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Not really sure if cyclists wore sunglasses prior to the 80s to ride their bikes. Rarely do you see the old schoolers in shades going up the Alps. Even if they did, it was not for performance. But in 1984, Oakley sent Greg LeMond a pre-production sample of something called the Factory Pilot Eyeshade. That year he wore them for the Tour. In ‘86, he won the Tour wearing them and by 1987 most of the boys in the peloton had a pair. It really did not take much for performance eyewear to become a thing. If we can say that an American winning the TDF is not much.

The Eyeshade silhouette is still the reference point. Every shield sunglass made for cycling can trace its shape back to that design from 1984. A lot has changed since then. The lens coatings, the materials, the ventilation systems. But the main idea, the idea of a wide-coverage wraparound shield sitting close to the face for protection, has not really changed because they kinda got it right the first time.

I will be honest. When I started cycling I thought large glasses were ridiculous. Large glasses were always that stereotypical style move that would get made fun of. On top of that, Geraint Thomas was super dope with those white shades, so obviously since I did not know any better, I copped the Oakley Racing Jackets. But as with every sport, the more serious you get about it the more you lean into the why behind the gear. You start riding longer. You ride in heat. Your glasses fog. You get something in your eye on a descent. You start to understand why the big shield exists and then one day you are buying exactly the thing you used to make fun of.

This list is seven pairs built on that idea. Performance first. Lens quality, coverage, fit under a helmet, how they look overall. If they look good off the bike too, that is a bonus.

Oakley MUZM Eyeshade — Cool Grey / Prizm Low Light

A direct descendant of the frame LeMond wore in 1984. Same huge shield silhouette, same DNA. The only thing that really changed is the materials and the lens technology. These are engineered for overcast and low-light riding. Will you wear them often? Maybe not. Depends how you ride and where you live. Will you look good wearing them? For sure. Cool grey O Matter frame, Prizm Low Light lens, Unobtainium nosepads for grip in wet conditions. The colourway is subtle in the best of ways. The only thing overpowering on this frame is its size. It is a BIGBOI. Limited edition, so hurry up if you want a pair.

Find them here.

Oakley Mathieu Van Der Poel Signature Series Sutro Lite Sweep

Obviously these were going on the list. MVDP is beautiful. So are his shades. A lot of wins in these so they deserve to make the list if they look this good. The gold splatter frame makes them stylistically different from everything else here. The Prizm 24K lens makes them Oakleys. The Sutro Lite Sweep is a strong race silhouette. Wide coverage, low profile on the face, the sweep lens shape borrowed from the original Eyeshade. MVDP's initials etched in the lens. If you are a fan, this is a good purchase.

Find them here.

Scicon Aerostorm — Multimirror Silver

Italian brand, engineered in Italy. Tadej has been wearing Scicon his entire career. Most importantly? I have been wearing these exact frames for a while now. That's the only endorsement you need. The Aerostorm is their flagship road sunglass. The Space Toric Vision (which takes a minute or two to get used to) lens sits on the Monolith Optics Monoblock frame, which in English means the frame and lens are one integrated piece rather than two parts assembled together. I rode 2000+ km in these, they don't fog. 32 grams and some solid color choices.

Find them here.

MAAP Halo Sunglasses — Galaxy

MAAP making sunglasses was a natural progression of things. They definitely didn't disappoint with these. Frameless shield built for the road. High-contrast silver mirror lens with a purple base, hydrophobic and anti-fog treatments, interchangeable lens included in the box. 21.8 grams and a wraparound fit with interchangeable nose bridges for dialling the fit properly. MAAP rarely misses.

Find them here.

Alba Optics Delta BLU GLS

Another Italian brand, handmade in Italy. The Delta shape takes inspo from 80s and 90s cycling eyewear and you can feel that immediately. The crystal blue TR90 frame pops and adds a good bit of colour to any fit. They weigh 26 grams, but the VZUM lens is the detail worth knowing. Alba Optics' own ventilated lens system, designed specifically to prevent fogging on long efforts in any type of conditions. There are six lens options and all of them are interchangeable but in my opinion, the BLU GLS is the one to get. Alba Optics isn't the most talked about brand in cycling but that's what makes them cool. IYKYK type deal.

Find them here.

100% Hypercraft SQ — Matte Black Smoke

These might just be the most affordable pair on this list. These might also be the ones that protect your eyes from the sun the most. The smoke lens lets in 15% of light. There are air vents at the top and bottom. Minimal and clean. Nothing extra. UltraCarbon frame and rimless construction. These go very well with the all black bike trend that's hitting the peloton right now.

Find them here.

