Cycling enthusiast Matt Ray assures us it’s by no means style over substance with these striking frameless glasses from perennial peloton favourite, Rapha…
Matt should know. He’s taken these superb specs out dozens of rides on road, trail and gravel alike. He examined their fit, venting and peripheral vision, as well as their clarity in light, shaded, overcast and mixed conditions. Overall he had no hesitation putting them in our best cycling glasses roundup.
Rapha Pro Team Frameless Glasses (w/ Purple/Green Lens)
$175 / £145, rapha.cc
Pros:
- Effortless style
- Perfect peripheral vision
- Comfortably grippy arms
Cons:
- Vulnerable frameless design
- Heavy tint in shade
Clarity: 4/5
Cycling Design: 5/5
Comfort: 5/5
OVERALL: 4.5/5
Rapha’s Pro Team Frameless Glasses have true racing pedigree and I found them to be the best on test for peripheral vision. Effortless style is to be expected with this brand, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well designed the Italian-made arms were, which guaranteed comfort on long rides.
Rapha Pro Team Frameless features
I wore these UV400-rated sunglasses on an exploratory road and gravel ride, and their purple-tinted optical clarity was good enough to keep my head on a swivel while taking in unfamiliar landscapes, checking for traffic, and coping with rapidly changing road surfaces.
At various times, my hands were on the drops, on the hoods and scrolling Google Maps, but the key (frameless) feature of these curved shades meant that I always had an uninterrupted field of vision.
Rapha makes much of the Megol arm grippers, and these worked as advertised and hugged my head without pressing my temples, or pushing down on my ears. I rode pretty hard uphill, and on a warm day, but the lens’s anti-fogging treatment (combined with a clever ventilation gap at the top of the interchangeable nose guard) meant that I never steamed them up.
I tested the purple-green lens option (because it’s the most striking, basically), which allows 15% of light through. It did make everything look beautiful when the sun came out, but on reflection the rose lens (20%) or pink blue lens (21%) would have been better suited to mixed conditions.
Rapha Pro Team Frameless performance
My top requirement for any piece of cycling performance kit is that I forget that I am wearing it. That gives me more chance of getting into ‘The Zone’ while riding. These sunglasses had the ideal balance of light weight (28g), optical clarity, comfort and head-hugging design that meant they did their job, stayed out of the way, and allowed me to find my flow.
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