Sunglasses and Why You Need Them
Quality sport sunglasses are a must-have for any serious cyclist.
We didn’t realise how much we would come to love our glasses before we started our trip but now we wouldn’t consider cycling without them. Next to the bikes, they’re right up there with our most treasured possessions.
The last thing you want is a bug to come hurtling towards your face while you’re descending from a hill. It’s not a pretty outcome for you or the insect. Having sunglasses on doesn’t help the bug much but it does stop you from crashing because you got a fly in your eye.
Sunglasses also keep out all kinds of dirt, dust and let’s not forget the most important thing – sunlight and UV rays, which damage your eyes over time if you leave them unprotected. On a very bright day, it’s just plain difficult to concentrate on the road for any period without sunglasses.
A COMPANY WE LIKE
UK-based Optilabs is a good company to consider for both prescription and non-prescription sunglasses.
At the start of our trip, Andrew bought a pair from Optilabs and Friedel negotiated a good deal on Oakleys from a nearby optician. Over the course of our first 2 years, and despite the higher price of the Oakley glasses, both sets of glasses succumbed to too many scratches and drops and we needed to replace them.
Optilabs offered to get two new pairs to us: Andrew’s for free and Friedel’s at a small fee. Now we both cycle in Optilabs glasses and Friedel in particular is surprised to find the quality and clarity of the lens appears to be every bit as good as Oakley.
Purchasing the glasses from Optilabs is easy. Everything is done online so all you need to do is enter your prescription details. At first this was a bit concerning since we’ve always purchased glasses directly from the optician but Optilabs are the only online company we found with a full money-back guarantee. If you get the glasses and don’t like them, it’s no problem to return them within the first week.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Get a pair of sunglasses that are made for sport. You want them to wrap around your face to stop road grit from getting in your eyes and sunlight from harming your vision. Sport sunglasses are built for more durability and a snug fit that allows the glasses to stay put, even on bumpy roads.
If your eyes are less than perfect, you’ll want prescription sunglasses. These take one of two forms. You can get glasses with a non-prescription outside lens and a prescription insert that sits just behind the exterior lens. These are sometimes cheaper and you can get several lens so you can change the tint of the shades. You can also remove the prescription lens altogether if you want to wear contacts. But some people report problems with fogging in wet weather.
The other option, and the one we prefer, is a single prescription lens. This tends to be more expensive because of the difficulty in manufacturing a curved lens to fit the sport sunglass frame but the quality of the glass is very high.
Since we almost never cycle near dusk, we rarely have to stop and change our glasses before we get to our accommodation. This does mean your normal glasses will get juggled around in your panniers so purchase a good case to avoid getting scratches.
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With so many colours of lenses to choose from it can be daunting to ensure that you pick the correct colour of lense to suit your needs.
With varying lighting conditions in the UK this can be quite tricky and you dont want to carry multiple lenses to cover every situation.
I find that a red tint works most effectively. It ensures that in early morning when light is low, the red pigment will brighten the outlook but come midday when the sun is at its highest it still copes well without the need to change to a darker lense. Yellow had always been the favourite for early morning but is rendered useless come the middle of the day forcing you to change lenses.
However, in saying that I prefer to ride in clear lenses. on the every odd occasion that it is sunny will I ever change them out. Degregated lenses offer a tinted section at the very top of the lense which catches your peripheral vision and offers that extra protection.
Then of course you get your photochromatic lenses more commonly reffered to as transition lenses. These will change colour depending on the amount of light. Most will change gradually giving your eyes time to adjust, this is all well and good but if you were to cycle from open space into a covered area such as lines of trees, this change doesnt happen quickly enough. These really aren’t suitable for mountain biking but on longer road rides they can be of some advantage.
Have a look at Rudy project glasses. An Italian manufacturer of sports sunglasses. They offer about 25 lenses for various conditions and multiple frames from wire frame to wrap-around designs as well as a small selection of casual models.
Specifically the Rudy Rydon range is comfortable and affordable with every lense option available. expect to pay about 65.00 GBP upwards (approx 100.00 USD). The legs and nose piece are also adjustable to suit every face shape. Inserts are available for spectacle wearers too which sits snuggle behind the lenses. Your optition can also make the lenses to suit a prescription (although this is very expensive)
If you are feeling flush the Rudy Project Ketyuum are sooo comfortable but at over $200 you need to be a dedicated cyclist. A mix of titanium and carbon and super light!
Rudy Project also offer a scratch replacement scheme where if you have scratched your lenses so much that they are un-useable they will replace free of charge (Or they certainly used to, anyway)
Specialized also make some great sunglasses for cyclists, comfortable, light and very well priced. I have used the Specialized Singletracks in the past for mountain biking and they work very well for me. These aren’t adjustable, though. The benifit form buying Specialized goods is that hey are designed specifically for cycling and have been extensively tested.
A little tip as well for glasses. Smear a little neat washing up liquid on to the back of the lense ensure a thin layer all over and let it dry. It will dry clear and will stop the lense from fogging up when you are stationary. Repeat every few weeks or so.
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