District Vision Kohei Aero Blade Ti — Oxblood / D+ Blue Mirror

You might have to remortgage the house for these but they are definitely a vibe. Made in Japan. District Vision is technically a running brand (they are) out of New York and Tokyo. We are including these because the lens shape is drawn directly from 1980s speed cycling heritage and the construction is unlike anything else on this list. We are also including these because we highly doubt anyone will be wearing these on the bike. Real niche things. Aerospace grade titanium frame throughout, custom anodized titanium hardware, six base rimless blade silhouette. D+ Blue Mirror lens at 10.63% light transmission with anti-reflective and oleophobic coating on the interior. It repels oils. 28 grams. The Oxblood colourway is a deep reddish brown anodized titanium that is unlike anything else in this category. If the budget is there, cop these and wear them on the bike, while running, for coffee.

Find them here.

If these shades don't do it for you, feel free to hit me up via email or DM and I'll be more than happy to help you find something more specific.

To submit a site, product, or whatever you’re working on, email KMC@GRAVITYHILL.CC. We read everything. Posting is never guaranteed, but curiosity always is.

You can follow us on Instagram here, but in its purest and most beautiful form this is a newsletter, something to slow your timeline down

BEFORE WE START

GRAVITYHILL is free to read and always will be. But if you are getting something out of it, a subscription goes a long way toward keeping this independent.

In case you missed it, here is what we have been working on:

LEFT TURNS // 004 — WHO MADE THAT KIT

Every WorldTour and ProTeam kit supplier for 2026. Men and women. In one place.

MOODY BOARDS // 005 — GIRO D’ITALIA

No explanation. No context. Just the feeling.

BREAKAWAY // 006 — La Corsa Rosa

The Giro started in Bulgaria and ends in Rome. In between, twenty-one stages, the Blockhaus, the Dolomites, and a hundred and fifteen years of history. Our love letter to the most beautiful race in the world.

If that sounds like your kind of newsletter, you know what to do.

Subscribe now

We do not use affiliate links. We do not get paid to feature anything. No sponsored placements, no brand arrangements, no performance fees. Just things we actually rate. For the love of the game.

THE HELMET EDIT

Most helmets these days kind of look the same. Same elongated tail. Same six vents in the same six places. Same white colourway on the brand website shot from the same angle. The aero road helmet category has been converging on a shared aesthetic for some time now. Not that it’s always a bad thing, but wind tunnels point everyone toward the same similar solutions. Cycling marketing wording leads everyone towards the same path. But there is still a difference between a helmet that was designed to pass the safety test, one that was made to “save” you some watts, and one that was designed to hold your attention and look good on your noggin’.

We are not rating safety here. Every helmet on this list meets the minimum standards required to sell in its market and most have been independently tested by Virginia Tech. We are not going to pretend we have done the crash tests. What we can tell you though is how they look, what the details are doing, and whether they are worth the money.

We have not ridden in all of these, and we are not going to pretend we did. Every helmet on this list is on here because we think they visually look great.

Now, before we get into all this, there are a few “rules” we have about colour. Here at GH, we are very much a white everything type of aesthetic. Not because of Instagram, not cause of some cycling influencer. It has just always been that way. White shoes on and off the bike, white tees, white jerseys. White. When it comes to helmets, we have also always loved white, but we do believe that playing with colour here is cooler. The move going forward might not be the white helmet but a helmet colour that matches your bike, or your team jersey, or the kit colour you wear most often. There is some leeway to break the white rule when it comes to helmets.

Also, sizing matters. As much as we love a good deal online, try to walk into a store and try them on. If you do find a deal online, ask your local store to price match. Most of them do it. A helmet should not move on your head. It should be snug. We have bought too many helmets that needed to be clinched super tight just to stay put. Do not do that.

We did not include any helmets from Specialized, Trek, Giant, and similar other bike brands. We believe that to wear a helmet from those brands, you should ride their bikes. Do not ask us why. It is just how we feel.

Here are the helmets we are loving right now, in no particular order.

MET Trenta 3K Carbon MIPS

Honestly, this is one of those products where the sponsorship scheme worked. It is the helmet Tadej Pogacar wore to win the 2024 Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. Seeing him ride in it gives the helmet some major aura points. That’s just the truth. The Trenta sits slim on the head, lower profile than most in this category, which is the detail that makes it photograph well and look right on the bike at the same time. The Pogacar colourway, a purple fade, is one of the better colourways that MET released for this product. This is probably the better helmet if you have a slimmer face. Four total colourways to choose from. Its probably also the most ventilated helmet out of the bunch.

Honourable mention to the Portal and KXNGS collab versions for anyone who wants the same helmet in something rarely anyone else is wearing. Two of the more interesting brand collabs in cycling kit right now. These are definitely the ones to purchase if you can get your hands on them.

