Nolan’s N80-8; full face polycarb all-rounder helmet.

nolan-n80-8-featured

The Nolan N80-8 is the successor to the Nolan N87 – a well liked, well specced polycarb all rounder full face helmet that was pretty much the staple of the Nolan range.

And while the N80-8 has a similar look and vibe, it’s actually a substantially redesigned lid.

nolan n80-8 50th mandrake white black red helmet front view
Nolan N80-8 in Mandrake graphics

It’s still got a polycarbonate shell though, and it’s got pretty well all the same features as the N87 – which is a good thing. And it’s still on the market at a competive price point: around the £200 mark – or maybe a smidge over if you go for graphics rather than plain.

If you’re after a good value all-rounder then, and aren’t put off by the fact it’s a plastic helmet rather than fibre or carbon (which you shouldn’t be because the outgoing N87 scored an excellent 4/5 stars for safety when SHARP tested it), then read on as we pick apart the N80-8 to see what it offers.

  • All rounder full face helmet
  • Polycarbonate shell
  • ECE 22.06 certified
  • EQRS
  • ESS (optional)
  • Sun visor
  • Pinlock included
  • 2 shell sizes
  • Fitment sizes XXS-XXXL
  • 1.5Kg (about avg for a full face)
  • Expect to pay £180-£220

Best places to buy a Nolan N80-8?

Please click below to drop straight onto the Nolan N80-8 helmets pages at our recommended retailers. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Buy from SportsBikeShop

Safety

 (more about helmet safety)

OK, we love it when a helmet’s been SHARP tested because it makes sussing out whether it’s really protective very easy.

Unfortunately, the Nolan N80-8 hasn’t been SHARPed yet; though the old N87 – that had a similar spec – scored a thoroughly decent four stars out of five.

nolan n80-8 flat matt black motorcycle helmet rear view
Flat black version of the N80-8

The new N80-8 is ECE 22.06 certified though, so it’s undergone slightly more stringent mandatory pre-sale testing than the old helmet which was to the old ECE 22.05 standard. And of course, the Nolan Brand has always had a great history of making some of the most protective helmets you can buy.

They’ve never actually made it to the top of our ‘best protecting helmet brands‘ list but, at the time of writing, they’re at a very respectable mid-table and none of their tested helmets has ever scored less than four stars out of five when SHARP’s tested it – which is obviously an amazing achievement!

Testing and certification aside, it has a raft of features that you’d look out for when trying to buy a well protecting helmet.

It’s a polycarbonate shelled helmet that’s available in two shell sizes. That number ain’t particularly great as it means it’ll probably not be overly-well optimised for your head. Generally, you’d prefer a helmet to be made in 3 or more sizes for a better optimised fit.

The smallest of the N80-8 shells fits head sizes XXS-M and the largest, sizes L-XXXL, meaning Nolan has to either pad-out or under-pad most helmets a little to make them work for different sized heads – and that probably ain’t ideal for looks, fitment or protection.

You might notice the word ‘Lexan’ on the side of the N80-8?

nolan n80-8 staple black yellow crash helmet side view
This one’s the Staple graphic Nolan N80-8. Notice sun visor slider, nicely placed along the bottom edge

Nolan – and a few other helmet makers – shout a bit about it being Lexan polycarbonate, in relation to either the shell or visor. But what is it?

well, Lexan is simply a trade name for the polycarbonate made by Sabic, a state-owned Saudi chemical company. So I’m not entirely sure why they shout about it!

As far as my research shows, it’s a pretty standard material with no special characteristics over and above regular non-branded polycarbonates, so maybe it’s just the helmet makers trying to make it look better than it actually is by slapping the name on the helmet and their marketing materials? If anyone out there knows better, then please put it in the comments and I’ll share it with the world!

What the Nolan N80-8 does have in terms of safety-related equipment is: quick release cheek pads (EQRS), a wide visor fitted with a Pinlock antifog (Pinlock incuded in the price), a sun visor, metal micrometric 2 fastener and the option to fit an emergency stop light (ESS) on the back of the helmet.

