Designed in cooperation with superstar sprinter Mark Cavendish and arguably the company’s most audacious eyewear design in over a decade, the Jawbreaker has a lot to prove.
The point you make regarding the compromise of one's peripheral vision because of the logo is a very important one. I saw a ton of "reviews" of the jawbreaker - not one mentioned the issue with the peripheral vision. Thanks for this very no nonsense review.
This was by far one of the softest humor filled reviews you've done. What do I mean by that? Man, the look on your face when discussing these shades was hilarious. Lol I agree with you on Oaks, they make great glasses, but their marketing (and naming) is one for the ages. I have another pair of Oaks I wear for riding and occasionally they'll start to fog on the edges, but comfort wise they're great. I was looking at these, but I like smooth lines. Appearance wise they seemed bulky on my face so I passed on them. Appreciate the review!
I never spent so much on a pair of glasses but I have had mine for a year now and can't fault them for weight, fit, anti fog and sun blocking aspects. They are excellent even in dull light! Great peripheral vision on the bike! Additionally, I use mine for running on track and trails.
Jawbreakers are terrific for mountain biking with the trail lense. Easy to swap regular lense with prizm lense for bike road trips. The vents are terrific when youre moving. To anyone saying that their glasses fog up when theyre not moving, unless you literally have fans atop your glasses there is no way to prevent that. Also, asian fit doesnt change the size of frame, asian fit simply means a bigger rubber nose piece. The jawbreakers look ridiculous if you get flashy colors, but nice matte black or navy ones actually look very sleak and professional. That being said theyre already a pretty outgoing frame, so you might as well have fun with the colors.
Ben, I purchased these glasses and they have been nothing but fantastic. Mine have held up remarkably well, even after a few tough drops. The lenses alone, for me, justify the price. One thing you failed to mention which is the original reason I bought mine are the adjustability of the arms. For some reason ever other pair I tried had an issue where the arms hit my helmet, but the ability to shorten the arms on these solved that. Great review as always!
Moved to these from the Flakjackets I always wore for baseball. I like the coverage of the bigger lens for protecting my eyes, especially nice for mtb and CX when not on the road.
Can those have a RX Insert/clip? or do you guys know any other good Bike/run sunglasses that provides RX inserts/clips? (besides Chinese cheap sunglasses). Thanks
Agree, Logo / Hinge area on each side are distracting since they are in peripheral vision.......did not notice when trying on in store but did on 1st ride. Think they are further back on the Radar. Prizm lens does work well although not sure it would be best in extremely bright summer light.
Hmm, after watching this Oakleys product, that reminds me to snatch up some ENVE 7.8 wheels for my clunky commuter bike on my 7min ride to work. I definitely need them!
Bought mine for Auto-Cross and...R/C Car Racing! They're highly recommended, so why not? I like the customization, although I feel that could go a lil further.
they look amazing and all but the vents at the top seem to push air straight into my eyes... which means salty sweat in my eyes. I can take goggles off if they fog.. but when sweat starts stinging my eyes I need to stop and wash my eyes out.. only glasses I've tried so far with this problem.. and now whenever I go shopping for goggles I make sure they have a fan in the store to test that.
I switched from Oakley to Smith Pivlock last year, and it was the best move I ever made. No obnoxious branding. High quality lenses. Photochromic options. Replacement lenses cost a fraction of Oakley. And best of all, no frame to get in the way when I'm in the drops.
I agree with the peripheral knock! The main downside to these sunglasses is the loss of vision just to accommodate the elongated O... other than that I've enjoying the protection they offer and the overall feel on the face.
I have the aliexpress glasses and the real Oakley Jawbreaker, and I have to say the aliexpress ones are pretty good. I found the arms a bit uncomfortable (too tight, and not adjustable), and I am a little worried that the UV protection on the copies might not be great, but for $3 pretty good!
I recently received Jawbreakers from AliExpress too and took the lenses to a local opticians (as Cycling Maven suggested), both the UV protection and polarisation was fine.
Thomas Witheridge I use them with my road bike and my MTB, they're way better than the Oakley Radar that I also own, they don't fog at all even under heavy rain
A obscene amount of money for what on the face of it is a couple of euros worth of injection moulded plastic. Their profit margin would be even more obscene if they weren't paying loads of pros to wear them, but if they didn't do that the people paying full price for them at such an obscene markup would look even more ridiculous...
after decades of making high-end sunnies, i think Oakley would realise if their pricing structure was wrong... they make them, people buy them. if people didn't buy them, they'd be reduced in price until people did. Can't argue with simple economics!
peglor - If you ever get the change to visit Oakley HQ, it will almost make you feel disgusted how much money they have... on-site play tracks, massive premises, for essentially just a warehouse with boxes of injection molded parts. Marketing and sponsorship is 90% their brand.
Thomas Marvin the Oakley of today isn't the same Oakley of decades ago. Oakley used to be independent, and sold their glasses through the brick and mortar stores of Luxottica, the giant eyglasses Monopoly that owns almost all the name brand glasses companies and retailers. Oakley objected to the obscene pricing structure and markups Luxottica wanted them to make on their sunglasses, so Luxottica stopped selling Oakley's in their stores. This caused Oakley share prices and profits to fall, and Luxottica bought the company in 2007. Then they put all the Oakley's on the obscene markup and back on store shelves. Adam Ruins Everything has a good segment on glasses in general that mentions this, or you can Google some old articles.
it really comes down to how much money are your eyes worth? get a couple of euros glasses, go riding and expect something to hit the glass. the result will make you think twice what you buy next time.
