishing my face too much (which some brands seem to do), or that with the modular, the cheek pads would seem bigger than normal, and extending around the front off my face.... but neither is the case. They are firm against my cheek bones, and feel better than the other helmets I've been able to try on, including the Shoei (I got lucky!!). I sort of expected it to fit me well based on my previous experience having a Nolan, but buying without trying it on still seemed like rolling the dice. The visor opening is really large, so visibility is great. Closure around the chin/neck seems better than any helmet I've had, and can be made tighter with the neck roll draw cord. The main really bad thing that came up when trying it on was the fit of the "microlock" strap thing. First time putting the helmet on, it felt great, until I did it up. The chinlock cam thing was just too tight, even on the 1st (loosest) locking position.... I thought OK, that's a deal breaker, but then thought it would be ridiculous if that was not adjustable somehow, so I checked the instruction book... Turns out that one side is adjustable, by lengthening the nylon strap that connects to the plastic strap (hidden away in lining). After adjusting that, I have it so that when the microlock is in the middle of it's range, the strap feels normal (allows me to loosen/tighten from there). So the "too tight" strap thing was an adjustment issue and easy fix... But I'm still not sure about the camlock closure thing. Main dislike is that you don't have a long strap to hold securely with left hand while putting the helmet on or taking it off. I think I'm much more likely to accidentally drop the lid with this closure. Also, I do use the helmet lock on my bike fairly regularly, so now I'll have to carry one of those adapter/extension things for that. Maybe I'll warm up to it, but I probably would've preferred a standard strap and D-rings. Second thing I didn't like about the fit was that the sun visor hits my nose when it's in the fully down position. Maybe I should blame genetics instead of the helmet, but it is what it is. The next detente up of the sun shield is just above the tip of my nose, so that'd be the position it'll be in (if I use it)... Lowering it quickly to just that position (instead of all the way down and whacking my nose) might take some practice.... not sure if the max travel of the sunscreen can be limited, but I doubt it. Maybe a dab of RTV at the end of the button slot (?). I will probably stay with using sunglasses for the most part anyway, but for those times when you turn directly into the setting sun, maybe the screen will be nice to have (?).

 

Anyway, these are my first impressions which are quite positive, and enough for me to say I'm keeping it... I'll post an update when I get a chance to ride with it. With the fit around the neck, I'm hoping it will be much quieter than my last lid (an older and trashy HJC overdue for retirement). Sorry this ended up so long, it's more like $.10 instead of $.02 !

[BF204]

Follow up... I managed to fit in a couple hundred miles of mixed riding over the last few days.... Some short errand running and a couple longer rides. Longest I've worn it is about 1.5 hour continuously. So far, very happy with the N100-5. Comfortable, good visibility, and has good venting. Doesn't feel stuffy, even if you leave the visor down at a light.. Sunscreen has come in handy a few times, but I wore sunglasses for a longer ride. The fit around the temple is tight to fit the arms of the sunglasses through, maybe it'll loosen up. But, if you're an eyeglass wearer, it might (?) be annoyingly snug. Definitely a LOT quieter then my old lid. No vent whistling or anything like that at highway speeds. I installed the pinlock visor, and it seems like a good thing. Very good optically, so no down side that way.

 

I'm not even minding that microlock chin strap thingy anymore.... So... 2 thumbs up from me...

[BF204]

Just another update a few weeks later.... My satisfaction with the Nolan has gone up the more I've used it. It's even more comfortable now than it was at first. I have had a couple longer day rides now in weather up to 30 oC. The top vent works very well, you can actually feel the air moving against the top of your head.. (leaving it open on a cool morning gives you a slurpee brain-freeze feeling). I've used either sunglasses or the sun visor at various times. While the sun visor is good optically, I find that if it's down and the front visor is also down, the helmet feels noticeably hotter..... so for hot weather highway driving, I prefer sunglasses. I've used an extender thing that I made to be able to use the helmet lock on the bike... I turns out that one of those little metal cover things that covers over unused slots on the back of a computer is the right size to fit through the helmet's cam lock.. I just ground the corners to my liking, and drilled a hole in it. Took 2 min and works fine. Beats paying for something that is so simple.