Rapha has entered the performance eyewear market with its new Pro Team Flyweight Glasses that are available in four different frame colours.
Rapha already offers eyewear but the Classic Sunglasses are a more casual style for use off the bike.
The Pro Team Flyweight Glasses’ Grilamid polymer arms come in black, white and pink, as well as in a grey option that’s available only to Rapha Cycling Club members. You get rubber temple grippers, a metal Rapha logo on the left arm, and two detachable rubber nosepieces.
The one-piece lens is made from glass recycled from Tour de France founder Henri Desgrange’s double glazing. Only joking. It’s actually a Carl Zeiss lens that’s made in Italy from polycarbonate, a UV400 protective bronze mirror version coming as standard. A protective treatment is designed to make it scratch resistant, anti-fogging, and easy to clean. The claimed weight is 25g.
You can buy additional lenses as replacements or for different light conditions: silver mirror, contrast enhance brown, contrast enhance yellow, and clear.
The Pro Team Flyweight Glasses cost £140 with additional lenses £80 (you can save 15% off the total price if you buy an additional lens at the same time as the glasses).
You knew they weren’t going to be cheap, right?
25 thoughts on “Rapha launches Pro Team Flyweight Glasses”
One word, Luxottica. Google
One word, Luxottica. Google it.
Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:
??
Will they reposition their
Will they reposition their previous performance eyewear now that they’ve entered the performance eyewear market?
http://www.rapha.cc/gb/en/shop/classic-glasses/product/SUN02
Nice shades. Also wondering
Nice shades. Also wondering if it has been designed to stay on or off in an accident. I also thought cycling eyewear potentially does more harm than good when you hit the deck head or face first.
Jay88 wrote:
Is that not why you position them over your helmet straps, so that they come off as you hit the deck?
(Honest question)
It’s about time someone did
It’s about time someone did and article called ‘As good as Rapha… but cheaper’
lushmiester wrote:
I think they’re called the Oakly EVZero……………….
http://cyclingtips.com/2014
http://cyclingtips.com/2014/10/a-brief-history-of-cycling-sunglasses
Bit of an 80s/early 90s throwback – seen quite a bit of that lately. I’m not sure it’s a very good-looking story!
I’m sitting reading this
I’m sitting reading this whilst waiting for my opticians appt. Getting fitted for prescription lens Oakleys whixh will only be about £40 more than the basic rapha ones here!
Guys, they’re about £100
Guys, they’re about £100 cheaper than some oakleys, about half the price of some assos…so on and so forth.
Why wont someone do any article ‘like assos/oakleys/castelii. but cheaper’? blah blah blah.
Damn UK companies taking on the big boys, how dare they|!!! why wont they get in their place like proper beeyatches???
ps. they’re not my cup of tea, same as most naff looking cycling glasses
StoopidUserName wrote:
Which Oakleys are they £100 cheaper than? Most of the Jawbreaker, Radar, Radar EV and EVZero range are cheaper at Wiggle than the Rapha ones. With Oakley the RRP is rarely paid. With Rapha it will be until they reduce them occasionally.
For what it’s worth I’d have expected Rapha to want north of £200 for these so am pleasantly surprised. I don’t think that they’re that expensive in premium reality. But they are more expensive than Oakley generally if you shop around.
bendertherobot wrote:
…I think they said ‘they are’ not ‘there are’ … so it would appear that they mean Oakleys are more expensive. And some of them certainly are.
bendertherobot wrote:
Apart from the sales 2 or 3 times a year Rapha discount codes are always floating around lately it seems. When I was looking at Oakleys I saw a few around the £235 mark. Sometimes they might be in sales but if you’re unlucky with your timing then you’ll be in the same boat as people buying the Rapha ones not in the sale/without a discount code.
My main point was they are priced similarly to their rivals…although they might be shit in use, so they’ll be worse value if so 😉
StoopidUserName wrote:
I agree that they are similarly priced. As said, surprised they are not more. There’s a massive amount of competition selling Oakley now, paying RRP is very rare. Wiggle are very cheap at the moment. Mantel are good https://www.mantel.com/uk/bike-glasses
Don’t think it will be long till Wiggle have to put them on the price match list.
bendertherobot wrote:
X metal Juliet’s that I have had for over 16 years, look them up on ebay.
steviemarco wrote:
Don’t have to, I used to have a pair. I also had a pair of Carbon Radarlock array, north of £300. We can find examples of everything, but the truth is that the core performance range of Jawbreaker, Radarlock et al are generally cheaper.
My high-prescription Bolle’s
My high-prescription Bolle’s were nearly £300. Yes, they’re a specialised item for my particular eyes, but to be honest I thought these Rapha would be as expensive as that. Carl Zeiss optics aren’t cheap either.
My Bolle Contours get worn
My Bolle Contours get worn more than my Oakleys. They cost £8.50. I’ve got a clear pair too. They were £7.50. The Oakleys cost more than all of the Bolle Contours I’ve ever had put together, and I’ve been wearing Bolle Contours for at least 7 years. The Oakleys do look better though, but there’s not much in it. Bolle Countours keep the wind etc out better, and they’re much the same for the sun.
nniff wrote:
I have a few pairs of Oakley’s and tbh my Bolle safety shades aren’t much worse in the optics department and they were free issue from work!
Good work Rapha
feed those monkeys, any other branded stuff you can sell them?
Worth noting that it gets
Worth noting that it gets pretty expensive if you stack up lenses.
I’m not sure about the other big brands but a lot of cycling glasses come with a triple lense set.
Here the £140 gets you one set, so if you want to recreate a triple, £80 a pop puts your package price up to £300…
I’m a fan of the brand and these look great, but fair cop, they ain’t cheap. Though I’ve never really bought into spending big money on glasses I can’t get a prescription into (adidas sports glasses win on that front)
Someone should do a err…
Someone should do a err… blind test of sunglasses…
Not terrible, expected a
Not terrible, expected a higher sticker on these from Rapha. Also have exchangeable lenses which the new EV Zero’s don’t. That said, if you know where to look, you can buy an EV Zero around £80 for the cheaper lens types, which is about the same price as a Rapha lens for these.
Leaning towards the Oakleys but could be tempted by these. Need to see some regular people wear them.
Blah blah blah…blah blah blah
Blah blah blah…blah blah blah…blah blah blah.
Look at me I’m great – I paid £2 for some safety glasses!
No look at me – I am the best – I said something nasty about a company in a really creative way!
BOW DOWN – I HAVE BEEN CYCLING SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME AND I HAVE MADE A COMMENT!
Have you seen my blog? I review stuff that’s much better!
Blah blah blah…blah blah blah…blah blah blah.
Rinse and repeat.
decent
They look good to me, I’ve already stopped wearing Oakley Radars in favour of some rimless UVEX ones – I hate having a big piece of plastic obscuring my vision when I’m tucked in on a descent.
However they need to do a photochromic lens, I for one can’t be bothered trying to second guess light conditions or faff about swapping lens before a ride. Other than that I think the price is fine (at least in the same sense that paying over £100 for any premium cycling sunglasses is fine)