It was solely a matter of time. Bikes have been optimised, jerseys and shorts trimmed till not an oz of cloth stays to flap, and helmets sculpted within the wind tunnel. Now, because of POC, we now have the primary claimant to aerodynamic sun shades. Our listing of the perfect biking sun shades incorporates many closely wrapped specs, however to our information, none of them declare to be aerodynamically optimised.
The POC Propel sun shades, as seen adorning the faces of the riders from EF Training-Easypost on the Tour Down Underneath have been designed utilizing CFD evaluation and wind tunnel testing to be as slippery as attainable.
Aero by design
Many biking sun shades, for causes of improved discipline of view, characteristic an in depth match and a closely wrapped lens; the Oakley Kato, for instance. To our information none have been examined in a wind tunnel or utilizing computational fluid dynamics to make. Given the sources poured into making the main edges of a motorcycle as quick as attainable (suppose shaving millimetres off a head tube right here and there) it’s one thing of a shock that sun shades have taken so lengthy to get the identical remedy.
“We all know the world of efficiency biking is about marginal features, and each watt saved could make a distinction,” explains POC’s head of eyewear, Tilda Håll. “We examined frequently with CFD to analysis and fine-tune our concepts. The outcomes led us to design the eyewear with the rider’s physique and place within the forefront of our minds. The result’s essentially the most aerodynamic eyewear we now have ever produced.”
The Propel sun shades reduce a easy silhouette, with the basic POC design language evident all through. The place they differ from choices such because the Elicit is that the lens, relatively than sitting flat, away from the face like a protect, wraps across the facet of the face to clean the airflow.
In addition to the claimed aero wins (absolute watt financial savings are usually not quoted), it is usually claimed to enhance the sector of view by overlaying extra of the peripheral imaginative and prescient. Whereas we’re but to check them (a pair is en path to Cyclingnews HQ as we converse, so keep tuned), in our testing of the Oakley Kato we did discover a corresponding enchancment in peripheral protection over much less closely wrapped shades.
Specs and availability
The Propel sun shades, as with others within the POC vary, are optimised to be used with POC helmets, so if you’d like the utmost aero profit then that’s probably the place you’ll discover it. The form of the higher is designed in order to sit down flush with the brim of the helmets in a really perfect world.
The temples are adjustable in size and grip (by which we assume how a lot they bend inwards), and every set ships with a transparent lens to swap out for the Readability lenses when the solar goes down, and three totally different nostril bridges. As for color choices, there are six inventory mixtures of body and lens, with an additional eight lens choices to choose from do you have to want to swap it up for various situations.
If you’d like a pair they’ll set you again $250 / €249 and they’re obtainable now. UK pricing is but to be confirmed.