Find the Portal x MET collab, here.

Find the KXNGS x MET collab, here.

Find the MET Trenta, here.

KASK Utopia Y

Italian brand… so of course they added some flair. The faux leather chin strap sounds like a detail that shouldn’t matter and somehow we kind of dig it. Nobody else in the category does it. The Utopia Y sits close to the head, closer than the profile suggests it should, which makes it look considered rather than bulky. Elongated at the rear, clean at the front, “minimal” logo placement. Eleven colourways, which is more range than most helmets in this category. Printed logos rather than stickers, which doesn’t sound like much but does really make a difference.

Honourable mention to the Paul Smith collaboration. These are genuinely the better colourways. Candy stripe. Marble. Its the kind of design that makes someone ask where you got your helmet, and we all know we love getting asked those types of questions... If you are going to spend this much on a helmet, spend it on a Paul Smith one.

Find the Kask x Paul Smith collab, here.

Find the Kask Utopia Y, here.

MET Manta MIPS

The Manta has been around since 2015. Mark Cavendish debuted it. It has been redesigned twice since, and the current version is the best-looking iteration by some distance. Lower profile than most, tube-shaped at the rear, sits small on the head so it wont give you that mushroom look. Fidlock magnetic buckle on the strap, which is the best buckle in the game and the most underrated detail in cycling kit. This is the kind of helmet that looks like it costs more than it does, which at this price point is a massive compliment.

Honourable mention to the Tan Line version of this helmet. Mainly off-white, but with a subtle pattern inspired by Marés, the distinctive sandstone found on Mallorca. The pattern gives the helmet a cool freshness.

Find the MET x Tan Line Manta, here.

Find the MET Manta MIPS, here.

Abus GameChanger 2.0

Mathieu van der Poel races the original GameChanger, so the updated version definitely makes the list. His is Canyon branded though, but it’s the same helmet. Most of the peloton moved to the 2.0. Yet he didn’t. That says something about how well the original was built and how hard it is to improve on something that already works. The 2.0 is wider at the rear than its predecessor, which gives it a slightly more aggressive silhouette. The shark fin bridges across the top is the most visually distinctive detail on this helmet. It comes in 18 different colourways so you got some choice with this one.

Find the Abus GameChanger 2.0, here.

Sweet Protection Falconer Aero 2Vi MIPS

Norwegian brand. Twenty-five years making head protection for snow and paddle sports before they came to road cycling. That history really does show up in how seriously the construction is taken rather than just how it is marketed. The Falconer Aero sits low, smooth shell, subtle vent placement that doesn’t break up the profile. Seen it in person multiple times and it looks great. The aero version has magnetic vent covers which add a panel detail that is worth the extra spend. The smoke grey colourway is one of the better helmet colours available right now.

Honourable mention to the PAS Normal collaboration. The Ion Grey, which is technically more purple then grey , is the cooler colour option for this helmet (if you can match it to something). Sweet Protection is truly underrated.

Find the PNS x Sweet Protection collab, here.

Find the Sweet Protection Falconer Aero 2Vi MIPS, here.

Oakley ARO7

The ARO7 comes in two versions. The Road version has an integrated Prizm lens that attaches magnetically to the front of the helmet and stows on top when not in use. The Lite version is the same shell without the integrated lens (we prefer this one). Same no-tail profile, same BOA 360 fit system, same silhouette. The shell sits lower on the head than most aero helmets, which gives it a different look from every other helmet on this list. Immediately recognisable on the road. If the integrated lens is not your thing, the Lite version gets you the design without the optics. If it is your thing, the Road version is one of the more distinctive helmets in the category. Also, this is the best option if you want a black helmet. Oakley is kind of crap at making other colours.

Find the Oakley ARO7 Lite, here.

Find the Oakley ARO7 Road, here.

P.S. We are directing you to the brand websites to purchase the helmets but dig a little deeper on the net and deals will find their way to you. Feel free to hit us up on the DM if you have any questions.

To submit a find, a brand, or whatever you’re working on, email KMC@GRAVITYHILL.CC. We read everything. Posting is never guaranteed, but curiosity always is.

You can follow us on Instagram here, but in its purest and most beautiful form this is a newsletter, something to slow your timeline down

Before we get into it

GRAVITYHILL is free to read and will be for a long time. But if you are getting something out of it, a subscription goes a long way toward keeping this independent. Even a share.

In case you missed it, here is what we have been working on:

BREAKAWAY // 005 — Cycling Has a Visibility Problem

Ben Healy has 105,000 followers. Lewis Hamilton has over 40 million. That gap is not about talent. How fashion became the entry point for every sport that cracked the culture problem — and why cycling has not run that playbook yet.

