Serfas Gladiator Sunglasses

Josh Ross

Review of the Serfas Gladiator Sunglasses

Cycling glasses are, for me, an absolute must have. If the sun is bright, I almost always wear sunglasses, both on and off the bike. And if when I’m on my bike, they also protect my eyes from wind, rain and bugs.

Last year when cycling at dusk without glasses, my wife had a bug hit her in the eye. We couldn’t find anything, but she complained it hurt. For hours, she continued to complain about the pain. Five hours later, the STILL ALIVE bug managed to make its way back out from deep above her eyelid, and we fished it out. No, thank you!! I don’t ever go out without glasses on.

In the past, due to the changing light I often experience when on long rides, I’ve ridden with photochromatic lenses. Photochromatic lenses are great, but they do come with their share of compromises. They aren’t as dark when it’s bright and aren’t as clear when it’s dark. The glasses I’ve used for years are also not particularly high-end and I was curious to see what something else might be like to ride with.

The Serfas Gladiator, cycling specific optics from the USA

As with the other Serfas products I’ve talked about, I found the Assassin glasses to be a joy to use and a real bargain. They come with a nice case, a microfiber cloth and an assortment of lenses – including brown, grey, rose, clear – and even a frame for prescription lenses. So far, I’ve primarily used the lenses with the mirrored blue, which are actually a brown lens. It’s summer. The days are long, and the sun is bright with no need for riding in the rain.

I’m a fan of the way the mirrored lenses look and I find that the lens colour does a nice job of increasing contrast on the pavement. I’ve found the ear pieces and adjustable nose pads on the glasses to be comfortable and everything plays nicely with my helmet straps. They feel light on the face, and there aren’t any hot spots.

The thing that I’ve really enjoyed about the Serfas glasses are the way they deal with moisture. It’s a huge and very welcome upgrade from some of the glasses I’ve ridden with. By using non integrated nose pads, the lenses are held away from your face. The lenses are also cut in such a way that when coupled with the well designed nose pads, they don’t come in contact with your cheek. When you really start to sweat, most of the liquid rolls down your face and drips off instead of running across the lenses. I find this to be a really nice feature because no matter how many times I’ve told myself I need to bring something along to clean my glasses, I always forget.

The Serfas Gladiator comes with plenty of accessories

With other glasses that channel sweat across the lenses, I end up with big streaks that are pretty much impossible to clean using the synthetic fibres of a cycling jersey. I don’t know if this is something other people deal with, but it’s actually something that can be a real issue for me at the end of long rides. This design also means that I’ve yet to experience fogging in these glasses.

The bottom line here is that this is another great value product from Serfas. They look good, come with a variety of options for lenses, are light, and they do a good job handling sweat and managing fogging. They protect my eyes and don’t cost a fortune. I can’t really ask for much more.

Serfas Optics

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