New 2016 Gear from POC
Aspire
Fans of oversized, one-piece lenses will love two of POC’s newest models—the Aspire and the Crave. Designed for urban riding and casual wear, the Aspire is based on POC’s Cornea goggle design, with some ‘60s-style, retro tweaks. The coal-brown lens option (not pictured) enhances visibility for urban riding, with a transmission pattern that makes LED lighting—the type found in car head- and taillights and traffic lights—pop. Like all of POC’s shades, the Aspire is made in Italy.
Crave
These mountain bike-specific sunglasses sport a flatter lens curvature than some high-performance or race-oriented models, to give them a more casual and street-friendly look. The lens was designed in conjunction with Carl Zeiss, maker of high-end camera lenses in the US, and is triple-CNC cut for a precise fit within the frame. There are four lens options, each designed to enhance contrast in various environments: two “deep forest” options, a desert lens, and a road tint. The frameless segment at the top helps these shades sit flush against the edge of a trail helmet, and POC’s “breakaway hinges”—the earpieces—will snap off the frame in the event of an impact. Fun detail: Each letter of the aluminum POC logo is mounted into the earpiece by hand.
RELATED: How to Choose the Right Sunglasses
Fondo Apparel Line
POC’s new Fondo apparel collection borrows certain technical features from its high-performance Raceday line and its AVIP (Attention, Visibility, Interaction, and Protection) high-visibility safety lines to create an offering for the enthusiast cyclist. The Fondo collection includes jerseys, bib shorts, gloves, and wind and rain gear. The fit is more relaxed than the Raceday line, and the items come in bright, poppy colorways that POC says were inspired by four global cities: New York City; Havana, Cuba; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Napa, California.
Resistance Apparel
Lightweight protection like low-profile knee and arm pads has become more popular among all types of cyclists in the past couple of years, and POC’s new Resistance protective apparel collection seems to be the latest, most comprehensive, and most refined evolution of the trend. The new collection includes shorts, jerseys, and jackets for both mountain and road riding, and features integrated abrasion and impact protection comprised of protective fabrics (like Kevlar) and POC’s impact-absorbing VPD material. The protection is subtly applied where you’re most likely to hit the ground or obstacles: shoulders, elbows, knees, and hips. POC’s Resistance mountain bike baggie shorts (pictured here) are available in three levels of protection, featuring the ceramic-coated, breathable, and abrasion-resistant SuperFabric. We were also impressed by the lightweight, packable Resistance Mid road wind jacket that sports the protective material on the elbows and forearms (not pictured).
Coming: Airbag Vest
POC had a prototype airbag vest on display at its booth. Similar to the airbag technology used by backcountry skiers in avalanches, the vest incorporates CO2 canisters and motion sensors that inflate and protect the wearer from impact when a crash is detected. The technology will first be incorporated into POC’s ski apparel line in 2017, then adapted for cycling use, with the most likely initial application being downhill or enduro-oriented mountain biking.
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