LEFT TURNS // 003 — What If Cycling Had a Creative Director?

Crystal Palace did it. Como 1907 did it. The Cleveland Cavaliers did it. Every sport with cultural ambitions figured this out already. What happens when cycling finally makes the call.

BREAKAWAY // 004 — The Kids from Piazza San Babila

Milan, 1983. A generation decided the most radical thing they could do was refuse politics entirely. No manifesto. Just dress better than everyone else. What the Paninari understood about clothes as ideology, and why cyclists have been running the same logic ever since.

If that sounds like your kind of newsletter, you know what to do.

Subscribe now

We do not use affiliate links. We do not get paid to feature anything. No sponsored placements, no brand arrangements, no performance fees. Just things we actually rate. For the love of the game.

THE WHITE SOCK EDIT

We know the white sock rule sounds a little stuck-up. It is but we don’t care.

For the record, we wear white socks off the bike ninety-nine percent of the time. This is not a cycling thing. It is just a sock thing. We are a little obsessed with a good sock. This article was kinda inevitable…

So lets start here. Fausto Coppi, 1952 Tour de France, yellow jersey, white socks. Eddy Merckx, every race he ever entered, white socks. Anquetil. Hinault. Lemond. Bernard. The entire history of professional cycling, photographed in black and white and then in colour, and the one constant from the velodrome at Roubaix to the summit of Alpe d’Huez is white socks. Not because anyone decided it per se, but because nobody questioned it.

The sock was a utility object for most of the sport’s first century. Cotton, mid-calf, white. It absorbed sweat. It protected the ankle. It cost nothing and said nothing and sat between shoe and skin the way a sock is supposed to. The riders who built the mythology of this sport wore white socks not as a statement but as a default. Which is, paradoxically, what gives them weight now.

Because at some point cycling decided it needed to evolve. Teams got title sponsors. Kits became billboards. The jersey went from wool to lycra and the colours went from national to corporate. And somewhere in that transition the sock got pulled into the rebrand. Compression socks appeared. Coloured socks appeared. The ankle sock appeared, which is its own crime (Vingegaard still rocking these btw…). The sock that had been a blank slate for a hundred years became a canvas.

In professional cycling, almost nothing belongs to the rider. The jersey is the sponsor’s. The shorts are the team’s. The helmet, the shoes, the frame, all of it decided somewhere upstream. The rider is the least free person in the peloton when it comes to what they are wearing.

Except for small things. A necklace. A bracelet under the glove. The cap rolled under the back pocket. And the sock. The sock is the one place where the visual logic of the kit is not entirely dictated. Which means when a rider makes a considered choice about the sock, it reads. Immediately. Silently. The way the right detail always does.

The white sock is the choice that transcends everything else. It does not fight the jersey. It does not compete with the shoe. It does not announce a preference or a brand allegiance. It belongs to nobody and therefore works with everything. Merckx in Molteni orange. Hinault in Renault yellow. Pogacar in UAE white. The sock underneath all of it: the same.

Lance Armstrong wore compression socks so aggressively tall that he had to explain himself to the Tour de France director over lunch. The UCI legislated sock height not long after. Some people are still hating him for that fashion faux pas, and not for the other thing.

The UCI was not entirely wrong. A longer sock reads better than an ankle sock. Visually. And it turns out that modern sock fabric is technically more aerodynamic than bare skin. The longer the sock, the more it works. The UCI measured it in wind tunnels. So the look and the marginal gain are, for once, pointing in exactly the same direction.

Now the part that does not get talked about enough. A white sock has nowhere to hide.

A pattern gives you something to look at. A graphic gives you something to read. A colour story gives context. White gives you nothing except the object itself. The quality of the yarn. The density of the knit. The way the cuff holds its shape across 150km of riding or loses it after forty minutes. The way the white stays white after ten washes or goes grey, then yellow, then unwearable. These are the things white makes visible.

This is the same logic that makes a white Oxford shirt the hardest thing to wear well. No colour to blame. No pattern to hide behind. Just construction. And most socks, when you take the graphic away, have nothing underneath it.

The brands getting white right are the ones who did the extra reading on yarn, on construction, on cut. PROLEN instead of polyester. Seamless instead of seamed. A cuff engineered to sit at a specific height and stay there. A sock built to be white in six months the same way it was white on day one.

That is a different level of commitment to the object. And it is immediately visible on the bike.

White sock, white shoe. That is the rule. Go as wild as you want with everything else. Colour on the kit, colour on the frame. Even colour on the shades. But the sock stays white.

Here are our four favourites right now.

