Nolan N64 full face motorcycle crash helmet review

The Nolan N64 – Nolan’s ‘do everything’ polycarbonate full face helmet

The N64 is another reasonably priced polycarbonate full faced helmet from Italian manufacturer Nolan.

Nolan tend to specialise in polycarbonate helmets – mainly because they perform really well in an impact, they’re reasonably light weight and they’re cheaper to manufacture and therefore have a lower shelf price. But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to offer great protection, because some of the best protecting helmets around are polycarbonate; and of course Nolan are our joint fourth best performing crash helmet brand.

The N64 is Nolan’s ‘go anywhere, do anything, ride any bike’ type of helmet – aiming to be a versatile, lower priced helmet for more or less everyone, whatever type of road riding they do.

There’s not much information out there about how well it’s liked, but we’ve trawled the web and found out as much as we can about what owners think about the N64 motorcycle helmet.

Note: this helmet is now discontinued. Visit our main Nolan Helmets review page for current Nolan helmets.

Overall/Summary

The Nolan N64 is a essentially a great basic helmet let down by poor noise suppression. It scores highly for impact protection (SHARP 4 stars) and it does pretty well everything that a budget helmet should do – except the ventilation is to be found a little wanting when things hot up. The visor’s fine, it’s comfortable, it’s got an easy-to-use micrometric lock and it can be had for a very reasonable price.

Only pretty well every owner we could find said it was noisy.

If that doesn’t bother you – or you’ve got a pair of really good ear plugs – then the Nolan N64 is worth a look. If not, you might want to check out one of our suggested alternatives at the bottom of the page – or click around the site to see our other budget helmets or top rated crash helmets.

nolan-n64-swerve-black-crash-helmet-side-view
This one’s the N64 in Swerve graphics
  • Full face polycarbonate helmet
  • SHARP 4 star safety rated
  • Micrometric fastener
  • Pinlock-ready
  • One shell size only
  • Sizes XXS-XXL
  • Expect to pay £80-£149

Looking to buy a Nolan?

We recommend Motoin (Ger) for quality service and decent prices (even with the current £-€ exchange rate). Or you can click through to the Nolan helmets pages at Amazon UK if you prefer to buy from them. Please see here for more info on these stores or click the links to go straight to their Nolan helmet pages where you'll find the latest designs and deals.

Safety

The Nolan N64 scored four stars when safety tested by SHARP – which is a very good score and in line with every other Nolan tested to date.

It is of course ECE 22.05 tested/approved too, so all round, we’d expect the Nolan N64 to offer good impact protection in an accident.

There’s other features which contribute to safety too of course – including the micrometric fastener and the Pinlock-ready visor to keep things fog-free – though unfortunately the N64 doesn’t come with a Pinlock in the box, unlike many helmets these days including some of Nolan’s other helmets like the N87.

nolan-n64-gemini-replica-danilo-petrucci-crash-helmet-side-view
Here’s the N64 Gemini Petrucci replica

A slightly negative point is that the N64 is only manufactured in one shell size. That’s not uncommon for lower priced helmets but if you’re at the extreme ends of the fitment sizes (XXS/XS or XXL/XL) it may mean the helmet looks either too large or small for your body size. It may also, arguably, mean there’s more or less than the optimal ratio of padding and polystyrene lining in there.

That said, experts agree that the most important factor for the safety of any helmet is to get a helmet that fits correctly in the first place and everything else is secondary to that. Check out our fitting guide to find out how.

Helmet Noise

There’s one thing that pretty well every owner we heard from online said – that the Nolan N64 is a noisy helmet.

As we always say, how noisy a helmet is is very much a personal thing and depends on a wide range of factors. But in the N64s case, opinions seem to range from plain ole ‘it’s noisy’ to ‘OMG NOISY!’ so we’re pretty sure this is one helmet you’re going to have to wear a good pair of ear plugs with.

Folks who ventured a suggestion thought the noise levels might be down to lack of padding around the ears or a lack of a chin curtain, allowing noise (and air) to come up from the bottom of the helmet. Either way, if you’re after a quiet helmet, you might want to look elsewhere and check out our quietest helmets section.

nolan-n64-twirl-silver-motorbike-crash-helmet-front-view
Single chin vent and double scalp vents

Ventilation

Ventilation is taken care of by the pretty common combo of single chin vent and double forehead vent, with exhausts pulling out the warm air from the rear of the shell.

All vents on the N64 are easy to operate, with the chin vent being a large toggle plate (press the bottom to open it at the top) and the top vents being small sliders – though one comment was they feel very far back on the helmet until you get used to them.

The chin vent seems to work well. Even so, it’s not going to be enough to keep the visor fog-free in colder areas or when it starts to rain, so it’s good to see that Nolan have made the N64’s visor Pinlock ready (though there’s no Pinlock in the box).

For the head vents, a few owners commented that it can be hard to feel any ventilation going onto the top of the helmet and it can get a bit hot in there. So if you’re after a great venting helmet, you might want to look elsewhere.

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Rear view showing exhaust vents hiding under the spoiler

Visor

The visor on the Nolan N64 is a pretty straight forward affair. It works on a ratchet and has the opening tab in the middle so you can open it with your left or right hand – which is useful.

It has four ratchet positions, including a cracked-open position for a little extra venting when you’re bimbling along, and it has Nolan’s own version of the visor quick removal mechanism which is very good and easy to use.

While the N64’s visor is Pinlock-ready, it doesn’t come with a Pinlock anti-fog insert in the box, which is a shame because many other Nolans, including the N87 and N86 do. If you do buy an N64 and expect to wear it in colder/rainier climates, we’d recommend buying a Pinlock to keep things mist-free – but factor another £30ish into the price.

