This article was produced in association with Koo
There’s no such thing as cyclists, so the enlightened like to say, just people on bikes. Which makes the Koo Cosmo the perfect sunglasses for us all.
You will have seen Koo’s oversized cycling shades decorating the faces of riders in the WorldTour peloton in recent years: former world champion Mads Pedersen has been a devotee, while Davide Bais of Eolo-Kometa won the mountainous stage seven of this year’s Giro d’Italia, which finished at Gran Sasso, wearing a pair.
However, Koo’s Cosmo model are also designed to fit in that gap between cycling and the real world, or rather, squarely in both worlds. The Cosmo is a model whose no-slip grip is suitable for hard riding of all types, but it is equally well designed for wearing off the bike, and without lycra. For those of us whose rides around town are as much part of our cycling identity as long rides into the hills, the Cosmo is an option that befits both activities, and everything in between.
They look cool on and off the bike, and come in seven colours: avio matt, black matt, blaze matt, blonde matt, blush, crystal and olive green.
The Cosmos are manufactured from Grilamid, a polycarbonate that combines low density with excellent flexing strength and resistance to high temperatures. The lenses are Zeiss polycarbonate for great clarity and vision – the black matt lenses are polarised, while the other colours have mirror lenses, so you’ll still get great contrast on bright days (buy yourself a pair of both and there’s always an option for duller days, too.) The grippers on the nose and temple are comfortable and barely noticeable; however they are effective – the Cosmos stay in place even when sweating on hot days.
Koo, who have been sending sunglasses out into the world from their base near Bergamo since 2016, are confident the Cosmo are an all-purpose model, describing them for “outdoor life enthusiasts”, which is what we all are, after all. When we are out and about, on two wheels, more, or none, and whether we’re looking down at the road ahead, or up at the landscape and scenery, the Koo Cosmo are a supremely functional, comfortable, cool-looking and protective pair of sunglasses.