Fingerscrossed #002 Classic White

The one that started the brand. Bavarian-made, PROLEN yarn, a hand-pressed nickel-free rivet on the left sock. Not the right. The left. That detail alone tells you everything about how seriously these people take the object. PROLEN is a polypropylene-based yarn, lighter than polyester or nylon, moves moisture faster, dries almost instantly. The brands reaching for it are the ones who did the extra reading. No graphics. No colourway story. Mid-calf cut, sits exactly where it should, stays there across the whole ride. The benchmark everything else gets measured against.

Find here.

Attaquer ULTRA High Crew Sock White

One of the more technically ambitious socks on this list. The yarn is the story. Far Infrared technology absorbs body heat and promotes microcirculation, which sounds like marketing until you read how it works. Silver yarn in the footbed handles antimicrobial protection. 195mm ribbed tube, low pile construction for direct connectivity to the pedal, seamless toe closure. The kind of sock that has clearly been thought about from the inside out. Clean white, high crew cut, sits exactly where it should.

Find here.

nologo Classic White

Czech brand. Barely anyone outside of Europe is wearing them and they are not particularly bothered about changing that. Same PROLEN construction as Fingerscrossed, same logic, different postcode. Four cuff height options including a 27cm version that has no business looking as good as it does. The name is the ethos. No logo means the sock has to earn attention on its own terms. It does. Worth finding. Worth importing if you have to.

Find here.

Assos Endurance Socks S11 White Series

Not the race sock. The one you actually reach for. 18cm cuff, seamless construction, odour-resistant yarns mapped across the metatarsals, arch, and ankle. Lightweight, fast-drying, lightly compressive. The kind of sock that does not announce itself and does not need to. Assos has been obsessing over this object for decades. Worth every dollar.

Find here.

To submit a site, product, or whatever you’re working on, email KMC@GRAVITYHILL.CC. We read everything. Posting is never guaranteed, but curiosity always is.

You can follow us on Instagram here, but in its purest and most beautiful form this is a newsletter, something to slow your timeline down.

Before we get into it

GRAVITYHILL is free to read and will be for a long time. But if you are getting something out of it, a subscription goes a long way toward keeping this independent.

In case you missed it, here is what we have been working on:

BREAKAWAY // 004 — The Kids from Piazza San Babila

Milan, 1983. A generation decided the most radical thing they could do was refuse politics entirely. No manifesto. Just dress better than everyone else. What the Paninari understood about clothes as ideology, and why cyclists have been running the same logic ever since.

BREAKAWAY // 003 — Café Raids

Tour de France riders stopping mid-race to drink wine, eat at cafés, and disappear into the peloton with a glass of something cold. The history of la chasse à la canette and what cycling gave up when it decided to grow up

BREAKAWAY // 002 — A Sharpie, a Hack, and 150 Years of Castelli

A Norwegian rider blacked out a logo with a marker in 2009. Castelli turned it into a product. Then half the peloton showed up at Milan-San Remo in one. How the most important cycling garment of the last twenty years started as a fix and became infrastructure.

If that sounds like your kind of newsletter, you know what to do.

Subscribe now

We do not use affiliate links. We do not get paid to feature anything. No sponsored placements, no brand arrangements, no performance fees. Just things we actually rate. For the love of the game.

The Paninari are gone but their logic isn’t. This is a FEED ZONE for off the bike. No kit. No bibs. Just pieces that carry the Paninari vision right now, worn with the awareness that the brand on your back has always been a statement.

We are also kinda tired of seeing cyclists and cycling content creators dressed in the same rotation of Salomons and sportswear. We have nothing against Salomon. We love the brand. But there is a whole world of considered, deliberate, interesting clothing out there and this sport has the cultural foundation to wear all of it with authority. The Paninari figured that out in 1983.

Nothing in this edit is cheap. That was also true in 1983. The Paninari understood that the object was the statement. That hasn’t changed.

It is time to dress. Actually dress.

01 // STONE ISLAND — 100002 SPLIT LEATHER S.I. GHOST JACKET

The Ghost line is Stone Island doing what Stone Island has always done best: taking a concept and following it all the way to its logical conclusion. Ghost means fully monochromatic. Everything the same tone. Even the compass badge is rendered in a special matching version to disappear into the garment. The jacket itself is cut from split bovine crust leather, the material obtained by reducing the thickness of the hide, giving it a textured, durable surface that allows raw-cut finishes. Industrial detailing throughout. Snap-fastened stand collar. Contrasting and matching hardware. An internal compass-embroidered pocket.

The Paninari wore the orange Moncler because once everyone had a Dolomite puffer, you had to move on. The Ghost jacket is the 2026 version of that logic.

