Rudy Project Spinshield glasses review

Rudy Project’s recent output with glasses, such as the Cutline, has been all about technical details with well-placed vents, lots of adjustability and multi-materials. Also in its range, however, are glasses that take a more style-conscious approach, like the Spinshield.

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The Spinshield’s huge 57mm-deep lens and minimal squared-off frame certainly look great but, crucially, they also work incredibly well.

Their huge size allows a view that’s unhindered by the frame, while the gold lens offers a sandy brown tint that works in both bright sunshine and low-light conditions.

The lens clarity is as good as we’ve come to expect from Rudy Project, with a curve that wraps around the face nicely and a subtle vertical curvature that means no distortion, even at the outer edges of your vision.

The lens proved to be tough with no scratches or marks, despite putting them through wet, gritty rides. The mirrored finish looks great, and even without vents the Spinshield resists fogging because, thanks to the inset in the boxy frame, the lens sits away from your face.

However, on one particularly hard ride, I did get a little misting where the nose meets brow.

The arms broaden at the temples before turning inwards towards more traditional tips that curve around the top of the ear. They snap-lock open with plenty of sprung tension and are tipped with sticky rubber tabs, while the hinges are very highly sprung, keeping them firmly in place.

The nose-piece has similar sticky tabs but no adjustability, which worked fine for me on the road but when I hit more bumpy off-road surfaces they did bounce a little.

Glasses with a hefty dose of style usually weigh in heavier than pure performance glasses, but the Spinshield’s oversized yet stripped-down design works in its favour and at just 27.8g these are lighter than Oakley’s Sutro and 100%’s Glendales, plus Rudy Project’s own Cutline.

The range has a multitude of colour options for the frame and a variety of lens options too. Prices range from £105.99 for the smoke black lens to £124 / $145 / AU$229 for this multi-laser mirrored lens.