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TECH NEWS

Mark Cavendish sports new Oakley glasses

Is Oakley set to launch a successor to the RadarLock?

If you were looking closely, you might have spotted Mark Cavendish sporting a new pair of Oakley shades at the Tour de France last year, up until he crashed anyway. He's also been wearing the new eyewear in races this season.

At the end of last week Cavendish snapped the clearest photo we've yet seen of the new eyewear and shared with his Twitter followers. We don’t yet know the name of the new shades, but rumours on the Internet suggest Jawbreaker is the likely name. Whether the new eyewear will replace the RadarLock or simply be a new addition to the range, we don't know.

The photo handily compares them to the RadarLock, Oakley's current flagship cycling glasses which have been around for a number of years, being worn by teammate Fabio Sabatini. There’s no news from Oakley on the release of the new glasses, but they’re clearly happy with Cavendish tweeting a photo to his 898,000 followers. Or maybe they're not.

The glasses look to take inspiration from the iconic Eyeshade glasses, first worn by Greg LeMond in 1985, and which kicked off the fashion for cycling-specific eyewear, at a time when most weren’t wearing shades in races, other than the occasional aviators. These new shades have a similar shape and size to Eyeshades, and given 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of those glasses being used in the professional peloton, it would be timely to launch the new glasses.

The lens is clearly much larger than the RadarLock with increased coverage over the eyes. And unlike the RadarLock, the new eyewear uses a full frame design, reminiscent of the JawBone. They look to use a hinged device that should allow lenses to be swapped out, just like you can with the RadarLock.

More details when we get them.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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13 comments

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Chasseur Patate | 9 years ago
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Jesus, Oakley just can't make a good looking set of sunglasses can they? It's like they're stuck in 1996. The style year limbo.

If it wasn't for eyeshades they'd have nothing going for them at all.

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WDG | 9 years ago
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Agree with previous comments - I can't wear Jawbones (as was) on the road as the frame really limits visibility. These would be the same, so it's a no from me.

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crikey | 9 years ago
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The one issue that Jawbones/Racing jackets have is a limit to vision when looking back over your shoulder. These have a great big logo in exactly the place that causes the problem...

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bikeandy61 | 9 years ago
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Have to agree with jimmythecuckoo, not a model that does it for me.

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Gatey10 | 9 years ago
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Was I the only person to notice Cav wearing these on Stage 1 of the Tour last year!?

I reckon they'll be part of his CVNDSH range of cycle wear, the radar range will stay.

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jamesfifield replied to Gatey10 | 9 years ago
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Gatey10 wrote:

Was I the only person to notice Cav wearing these on Stage 1 of the Tour last year!?

Given the opening sentence of the article is "If you were looking closely, you might have spotted Mark Cavendish sporting a new pair of Oakley shades at the Tour de France last year," I think a few others saw them as well.

Gatey10 wrote:

I reckon they'll be part of his CVNDSH range of cycle wear, the radar range will stay.

Given that not only Cavendish but also triathlete Sebastien Kienle have been wearing them, I don't think they will be solely part of Cav's accessory line. I do agree that the Radarlock will stay and these are a new, separate line: the bottomless lens is a valued attribute.

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MartyMcCann replied to Gatey10 | 9 years ago
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Gatey10 wrote:

Was I the only person to notice Cav wearing these on Stage 1 of the Tour last year!?

If you read the first line of the article you will get your answer....

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Gweeds | 9 years ago
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The lovechild of Eyeshades and Mumbos....

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Chris James | 9 years ago
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Is 'Oakley may have some new sun glasses out' really news?

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atlaz replied to Chris James | 9 years ago
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Chris James wrote:

Is 'Oakley may have some new sun glasses out' really news?

Sadly, it seems so. Little or no race coverage but good if you want to know which shades will be big on the catwalks this summer.

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James Warrener | 9 years ago
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First frames Oakley have done that I dont like. Good for my bank balance.

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aslongasicycle | 9 years ago
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Damn you Oakley and this 25 year addiction. Damn you to hell. *salivates like Pavlov's Dog*

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sean evans | 9 years ago
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These are epic sunglasses. Bit gutted I've only just got radarlocks!

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