It would be easy to spend a large amount of money on cycling sunglasses if you're able, with premium shades now costing up to several hundreds of pounds.
And while it’s absolutely understandable – and necessary – that we all want to protect our eyes from the harmful dangers of UV rays, as well insects, gravel and other objects hitting at high speed, it can be pretty galling to have to pay top whack for what is a cycling essential.
Rest assured, quality cycling sunglasses are available for less than £60, meaning you don't have to break the bank to look after your eyes or style.
Best budget cycling glasses in 2024
Madison Crypto Sunglasses 3-lens pack
- Price: £60
- Lenses: Three
- Extras: Hard case; soft bag
- Pros: Excellent optics; lens easy to replace; secure and stable fit
- Cons: Collects fingerprints easily
The Crypto balances performance and price excellently, with the glasses offering optical clarity and overall stability that would be expected from glasses costing three times their price.
We found the lenses easy to swap in or out, with three provided in the carry case.
While they are designed for road use, we found they worked well on the trails too, offering good compatibility with mountain bike helmets.
The frames of the glasses seemed to pick up residue from sweaty fingers more than other glasses we've tested, though.
Van Rysel RoadR 900
- Price: £40 / $60
- Lenses: Two
- Extras: Cleaning bag; zipped hard case
- Pros: Secure grip whatever the weather; main lens ideal for sunny conditions
- Cons: Not an ideal shape for larger faces
Van Rysel is Decathlon’s premium offering for road bikes and components, but that doesn’t mean a premium price.
The RoadR 900 is based around a chunky pair of arms that flow neatly into a brow-only frame. A shield lens fixes into this via a smart lock-in system.
The frame’s arms are coated with a sticky rubber that provides a secure fit to grip when riding in the rough and rain. The nosepiece is non-adjustable, but made from the same sticky rubber as the temple tips on the arms, so they stay secure.
The main lens meets ISO standards and is rated as Cat3 to filter 88 per cent of sunlight – ideal for bright, sunny conditions.
Changing lenses is simple – and the second, clear lens is perfect for low-light riding. This lens also has a fixed nosepiece, so there’s no fiddling with small parts.
The curve of the wrap-around shield lens ensures no distortion, and, thanks to two small brow vents, there was no fogging.
The lens is 50mm at its deepest but, because of its close-fitting shape, it’s best suited to small/medium-sized faces.
AGU Bold
- Price: £50 / €50
- Lenses: UV400 polarised
- Extras: Soft cleaning bag
- Pros: Good fit, staying power and protection
- Cons: Single lens a little dark
AGU is known for its good-value, no-nonsense rainwear more than anything else, but with its sponsorship of Lotto-Jumbo and a move into pro racing (with some of its team riders seen in these shades) things have changed.
Aesthetically, the Bolds score top marks, featuring a squared-off shield design that blends the retro 1980s trend with modern design very successfully.
The full frame sits back slightly from the lens itself, creating a small but important gap that makes the Bolds among the best-vented sunglasses we've tested; this, combined with the anti-fog coating, means they stayed very clear during rides.
The minimal arms are well-sprung and the temple tips are sticky and generous in size. The fit is excellent and the Bolds stayed put during rough rides, with help from those tacky arms and the adjustable nosepiece.
Protection from the wind is excellent and the clarity of the lens is as sharp as you would expect from premium glasses. The single lens is best suited to brighter days, but they’re not so dark as to be a hindrance on the road when it’s dull.
BBB Avenger BSG-57
- Price: £50 / $70 / €60 / AU$99
- Lenses: Cat3 blue mirror, Cat0 clear, Cat0 yellow low light
- Extras: Soft cleaning bag
- Pros: Tenacious grip; sturdy; good lens quality
- Cons: Bridge is intrusive
The Avenger’s large, sweeping lens provides a close wrap and the frame’s short stubby arms have plenty of spring. Because the grip is quite tenacious, these are a fine option for both on- and off-road use. The package includes three lenses, with each using a nine-layer coating called MLC by BBB, which has a high resistance to friction.
The blue-mirrored lens offers category 3 protection and plenty of contrast. In lower-light conditions, they aren’t so dark that you can’t pick out contrast on the road surface. The two other lenses are a straight clear option and a yellow-tint lens for low light.
