While it’s certainly possible to spend a lot of money on cycling sunglasses, this guide and the products recommended in it demonstrate that you don't really need to nowadays. We've picked out what we think are the best cheap cycling sunglasses, priced from just £4.99 up to £59.99.
Best overall cheap cycling sunglasses: Galibier Regale Ultra Optics
Best on a really tight budget: Orao Arenberg Cycling Sunglasses
Best casual cycling sunglasses: Galibier Surveillance Precision Optics glasses
Best value lightweight cycling sunglasses: Magicshine Windbreaker Classic Sunglasses
Best cheap cycling sunglasses for performance: Madison Stealth glasses
Cycling sunglasses aren't just for keeping the sun out, and even in winter the early sunsets low in the sky mean they can be essential. They also protect your eyes from bits of grit, debris, rain, climate-defying insects and the like.
Not very long ago though, cheap cycling sunglasses were best avoided, with poor optical quality and designs that made you look like an extra from a bad low-budget sci-fi film... but those days are gone. Eyewear manufacturers have raised their game for both quality and style, and enforcement of standards means you can rely on even cheap cycling glasses to protect your eyes from potentially damaging ultraviolet.
While big-name cycling sunglasses come with three-figure price tags, you can get very good glasses for as little as five quid. All of the sunglasses featured in this guide have an RRP under £60.
How we review cycling sunglasses
road.cc reviewers don't just test products for a single outing; they put them through at least a month of rigorous use before delivering their verdicts. This ensures that the sunglasses undergo extensive use to gauge their overall quality.
Our cycling sunglasses reviews assess various factors such as the quality of construction, durability, comfort, weight and performance, which we believe provides a comprehensive evaluation and provides valuable insights into what the sunglasses would be like to wear regularly. We're not lab testing (hence 'review', not 'test') but we reckon the best way to truly judge how good a product is, is to go out and use it for its intended purpose.
Why you can trust us
When it comes to road.cc buyer's guides, we will only ever recommend products that fared well in reviews. All the cycling sunglasses featured here scored 4 out of 5 stars or more overall from our reviewers, indicating very good or excellent quality according to our reviewers' opinions.
Our reviewers are all experienced cyclists, and so are the road.cc team members who put these guides together. That means you can be sure the product selections are our genuine top picks, not just a round-up of things we can make a commission from.
Now, onto our recommendations! If you've got a bigger budget, or simply want to see what else is out there, you can also check out our overall cycling sunglasses guide with options from 20 quid up to £200-plus.
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9 comments
Victory Chimp Evo too. Very reasonable price and tons of lenses. These Magicshine above look great too.
and what about bifocal glasses ?
Plenty of opticians could put bifocal lenses into the prescription frame that comes with many cycling sunglasses, not sure how useful they'd be though? Reading the Garmin I suppose but surely easier just to make the figures bigger?
I was thinking more of Rudy Project Rydon Readers or BZ Optics PHO Photochromic POLARISED Bifocal Lens or others ???
Or 6 quid stick on half moons from eBay (up to 3.5 correction).
have tried those - they usually fall off
Hard to read the top line messages and maps though.
Madison Stealth take Rx inserts. RxSport say they're compatible with bifocal lenses. I usually wear varifocal contact lenses when I'm cycling to get around this problem.
https://www.rxsport.co.uk/product-category/prescription-ski-goggles/pres...
EDIT: the Rx insert for Madison cycling glasses is smaller than the one for ski goggles and I can't see any info about bifocal or varifocal lenses. For £5 it might be worth getting one and taking it to your optician to see if it's suitable for bifocal/varifocal lenses. You might need to take the sunglasses it's going to be fitted into - they'll need to see how high they're going to sit so they know where the transition between the distance and close vision parts of the lenses sits. Maybe worth purchasing a pair from a retailer who accepts returns.
https://www.madison.cc/product/madison-eyewear-rx-prescription-holder-in...
Look a bit silly with snow goggles on a road bike. I use BZ bifocals and they are fine - but the gap between the eyes is too open so I keep getting bugs in my eyes. Would like to find something like Rudy Project Astral as a reader.