Comfort & Sizing

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Inside view showing micrometric fastener

The interior on the Nolan N64 is widely rated as fairly comfortable by the owners we heard from. They also seem to reckon it feels light – which it is for a polycarbonate full face helmet, weighing in around 1.4Kg.

The comfort lining includes Nolan’s Clima Comfort material which is their version of a moisture wicking fabric, there to pull moisture away from the head where it can vent out of the rear of the helmet. The interior’s also removable and washable, as you’d expect in all but the very cheapest helmets.

There were no reports of the helmet sizing being other than accurate, so if you’re interested in ordering an N64 (or any other helmet) we recommend you use our helmet fitting guide to make sure you order the right size.

Looks & Graphics

If you’re after a plain, solid colour, there’s both a gloss black (Metal Black) version and gloss white (Pure White) as well as the Flat Black matt black version. There’s also the Gemini Replica range, featuring Danilo Petrucci, Danny Kent, Canepa, Bastianini, Chas Davies, Leon Camier and Marco Melandri replicas. And there’s also the distinctive Wiring and Twirl designs.

nolan-n64-wiring-flat-black-crash-helmet-rear-view
Rear view of the N64 ‘Wiring’ showing small rear spoiler

There’s actually a massive range of graphics made for the N64, far too many to show them all on this page. So, to see the latest graphics available and check the latest prices, we recommend you click our recommended retailer links below which will drop you on their Nolan helmets pages.

Best place to buy this Nolan crash helmet?

Motoin (Germany) get great feedback (4.9 and 4.5 out of 5 on Idealo and eTrustedshops at the time of writing) though note, there's a delivery charge to ship outside of Germany, so factor that in (see here for details).

Or you can jump through to the Nolan helmets pages at Amazon UK if you prefer to buy from there - but make sure you only buy from the most reputable sellers.

Please click any picture below to visit their Nolan helmets pages. And if you buy from any, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you - a massive THANKS! (it's how we finance the site). Click here for more info on our recommended retailers.

Click above to drop onto their Nolan helmets pages or *quick view retailer T&Cs here.

Nolan N64 video

We actually couldn’t find an English language video showing the N64 – so instead here’s a video with riders Marco Melandri and Claudio Corti showing how much they love their N64s (and not because their sponsors told them to – honest!) followed by an interesting video showing the making of Nolan helmets, presumably at their factory in Bergamo, Italy. Well, I found it interesting anyhow…


Other stuff – audio, build quality, warranty

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Here’s the N64 Twirl (also available in red and grey)

As is usual with all Nolans, the Nolan N64 is designed to work with Nolan’s own N-Com bluetooth communicator.

Most owners reckon it feels well built, with quality parts and construction. But if it does fail, it comes with a 5 year warranty, which is about as long as crash helmet warranties come.

Crash Helmet Buying Guides & Top 10s

For (hopefully!) other useful information to help you when buying your next helmet, check our various Motorcycle Helmet Buying Guides - or have a look at our Top 10 best helmet lists where we've got the top 10 best rated helmets overall along with Top 10 Best Budget/Top 10 Safest/Top 10 Best Full Face/Top 10 Best Modular/Flip-up/ Top 10 Best Sportsbike/Track helmets.

Alternatives to the Nolan N64

There’s plenty of alternatives to the N64. If you’re looking for a great value full face motorcycle helmet, have a look at any of these…

For a similar price to the Nolan, there’s the Shark S600 – an entry-level helmet that’s a bit no frills but comes with a Pinlock in the box and scored a great four stars in SHARP’s safety test. It comes in under the ton too so it’s great value. Or if you want a sun visor included, the Shark S700S is SHARP four star and a good low price too. Finally at this price, there’s the Scorpion Exo 410, that’s a four star rated helmet with great ventilation and optically-correct visor.

Even cheaper than the N64, we’ve gotta mention the MT Revenge, that’s another no-frills type of full face helmet, but this one’s SHARP 5 star safety rated – that’s top marks. Or even cheaper still is the 4 star MT Thunder, which owners reckon is a great performer too.

Going up the pricing scale a little, the AGV K3 SV is a four star full face helmet with drop down sun visor and a Pinlock in the box. And finally, there’s the N64’s older brother, the Nolan N87, a SHARP 4 star helmet with Pinlock in the box and drop down sun visor like the AGV.

Phew – told you there were plenty of alternatives!

Looking to buy a Nolan?

We recommend Motoin (Ger) for quality service and decent prices (even with the current £-€ exchange rate). Or you can click through to the Nolan helmets pages at Amazon UK if you prefer to buy from them. Please see here for more info on these stores or click the links to go straight to their Nolan helmet pages where you'll find the latest designs and deals.

Definitely want a Nolan?

Here you'll find all our Nolan crash helmet reviews and previews including full face, flip-up and open face helmets.

Star Ratings

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Safety
Comfort
Noise
Features
Value
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nolan-n64-full-face-motorcycle-crash-helmet-reviewThe Nolan N64 is a SHARP four star safety rated helmet that's comfortable and pretty cheap. Unfortunately it's let down by being pretty basic too, and being one of the noisiest helmets around, as reported by owners. However, if you're after a no-frills type of helmet - and have some decent ear plugs - it might well be worth a look.

1 COMMENT

  1. Probably one of the worst helmets in the market. Noisy, inner pads soften very quick, outer paint layer gets scratched so easily, visor change is not so quick, Not a helmet for long rides. Aerodynamics is so so. No cheek pad comes with the helmet. No neck padding.

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