Find here

02 // STONE ISLAND — J100006 LIGHT BULL DENIM-TC IN MILITARY GREEN

Lightweight 13oz denim, garment dyed, with an anti-drop finish. Five pocket construction. The Denim Research badge with metal buttons on the left leg. Stone Island applying the same level of material obsession to denim that they apply to everything else. The result is a jean that does not look like it is trying to be a Stone Island piece and yet is unmistakably one.

The military green is a color that should be prominent in your wardrobe. The Paninari understood the language of military references translated into civilian clothing before anyone else. Massimo Osti built C.P. Company and Stone Island on exactly that logic. Forty years later these jeans are the same conversation in a different weight. Wear them with everything in this edit. They do not try too hard. That is the whole point.

Find here

03 // C.P. COMPANY — LIGHT BLUE COTTON CHENILLE POLO LENS SWEATER

The Goggle detail is the most recognisable thing C.P. Company ever did. Osti designed it in 1975 as a functional element, a built-in protective lens for working in adverse conditions. The Paninari turned it into an icon. This version takes the lens detail into a chenille polo knit in light blue. Soft construction, considered colourway, the kind of piece that rewards wearing.

C.P. Company’s fabric research is still some of the most serious in outerwear and knitwear. Garment dyeing. Material obsession. Zero interest in trends. The Paninari wore this brand because it was the best thing available. That calculus has not changed. CP Company should be in your closet rotation.

Find here

04 // VINNY’S — AZTEC BOAT SHOE

The Sebago moccasin was a Paninari essential. The sailing shoe as status object. A piece of American preppy culture adopted and elevated by Milanese kids who understood that footwear was the first thing anyone clocked. Vinny’s is a Danish brand doing something very similar with the Aztec. Handcrafted in Portugal. Hand-stitched suede upper. Vibram lug sole. Three-eyelet moccasin construction. Classic silhouette with enough weight in the sole to feel considered rather than casual.

The boat shoe has always had a life outside the boat. The Sebago in Milan in 1983. The Paraboot on French terraces. The Vinny’s now. Different decades, same instinct for the right shoe at the right moment.

Find here

05 // GHIAIA CASHMERE — RIBBED WOOL HALF-ZIP SWEATER IN ARMY GREEN

Ghiaia Cashmere is a family-run Italian knitwear factory. Not a brand built around campaigns and collab drops. A manufacturer that has been making exceptional wool pieces the same way for a long time and sees no reason to change. This ribbed half-zip is 100% wool in army green. Mid-weight. Regular fit. Clean construction with no excess. The kind of piece that disappears into your wardrobe and never leaves it. The army green connects directly to the military reference thread that runs through Stone Island and C.P. Company, the whole Paninari language of technical and workwear codes translated into something you actually want to wear. Ghiaia is obscure enough that the right people will clock it immediately. That is not a coincidence. That is the whole point.

Find here

06 // MAAP — TECH TOTE

MAAP built the Tech Tote from ALUULA Graflyte, a composite fabric with a strength-to-weight ratio eight times that of steel. 130 grams. Waterproof. Structured. The kind of material that gets used in yacht racing and aerospace before it ends up in a tote bag.

The Paninari carried the Invicta Minisac because it was the right object for the right moment. Considered, specific, built to last. The MAAP Tech Tote is running the same logic forty years later. A cycling brand making something you would carry anywhere. Throw everything in there and get on with your day.

Find here

To submit a find, a brand, or whatever you’re working on, email KMC@GRAVITYHILL.CC. We read everything. Posting is never guaranteed, but curiosity always is.

You can follow us on Instagram here, but in its purest and most beautiful form this is a newsletter, something to slow your timeline down.

We do not use affiliate links. We do not get paid to feature anything. No sponsored placements, no brand arrangements, no performance fees. Just things we actually rate. For the love of the game.

The vest is the piece nobody photographs and everybody reaches for. Think about that for a second.

The jersey gets the photography budget (do you know how hard it was to get “decent” pics of these vests to show you guys?). The bibs get the engineering budget. The vest gets grabbed off the floor at 5:45am when the weather app is doing something ambiguous and you need to make a decision in 8 seconds. It lives in the bottom of the kit bag. It has no real estate in the conversation. And then it saves the ride, every single time, with zero acknowledgment from anyone including you.

No sleeves to hide bad construction. No fill to fake warmth it doesn’t have. Just a front, a zip, and a back that has to breathe or the whole thing fails. The vest is the most honest piece of kit you own. It cannot lie about what it is.

We went looking for the six that actually figured it out. Here they are.

Six brands. No filler. No honourable mentions. Just the ones holding our attention right now.

