Best cheap cycling sunglasses 2026 — protect your eyes on the bike without breaking the bank

BBB’s Avenger sunglasses are a great package that shows you don’t need to be spending into the hundreds for a quality pair of cycling glasses. With excellent coverage, a range of lenses and impressive weight there is very little to dislike.

The Avengers use a large single-piece wraparound polycarbonate lens which really keeps the wind and grit out of your eyes as you ride along, even at high speed. In the pack are two other lenses alongside the smoke one you can see fitted in the pictures, a yellow option and a clear.

Thickness of the frame has been kept to a minimum, which makes for a great field of vision with nothing in your line of sight when you check over your shoulder for traffic. Clarity from the lens is good, if not the sharpest, and you don’t get any distortion from the curved surface.

The Galibier Regale Ultra Optics sunglasses are great all-round glasses. They are cheap as chips but don’t sacrifice quality or performance. They’re well made and offer great clarity of vision. The frameless design means that nothing is there to block your vision when looking in front, to the side or even over your shoulder. 

Tester Stu also found that the fit was great and that they were comfortable thanks to the minimal pressure from the arms. He said, “For me at least, Galibier has got it spot on – there’s just enough pressure to keep them in place, but not enough to cause discomfort. That’s a bonus on longer rides.”

The prices vary for each model, but basically, they’re all a bargain! The red, blue and gold plasma models are £46, and the clear plasma option is £39. All but the clear ones have a Cat 3 rating (meaning they’re tinted for strong sunlight), while the whole range offers UV 400 protection (the highest level, which blocks at least 99% of ultraviolet light).

Galibier’s Surveillance Precision Optics cycling sunglasses provide excellent all-round vision. They’re light, very comfortable to wear, and an excellent price for the quality, whether you are out for a bimble or blasting along in a chain gang.

Tester Stu says, “What I like the most, though (aside from the price), is that the slim frame provides such a close and secure fit without restricting your vision at all. With some full frame glasses you can easily lose a car behind the edge of the frame when giving a quick glance over your shoulder, but you get none of that here. The frame is never in your line of vision.”

The Lazer Waymaker 1 Way1 glasses are perfect for casual riding around town, and look good on and off the bike. They’re not designed for head-down, fast-as-you-can sprinting or long endurance rides, but if you’re cycling to the shops (or walking!), these do the job well at a great price.

The frames are quite square-looking with curved corners, and they sit comfortably on your face with no slippage. The lenses are big enough to offer all-round eye protection, with enough coverage to keep sunlight out of even the corner of your eye. The glasses offer 100% UVA and UVB protection, so no nasty rays will get into your eyes. 

Lazer describes the Waymaker 1 Way1 as ‘lightweight leisure’ glasses, and though they don’t boast the same technical spec as fancy framed/advanced-lens options costing loads more, they will keep sun, grit and rain out of your eyes while looking good. 

The Madison Code Breaker Glasses Three-Lens Pack provides a sharp-looking pair of shades with decent coverage, strong performance and lenses for every occasion – at a wallet-friendly price. 

The lenses offer pretty respectable coverage with little of the frame getting in the way. The frames are comfortable too, and only get more so with the lower section fitted.

Swapping the Code Breakers’ lenses is simple thanks to its twist lock system. A swivelling lock at the centre of the upper frame turns and, with the arms at 45 degree angles, the lens and lower frame falls away. Then it’s just a case of bending the lower section to unclip it from the lens.

Madison’s Stealth glasses are brilliant riding shades at an exceptional price. The frameless design gives an almost uninterrupted field of view, while the bronze mirror lens is lovely to look through on overcast to bright days.

If you’re after a great set of sunglasses that don’t cost a fortune, these are an excellent choice. They provide great coverage, stay secure on your face, are comfortable on long rides and have excellent lenses.

There’s also the option to fit Madison’s £4.99 RX insert if you need prescription lenses.

Magicshine is a company much better known for its well-priced bike light but their sunnies are great too and their Windbreaker Classic Sunglasses punch far above their weight for the price. They are nicely shaped, comfortable, and ultra-light coming in at 30g on the road.cc Scales of Truth. 

They offer good levels of protection and this classic model, with wraparound style polycarbonate lens, has a mirrored Revo coating on the outside for reduced glare, enhanced contrast and clarity, and an OAR coating on the inside to reduce reflected glare. There is also a polarized version which retails at £59.99 and scored highly in our reviews. 

Reviewer Lara says, “As a lifelong Oakley devotee, I’m now finding it hard to justify the massive jump in price that requires when faced with superb value sunnies such as these. They might not last a couple of decades as my Oakleys have, but perhaps I just treat those better because of the price”. 

Sneaking into our budget glasses guide is the polarised version of Magicshine’s Windbreaker shades, that carry a £20 premium over the non-polarised version we’ve recommended further up the page. 

Described as having excellent lenses by our reviewer, these shades are lightweight at just 30g and the build quality is impressive for the reasonable price. The lenses are large, in keeping with the latest cycling shade trends. The polarised lenses reduced glare and delivered a crisp and clear image while riding. 

Our reviewer experienced a bit of steaming and there aren’t too many colour options, but if you want polarised tech on a budget the Windbreakers are a solid choice.  

Previously known as Orao Arenberg Cycling Sunglasses, the Rockrider ST100 MTB sunglasses cost less than a cake and a coffee and for a mere fiver, it’s hard to see how you can go wrong with these bargain cycling glasses from Decathlon. 

If you can put up with the inevitable ‘safety glasses, aren’t they?’ jibes, these are a light and comfortable pair of cycling glasses. The wraparound design delivers a very wide field of vision and tester Mike says, “in use, the sides and top of the lens are only visible if you really try to look at them, and the lower edge is low enough to afford both protection and ventilation”. 

You can also get the ST100s with a black or yellow lens for bright weather and overcast/foggy conditions, all for £4.99 each. All three are made from 100% UV-blocking impact-resistant polycarbonate.

Tifosi produces a truly impressive range of high-quality technical eyewear, all designed with cycling in mind, but these are designed to be as much casual as technical. The Tifosi Swank Single Lens Sunglasess are genuinely useful on the bike, but also don’t look out of place mooching down to the pub or coffee shop. Think fashion shades that you can wear on your bike that will still protect your eyeballs.

The frames are made from lightweight Grilamid TR-90 nylon material and the lenses are scratchproof and shatterproof polycarbonate. They come in a massive array of frame/lens colour combos. 

Tester Lara writes, “The frames and nose-piece are non-adjustable, but I found them comfortable with or without a helmet on, and the subtle shaping of the arms kept them secure to my head without gripping too tightly or interfering with my ears or helmet if I was wearing one”. 

Tifosi’s Swick sunglasses are technical enough that they work well on the bike, but not so bike-specific that they look odd off it. They’re a good choice if you want a pair of sunglasses for mixed use. 

The large, square lens of the Swick glasses, along with the two-tone polycarbonate frame, gives them a fairly classic look. They’re not obviously riding glasses: the shape doesn’t really wrap around your face, and there are no adjustable nose-pieces or interchangeable lenses or vents. That being said, they’re pretty good for riding in.

Tester Dave writes, “They’re comfy and versatile; optically they’re pretty good, and £30 isn’t exactly top-end wedge for a nice pair of sunnies”.