Sunglasses

PeteinSQ

I'm thinking of splashing out some serious cash on a pair of glasses for cycling in. I want them to have interchangeable lenses (clear and dark) and to be of a high quality so that I will want to look after them.

Oakley are the ones I'm looking at currently. Any other suggestions?

nferrar

Giro Havik's and Rudy Project (various models) I guess are the main £100+ alternatives to Oakleys. Personally I use Oakley Radar's and they're noticeably more comfy than the cheapy DHB ones I had before and more importantly they mist far far less. Are they worth the extra, debatable but I don't regret buying them.

il_principe

nferrar wrote:

Giro Havik's and Rudy Project (various models) I guess are the main £100+ alternatives to Oakleys. Personally I use Oakley Radar's and they're noticeably more comfy than the cheapy DHB ones I had before and more importantly they mist far far less. Are they worth the extra, debatable but I don't regret buying them.

+1 for the Radars. The transition lenses are ace.

PeteinSQ

Which style radars did you guys get? Range, Pitch or Path?

mrushton

Depends on your face. The Path are the shallowest (I use Hybrid-S lenses in my M-Frames) and that's what I use. You might want to wait for the new Jawbone to appear. Two sets of lenses come as standard and it has a neat lens-swap system. Giro are really Oakley copies imo altho the lenses are Zeiss (still plastic tho'). Rudy are a good often cheaper alternative

nferrar

Currently I have an iridium Path lens for sunny days and a clear Range lens for crappy days and night rides (got the deeper Range for that as they're mostly for MTB use so it helps having the bottom closer to my cheeks to keep the mud out). I originally had a vented clear but I face planted a wall and they got badly scratched (not a flaw - it was like 15mph and the fact the lens stayed intact probably saved my eyes), couldn't get a replacement clear vented quickly enough so got a non-vented but thankfully it doesn't seem to mist anymore than the vented did (which is rarely).

PeteinSQ

Thanks for the information regarding the jawbone. Having watched the bikeradar demo video I will wait until they come out as one of the things I always have difficulty with is putting the lenses in place. Plus they're the ones that Cavendish seems to be wearing and he's doing ok...

bendertherobot

The oakley site has a tutorial about the lens swap on the Radars.

Mine are for sale in the classifieds by the way

nferrar

The Jawbones look odd to me, remind me a bit of Mario Cipollini's look But yeah the Radar lens are a nightmare if you just try and pull them out (like on a cheap pair) but easy once you get the steps right.

PeteinSQ

Of course the look of the things will be pretty important to which pair I buy. I look enough like an idiot not to need any help from funny looking specs!

mrushton

Just go to a decent Oakley dealer (pref.cycling specific and try both the Jawbones and Radar on and compare them. I wasn't sure about the Radars at first,but like them now

COVEC

Top Tip!!!!!

You can also get the Radar's with straight arms(they do not have the vent holes on them), these fit well for those with a slightly narrower head (like me).

COVEC

HonestAl

you might want to look at Oakley Flak Jacket's too. I've got some photochromic XLJs which are pretty cool IMO

PeteinSQ

I think that they've stopped selling the Flack Jackets, maybe the Jawbone is to replace them.

I'm still waiting for Jawbone to be available in this country I will then take a trip down to Bluewater where there is an Oakley shop to pick up a pair of whicever I prefer.

giant_man

PeteinSQ wrote:

I think that they've stopped selling the Flack Jackets, maybe the Jawbone is to replace them.

I'm still waiting for Jawbone to be available in this country I will then take a trip down to Bluewater where there is an Oakley shop to pick up a pair of whicever I prefer.

Yeah I've been there, good shope and good choice but I don't know how much dearer they are in an offical Oakley shop. Probably worth it to try them on .

guilliano

I love my Adidas Evil Eyes. Really comfy, light weight and pretty much unbreakable with a great warrantee back up. The Pro version have a sweat band at the top too.

Cheeky

Gonna wade in with a "Captain Sensible" suggestion; buy the most comfortable ones!!!

I've tried loads of different glasses but find Bloc to be a good fit for my (peanut) head shape, and currently use the Stealth which has 3 interchangeable lenses, a bit 1990s wraparound though so styl emight not be an option here!!

They're also pretty reasonable which is important with me as I tend to scratch them/sit on them/chuck them down the road regularly.

schlepcycling

Whatever you go for you should seriously consider the transition type lenses. I have Oakley Straight Jackets with them and it saves you mucking about changing lenses for the different conditions.

GavH

Looking at replacing my ESS ICE glasses with something more cycling specific and dare I say it - stylish. Been looking at Rudy Project, either Ketyum or Rydons. I know a few folk on here recommended the Rydons on a seperate thread a while back. Can anyone with Rudy Project shades tell me what lenses they are using? Thinking about getting the Photochromic Greys.

neeb

The Oakley M frames are still one of the best. I tried on the Radars but they don't fit my face very well and in the end I went for the M frames (sweep). very minimalist when you are wearing them, you really don't notice they are there. Not as fashionable as the radars but they have a serious retro cool factor!

Blonde

You will have your own preference for lenses, but I am not keen on any "transition" type lenses. I once had Boots own brand Transitions lenses in a pair of prescription specs, but they didn't change fast enough when on a bike, going down hill and under trees etc., although they were fine for walking. I was told at an Oakley dealer that the Oakley transition lenses also don't change all that quickly. They can change from clear to dark quickly, but don't lighten up again straight away. It can take 10-15 minutes. I personally prefer to use a clear lens most of the time, unless it is really bright sunshine. In bright sunshine I use a really pale tint that I find copes with shade reasonably well too, rather than using a very dark or mirrored lens, so that I don't need to remove the specs when under trees etc.

Garry H

GavH wrote:

Looking at replacing my ESS ICE glasses with something more cycling specific and dare I say it - stylish. Been looking at Rudy Project, either Ketyum or Rydons. I know a few folk on here recommended the Rydons on a seperate thread a while back. Can anyone with Rudy Project shades tell me what lenses they are using? Thinking about getting the Photochromic Greys.

I have a pair of Rydons that came with both the "Racing Red" and lazer blue lenses. The red ones are excellent for everything except the very brightest of days, on which I can swap to the blue ones. If I could only have one type of lense, it would be the racing red. Oakley also do a similar version of this lense, but i don't know what they call them. I've also tried the Rudy Project photocromatic lense, and like the other poster said above, they seem to take ages to adapt to differing light.