01 // Q36.5

Air Vest — Optic White

Here is what you need to know about Q36.5: they are an Italian brand that treats fabric development the way serious people treat anything they actually care about. Two years on a single material. No shortcuts. No “good enough.” The Air Vest is the output of that kind of obsession and it shows the second you pick it up. This is windproof where the wind actually hits you and open everywhere else, which sounds obvious until you realise almost nobody gets that balance right.

The Optic White colourway is doing something specific. No logos fighting for your attention, nothing trying to be seen. Just a piece of kit that has decided it doesn’t need to convince you of anything.

Purchase here

02 // THE PEDLA

RideFLASH Cycling Gilet

We ride early. We ride late. The gap between streetlight and sunrise is not a liability, it’s when the roads are actually good (and safer). But you need to be seen. Not hi-vis-vest-from-a-hardware-store seen. Actually seen. The Pedla figured this out with a material called Vizlite™ — 26% retroreflective glass microspheres woven into the fabric itself. Hit it with a headlight and you are visible from a kilometre away. Not glowing faintly. A kilometre.

What the Pedla got right that most high-vis brands miss entirely: it looks like nothing in daylight. Clean grey. Minimal. The kind of vest you don’t have to think about when you’re not riding in it. Then the sun goes down and the physics take over. Windproof, waterproof, YKK hardware, room to layer. It does everything a vest should do and then does one more thing that most vests cannot.

When the 5am ride is non-negotiable, this is the vest for it.

Purchase here

03 // MAAP

Team Flow Vest

MAAP has been putting out considered kit for long enough now that the question is no longer whether they can do it, it’s which piece is the right one. The Team Flow Vest is it. Not their loudest colourway, not their most technically audacious claim. Just the one that disappears on your body at speed, stays exactly where it should, and never once asks you to think about it mid-ride.

That’s the whole brief for a vest. MAAP always understands it.

Purchase here

04 // ATTAQUER

Intra Stow Gilet — White

Attaquer is an Australian independent that has been doing something quietly interesting for years without making a big noise about it. The Intra Stow is the best example of that sensibility. The silhouette earns attention without demanding it, which is a harder thing to pull off than it sounds. For us, white is always the right call. The cut is the statement.

It packs into its own rear pocket. Small detail. But it’s exactly the kind of detail that tells you a real person who actually rides thought about how this gets used when you’re forty kilometres out and the temperature just moved on you.

Attaquer is always worth your attention.

Purchase here

05 // RAPHA

Pro Team Shadow Gilet

We are not going to defend the price (its like 400$). That is not what this is. But Rapha has been making genuinely strong product lately and the Pro Team Shadow Gilet is the evidence. The Shadow colorway is doing a specific thing: subtle enough that it doesn’t announce itself, present enough that you know exactly what it is. Technical without performing technicality. That tension is hard to hold and they held it.

Can’t argue with the price. Can’t argue with the product either. Frustrating.

Already in a Rapha kit system? This belongs in it. Not in one yet? This is not the entry point. That’s fine. It’s still worth knowing about.

Purchase here

06 // FINGERS CROSSED

Road Wind Vest — Poppy Red

Bavaria, 2016. Started making socks. Spent nearly a decade building slowly into a full kit system without rushing the process or overclaiming the product. That kind of patience is almost impossible to fake and it always shows up in the “thing” itself.

The Road Wind Vest runs the same four-way stretch and signature mesh back as their bibs and baselayers. It looks like it belongs to a collection because it does — that coherence is the whole thing with Fingerscrossed. Two-way zip so you can get into your jersey pockets without stripping it off. Windproof. Water-resistant. Packs down. Does the job.

The Poppy Red is the right move to close this list. Everything else here is white, shadow, optic, grey. This one is not. It commits to a colour and that commitment reads as confidence. Which is exactly what Fingerscrossed has been building towards since they started with socks in a Bavarian workshop nine years ago.

Purchase here

To submit a find, a brand, or whatever you’re working on, email KMC@GRAVITYHILL.CC. We read everything. Posting is never guaranteed, but curiosity always is.

Less watts, more drip.

You can follow us on Instagram here and on X here, but in its purest and most beautiful form this is a newsletter, something to slow your timeline down.

The FEED ZONE is where we collect things that caught our attention. Objects, ideas, clothes, and references that are maybe worth a second look. Not everything is necessary.

Welcome to FEEDZONE 002.

Summer is still a few months out here in Montreal so the jersey search has already started. These are the ones holding our attention right now.

