REVIEW: Ryders Eyewear Tangent Sunglasses

I received a set of Ryders Eyewear Tangent sunglasses in the mail on Thursday. I won these from KC over at 140.6 Miles . KC is an extraordinary athlete (she rode over 12,000 miles last year). She has also done the Boston Marathon many, many times and is training for her first iron distance triathlon. In addition to a great blog she has almost replaced my Pandora radio account with her play lists. We happen to be about the same age so we have similar tastes in music. I’m listening to some beat heavy techno while I type this …

Anyway, back to the sunglasses. I was shipped the Tangent sunglasses by Ryders Eyewear. I do not see this particular pair on their website but I did find the pair on several overstock type internet retailers. I think that these Tangent sunglasses are the same as the current Hijacks. What I was not aware of is that both of these sunglasses (the Tangents and Hijacks) can be purchased with 3 sets of interchangeable lenses – instructions for taking the lenses are located here. Taking these lenses out is by far the easiest interchange lens sunglasses that I have ever had. I have been wearing a set of cycling sunglasses from Nashbar that came with gray, clear and amber lenses but I never take the amber lenses out. It is just not worth the effort required. I am always afraid that I will snap the lenses in half while taking them out or putting them back.

So I had Good Friday off of work and I wanted to get some riding in – the day was beautiful. Now I am a glasses wearer and I only wear contacts when I exercise. And by exercise I mean something longer than an hour or two. So I put my contacts in and suited up for a 50 mile bike ride at moderate intensity. The sunglasses have adjustable nose pieces that can be moved in and out and back and forth. I am sure that the nose pieces are a flexible wire that is covered in a thick pliable rubber. In fact, this rubber coating is said to become tacky when wet (like from sweat and stuff). The sunglasses fit my face right out of the box and needed no adjustment what so ever. I can not comment on how often the nose pieces could be adjusted before their elasticity gives out – but this adjustment should be a set it and forget it type adjustment.

On the bike -

I headed out towards Bassfield. The sunglasses fit my face well. I have had troubles with fit with a lot of glasses, both corrective vision and sunglasses. Many times they will sit too close to my face and my eyelashes with brush the inside of the lens. These sunglasses sit a comfortable distance from my eyes. They also do not rest on my check bones. Looking straight ahead they fill about 90 percent of my vision. I can only see around the glasses if I make an effort to look straight up. Then I can see above the glasses. While riding in the aero bars, on the tri bike, this is more pronounced. Riding the race bike my head is tilted down more. I would guess that instead of my head being parallel to the ground my head is rotated down about 10 degrees. This allows me to see over the top of the glasses easily when I look up the road. I actually do not find this distracting my others may not like the unobstructed view between the top of the sunglasses and the bottom of the helmet. I have not worn the sunglasses with my race helmet which fits tighter to my face and my road helmet. I will have to try this out before my next race (two weeks until 70.3 New Orleans).

As I said earlier I only wear my contacts when doing exercise. I always wear them during triathlons – I can’t see very well during the swim portion without my glasses. One of the reasons that I do not wear my contacts all of the time is that my eyes are very sensitive wind and dryness. When wearing contacts, even if it is dark I will be wearing amber or clear lenses. If my eyes start to dry out it is very uncomfortable and distracting. I experienced no discomfort while wearing these sunglasses. That is saying a lot. There is a fine line between the sunglasses sitting too close to my face and not allowing too much air to circulate between the lens and my eyes. My eyes were not dry and there was no fogging. I was surprised at how well the glasses worked on the bike.

On the run -

When I finished the 50 miles I immediately ditched my cycling shoes and put my running shoes on. I shelved the helmet and put a running visor on. I am trying to transition over to ‘summer feet’ so I did not both with socks. My body temperature was up and I wanted to put in a good effort after the bike. This was just as much for mental toughness as physical toughness. I put my self in difficult positions so that I have to step it up and overcome – therefore I am not always successful. I had a good bike but I need to continue to succeed. I headed out the door with only a change of shoes – the transition was only about a minute.

To make a long story short, I finished up the 5 mile ‘hard’ brick at a pace faster than I thought I could run. What can I say about the sunglasses during the run? When I am running hard I tend to notice things – this is something that I am working on. Not wearing socks I immediately noticed that I do not have ‘summer feet’ right now. I am soft from the winter. I developed two small blistered – one on each foot in the same place. I noticed that my hamstrings were feeling better while running at effort this week – much better than last week.

But what about the sunglasses? I got nothing – nada – period. There was not that annoying bouncing up and down where you have to tuck the ends of the sunglasses into your hat to calm them down. There was not a noticed gap between visor and sunglasses. There was no fogging or trapped stream forming on the inside of the glasses. The sunglasses just worked. Nothing more report.

Style –

I would not have picked the olive green if I could have selected from the entire Ryders line-up. But that would have been picking from pictures on the internet. After I got them I actually like the olive green. It is not an army green color like I thought is was going to be but more of a translucent green. In fact you can see the sunlight illuminating the rims of the sunglasses. I like the look. However, if I were to choose from the entire line I probably would have picked the BRIGHT orange Hijacks. I like the flashy colors.

DISCLAIMER: Although this product was given to me I was not asked to write any kind of review. I have simply provided my honest opinion of the product. Please take my experience with the product at face value. Your mileage may vary.