Riding with sunglasses – or ‘performance eyewear’ if you want to sound fancy – is a bit of a funny one. Some people, myself included, never ride without glasses, even if that means swapping out the tinted lenses for a clear set (it’s amazing what being hit in the eye by an insect at 20mph will make you do in future).

Other people seemingly never use them, preferring to tough it out even in driving rain. Either way, we think glasses are a sound investment that will get plenty of use and, one thing’s for sure, if you are going to wear sunglasses on the bike, it’s best to make sure that they’re cycling-specific.

This is for a couple of reasons, but the most important being that bike-specific glasses are designed to wrap around the head and fully cover the eyes, meaning you get full protection. Similarly, they tend to do a better job at staying on than non-bike specific glasses especially over bumps or if you have a tendency to look down. Plus, the lenses are invariably designed for riding.

We’ll take a look at the various features to look out for on a pair of cycling-specific sunglasses over the following pages.