Lens changing is smart with a central anchor point: click the lens out, rotate down to remove and do the reverse to replace. It’s a better option than having to wrestle with fragile lenses to bend them into slots.
The frame sits 2mm above the brow of the lens, which works well in cutting down on fogging and is a smart solution to an age-old problem. The adjustable nose bridge helps with fit, but it does intrude slightly on your eyeline. It's not enough to be a distraction, but it’s there.
The Avengers are a sturdy set of shades with lens quality that belies their modest price.
Endura Gabbro II
- Price: £50 / $80 / €60 / AU$100
- Lenses: Single
- Extras: Microfibre carry pouch
- Pros: Durable lens and reasonable fit
- Cons: The lens isn't ideal for less than sunny conditions
The Gabbro II is the latest design in Endura’s ever-growing eyewear range. The oversized wrap-around lens is 53mm at its deepest and is held within a rigid full frame made from lightweight thermoplastic TR90 material (the same as you’ll find on premium brands such as Oakley and 100%).
The 31.6g weight isn’t bad for an oversized, full-framed and sub-£50 pair of shades.
The frame has plenty of spring to it and the glasses gripped our tester's head securely, thanks to the combination of skinny arms with rubberised tips and the wire-cored, adjustable rubber nosepiece.
The Revo lenses are fully compliant for 100 per cent UV protection, so there’s substance behind the style.
The polycarbonate lens has a nice tinted mirror finish and is designed to withstand reasonable impacts without breaking.
These are fixed lenses, that are only really for sunny conditions because the tint is quite dark. The large lens is clear and distortion-free, though, and the subtle 35mm-long vents on the brow do an excellent job of keeping things fog-free.
Madison Stealth 3-pack
- Price: £70
- Lenses: Three
- Extras: Soft and hard cases
- Pros: Good value for money; three lenses; easy to swap lenses
- Cons: Not as secure as some
With three interchangeable lenses, the Stealth glasses offer all-year round protection for amazing value.
We found the glasses to be comfortable on long rides and pose no compatibility issues with the helmets we used.
The contrast of the lenses can't quite compete with more expensive optics, but for the money the Stealths are some of the best.
The glasses are also compatible with RX prescription inserts thanks to the bolt-in nosepiece – these are available separately for £4.99.
Tifosi Amok
- Price: £50 / $50
- Lenses: Enliven bike red (Cat2)
- Extras: Hard case; soft cleaning bag
- Pros: Good staying power; lovely tint
- Cons: Leakage when raining
Tifosi’s Amoks are full-frame glasses with a mid-size 44mm-deep lens. The frame is quality Grilamid TR-90 and is both flexible and stiff. The sticky temple tips and adjustable soft nose bridge do a great job of keeping these glasses where they should be, and they stay in place even when riding on the roughest terrain.
The red tint of the new Enliven lens brings a lovely warm glow to your view and the colours of the landscape pop, which means increased definition, thus making it easy to read road surfaces from tarmac to full-on rocky gravel.
The Amoks feature a Cat2 lens, which means these sunglasses are good for most riding conditions, although on the very brightest and sunniest days, you may want something a little darker.
Despite the fact that the Amoks come with only a single set of lenses, they are very easy to switch out and they feature small vents at the brow.
The frames themselves have large centimetre-square vents on either side, so our tester didn’t experience any fogging. However, on wet rides, you get the occasional spray coming through this gap, so maybe grab a different pair of glasses if you're planning a ride in inclement weather.
Viris Raptor Riding Glasses
- Price: £60
- Lenses: Four
- Extras: Hard case; soft cleaning bag
- Pros: Excellent value; lot of lenses; good fit and adjustability
- Cons: Wide arms; not the most stable
The Raptors come with lenses to suit almost any riding condition, giving them good versatility for year-round protection.
We found the lenses had good optics for the money, and it was easy to change the lenses without damaging the glasses.
The adjustable nosepiece helps find a comfortable perch, but we found the glasses a little unstable, causing some helmet rattle.
Also consider...
The following sets of sunglasses scored fewer than four stars out of five in our test, but could still be worth considering if they meet your needs.
