Design icons: how a Swedish cycling co. made safety cool

It’s January when I connect with POC - a brand that has seemingly sat at the front of cycling safety for decades, though they’ve only been in the road market since 2014. We’ve met once or twice in past - at the Rouleur Classic in London, at Eurobike in Friedrichshafen - but with kernels of COVID coming and the make-up of the 2020 season soon-to-be altered, this conversation feels a bit different.

Seven years ago, when POC announced a three-year partnership to become the official helmet and eyewear supplier of Cannondale-Garmin, few would have predicted that the Swedish company with a strong mission and divisive designs would enjoy such a meteoric ascent, evolving into purveyors of a modern design aesthetic that is so immediately recognizable. More than 40 international awards later and a strong showing on club rides and in races however tells a different story.

“We were never design-led, but most look at our helmets and make that assumption,” explains Damian Phillips, global head communications. “Interestingly the style that has defined us has come from an exploration of boundaries. We take a lot of time to ensure there’s a clear Scandinavian aesthetic in our product, but we never start at this point.”

The best example of POC’s rather simple mission is perhaps the helmet that made them famous - the Octal. It was their first for road, and it was envisaged to be lightweight, vented and safe. The mushroom shape - a characteristic many still can’t wrap their heads around - came from an engineering objective to be both light (200 grams in M) and to save lives. It won awards and would soon enable POC to grow.

This of course was never POC’s objective - to be a leader in cycling apparel and certainly not a harbinger for style. POC’s founder, Stefan Ytterborn, had sons, both ski racers, whose skills and speed were quickly outgrowing available protection. He decided he would build a company that could keep up, starting with helmets, spinal impact protection and wrist guards designed for snow sports. Several alpine athletes would latch on to the concept. After a fall, they would send used helmets to POC which they then researched in partnership with academia. Over time this would form the basis of what would become the POC Lab - a scientific forum that brought together experts from a range of disciplines and medicine - going on to inform both the company’s engineering and design processes. In 2009 and out of the POC Lab, POC would help bring MIPS to market for the first time, starting what is still an ongoing debate in road riding: what makes a helmet safe?

“The Octal was the first we released to meet the challenges of the uncompromising world of the pro peloton, followed quickly by the Cerebel and more recently, the Ventral SPIN,” explains Jonas Sjögren, POC’s CEO. Adds Phillips: “we never went into these projects saying we want to change the way people think, but we are always looking for a different way to innovate. Almost accidentally, this has shaped many people’s opinions about safety.”

Partnerships over the years accelerated POC’s place in the peloton. The Octal was well-regarded with pros. Out of their relationship with EF Education Pro Cycling, the company soon rode towards several design KOMs like the Ventral. Ideas continued trickling into POC’s engineers, nurturing a culture that balanced the needs of enhanced safety alongside growing risk. During it all, innovation continued.

Working with Exeger in Sweden, today POC is working with different foils to power helmet lights; a dome with endless energy. In partnership with Volvo, the car maker, they developed the world’s first crash test between cars and bike helmets; they have also just released medical info chips built into their Ventral Air Spin NFC; a helmet that speaks for cyclists when they’ve had an accident and can’t to it themselves.

POC has transitioned into an essential partner for several brands, chosen for their safety, performance and yes, their styling.

The company is tight-lipped about other announcements to come in 2020 and beyond, and like many in cycling, are still waiting to see when some normalcy to the season will return - if it does at all. Regardless, their story has bread a culture of innovation will which continue, driven by an internal desire to not just meet safety standards but to set them.

The many personalities of cycling: Oakley Sutro review

No, this is not a photograph of me wearing Oakley Sutro sunglasses. I am pretty sure, however, it’s a guy named Chris who handled (handles?) marketing for Specialized whom I connected with in 2014 when I first started writing about cycling and cycling kit.

In any case, it’s a good looking guy wearing a pretty unique pair of shades. I was fortunate to get a review pair for these very pages, and between them, the Wildcats from SMITH and a pair of Speedcrafts, I’ve been riding in them regularly since. While I can’t say I pull them off as elegantly as Egan Bernal, I am rather intoxicated by their vision clarity, fit, and let’s be honest here, their style.

This is one of the more collaborative pairs of sunglasses developed by Oakley in recent years, at least in the arena of cycling/lifestyle. According to Will Conk, Global Performance Product Manager at Oakley, they were conceived in collaboration with several MASH SF riders - many who challenged ideas about what conventional cycling sunglasses should look like. Oakley wanted shades that were different. Something equally at home on and off the bike. Voila. The Sutro was born.

“As cycling evolves, we must evolve with it,” explains Conk via email. “People are riding faster, in more places, on different bikes. Shades will keep getting better and better over the course of time and have to change with it.”

The Sutro signature is their wide vision periphery, which is pretty handy for peering over shoulders and spotting cars - a useful feature set if you spend a lot of time riding in cities. Thanks to Bernal and other pros who have ridden in them since launch, the frame has - in short order - become a standout. A very good iteration of protective, performance and lifestyle eye wear. A big Kudos to Oakley on their originality. The shape is definitely unique.

The Sutro: a good reminder of the personalities within cycling far beyond a single discipline.

I tested the Matte Vampirella version that come with Oakley’s Prizm technology lens. Performance wise there are some nice features that give them their crossover cred: rubberized nose pads, elongated stems and a thinner profile and tighter curvature that hug the face.

The shades aren’t too sporty looking - but they are exceptionally wide. I dig the shape for the reason, but I also wear a large helmet in every available brand, so it fits my face. If you’re after face coverage but don’t want to operate in the extremes and look like a cyborg (ahem, the Wind Jackets), these are an outstanding option. I ride in contacts a lot; if you’re like me, you’ll appreciate their protection from wind, bugs and anything else that gets into eyes while wheel-sucking.

While unintended for road or X-country riding, it’s easy to see why the frame is already a popular choice in both disciplines. The coverage and style is first-rate because it really is so versatile - a real testament to their design success. “You know you have something special when the product transcends its initial intent and meets the needs of many different people,” Conk adds.  

Part lifestyle, part performance. It’s hard to say in which domain the Sutro is more comfortable. One minor knit: the shades do slide down the bridge of my nose while grinding my way up steep Swiss hairpins, but it’s been exceptionally hot of late. Really, there aren’t many glasses that aren’t guilty of that offense.

They hug the face well when riding and look dope doing it. Their utility for hanging out post ride sitting nonchalantly with a bunch of mates, similarly clad in Lycra and sipping a bucket of Cruzcampos - also first-rate. (Perhaps too specific of a reference, but you get it. This is a quality frame.) Geared towards medium to large faces, the frames retail for 130 pounds or USD $163. Eight different frame colours available.