1. KNOG X ATTAQUER TOUR DOWN UNDER JERSEY

We love a good collaboration, especially when utility (Knog) and style (Attaquer) are equally considered. This one delivers. Its a subtle nod to the Tour Down Under, and a quiet reference to racing without leaning too heavily on it. Attaquer has long been one of our favorite brands, particularly for their overall design language. This jersey carries that energy. Considered details, nothing forced. The kind of piece that gets you excited for longer rides.

Purchase here

2. MAAP DROME PRO AIR LS 3.0 JERSEY

Grey is one of our favorite colors to ride in, and this “Ice Grey” is chef’s kiss. It beats black every time. This one sits right in that lane. Light, breathable, and built for long efforts when you want coverage without weight. We have owned several MAAP jerseys and the quality has always delivered. Clean lines, precise fit, fabric that feels intentional. A jersey that disappears once you’re pedaling.

Purchase here

3. PEDAL MAFIA PRO RACE JERSEY

We like green. Always have. Green is cool. A pop of color goes a long way when everything else on the road is black bibs and navy jerseys. This one gets it right. We haven’t ridden in Pedal Mafia kit before, so we can’t speak to it’s longevity, but visually this hits. Sometimes that’s enough to put something on the list. A jersey that does its job by not trying too hard. Their other colors are dope as well.

Purchase here

4. GRIN27 PRO SNAKE SKIN JERSEY

There’s something about a smaller brand doing its own thing. This is one of those jerseys you actually notice on the road because not many people have it. Grin27’s approach is quiet but considered, never chasing the usual suspects. We’ve been following the brand for a while now and we love what they’re doing. Subtle pattern, good fit, a touch of personality without being loud. If you want something that doesn’t feel like everyone else’s, this is worth it.

Purchase here

HONORABLE MENTION // AWAYMESSAGE (MAAP) LS PRO AIR DISCO JERSEY

This one sold out almost immediately, which is why it lands here as an honorable mention. Designed by Away Message, a low key LA crew known for riding far and keeping things quiet. We’ve always wanted to get our hands on one of these. They crew is sponsored by MAAP and Basso, which tells you a lot on its own. Same MAAP fabric and quality as the jersey above, just filtered through a different lens. There’s also what we’re choosing to believe is a nod to Voyage Voyage, an early 2000s Euro track by Kate Ryan. We love/loved that song enough to buy the jersey on that alone. Honestly, Im listening to that song as I write this.

You can follow the crew on Instagram here.

To submit a site, product, or whatever you’re working on, email KMC@GRAVITYHILL.CC. We read everything. Posting is never guaranteed, but curiosity always is.

You can follow us on Instagram here and on X here, but in its purest and most beautiful form this is a newsletter, something to slow your timeline down. And what better way to bless your inbox for the first time than with a simple roundup of a few cool things we spotted recently.

This is FEED ZONE 001.

1. CCACHE.COM QUICK PRO ER:ONE HYPER RED (CUSTOM)

We can already hear it.
“Your bike is named Quick and you can’t even reach 45 km/h?”

Listen, it isn’t about how fast we go. It’s always been about how cool we look doing it. And let us tell you, this frame is very good. The Quick Pro ER:One is one hell of a fast bike. Have we ridden it? Not yet. But we’ve read enough and trust the people who have.

What really makes this one special is the paint. CCACHE, easily one of the best online bike shops out there, designed this frame in a high-gloss red inspired by iconic motorsport colors like Rosso Corsa and Viper Team Red. Google it.

The color is iconic, the frame is dope, and we’re fairly confident you won’t see many of these on your coffee rides. Best part? About a third of the cost of your average race frame.

Cop here

2. VINTAGE OAKLEY M FRAME CARBON FIBER

If you’ve ever tried staring straight into the sun while riding, you already know how important a solid pair of glasses is.

We can’t waste time with below-average eyewear. Oakleys will always be Oakleys. For better or worse, they’re still the number one reference. These M Frames look good on about 98 percent of face shapes, and the carbon fiber detail is chef’s kiss.

Grab them here

3. TI PARTS 2.5 GRAMS BAR END PLUGS

Your bike deserves some jewelry.

Technically, these are completely useless. That’s kind of the point. They weigh 2.5 grams and they look good. If we can wear earrings, there’s no reason our bikes can’t wear titanium bar end plugs.

Purchase here

4. TI PARTS UNIVERSAL STEM BIKE MOUND

Just look at this thing. It’s a work of art.

Your bike computer deserves a throne and this is the one. Ti Parts makes mounts for specific bike brands, but we had to show the universal version. Universal is good. Universal means everyone’s invited.

Feel me?

Cop here

We’ll keep dropping these as we find things worth sharing. More soon.

To submit a site, product, or whatever you’re working on, email KMC@GRAVITYHILL.CC. We read everything. Posting is never guaranteed, but curiosity always is.