OUR
JOURNEY
Why do we care so passionately about this product?
We care because cyclists shouldn’t be second class citizens on the road – to be as safe as other road users, we at least need to have the same knowledge of what’s happening around us. Now, with HindSight, we’re starting to make that a reality, and we want you to join us on our journey.
ALEXANDER MACDONALD
FOUNDER & CEO
Physicist with a passion for cycling. After repeated near misses cycling, he looked at existing solutions for rear vision in cycling and found nothing good enough. If all cars need rear mirrors to be considered safe, why don’t cyclists have any good options? They do now; as a result, HindSight was born.
CALLUM SKINNER
BRAND AMBASSADOR
The World Gold Medallist in Velodrome, also known as the fastest cyclist in the world. After winning gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Callum devoted his time to fairness in sport, and to using his position to make the world of cycling better for everyone – which is how he ended up at HindSight. Keeping an eye on the competition is fundamental in any sport, and HindSight allows cyclists to be aware of their surroundings (be that a chasing racer, a fast approaching taxi, or a friend in the pack) like never before.
OUR JOURNEY
The concept for HindSight came from Alex having one close pass and near miss too many with traffic in London – a situation any cyclist will have experienced, with the wing mirror nearly clipping your elbow. Struggling to maintain control of the bike between busy traffic on one side and parked cars on the other, watching that wing mirror fading into the distance, triggered a thought – Alex realised that knowing what was coming behind would allow him, as a cyclist, to make smarter decisions, and act before drivers get too close.
Knowing what was coming from behind – whether that’s an inexperienced driver, an aggressively driving taxi, or a large bus which requires more space – would allow him to act with more information and make him feel significantly safer while on the roads. After this one close pass in particular, Alex looked into options available to cyclists only to find nothing suited to his cycling lifestyle – everything was an unsightly bolt-on or an awkward mount, none of which seemed to solve the problem in a satisfying way.
That night, HindSight was born; an elegant solution, providing rear vision without sacrificing forward sight. Over the next few weeks Alex created the first HindSight rear-vision cycling glasses, at which point he called a close friend, Callum Skinner, an Olympic gold-medal winning cyclist to work on the refining the idea.
Callum loved the idea so much that he immediately joined the HindSight team. As a cycling advocate he asks all cyclists, “If every other vehicle on the road has mirrors, why don’t cyclists have any good options?”
HindSight rear-vision cycling glasses are the answer.
Forget about low-utility, clumsy, manual devices which have to be appended to your existing gear, with HindSight there is no attaching, fiddling, adjusting – just put them on and you are ready for your ride.
Despite developing HindSight glasses to solve the problems urban cyclists face, it quickly became apparent to both Alex and Callum that their patented lens technology could also improve performance and wattage. Managing your aerodynamic profile is a key component for any cyclist and breaking aero to turn back and look over your shoulder damages this profile. Considering the investment and personal sacrifice cyclists make to improve aerodynamics by even single figure watts, we at HindSight think our technology could revolutionise the way people cycle.
With the concept solidified and the team excited, HindSight took to the stage in our first public appearance, after three rounds of elimination against over 200 start-ups, in appearing at the UK’s biggest Innovation award, Scottish EDGE. After presenting to a panel of judges and a crowd of over 300 in the auditorium, HindSight came home with a Scottish EDGE award, which they are using to launch their KickStarter campaign. After taking HindSight from a few sketches in a basement flat, the team is ready to put our technology in the hands of the worlds cyclists.