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Ryders Eyewear celebrates 30 years in the Canadian bike scene with new anti-fog lenses for road cyclists

This week, as the brand marked its 30th anniversary, North Vancouver-based Ryders Eyewear launched its 2016 collection, expanding its range of anti-fog lenses with 12 new frames.

Members of Russ Hays Accent Inns Cycling Team sport some of Ryders Eyewear's offerings.
Members of Russ Hays Accent Inns Cycling Team sport some of Ryders Eyewear’s offerings.

This week, as the brand marked its 30th anniversary, North Vancouver-based Ryders Eyewear launched its 2016 collection, expanding its range of anti-fog lenses with 12 new frames—bringing the company’s total offerings for vision-conscious cyclists to 36. The product line continues Ryders’ tradition of developing quality, performance-oriented eyewear, designed with innovation in mind.

Included among those offerings is another new advancement, made especially for road riders.

The technology central to that advancement is called veloPOLAR, a lens system based on Ryders’ existing anti-fog lenses introduced in 2015 that’s different in one crucial way: put simply, the system is”fine-tuned” for road-riding cyclists. Reflecting a road rider’s unique needs, the lenses feature the benefits of traditional polarizing lenses, but make some improvements in areas where roadies, specifically, need something a little different.

A less road-friendly polarized lens, for example, can create optical illusions over varying surface textures, which can visually obscure places where slipperiness might be encountered. Ryders’ veloPOLAR lens design cuts through glare as effectively as the brand’s other anti-fog offerings, while reducing the effects of those optical illusions and—among other considerations—keeping the screen of a bike computer perfectly visible. Definition is enhanced. The result is a clear, unobstructed field of vision, keeping a cyclist’s eyesight sharp and focused.

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The Vancouver-based company, no doubt, knows a thing or two about how to cut through the fog, visually-speaking. If there’s anything being a cyclist on the west coast reinforces, it’s how to get around when the air is thick and misty. That knowledge, representatives from Ryders say—and why it’s so important—is what makes all the difference.

“Products like these can only come from a brand that sincerely understands the needs of cyclists,” said Jayson Faulkner, the company’s general manager. “The only way to develop eyewear that is truly relevant—and even necessary—to those who take part in these kinds of activities is to be passionate users ourselves.

“It’s the passion we share with our customers that reveals the opportunities to innovate and tackle problems that have traditionally been inherent in eye protection for outdoor athletes,” Faulkner added.

Additionally, along with their eyewear offerings, Ryders has improved how consumers can access the catalogue of the B.C.-based company’s products—namely, the Ryders website itself. Coinciding with the launch of the 2016 catalogue, Ryders has refined the visual style of its website somewhat, reflecting the brand’s Vancouver heritage, its focus on performance eyewear and, of course, its defining roots in the Canadian outdoors scene. Until the end of February, Ryders is also marking the launch of its new website—and its 30 commanding years in the Canadian cycling community—by offering free shipping on online orders.

“We didn’t know it at the time.” said Michael Quinn, Ryders Eyewear’s director of marketing, “but in many ways we’ve been building this site for 30 years. Our heritage in the Pacific Northwest in combination with our three decades in the industry have given our brand a unique perspective and deep knowledge of the needs of our customers.

“The act of communicating the stories that have built our brand,” Quinn added, “have reacquainted us with our deep roots as a North Shore cycling brand.”