Glasses

The Successors have been a mainstay of BBB's surprisingly large sunglasses range for some time now. Over the years, they've graced the faces of many notable pros including Tom Boonen, whose 2005 world road championships win spawned this rainbow striped edition.

For a tight-fisted time triallist, there are two good things about these Tifosi Vogel glasses. Thing one is the price, which - unlike the fashion-led brands in the eyewear industry - is entirely sensible for a piece of polycarbonate whose job is to keep wind, dust and insects out of your eyes.

Thing two is the frame: there isn't one as such, just a nosepiece and the folding arms. That means you haven't got a black bar in the top of your vision when you're on the tri bars, like the vertical hold is going inside your oxygen starved brain.

A new design for 2011, the Catlike D'Luxs jump straight to the top of Catlike's eyewear range. Stylistically, the D'Lux bears more than a passing resemblance to Oakley's Radars, which in my opinion is a good thing, and while they aren't cheap they don't carry a price tag as hefty as the Radar's either, also a good thing.

These Pave specs from US eyewear giant Tifosi come with a Night Light Fototec lense that will take you from daylight through to midnight in just a few seconds.

Photochromatic lenses have been around for ages and cycling specific versions are getting more affordable. The Paves aren't as cheap as the Endura Marlins that we tested a while back but they are high quality and feel pretty sturdy.

Tifosi is a US brand producing an incredibly wide range of sports eyewear, and these Slip glasses share many features other Tifosi glasses previously tested on road.cc - but they also differ in a couple of important ways too.

First, the lenses. These are made from polycarbonate, a plastic designed to flex slightly, which is 'decentered' (meaning vision is not distorted). This seems to work. I've done a few miles in these glasses in varying conditions, and the view has always been 100% clear.

From a female point of view, cycling specific sunglasses are often about as attractive as those modelled by Dame Edna Everage, but without the bling. It would appear to be hard to get real on the bike functionality with genuine style. Not so with these rather fetching Dea specs from Tifosi though.

Tifosi is a very popular brand in the USA, with a massive range of eyewear for running, cycling, tennis, golf, fishing and more, but it's a relatively new name here in the UK. We've been testing a pair of Logic cycling specs, and going by the quality and price we think Tifosi may become much better-known in future.

BBB are probably best known for their helmets thanks to pro team sponsorship, but they have a vast range of products including these rather fine cycling glasses.

Sports eyewear often comes with interchangeable lenses, but you don't need any here because the Impulse's lenses are photochromic: they go darker when the sun is strong, and then back to almost clear in dim light.

Bloc have been around for a good while now, since 1988 in fact, producing great value sunglasses with the added benefit of interchangeable lenses for a variety of light conditions, the Leopard is their latest ‘active’ model.

This is a no-frills set of glasses, aimed at commuters and tourists, but absolutely fine for racers and sportive-riders, and anyone else not fixated on big-name brands.

There are three one-piece lenses - tinted for sunny days, orangey-yellow for dark and overcast days, and clear for eye protection any time of year (especially handy in winter). The lenses are slightly curved so they fit closely across the front of the face, but still leave room for airflow to prevent misting. They are also easy to fit in and out of the frame.