All those things are good for safety as well as making for a more user-friendly helmet.

Given Nolan’s track record, we’d very much expect the Nolan N80-8 to score 4 stars for safety were SHARP to test it, so we’d expect it to give overrall very good levels of protection.

Ventilation

(more about helmet ventilation)

Like the old N87, the Nolan N80-8 has Nolan’s AirBooster technology. I wouldn’t get too excited though as it’s just a fairly regular type of ventilation system with a fancy name.

nolan-n80-8-Starscream-black-red-motorcycle-helmet-rear-view
Rear exhausts and top vent button visible on this Nolan N80-8 Starscream

Essentially, air enters the helmet through that large crown vent, circulates around the head through channels in the polystyrene EPS liner before exiting via the pair of exhaust vents at the top and bottom rear of the helmet.

Nolan has put some decent sized holes and a mesh panel in the comfort liner though, which is important to let the air get through to your head.

That top vent can be closed off if it gets too chilly too, using a small but pretty glove-friendly slider on the top. Likewise, the chin bar vent can be opened or closed, this time that whole central panel slides up or down (making it very easy to use in gloves) and takes air into the chin area and rear of the visor to help with demisting.

It’s all a tried and tested system of venting that you’ll find on most helmets these days and, if it’s anything like the system on the N87, should be well up to the job. Couple it with a Pinlock on the back of your visor too and fogging should be kept well under control.

Visor

(more about visors)

The main visor on the N80-8 is designed to be nice and wide for good peripheral vision. There’s a single opening tab at the centre/bottom, which is good because it means you can open the visor with either hand, and it’s a quick release visor for easy removal when you want to swap it out or clean it.


A couple of useful links…

All our mid price helmets
Pinlock-ready helmets only


It should come with a Pinlock anti-fog insert in the box too – but double check when buying as Nolan say it’s ‘sector dependent’ which I’m guessing means depending on the country. In the UK it should be in the box.

nolan n80-8 classic slate grey motorbike helmet side view
Visor’s wide, quick-change and comes with a Pinlock. All good there then.

Nolan’s Pinlock pins are slightly adjustable for tension by adjusting the actual pins on the visor, so if you’ve ever had a problem fitting one before (personally, I haven’t) it might be of interest as you can fit the Pinlock and then tighten it in-situ.

Sun Visor

(more about sun visors)

There’s a handy drop-down sun visor fitted to the Nolan N80-8. It’s operated by a slider on the bottom left of the helmet and it’s spring loaded too. Spring loading means you can slide the sun visor down and when you want to put it back up again, you just press a button and because it’s spring-loading, it’ll auto-retract.

Spring loaded sun visors are great at first but the spring can tire over time, meaning you end up with the bottom edge of the sun visor in your view. It’s not a massive problem if it happens – and there’s not guarantee that it will happen with the N80-8 (we won’t know until it’s been on the market for a while), but it’s maybe something to consider if you’re thinking about buying one.

Like the main visor, the sun visor’s made of polycarbonate. Again, Nolan’s keen to point out that it’s a Lexan sun visor (and…?) but one useful point to note is that they say it gives UV 400 protection which is the highest you can get.

Of course all polycarbonate visors give pretty thorough UV protection (always over 95%) but not all manufacturers test it and advertise the exact levels of protection theirs offer so cheers for that Nolan – always good to know.

Comfort and Sizing

(more about comfort and sizing)

The Nolan N80-8 has Nolan’s Clima Comfort liner which is a fairly standard sort of liner but now is eco friendlier, made from 100% recovered fibres ‘sourced from the post consumer recovery of nylon’. Consider the planet saved 🙂

nolan n80-8 50th anniversary motorcycle helmet top view
Top view of the 50th Anniversary graphic Nolan N80-8 (front is bottom of the picture)

Still, every little helps and I’m sure it’s something we’re gonna see more of in the future.

