POC is a Swedish company with a history in gravity sports such as skiing and mountain biking. With the growth in popularity in road cycling in recent years, they saw it as a logical progression to carry on their mission to do the best possible to save lives and to reduce the consequences of accidents in our sport. To this end POC have created a range of products for road cyclists that have enhanced safety features whilst at the same time retaining POC's distinctive and minimalist style - indeed it is quite possible that they have created a line of products that overturn the long held belief that safe cannot be aesthetically 'cool'. This range is called AVIP and it stands for Attention, Visibility, Interaction and Protection.
Before developing AVIP, POC studied infrastructure and it's relevance to road users (a heavy lean toward cars) and the interactions of road users, to better understand the specific hazards in road cycling. They also took into consideration that 92% of reported cyclists killed or seriously injured occur in accidents involving other vehicles, most often a car and strove to find a means of minimising risk to cyclists whilst still offering real performance benefits.
The 4 components of AVIP are:
Attention: Quickly getting the Attention of motorists and other road users to make others aware of a riders' presence.
Visibilty: To optimise Visibility in various conditions, including season, weather, time of day, distance, environment and light conditions. Through scientifically understanding how colour, material, contrast, patterns, motion and light interact it offers the best possible visibility and recognition on the road. It is for this reason that POC use hi-vis Orange for visibility as it is more noticeable in a broader range of scenarios than hi-vis yellow (with foliage as a background for example) while the use of Navy Blue and White helps to lend contrast.
Interaction: Communication and technological interaction between a rider, motorists and pedestrians to support proactive safety. The use of technology to allow a rider to worry less about other road users and surroundings and focus solely on riding. Interaction also supports communication with the outside world in post incidents situations where there is a need for rescue or emergency. (ICE Tag)
Protection: The development of physical protection focused on minimizing the amount of energy being transmitted to the riders brain and body. Engineered with innovative technology and ultimately optimizing protection without compromising performance.
Drawing on years of mountain bike and ski helmet development, POC turned their attention to road helmets. New approaches to the strategic use of EPS, ventilation, aerodynamics, visibility and POC’s unique unibody construction have yielded improved protection with ultimate performance.
The award winning Octal helmet has been engineered to take the next step in road bike helmet safety and offers optimal ventilation, comfort and weighs less than 200 grams in size medium.
To further improve safety, the Octal provides more coverage and additional protection for the temples and back of the head and the EPS liner is strategically thicker in the most exposed areas. The fully wrapped unibody shell construction functions as a monocoque and enhances the safety properties and construction integrity of the helmet while maintaining a low weight.
Unlike traditional helmets, POC has approached ventilation in a unique way and instead of using many small vents, the Octal has fewer but larger ventilation slots. This ventilation design allows more air to flow through the helmet, which also results in improved aerodynamic performance.
The lightweight size adjustment system ensures a comfortable and secure fit while the Coolbest padding helps reduce the temperature at the interface between the helmet and head. The Octal is by far, one of the most comfortable sitting helmets we have worn in recent years.
In addition, the Octal features an 'eye garage' for safely and securely stowing your sunglasses when needed. Nifty!
As a part of the AVIP concept, the Octal AVIP comes in 2 premium, high contrast, bright colours designed to enhance visibility: Zink Orange and Hydrogen White. They are supplied with a colour matched reflective sticker kit and with an ICE tag. The ICE tag uses a QR code to allow those at the scene of an incident to quickly access important medical information and emergency contact details.