If you’ve been looking for a high-end helmet you can use both on the track and the street, you might want to take a look at Italian manufacturer Nolan. The company has just unveiled its newest race helmet called the X-804 RS Ultra Carbon.
Nolan says that the X-804 RS is the evolution of the X-803 from the X-Lite brand under the Nolan Group. The full-caron construction promises a lightweight build, keeping fatigue at a minimum be it on long rides on the street or high-intensity sessions on track.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the details.
Nolan emphasizes that the X-804 RS Ultra combines the brand’s expertise in MotoGP and WorldSBK, as the outer shell is constructed out of carbon fiber, and comes in four shell sizes for optimized safety and comfort. On the inside, the helmet features an advanced version of the Nolan Emergency Release System (NERS), allowing quick and easy removal in emergencies.
Given the fact that the X-804 RS Ultra is a race helmet, it’s designed to hit some pretty high speeds, so a visor lock—in this case, branded Safety Visor Lock System—keeps the visor shut at high speeds.
There’s also Nolan’s LAF—or Liner Adjustable Fitting—which apart from being offered in various sizes, the X-804 RS Ultra comes with an additional layer of adjustability, allows riders to tailor the helmet’s fit to their preferences. Of course, having a helmet that fits perfectly goes a long way in improving comfort and safety.
There's also Nolan’s Racing Air Flow (RAF) system which is designed to provide the rider with maximum ventilation to keep you cool on track and at high speeds. Couple this with the RAS, or Racetrack Aerodynamic Spoiler, and you have yourself a helmet that keeps your noggin stable at blistering speeds.
The price for such a specialized helmet? 899.99 euros, or approximately $963 USD—quite the tidy sum for a helmet. This puts it up there with the likes of the Alpinestars Supertech R10 and AGV Pista GP RR, which offer similar levels of customization and safety.
There are tons of cutting-edge race-ready helmets in the market today, and Nolan’s new X-804 is an addition to this growing number. And while some may say that helmets like this pack way too many features, there’s no denying that safety has gone a really, really long way in recent years.
A lot of the safety innovations we have in our daily gear were born at the race track. And so all the tech we find in the new X-804 may be fancy and expensive for now. But in just a few years, we’ll be seeing affordable, entry-level lids rocking similar tech, as well.