Clima Comfort liners also have a panel of mesh and ventilation holes to let air get to your head more easily.

Nolan internals are usually well thought out and comfortable places to put your bonce. For the N80-8, that means you’ve got a fully removable and washable lining, this time with reversable cheek pads.

The reversable part means, if you wear glasses, you can pull the cheek pads out, pull off the cover, remove a strip of padding, shove them back in the reverse way round and you’ve got glasses grooves in there to make fitting and wearing your glasses more comfortable.

Those cheek pads are also EQRS or emergency quick release compatible, so you can tug on the tabs at the bottom of the helmet and they should slide out, helping paramedics and the like get your helmet off more easily.

Hopefully you’ll never need them but you might as well have them in your helmet these days as there’s really no downside.

There’s also a slight bit of adjustability to the fitment of the liner – something Nolan call LPC or liner positioning control – where you can adjust a plastic strip to tighten the liner up a bit if you find the fitments not right. It’s not strictly there to make the helmet tighter or looser on the head but to adjust the way the helmet sits when it’s on. So, if you find the top of the visor too low, for example, you could tighten up the LPC to raise it up a bit.

It’s a handy system and gives that little bit more control that some riders might find useful.

All in all, inside the helmet’s got more or less everything you’d want to find in a modern full face helmet, so all good here.

Looks & Graphics

nolan n80-8 astute grey red motorbike helmet front view
Astute grey N80-8. In fact most graphics seem to be variants of black or grey with a hint of colour.

Most of the graphics that come on the N80-8 are dark with a flash of colour. There’s the Ally, the Thunderbolt, Powerglide, Astute and Staple that do this – a few with a touch of hi viz on there, if you’re looking to get noticed a bit.

Slightly more flambouyant are the Mandrake and Starscream graphics. And if you want a plain helmet, called Classic in Nolan’s line-up, you can choose from gloss white, black or grey, or matt black or grey.

As always, you can see any new graphics or colourways that become available by clicking on the links below that’ll take you straight to their Nolan N80-8 pages.

Best places to buy a Nolan N80-8 helmet?

Please click below to drop straight onto the Nolan N80-8 helmets pages at our recommended retailers. And if you buy from either, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Buy from SportsBikeShop

Nolan N80-8 Video

Here’s Sportsbikeshop’s 7m review of the Nolan N80-8.

Other stuff – fasteners, bluetooth, warranty

The N80-8 has a metal micrometric 2 fastener. Micrometrics are particularly easy to use (compared to the old double-d rings) and safe as houses. Just make sure you do it up tightly and double check the strap adjustment from time to time as the ratchet bar will only adjust to a certain extent before you have to adjust the strap.

If you’re looking to fit a bluetooth headset, the N80-8 is designed to integrate with a Nolan N-com system (B902L, B902R and B601R systems). Nolan’s bluetooth kits aren’t usually quite as ‘integrated‘ as some other manufacturer’s integrations, but there’s speaker pockets, wiring grooves and fitting packs available for the helmets to make a nice neat job.

Even though the N80-8’s a relatively inexpensive helmet, it’s backed by Nolan’s 5 year manufacturing warranty which is about as good as they get.

Overall/Summary

The Nolan N80-8 looks to be a fitting successor the the N87, which was one of Nolan’s top selling helmets.

nolan-n80-8-n-com-powerglide-black-gold-crash-helmet-side-view
Powerglide graphic N80-8 in profile.

Why? Well, it’s available at a sensible middle of the road price point and it packs a lot of punch for the money.

It’s got a nice, modern design too, though that’s down to opinion. What’s not is the fact that it’s got a useful visor system that’s wider than average for improved peripheral vision and backed with an (included) Pinlock antifog. That in turn is backed by a drop down sun visor which will always come in handy.

It should have decent ventilation with both vents being glove friendly. And it’s all held on the head using a metal micrometric ratchet strap. Dead easy to use and saves us having to fiddle around with d-rings which can be a pain.

