There’s nothing sadder than seeing a top of the range pair of prescription-glazed sunglasses lying smashed in the gutter. Enter any competitive cycle race or triathlon and that’s exactly what you will see.
Bollé has come up with a solution in the form of The One Helmet (Optician P22 20.05.16). Accessories have always been a bit of a Cinderella product in optics but as sunglass accessories go The One Helmet from Bollé is ready for the ball, Optician decided to give it a trial. The One is a fully functioning cycle helmet that has a range of features such as a back light, a peak, removable panels, a QR code to identify the rider but also a ‘sunglass garage’.
When cycling it is often necessary to remove sunglasses but where do you put them? Trying to mimic the pros by shoving sunglasses in the air vents of a cycle helmet is not as easy as it looks and with top end products retailing for hundreds of pounds’ riders may opt to leave them on even in poor light conditions.
The sunglass garage mimics the vent idea but formalises it. While paired with Bollé sunglasses The One’s garage was successfully tested on a range of cycling sunglasses and larger sizes of prescription eyewear. There is a slight leap of faith needed to trust the garage but its shape and lining material make sunglasses stay put. Another useful option of The One is a removable peak which completely eliminates light spilling into the top of the lens.
Practices selling cycling specs may not want to get into the bike helmet business but knowing there is a product that protects an expensive dispense may be welcome news to some of your cycling customers.