Blog: Smith Optics

Mountain View Cycles is proud to announce a new partnership with Smith Optics. We've been blown away by the ingenuity, superior build quality, and technical prowess of Smith products, and are happy to be the premier dealer of Smith cycling products in the Columbia River Gorge. We think a celebratory blog post is in order. *Cue the champagne, confetti, and tiresome award speeches.*

Smith began in 1965 when Dr. Bob Smith built a thermal sealed goggle, enabling him to continue skiing while others had to take time off in the lodge to "de-fog." Over 50 years later, Smith has become one of the most trusted and recognized brands in the cycling industry.

HELMETS

Not all helmets are created equal. Smith's Koroyd crumple zone cylinders crush uniformly on impact, absorbing more kinetic energy than traditional helmet designs, keeping you safer than many alternative options on the market. Our take away is this: if you break a chain, or a brake lever, you can always swing on down to MTVC and get a new one. If you break your brain, you're on your own. People often assume, incorrectly, that helmets all meet the same safety standards. They don't. While they must conform to certain minimums, the difference in consequences between the minimum and the best can be drastic. We recommend making the quality of your helmet a top priority when you're working out your new bike budget. We'll have a more in depth blog post about helmet safety testing out soon, so we won't beat a dead horse here. Instead, we'll just say the horse would probably still be alive had it been wearing a Smith.

OPTICSIn dense PNW rainforests, the difference between staying on your bike and going over the bars often comes down to visibility. Making out relevant details on the trail becomes difficult (and increasingly crucial) as speeds approach mach chicken. An errant tree root or rock, unseen, can be a season ender. Hopefully by this point in this blog post you've got a good helmet on order, but Smith has another tool that should be a top priority for every mountain biker. Enter Chromapop.

Our eyes have trouble distinguishing between similar wavelengths of light (i.e. color confusion), which translates into difficulty discerning revelant information about the trail in front of you when you're cruising down Kleeway or blasting into a thickly forested section of trail. Chromapop technology uses filters to reduce color confusion by only allowing the most core wavelengths of each color to pass through, vastly increasing clarity and detail. This allows your brain to process visual information much more quickly, and more importantly, much more accurately.

Chromapop technology is available in goggles as well, for all you gravity types out there.

Key Take-Away

Smith optics and helmets are designed to work in tandem, ventilating most effectively when used together. Smith is a brand dedicated to providing riders with the best helmets and optics to keep them safe, fast, and having fun on the trails. We're excited to share their line up with our customers. Come by the shop or browse our catalog online.