glasses

BBB's Select Team glasses fitted my face very nicely, staying firmly in place no matter how sweaty I got. And with a choice of three lenses they're set up for everything from bright sunny days to darker days.

For the price, they're very good. Vision through the lenses is excellent, with the clarity of lenses costing twice as much. The field of vision is impaired slightly by large BBB logos printed on the edge of the lens, but after a while you don't notice they're there.

Tifosi optics, an American company, prides itself in making top quality eyewear at a non-brand-name price. The Altar is another addition to their wide range, coming with 3 lenses, a hard and soft case for just £49.99.

These Oakley Radarlock Path sunglasses are excellent glasses made with Oakley's usual high-quality optics, although the price is certainly steep.

The frame is made from a material that Oakley call O Matter. Let's be honest, it's a type of plastic; it's lightweight and pretty durable. It'll bend to a certain degree rather than simply snap which is vital because, try as hard as you like, sooner or later you'll do something stupid like drop them or sit on them (what, that's just me? I don't believe you).

Oakley have been around cycling nearly as long as I have. Transitions adaptive lenses are a more recent innovation. What, you wonder, might a combination of Oakley Jawbones and Transitions offer?

Tom Boonen wears these shades. If Tommeke's recommendation isn't good enough for you though, I'll give you mine: these BBB Attacker sunglasses are lightweight, comfortable and adaptable to all conditions. They're not cheap, but they're not crazy money either, and they perform well.

Scottish clothing and accessory kings Endura have a whole collection of eyewear available these days and the Marlins are their top-of-the-range offering. Unusually for specs of this price, they come with a one-piece photochromic lens that changes from slightly tinted to pretty dark in less than a minute of sunlight, and they adjust back again just as fast.

These basic shades from Tifosi aren’t expensive but you can still get better value for money than the Forza Fcs if you shop around.

At first glance these shades looked fine. The open-frame styling is quite aggressive and very bikey, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, you do want to look like one of the pro-peloton on a training run, don’t you?

Scottish kit wizards Endura are already well known for their well-priced and functional clothing. The Shark glasses live up to that reputation well: they're good quality, versatile eyewear for the money.