I’m in the market for a new pair dawn and dusk cycling glasses which means photochromic lenses. I really liked my Adidas Protean Vario frames but its been a while since they’ve been made and they no longer sell something similar. I also have a couple of pairs of the original Rapha Classic glasses which I love - just for reference, they’re not photochromic. I’m currently leaning toward Roka. I have some Tifosis that I use for races.
Finding overlap between ‘photochromic’ and ‘looks good off the bike’ seems to be the main challenge. Any suggestions?
I’d look for sunglasses that might have a lighter tint then? With more light transmission that way you’re fine at dawn/dusk.
I use Roka, they don’t have photochromic from what i can see but they do have some sunglasses with higher light transmission.
(EDIT: oh they have tactical ones that are photochromic)
I love my Oakley Sutro from a coverage and looks perspective though I’m not daring enough to wear the white frames off the bike. There IS a black frame variant which is a bit more street friendly with its look.
I just recently picked up a pair of the photochromic Oakley EVZero blades. They are look clear in low/no light conditions. They don’t get exceptionally dark in bright light, but they absolutely get dark enough to avoid any sort of eye strain/squinting, I was not expecting to enjoy them as much as I do. The only downside is that when they are clear they don’t look quite as good as a real mirrored lens, but it’s a small price to pay for how well they work.
I’m wearing Sungod Vulcans with photo chromatic lenses and really like them. I’ve got a pair of Rapha Explore on the way to try out. Shield style glasses unfortunately aren’t what I’d wear off the bike.
I’ve got Oakley Jawbreakers with Photochromatic lenses and I also thought they weren’t going to be dark enough at high sun. I have sensitive eyes and while they aren’t as dark as other lenses they work just fine for me at high noon sun - no straining, headaches or anything else.
I have the roka phantom alloy aviators with photochromatic lenses (the prescription version has a photochromatic option) and live them for the exact use case you described. Great for casual or sport use in any lighting condition.
It takes a minute for mine to adjust. I don’t do much riding through tunnels. I really like them because most of my workouts are at sunset or sunrise, and the transition is fast enough to keep up with the changing light conditions without having to stop and swap lenses. I also think they work great for trail use, as they get noticeably lighter if I’m in a canyon or forest with a little more shade and then darken right back up once I’m back in full sunlight.
Thats a Problem Here in the alps, nearly every ride Has Short Tunnels or some, Dont know how to say, “inhousings”, to prevent avalanches blocking the streets…
Update - I went with Roka SL-1X - its a bike specific look but its damn comfortable on the bike. I also went with their Hunter glasses for prescription. They work well on the bike too but I use them mostly for general wear. Overall very happy with my choices although I wish I didn’t need prescription glasses.
Aside from that electronic glasses or attachments, nothing will handle this.
MTB guys like the mid-tint lenses that block specific wavelengths for going in and out of trees
For the AM PM scenarios, Transition xtractive are the bomb. The off-brand transitions suck, as they don’t have the tint range. Regular transitions don’t get dark enough. The regular non-mirror Xtractive work better than the Xtractive Stylemirror mirrored lenses, but the non-mirror look awful mid-tinted, while the mirrors look good. I’ve got all three varieties of Transitions and the Stylemirrors are the way to fly over Oakley, Rudy Project, and all the others (which are all the same Zeiss lenses BTW) .
Aside from maximum tint, which is maybe 5% less than my full-on tint sunglasses, the other downside of the Transitions mirrored are that they’re hard for the labs to work with on the heavily curved lenses (base 8 wrap around) - I had https://www.lensabl.com/ make my Oakley Mercenary (like Flak sunglasses). They did them, but it took them a few tries/weeks to pass the labs QC.