Endura Stingray
- Price: £50 / $70 / €60
- Lenses: Cat3 dark smoke, Cat2 light smoke, Cat1 Persimmon (low light), Cat0 clear
- Extras: Hard case; soft cleaning bag
- Pros: Four lens options; good value for money
- Cons: Condensation at the nose bridge
The Stingray’s twin-lens frame design is minimal, with the lenses at just 37mm at their deepest. The slender arms and slim, fixed nose bridge make these best suited to smaller faces.
Endura has done a sterling job to offer a good-value package because the Stingrays come fully equipped with a hard case and a soft bag, not to mention four lens options. Our tester used the light smoke lens the most, but the dark option was certainly most welcome on brighter days.
The grip of the fit is good from the rubberised tips to the arms and. They’re so slender, they work with pretty much any helmet, from minimal race lids to low-backed commuter and mountain bike helmets.
Either side of the nose bridge, they suffered a little from condensation and fogging when working hard, but the opening on the lower edge meant they also cleared quickly.
The Stingrays are brilliant value for money. While the style isn’t exactly fashionable, the performance is what matters – and the Stingrays certainly offer plenty of that.
Tifosi Davos
- Price: £50 / $70
- Lenses: Enliven Bike (Cat2)
- Extras: Hard case; soft cleaning bag
- Pros: Top-quality frame material
- Cons: Fit isn’t always secure
Tifosi has built a great reputation for making glasses that have all the features found on premium brands but without the premium price tag.
The Davos’ angular and well-styled frame is made from Grilamid TR-90: that’s the same material you’ll find on shades more than twice the price. It’s a nylon-based polymer that doesn’t become brittle with age, resists stretching, and has great moisture and chemical resistance so won’t stain from sunscreen or sweat.
The design means the glasses stay wrapped closely to your face, and although the frame’s bottom edge was in the line of sight for our tester, those with smaller faces may not get this. Metal-cored arms and an adjustable nose bridge mean you can get the fit spot-on, although they never felt as secure as some on test.
The red-tinted Enliven Bike lens pumps up contrast, giving everything a warm, orange glow. The contrast compared to bare eyes is impressive and helps you judge road and gravel surfaces easily.
Subtle vents around the lens keep fogging at bay and the lenses are hydrophobically treated with a coating that repels water and water vapour.
Buyer's guide to cheap cycling sunglasses: what to look out for
Unlike in years past, there's a huge amount of choice at lower price points and buying cheap no longer means forgoing style. We've put to the test a wide selection of glasses offering great performance and style for less strain on your pocket.
While you may not be able to find much in the way of tint-adjusting photochromic lenses for under £60, plenty offer multi-lens packages, so you can switch the lens according to the conditions.
If you wear spectacles off the bike and need prescription cycling glasses, finding cheap cycling glasses compatible with corrective (prescription) lenses is still possible.
When looking at lower-priced and budget sunglasses – for cycling or otherwise – you still want to ensure they meet the correct safety ratings.
Sunglasses are considered to be PPE (personal protection equipment), so they are subject to both UK and EU standards for safety. With this in mind, you should ensure (as we have here) that any sunglasses you buy have EN 12312-1 certification (or BS EN 12312-1). You’ll know this is the case if they feature a CE mark and UV400 printed somewhere on the glasses and/or packaging.
Six things to consider when buying cycling sunglasses
Optics
Curved-profile lenses provide a clear, undistorted view, both at the front and in the peripheral vision zones. Look for polycarbonate lenses with full UV protection credentials.
Category 3
These lenses provide a high level of protection from visible and UV light, allowing only 20 per cent of visible light to penetrate. This is important for long summer rides on the bike.
Lens options: Many models come with at least one set of spare lenses and these are often in various tints. Other brands, however, will have the option to buy additional sets of lenses.
Polarising
Polarised lenses block horizontally orientated light waves. This increases the contrast, while at the same time reducing glare and overall light levels.
Rubber grip
What seems snug on dry skin in the shop may not grip so well on a sweat-soaked face after 100km. Make sure the rubber arm socks and nosepieces are tacky/sticky, and not hard.
Prescription options
Prescription inserts (RX inserts) are a separate frame containing the prescription lenses, that sit between your eyes and the shade lenses.
Discipline-specific cycling glasses
Like a lot of cycling-related equipment, there's often a discipline split when it comes to sunglasses.
We've created dedicated best lists for road cycling glasses and mountain bike glasses, so be sure to check those lists for the best glasses for your discipline.
