Wanted
Oakley's Radarlock Sunglasses Feature Lenses That Pop Out Like Doors
For the easy-to-use lock on its new shades, Oakley studied the mechanisms of car doors.
Oakley knew its latest innovation would hinge on the (ahem) hinge. Its Radarlock
sunglasses--out this month--allow wearers to swap out its iconic single lenses to best suit their activity, which means it needs a lock that's easy to use but hard to trigger accidentally. "I come from automotives, so I'm inspired by those mechanisms," says Ryan Calilung, an Oakley R&D engineer. "From day one, we thought of this device as a door." To shrink a car door's system, the team used the frame's existing hinge pin and built a lock into the stem; a quick slide of a switch, located near the wearer's temple, releases the lens. To test its strength, the Radarlock was subjected to salt-spray testing, temperature testing, and athlete testing--perhaps the most crucial, as Radarlock will be worn at this summer's Olympic Games. "If it meets their needs," Calilung says, "it will meet the needs of a guy like me riding down the street on his bike." ($200, oakley.com)
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