Uvex Crow Pro glasses

When reviewing a piece of equipment it is relatively easy to be objective about its design, quality of manufacture and performance; glasses add another perspective, that being style. The Uvex Cro Pro are a traditional wrap around design with one piece lens clipped into the frame and with a removable nose piece switched between the three lens options. Lenses are made from a material called Makrolon, no doubt the materials scientists among you or the Google-ologists will confirm that this is an excellent grade of optically transparent plastic, treated to give 100% UV protection. Clear, yellow and mirror finish dark lenses are supplied all of which are perforated along the upper edge to permit better air flow in an attempt to defeat misting, the manufacturers call this the Climazone airflow system.

Construction is every bit as good as I might expect from a top end German manufacturer with a speciality in supplying quality eye wear for a number of different sports. The frames are strong and the hinges positive and chunky, the arms also have a solid feel quite unlike some of the cheap ones that I have tried which on hot days become a bit like cooked spaghetti. The soft rubber ear pads are extremely comfortable and without any need for adjustment I wouldn’t even have noticed that they were there. The lenses fit into a slot or track in the frame and are secured by shaped notches which correspond with the cut outs within the frame track.

The first job for me was to remove the silver full sun lens and insert the clear one. I’m not an instructions kind of person, it’s a man thing! So armed with my logic I gave a bit of a wiggle and a pull, albeit quite a significant pull and “click” out came the one piece lens. Next job to try and do the same in reverse, some flexing of both frame and lens is required, and there you have it, job done, except for the nose piece, which pulls off and easily clips back on. At this point I looked at the instructions which confirmed that I had done exactly what was required, quite frankly you couldn’t go far wrong.

07:30 a very damp but not rainy morning, the temperature around 10 degrees I started the 16 mile journey to work with the stiff one in five hill just outside, a good test to see if the air flow can match my levels of heat and perspiration. To put this in perspective I normally wear a similar pair of specs that I acquired from a chain of German supermarkets and at this point on my journey I do not normally get any fogging. The Crow Pros did just start to fog along the top, this could be down to my speed of travel creating inadequate air flow, the fit which might be tighter to my brow than my usual ones or the temperature, humidity etc etc. Lets carry on, another two and half miles uphill at 11 mph to complete the 500 foot climb and at this point there was fogging and some condensation forming, but no more than usual. So how quickly would this clear? Up goes the speed and the ventilation does a fantastic job, the fogging cleared in seconds and the condensation disappeared in a few minutes and prevented that annoying running streak of sweat that you sometimes get down the inside of the lens right in your main line of sight. The rest of the journey was at some pace and consequently no fogging.

I meet the traffic on the outskirts of Bristol and need to be aware of what’s going on all around me, the normal trouble with some alternative products is that you look behind you and part of your field of vision is blocked by the arm of the specs; not so in this case. A very important consideration for those of you riding in environments where lane changes are required, I felt very confident that I could see everything.

The Uvex Crow Pros are available in a range of colours are supplied with a semi-hard shell zip up pouch, cloth pull string bag and 3 lens options and they weigh only 26 grams, altogether in my view very stylish and exactly what you will find in the peloton and not without good reason.

Verdict

Stylish, well built and functional.