Our introduction of the Nutcase Gen3 Bike & Skate helmet was one of the biggest events for us of the last year. We took the best features of our brain-bucket style helmet and, after reviewing the historic feedback from our many distributors and faithful users, evolved the helmet to better serve urban bikers and skaters.
That evolution was not lost on our reviewers, who seem to approve of what we’ve done. So we’ve summarized a few prominent reviews of the last year and would like to share the highlights.
Wheelz!, the French urban biking online magazine, wrote a Gen3 helmet review that praised our new visor, our updated inner liner, and our expanding line of graphics.
One of the most welcome changes to the Nutcase Gen3, says Wheelz!, is the addition of a detachable black visor in the box. According to Wheelz! the visor allows a user to easily change the look and the functionality of the helmet.
It’s true – the new Gen3 visor is a perfect size to keep sun (or driving rain) out of your eyes,and it can easily be removed when not needed.
The Gen3 visor is also a place where we will continue to innovate – this spring we will make for-purchase visors available in a small rainbow of new colors: Powder Pink, Bavarian Blue, Portland Orange, and Slime Lime, while continuing to ship Gen3 helmets with a basic black model.
The Wheelz! Nutcase Gen3 Helmet Review goes on to praise the hard coating on our ABS helmet shell, as well as the redesign of our inner EPS (expanded polystyrene) liner. The EPS liner (of all helmets) is the front-line of user safety: it is the EPS that is designed to absorb the energy of any knocks or impacts to the helmet.
Our EPS liner was updated – sculpted, if you will – to create what we call the ‘crumple zone’. The crumple zone is a series of different-sized channels ringing the internal shell. These channels slightly reduce the overall weight of the Gen3 helmet, while at the same time they introduce extra energy-absorbing pockets into the liner.
In a Gen3 helmet review in the June 2014 issue of Bicycle Times, reviewer Justin Steiner agrees that the Gen3 EPS redesign deserves kudos:
“I’m totally sold on this design,” Steiner said. “The deep fit provides a nice sense of security.”
And in its review of the Gen3, Urban Velo had this to say about the Nutcase Gen3 EPS upgrade:
“The EPS foam has been futher tuned to prevent head injury, moving more foam to the front section of the helmet where most fall impacts occur and having a bit less on the sides and back while still providing more coverage than racier helmets on the market.”
In a review at the Bike Rumor site, the Gen3 got general approval for the crumple zone, the improved fit features, and also for the:
“subtle reflective accents in the retention straps and Nutcase logos add a bit of nighttime visibility.”
All in all, the folks at Wheelz! gave the Nutcase Gen3 helmet a thumbs up for the following new features:
- Improved ventilation and weight
- Chinstrap and Spin-Dial
- Big selection of graphic designs and colors
- Improved fit
- New removable visor
And there’s more innovation where that came from! In just a few months our 16 new Gen3 graphic designs for 2015 will be ready to ship, along with the new Baby Nutty series of helmets for the youngest Nutcases.