What cycling sunglasses should I buy?
Rudy Project is a specialist vendor of quality sports sunglasses, made in Italy. Founded in 1985, it’s family owned, with a commitment to helping sportspeople to achieve clear vision and their best performance, with or without prescription solutions.
Based in Treviso, its products are designed and manufactured locally, bringing technology and style together with the help of athlete feedback. Rudy Project creates sunglasses that are finely tuned to suit certain disciplines and conditions, often using sustainable materials such as Rilsan®, made with eco-friendly castor oil.
Unlike most sports sunglasses, Rudy Project’s don’t rely on lens coatings for benefits such as glare reduction, so there’s no risk of delamination with age, cleaning or weather conditions. Your investment is therefore guaranteed to last years if cared for properly. The tech is embedded within the lenses, which are interchangeable, so that you can choose the right lens type for your activity.
What frame should I choose for cycling?
Choosing the right frame can make all the difference to your comfort on a long ride. Full frame or half frame? Large or small lenses? Standard or spherical?
Large full frame
A full frame with large lenses offers riders maximum protection from not only the elements, but road debris. In the unfortunate event of an accident, there is also less chance of the lens digging into your skin. If you have a wide or long face, this style will suit it.
Note, though, that full frames come with a little more weight and let less air circulate, so can get warm. If you’re prone to sweating, drops may pool at the bottom of the frames. Large, full frames are also more visually striking, which is great if you want a statement piece, however they are prone to swamping small faces. Finally, a large, full frame will be less aero, as it uses larger, flat lenses.
Our choices:
Kelion: Made for cyclists, these stylish sunglasses offer a wide field of vision, a custom fit and PowerFlow ventilation to prevent fogging or overheating.
Spinshield: These bold, bright sunglasses come in a range of colours. Named amongst Cycling News’ “Gear of the Year”, they offer a great fit and an unobstructed view.
Large half frame
Half frame sunglasses are less weighty and more airy. The removal of the lower rim also means there’s less chance of sweat buildup. However, the same cons of large lenses, including a tendency to feel relatively warm on hot days, looking too large on short or narrow faces and flat, non-aero lenses, apply.
Our choice:
Spinshield Air: Like their full frame siblings, the nicely fitting Spinshield Air sunglasses come with a wide choice of colours and lens options. However, they also offer prescription solutions.
Small half frame
The combination of small lenses and a half frame means minimal weight and significantly increased air flow. The half rim design provides an accent of colour at the top of the glasses for style, without being overbearing. If you’re looking for a cooler ride with minimal sweat buildup, especially if your face is narrow or short, this is your best option. Smaller lenses are also more aero than larger ones.
Our choice:
Turbolence: The Turbolence sunglasses boast a great fit, prescription solutions, eco-friendly construction and PowerFlow ventilation. They feature a sweat bar that prevents acidic sweat from running into your eyes, for added comfort during hot rides.
Small, no frame
Small, frameless sunglasses offer the most airflow and cooling, which means less sweat in warmer conditions or while climbing. They look good on small faces, they’re light, and the distraction of seeing a frame in your field of vision is eliminated.
However, protection from the sun, wind, insects and debris is obviously less comprehensive.
Our choice:
Astral family: Featherlight and eco-friendly, with their Rilsan® frames, the Astral sunglasses feature relatively wide lenses, for clear vision, and offer a great fit and prescription options.
A note on spherical lenses
Where frames have a wraparound style, e.g. the Rudy Project Turbolence and Astral S frames, the lenses are correspondingly spherical. This shape of lens offers better protection against the elements and improved aerodynamics. Since these frames don’t have a bridge at the nose, cyclists who choose them will enjoy a panoramic view.
What are the best lenses for cycling?
Rudy Project stands out for its wide range of lens types and options. Choose RP Optics lenses for affordable sun protection and a choice of lens functionality, ImpactX® 2 lenses for adaptability to varying light conditions and eye protection, and Polar 3FX HDR lenses for sharpening of colours and details. If incorporating your prescription is critical to achieving optimal performance, ImpactRX has you covered.
RP Optics lenses
Although they’re Rudy Project’s most affordable, RP Optics lenses will defend your eyes against harmful UV rays up to 400nm, the maximum possible level. Available in over 30 shades, they’ll not only complement your style, but support your best performance.
All options will enhance your visual acuity and minimise distortion in different light or atmospheric conditions, then you can choose between antifog, hydrophobic or photochromatic technologies to optimise your experience, depending on where you usually ride.
ImpactX lenses
The ImpactX® 2 lenses are Rudy Project’s most advanced. Guaranteed unbreakable for life, they are semi-rigid and will protect your eyes from impacts or harmful atmospheric elements.
Apart from offering full UV protection, they are also photochromatic, transitioning from low to high transmission in a few seconds as the light changes. They can therefore last you all year round, being especially useful in the spring or autumn, when you’re likely to encounter rapidly changing conditions and low light situations. You’ll also find them useful when riding from meadow to woodland and back again. Multilaser Purple is the best colour for all-round use, as is relatively neutral but highlights green shades, those you’re most likely to encounter on the bike.
These lenses also offer higher definition, sharper images and a superior visual experience compared with polycarbonate lenses, as well as being 10% lighter than them and 16% lighter than CR-39 lenses. Your eyes will feel less strained after your ride.
Polar 3FX lenses
The HDR filter in the Polar 3FX lenses tunes the wavelength of the light passing through them, generating a sharper image, better contrast definition and depth perception, brighter colours and less eye fatigue.
While riding, the result is better safety, whether you’re riding on or off the road, as well as sun protection and reduction of glare, whether from the sun, headlights or refracted light from waterlogged or snow-covered surfaces. These are the safest lenses to use on wet or oily roads.
Their 3FX coating makes them more durable and minimises the chance of fingerprints or stains marring your ride, while also making them easier to clean off.