OK, it’s a plastic helmet, but Nolan’s reputation for safety is excellent and we reckon it’ll provide very good protection in an accident, based on their history of every helmet so far scoring 4/5 stars when tested by SHARP.

All in all then, you get a lot of helmet for not very much outlay with the Nolan N80-8 and is well worth a look if you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive but fully-featured full face helmet.

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.

Good Alternatives to the Nolan N80-8?

scorpion exo 1400 air carbon helmet pure red side view
Scorpion Exo 1400 Air carbon

Here’s a selection of helmets you might want to check out if you’re looking for a mid-priced full face helmet that’ll work well AND provide great protection.

The Scorpion Exo 1400 Air is Scorpion’s top flight sports touring helmet. It comes in composite or carbon versions, it’s SHARP 4 star safety rated and it’s great value for a great looking, hi-tech lid.

arai profile v bend motorcycle helmet hi viz side view
Arai Profile V

Or how about the Arai Profile V? Yes, it’s more expensive than the Nolan or the Scorpion, but you get that extra hand-built Arai cachet – and it’s a great full face, designed to be easier to get on and off and scoring 4 SHARP stars for safety.

airoh-valor-matt-solid-black-motorbike-helmet-front-view
Airoh Valor

If money’s one of your key considerations but you still want high quality protection, then the Airoh Valor‘s well worth a look. It’s a thermoplastic SHARP 5 star rated helmet with a wide, Pinlock-ready visor. Insert’s not included, but then what do you expect for so little dosh?!

AGV-K3-SV-motorcycle-crash-helmet-gloss-white
AGV K3 SV

Finally, if you want the brand name but only want to pay similar money to the Nolan, how about the AGV K3 SV (or SVS or whatever they’re calling the latest version!). The SV is SHARP 4 star, has great ventliation, sun visor, and Pinlock in the box. Well worth a look.

Other full face helmets?

We've got lots of other ways you can find your ideal full face helmet. You can check out our Top 10 full-face crash helmets list to see our best rated helmets or head over to our Smartish Filters pages and zoom in on helmets with your 'must have' features. You can browse through all our full face crash helmet reviews as well as our safest motorcycle helmets page where you'll only find helmets that are SHARP four or five star rated - so you'll know you're wearing the best protection out there. Finally, check out our helmet gallery to find a lid that takes your fancy.

Best places to buy a Nolan N80-8?

Please click below to drop straight onto the Nolan N80-8 helmets pages at our recommended retailers. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Buy from SportsBikeShop

5 COMMENTS

  1. Buonasera, anche io sono rimasto affascinato da questo bel casco…rumoroso a dir poco!!!
    130 km/h velocità massima!! Poi scoppiano i timpani! La Nolan me lo ha ritirato 3 volte…alla fine me lo ha sostituito con un altro uguale…come ho letto sul post precedente al mio…bastava mettere delle alette sotto al collo..niente di che..saluti a tutti

  2. Vedo che non sono l’unico che si lamenta del rumore del vento..ero contento dell’acquisto finché ho sentito il vento, ho fatto la prova con il vecchio casco ed ho capito che non ero impazzito..insopportabile.. ma voglio cercare una soluzione perché tappando con la mano sotto al collo, leggermente dietro, migliora molto, bastava mettere delle alette più lunghe ai lati…

  3. Just purchased one of these – and yes its suffers badly with wind noise. On closer inspection the visor does not seal when fully down, there is 1 – 1.5mm gap between the visor and it’s seal. Even with ear buds it was very noisy. After 30min I went home and swapped back to my old helmet and will be returning this one and looing for something different. Such a shame, as all the features are great and work well, and it scores well for safety, but unbearable noise makes for a miserable riding experience – and I only ride for fun.

  4. I have this helmet and it’s pretty noisy, even in town riding at 30kmh +. On the highway if you don’t have a front bike windshield you’re gonna hear a lot of wind noise.

  5. all helmet reviews should come with some mention of how noisy they are. I know this can be subjective, but in my opinion this can be a real deal breaker!

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