Hannah and Benji sit outside in the relative sunshine (look how they’re wearing shorts and everything) to discuss the whys and wherefores of riding eyewear. Should you wear glasses whilst riding? Are expensive ones worth it? What frame designs work? Which lens tint is best for riding to the shops? And so on.
100% S3
- Price: £169.99
- From: Freewheel
Believe it or not, these S3 glasses from 100% are some of the more subtle offerings in their range. That said, they’re still very much CYCLING GLASSES in capital letters. And we like them for that. Go bold or go home and all that. Seriously though, big glasses work better than small glasses. And once you’re wearing them with a helmet, they don’t look as OTT. Interchangeable lenses tech. High-impact and scratch-resistant. 100% (ha!) UV protection (UV400) and with Hydroilo treatment to repel water and greasy things (finger oils from your fingers). Vented lens reduce fogging. Shatterproof Grilamid TR90 frame. Ultra-grip rubber nose pads and tips. Available in myriad lens tints.
Oakley Sutro Lite
- Price: £152.00
- From: Oakley
Half-frame version of the popular Sutro. Big ol’ field of view. Shown in the video with Oakley’s Prizm lenses that are designed to enhance color and contrast. Now then. Oakley are simultaneously all that’s great and all that’s off-puttingly eye-rolling about premium eyewear. With registered® trademarks™ all over the place and some of the highest of folluting marketing spiel out there, they often don’t do themselves any favours. That said, ‘Unobtanium’ is one of the greatest marketing names of all time, respect is due for that. Anyway. Like most Oakleys, these Sutro Lites are incredibly lovely to wear. You forget you’ve got them on. They’re sharp, clear, even and just… really annoyingly great if you want to pick holes in them because of their attendant flowery PR guff!
100% Speedcraft
- Price: £189.99
- From: Freewheel
The Speedcraft glasses we feature are the ones with the HiPER Blue Mirror lens. Other Speedcraft flavours are available. You might recognise these as the iconic facewear of roadie icon Peter Sagan. Now then, they are essentially the original, even less subtle glasses that the above S3 glasses are derived from. The frame, nose piece, arm tips, venting and all the sort of thing is repeated here. The Speedcrafts just have that raised top section to the lens. Which may originially have been intended as extra view for on-the-drops road sprinting (very Sagan) but is of less functionaility when it comes to offroad. Regardless. These are here to show off the Blue Mirror lens. It’s great in bright conditions. Not necessarily sunny blue sky bright. Big ol’ white/grey skies are surprisingly glarey and bright.
That’s your Official 3 Things. But we did also feature two more pairs of glasses. Because.
Pit Viper Hot Tropics Photochromic
- Price: $115.00
- From: Pit Viper
Unfortunately you can’t easily get hold of Pit Viper glasses in the UK, as they’re only available from their website, which ships from the USA. But they will send them to you if pay the postage etc. These are here as a bonus example of photochromic glasses.
Fake Oakley Jawbreakers
- Price: Can’t remember exactly but under £20.00
- From: eBay
Hey, we’ve been there. We’re not going to judge anyone. Like we say in the video, by all means use cheapy glasses to experiment in finding what lens shape and tint works for you and your riding. Once they break (which they always do in our experience), use that research to wisely invest in some better made, optically superior ‘proper’ glasses.
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