What about how they are front heavy and pinch the top of the nose after an hour? And how they grip temple so hard it causes a headache. And its more plastic than rubber on the arms, making them sharp. And when cycling, can see the center lock slightly which looks like a blur or smudge on the lens? And that you need 2-3 lenses (prizm road and prizm low light) to have a complete sunglass. And where/how to store the extra lens of the bike? Also looks, prizm road does have Iridium reflection so can see peoples eyes. And fashion wise its only for cycling, not suitable with other dress code. Also, you can custom make them. But no discount and pay full price, which is the top price for cycling glasses and double the price of Oakley ski goggles. Also can mention, hard to tell if purchased a “foakley” knock off of the real thing. Also, can get many replacement parts off Amazon… Points I would have expected to hear in a review. Your welcome.
These things DEFINITELY fog up when youre on a complete stop. Although gotta say their Unobtanium stuff is like some black magic shit, it does a nice job of staying in place
You missed one of the most vitally important thing with regards to fit the retractable arms. These are very hand in keeping the arms out of the retention systems of helmets. Also for fitting different sized heads. C'mon Bikeradar your reviews are better than this.
Here is a money-saver if you can't afford these shades... Find 2 nice looking Oak Leaves, poke a large hole in each and then tape them to a pair of chopsticks dipped in molasses at each end. Bamm, instant hack!
Hey BikeRadar, I'am Maxi from germany. I'am new in the roadcycling scene but I rode my mountain bike for a long time. The reason why I'am here in the comments is: I don't have road specific clothing and I want to ask you where can I got one of yours BikeRadar's clothing set's? Because I want to ride for your team and I could make advertise for your channel. I'am looking forward to hearing from you! Best wishes from germany.
Our kit is not currently for sale, but if you're a subscriber then you'll be the first to know if that ever changes. In the meantime, it's all made by Sportful and we can very strongly recommend it!
you have misinformed folks in regards to "bigger lenses" you can't put bigger lenses in the frame, they wouldn't fit, you can use a thicker/large nose peice which raises the frames up above the brow! 👓 also you forgot to mention that the arms are adjustable & replaceable 👍
We see you point. In the interests of clarity: Ben didn't mean there's a taller lens option within the Jawbreaker, just that the lens is taller than on most glasses.
I got the fake ones for about £17 and they were slipping down my nose. I immediately assumed it's because they are fake - but I managed to fix them somewhat (not tested out and about on my bike yet) like so: 1. I put the arms on the shorter setting (which made the rubber part of the arm end up at the widest part of my head at the sides). 2. I cut two tiny rectangles of inner tube rubber (7mm x 4mm) and super-glued one to the underneath of the clip (that goes into the little recess on the top/middle of the frame) with the other bit of inner tube super glued in that recess on top of the frame. Now the nose piece has a lot more spring to it when closing it and it snaps into place properly, as opposed to being completely loose which is what it was like as standard. I thought the glasses were "slipping" but the nose bridge wasn't actually sliding down my nose, it was the pivot that was able to freely open, because there wasn't that springiness it should have when closing the nose part. If I pull faces and shake my head around they seem to be staying put now. I guess this doesn't happen with the real ones? 😊 If the real ones were about £45 (not £145) then I might consider them but if fakes can be made to work the same way (albeit with a bit of fiddling and gluing rubber bit on in places you can't see) then I'm always going to just get the fake ones. Oakley is shooting itself in the foot charging so much, for every real pair people buy there must be 2 or 3 people buying fakes. Even the fake ones aren't cheap! You can get cycling sunglasses from places like Aldi for £7.99 and they are actually decent. The fake Oakleys I got do have a photochromic lens with them so fair enough, maybe the £17 cost isn't so bad.
Smith Arena Max. Oakley's are overpriced and feature complicated aesthetics. Luxxotica also sources the most "cost effective" manufacturing sources for profit. Used to be that a lot of Oakley was American made with the same price bracket. My LAST pair of Oakley's was made in China and still cost $210.
I gotta wonder. Is Oakley's "Sport specific lenses" for real?? Or, is that just marketing?? I mean, if you put on your Ray Ban New Wayerer's (yes I know it's not a BIKING frame) with it's G15 lenses...would it not do just as good a job of allowing us to see the road's textures better? Or is this all just snake oil? A shame Sunglass Hut doesn't have a "try before you buy" policy. And I think the Prizm Road lens is harder to get... Oakley's are a little pricey IMHO for plastic sunglasses. Don't know if I want to spend the money on a pair of Flak 2.0 or Radar EV...i want Asia Fit...they stopped offering the Jawbreakers in Asia Fit recently and upped the cost. Don't know why. Greed? :)
BikeRadar the only people that can ride on the wrong side of a cobbled road to take the smooth/fast line (without looking like an ass) are pros in a race. Also, if you're gonna go out of your way to ride a cobbled road, ride the cobbles.
Absolutely not. Our reviews aren't for sale, and they never will be. Also - as Aleksandar Roman pointed out - we have to mark sponsored content very clearly in order to comply with RU-vid rules and UK law. As Ben says in the video: they're really good shades, but whether or not the price is acceptable is for the rider to decide, not us.
