{"id":1475369,"date":"2019-07-22T13:37:23","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T03:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeme.tv\/?p=1475369"},"modified":"2019-07-22T13:37:23","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T03:37:23","slug":"nolan-x-lite-x-903-ultra-carbon-review-touring-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/nolan-x-lite-x-903-ultra-carbon-review-touring-essential\/","title":{"rendered":"NOLAN X-LITE X-903 ULTRA CARBON REVIEW \u2013 TOURING ESSENTIAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

This helmet is like a party girl with all the fixins.<\/p>\n

This is what I said to Grant at Ron Angel Wholesale.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrant,\u201d I said. \u201cThis X-903 is like one of them fully loaded party-girls. It\u2019s got features you didn\u2019t even think you needed, and then you dig around a bit more, and suddenly\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

“Hello, Barbie, let’s go party…”<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cYou go to some pretty good parties, huh?\u201d
\n\u201cNow and again.\u201d
\n\u201cI should come with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll do nothing but interfere with my creative process!\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

All that aside, X-Lite\u2019s new X-903 Ultra Carbon arrived just as winter did. Which was fortuitous, I guess.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ducati should speak to Nolan and make top-boxes for the Diavel like this.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

I jammed it on my head without reading any of the instructions and away I went. About 10kay into the ride, I realised it had an internal drop-down sun-visor. And not just any sun-visor. But a sun-visor that did not interfere with my magnificent aquiline nose. This is a must in terms of drop-down sun-visors as far as I\u2019m concerned. If it rests on my nose while I\u2019m riding, I will be discomfited and everything may end up in a paddock.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A gorgeous helmet, by any measure.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

But this one\u2019s excellent. It has multiple height settings, and is made from optically perfect Lexan, so any blurred vision is you having a stroke, not the visor.<\/p>\n

The external clear visor is Pinlock ready, and your Pinlock is in the box your helmet comes in. Fit it immediately. Ride fog-free.<\/p>\n

\"\"

No, it’s not the Haldron Collider. It’s the inside of the X-903.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

But there is more to that amazing external visor. It is optical Lexan, of course. But it is the magnetically-assisted fitting of the visor which blew my mind.
\nPeople who know me well, know I am a technical retard. Simple things confuse and bewilder me. Simple things like removing and replacing visors. I can invariably get them off. Getting them on again is usually an exercise in violence and swearing. And broken things.<\/p>\n

\"\"

You will find this button at the base of the back of the helmet. You can use it to adjust how the lining sits. Higher or lower. Brilliant.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

I was astonished at how easy this X-903 visor comes on and off. You take it off by pushing down two small tabs. Putting it back on is the sorcery. It literally clicks into place assisted by magnetic force. You cannot bollocks this up. I could do it even after three beers at the Walcha Motel last weekend demonstrating it to my mates.<\/p>\n

The visor system is rugged and it kinda does everything but hiss with a vacuum seal when you click it into place and prepare for speed. I also like how you can open it a notch and it sits there, opened a notch, while you\u2019re still belting along at speed.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Looks pretty flash in these Italian colours, too. I’m not that continental.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

One of the best visor systems on the market.
\nVentilation is at the chin and on the top \u2013 and there\u2019s tonnes of it. Seriously. This is a stunningly well-ventilated lid with an exhaust flume out the back to suck out the evil humors.<\/p>\n

\"\"

It comes in total Darth Vader carbon as well.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Or perhaps with just a touch of blood-red around the gills.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

One of its most salient features is the Liner Positioning Control (LPC). So you can actually adjust the liner to have the helmet sit higher or lower on your head. You do this via the little black button marked \u2018LPC\u2019 at the back of the base of the helmet.<\/p>\n

The helmet is already loaded to accept Nolan\u2019s new-generation N-Com communication system (for $419). Grant keeps offering to hook me up with this. I keep hanging up on him. I gave the last N-Com system to Al for his Nolan and he loved it. But he likes to listen to music and talk to people when he rides. I just like to hear my own screaming.<\/p>\n

The X-903 comes with Nolan\u2019s own emergency-release system. Just pull the red tabs either side of the chin-piece and the cheek pads come out leaving the helmet in place. Don\u2019t do this. This is for the paramedics, OK?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a compact-looking helmet, which I love. I\u2019m not a fan of those over-sized mongrels \u2013 they make you look like a bobble-head.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Beats putting on your head and sitting in the garage, huh?<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Importantly, the X-903 comes in three different shell-sizes. So from XXS to Med is one shell-size, L is a slightly larger shell-size, and XL to XXXL gets a third shell-size. Each shell size also comes with six different EPS sizes \u2013 so each helmet is properly configured from proper fit, which means proper safety. You\u2019ll note than many manufacturers just pack in more foam and call it a \u201cdifferent size\u201d. Not Nolan.<\/p>\n

There is an appropriate feeling of quality construction with any X-Lite. This is a top-notch helmet. The carbon-fit lining is luscious (and of course it is washable, etc).<\/p>\n

I found it to be relatively quiet. I\u2019d class it as a quiet lid \u2013 but results will always vary depending on what you ride and the shape of your skull.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s light, despite being packed all the party features just like that beaut bird in the red dress you saw at that barbecue you went to. Carbon fibre, girls \u2013 so the weight comes from the stuff inside, like the drop-down visor.<\/p>\n

\"\"

It’s looking at the view. Through the bastard fence.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

It handles wind-blast very well, and I did not find my head being buffeted even when I turned to see if that was a police car following me. So the aerodynamic box is ticked, as I would expect it to be on an X-Lite.
\nI loved the graphics. It matched the Diavel I was riding perfectly. Normally, I like my graphics to have snakes and dragons and maybe daggers, and be a bit lurid and lairy. Or just plain evil, like that magical X-903 I have. I think X-903 straddles that world \u2013 it\u2019s sexy without being lairy.<\/p>\n

\"\"

I think the X-Lite enjoyed itself.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

And I\u2019m probably of an age where that might be a consideration.
\nBut probably not.<\/p>\n

Try one. Be amazed and impressed.<\/p>\n

HOW MUCH? Plain is $749. Graphics is $849.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out www.ronangel.com.au<\/a> if you want to see the full range of colours available. Or maybe I could just give you Grant\u2019s home phone number\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This helmet is like a party girl with all the fixins. This is what I said to Grant at Ron Angel Wholesale. \u201cGrant,\u201d I said. \u201cThis X-903 is like one of them fully loaded party-girls. It\u2019s got features you didn\u2019t even think you needed, and then you dig around a bit more, and suddenly\u2026\u201d \u201cYou [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1475404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[151,58,372,309],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1475369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1475498,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475369\/revisions\/1475498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1475404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1475369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1475369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1475369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}