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We try and keep 'other brands' product reviews to a minimum on the KBP site. Partly as we believe there's far to much superlative and product related nonsense floating around the internet already and equally as many press releases thinly disguised as product reviews.

So when you do see a product reviewed here, there's usually a good reason for it. In this case it's a pair of POC gloves that inspired our fingers to tap the keyboards today.

If you haven't already heard of POC, (a Swedish company making some of the best personal protection for gravity atheletes) then you probably don't mountain bike, ski or do any watersports, read outdoor magazines or go online much. Which means your probably not even reading this.

But anyway this is what they say about their products.

All our products have been tested by top world gravity sport athletes and then further refined to perfection. Our athlete friends love to go flat out but without suffering cuts, bruises and headaches, or in the worst cases, risking back or brain damage as a result of crashes that sadly happens to even the best athletes. The end result is a line of lightweight, high performance gear that offers the ultimate protection against injury thanks to superior impact absorption and penetration resistance.

This is what we think about their products.

RIP. Ridden to the death, gone but not forgotten

When you're young, material things hold a very special meaning to you. Your treasured 'Nu Nu' blanket for example, it's gets lost, the world ends for a 5 year old, ask any parent.

Thankfully as you get older you realise material things are important, they make your life more comfortable and help you feel rewarded for the daily grind BUT they aren't life or death.

Product marketeers also help us by revealing even our newest most loved product purchase, is now not only obselete but is making us look foolish infront of our peers. So marketeers are actual providing a service, they're helping us accept the inconsolable disposability of life.

However, once in a while a product comes along that gets under your skin and unexpectedly you find yourself unable to live without it and I'm not talking toilet roll.

For me that product was a pair of POC INDEX FLOW gloves. An emergency purchase at the bottom of the Pleney from 'Claud somethings' Ski and Bike' 9am, June 29th 2009.

I ignored the 60€ price tag by doing some dodgy exchange rate conversions in my head and the FACT it would be a waste of time to return to the van and pick up the gloves I'd left there.

Fast forward and over the last 9 months I'd become so attached to these gloves that I literally couldn't ride without them. If lost, the ride was cancelled until I found them. They became my lucky talisman, my muse. These gloves not only made me ride better, they made me jump higher and with more style. They became the one object in my life I couldn't do without, I couldn't even imagine a day without them, my love was so deep for this inanimate digit cover.

6th March 2010. They died!

A combination of over use, over washing, sweat, death grip, dirt and too much love killed them completely. I mean fubar, 'this is an ex parrot!' type of dead.

To their credit they notched up over 300 hours of hard riding, trail abuse and saved my hands from amputation on many occassions.

I now ride without gloves until I can bring myself to fall in love with a new pair, I'm still a bit uncomfortable with this process as I feel like a widower looking for a new wife at the funeral.

So there you have the story behind this product review, the gloves that will always have a special place in my heart, like my 'distressed' Howies jeans or my 80's John Deer trucker.

The gloves. RIP. Gone but not forgotten.

POC INDEX FLOW GLOVE 60€

The Glove

The upside.

A brilliant fit with great attention to detail. Comfortable and subtle but still feel like your hands are completely protected.

The downside.

They died and the price. But what price do you put on a genuinely unique and quality product. Think of it like this they are twice the price of other gloves, because other gloves are only half as good.

The nutshell

Buy them, you'll fall in love and your life will be changed.

Learn more about this product from POC

POC RECEPTOR+ MULTI SPORT HELMET 160€

The Helmet

The upside.

Brilliant finish, the best fitting 'helmet' in my cellar full of piss pots. A mountain of spare padding, a bag and best of all 'stickers'. You can use it for biking, snow sports and watersports, 3 in 1 solution!

The downside.

The price and the standard padding is not as durable as the Watersports' padding which is designed to be more water (sweat) resistant.

The nutshell

If you absolutely have to smash yourself into the ground wear nothing else.

Learn more about this product from POC

POC JOINT VPD ELBOW PAD 83€

The Pad

The upside.

Lightweight and they stay on your arm.

The downside.

I'm somewhere between a small and a medium, the small I tested was a bit too tight and rub after a days riding. The new VPD pad comes in more sizes for a better fit.

The nutshell

I don't wear arm padding that much, but if I do, only these will do.

Learn more about this product from POC

As all things in life are subjective we've included a comments board on this post just incase you feel like having your say about POC products as well.