Giro Semi glasses £88.08

Giro’s foray into eyewear several years ago has heralded impressive results already, with Alberto Contador riding to Tour de France victory wearing a pair of Havik glasses.

While the Havik glasses feature a performance-orientated design, Giro is aware that they won’t suit everybody and some may want a more casual line of styling. The Semi’s, then, feature a more relaxed style adopting a half frame design, into which slot the 8-Base Zeiss-Certified True Sight polycarbonate lenses. The frame is made from Grilamid with air ports in the side, and there’s incorporated soft rubber grippers on the nose and arms.

Giro’s glasses are designed to fit harmoniously with the retention devices of helmets. They call it Super Fit Engineering. In use, with a Giro helmet and with several other leading brand lids, we experienced no problems with interference of the retention devices. This allows the sticky rubber on the nose bridge to keep the glasses firmly in place. Even on some rough roads ridden recently, they stuck fast.

So they’re very comfortable then. They’re also great to look through. Giro’s website lists an impressive eight frame and lens colour combinations: we tested a white frame with brown bronze lens version. These have been a good choice for the decidedly grey conditions recently, boosting contrast on glum days and making those rides just a little more enjoyable.

Lens clarity, as with the Havik’s, is excellent. The smaller lens is noticeable in the absence of coverage at the extremes of your vision, but unless you’re racing where this might be a concern, they’re fine. Those who find the Havik a little too performance-orientated and want something that looks ‘cooler’, and will not even look out of place when worn off the bike, can take happiness in the Semi’s cool understated looks.

We tested the Semi Compact. Recently released is the Semi Full, which features a slightly deeper lens shape for a little more coverage.