BIKE ANALYTICS: Cycling Glasses Review: ESS ICE NARO

Protect your eyes. (Image sourced from http://www.performancebike.com)

You never really run out of things to buy when you're a cyclist, so today we're going to talk about sunglasses! You've seen fellow bikers wear them at FRIM, Putrajaya and wherever, but what would you buy and how much are you willing to spend?

WHY WEAR SUNGLASSES?!

I dare say that most bikers who do wear shades are those who cycle on the road, there isn't really much reason to require sun/glare protection when you're under foliage. Worse yet, I've seen fellows who wear dark sunglasses when riding under tree cover. I wonder how they can even see...

While sunglasses may not be something you need, it is recommended that you wear some form of eye protection. You don't want branches, gravel, bugs and the like to go zooming into your eye as your ride downhill at breakneck speed. Think there's little chance of that? Ask a motorcyclist how often something has flown into his eye while on the open highway. It happens a lot!

The last point is that some eyewear actually improve your vision without blocking out too much of the all essential light.

WHAT DO I RECOMMEND

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ESS ICE NARO with Yellow Hi-Def Lens

I wear the ICE NARO from ESS.

I've been wearing these for ages, and I also wear them when I ride my motard. Why I wear them is because they are relatively cheap, they come with several lens options and the coolest reason of all... is that they are bullet proof.

Bullet proof! You read me right.

Shoot my glasses with a shotgun, c'mon I dare ya!

ESS has been making protective for the U.S military for sometime now and they have quite a few models of different design. The ICE NARO that I wear isn't the latest model, but it's the one that I found fits Asian faces really well. Because it's "narrower", yeah. Really.

How their system works is that they have swappable lenses, and for cycling I wear the Hi-Def yellow lenses almost exclusively.

Yellow lenses are known to create sharper images especially when it's foggy or slightly dark, which is often the case when you ride in the wee hours of the morning. The other reason is that I think wearing dark tinted glasses in the forest is ridiculous. You could go for the clear variety if you are simply looking for both eye and UV light protection.

COMFORT AND OTHER THOUGHTS

I can't say that the ICE NARO is the most comfortable to wear. They don't wrap around your head and you'd find that you would need the elastic strap to keep it in place most of the time. Also, if you keep swapping lenses in and out, you'd find that the pieces start to get a little bit loose. (You can buy replacement parts separately though)

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The classic "smoke" lens for when you need proper sunglasses.

But I still recommend them highly? One thing is that they are insanely light, being frameless. The lenses are completely shatter proof and most of all they are rather cheap for something that works so well. Much cheaper than "dedicated" cycling eyewear from the likes of Oakley or Shimano.

For a good deal you can check out Apple Bazaar.com who are based out of Singapore. Or check out eBay where you can sometimes get your hands on military surplus. Otherwise, I have seen them being sold at outdoor gear shops around Klang Valley too.