Stylish and functional – these are an easy pair of glasses to recommend if you’re looking for a new pair of sunnies that you can also wear on the bike.
Pros
- Stylish
- Reasonably Priced
- Stable
Cons
- Run Narrow
- Can be hard to find
About the Manufacturer
Tifosi (Italian for “super fan”) is an American brand started in the early 2000s to provide the best in outdoor sports optics – particularly for cycling, golf and running. The brand succeeded in their goal, becoming one of the largest cycling eyewear brands and producing well regarded frames and lenses.
Review
Sometimes you don’t want to look like the ultra athlete. Sometimes you just want a comfortable, stylish pair of glasses that you can wear on the bike and off. If that’s the case then you should check out a pair of Tifosi Swank SL glasses. Tifosi have taken their ever popular Swank and provided an updated looks by providing a rimless frame which also helps to reduce the weight. The frames have maintained the fit and the no slip pads on the nose bridge and happily for Tifosi fans also maintain some of the lurid shades in the line up – for this review we went for the pretty restrained wood grain.
If you’ve not worn a pair of Swanks before you may well be looking at these and say that they don’t stay on, but given our 1000km+ they don’t go anywhere – just like the original pair. Very planted across all conditions and have even done some gravel rides where they really weren’t phased. Compared to your average mid-range set of cycling glasses, they’re also very reasonably priced, coming in around A$40.
If that all sounds a little too good to be true, then there are three key watch outs for you.
Firstly the glasses run a little slim, this definitely helps the planted feel and suits our narrow heads just fine, but if you’ve got a bigger noggin its something to watch out for. Secondly is availability on Australian shores seems to be limited – Tifosi are a very common brand here, but the latest Swanks just don’t seem to be that well distributed. The final watch out is an obvious one with these type of glasses, but they don’t have the visibility of a dedicated bike frameset.
Stylish and functional – these are an easy pair of glasses to recommend if you’re looking for a new pair of sunnies that you can also wear on the bike.
Key Specifications
- Price – US$25 / A$40
- Frame Material –
- Lens Material – Polycarbonate