Quote:
Originally Posted by SFoster
It turns out that my head is not round enough for the Nolan. I returned to DeSimone Motorsports in New Jersey and they had me try on many many helmets (essentially every one they had on display). What became apparent was that none of the Nolan helmets fit my melon correctly (for me that is). The best fit was with the Shoei brand. All of them seemed to fit my head shape better than the others. I purchased the Shoei Multitec, which actually works great with the cheap earbuds that come with the iPhone.
I really wanted the Nolan to work, as I liked the integrated system. Alas, it was not to be.
I highly recommend DeSimone to anyone in the Delaware Valley. They allowed me to return the helmet and equipment with a full refund. The parts manager even bought me a Coke during the whole process. I'm in the service business and I was amazed at how much time they spent on this whole process... all with a smile. They have a customer for life.
That's good to hear. My local dealer's policy is once you bought it, you own it as far as helmet stuff goes. That really sucks. No refunds. Exchanges. Nothing.
Cycle Gear is more lenient - maybe one month with an exchange for fit.
I liked the Nolan for the features like their strap latch, internal flip-down sun visor, and clean looks of their integrated Bluetooth and n-Com. However, it is a bit noisy without a good shield in front of it of some sort. Weight-wise, it's touted as being one of the heaviest flips out there, but that didn't seem to bother me on the road.
What I grew to dislike was Bluetooth in general. It is an absolute
"PAIN" to deal with - especially on a motorcycle. Fidelity of Bluetooth speakers - or any helmet speaker - is poor and you can discover that using their Multi-Media wired cable which improves that one alone with their Basic Kit II (Speaker) system. After a few hours, my ears were ringing from wind noise and me needing to run the n-Com at full volume plus the added boost off the Autocom volume setting.
Better, imho, is in-ear phones if just to save your hearing to say nothing of better fidelity and at a lower volume. I prefer quality sound which seems to be only achievable with wires. Ugh!
With Bluetooth, you need a charger else it may run out of juice and drop out requiring you to charge and re-pair it back up to some silly stereo dongle that will also probably need charging at the same time. No charge = No sounds -- and for miles....
Some things will not link up to their BT protocol (although their BT version II n-Com was much better and in stereo). I got tired of pulling over and fiddling with the BT stuff which seemed to be a curse at times and I often had to resort back to a hard-wired setup. The old fashioned wired Autocom is far easier to deal with. No wire = No sound.
With Bluetooth, who knows what causes it to drop out, not be in stereo at times, where's the charger, why do I need to sit and wait 3-4 hours for a charge, I need more 110 volt AC outlets for 2 helmets and one for the stereo dongle's charger too, etc. Where's the gain? Bluetooth has a ways to go, imo, to be biker friendly.
<my 2 cents, of course>
Mack