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review

Bianchi Falco glasses

7
£42.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Unremarkable Euro-styled glasses yet light and good three-lens value, possibly just for the Bianchophile
Weight: 
22g
Contact: 

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These Bianchi Falco glasses are a pretty generic Euro-style set of shades that you either like the look of or you won't, but you'll probably have to like Bianchi bikes and their signature celeste colour.

The Falco glasses come to you in a small clamshell carry case. It's got a belt-clip on it should you wish to go Full Continental and dangle your glasses case to your trouser belt loop. Inside there's space for the Falcos, pouches for the two sets of spare lenses and a fabric bag for more pocketable carrying and lens cleaning duties.

The frames of the Falcos are made from Grilamid TR90, which looks and feels a lot like plastic, but apparently it's a rigid material with a high flexural fatigue strength, which means you can passionately rip them off your face or sit on them and they're more likely to bend instead of snapping.

The temple ends are made from Hytrel which also looks and feels a lot like plastic, but is a less shiny one to that of the frames. They come with small dimples on the insides of the arms for extra grip and have holes at the ends should you wish to lanyard them and hang them around your neck for extra Euro café points.

The Falcos are narrow wrap-around sunglasses that sit close to the face, so they might not comfortably fit wider heads despite the arms having an amount of flex to them, especially since the ends of those arms curve in significantly. They may or may not fit too snug with your frontal facial structure too, depending on how chiseled you are, and perched on my face my eyelashes could easily brush the lenses. On the plus side, this narrow shape and close fit means there's nowhere for wind and rain to get to your peepers and they don't interfere with straps or other helmet infrastructure. Then again their snug fitting style might mean you'll suffer from fogging up when ambient conditions or lack of speed allow.

All of the lenses offer 100% UV protection and optical quality is good, with clarity only dropping off a bit towards the outer edges where the world gets the teeniest bit fuzzy. The lens options of smoke, yellow and clear will see you through any lighting combination you should encounter, the yellow ones being most useful during UK monochrome days for putting a bit of cheer into the sky and increasing contrast. Swapping lenses is the usual warp the frames to pop them out and in again affair and takes seconds, without the 'I think I'm going break these' wrestling of some brands.

The frames come in three different colour combinations, each of them featuring the Bianchi trademark turquoisey shade somewhere. Whether you can wear Bianchi sunglasses and not be riding a Bianchi is a deep moral matter that's open to tea-stop discussion.

The Falcos are a light set of gigs which makes them incredibly easy to wear, and despite feeling on the flimsy side because of their light weight, the build quality is just fine, the hinges haven't gone baggy and the lenses are still tight in the frame. They sit comfortably against the head with no pressure points, at least on my narrow skull, and despite the temple ends not being as sticky as some other makes there was no trouble either there or with the rubber nose pieces suffering sweaty slippage during a ride. They're not going to set your insides a-tingle with innovation or recherché good looks though, unless you like Bianchi.

Verdict

Unremarkable Euro-styled glasses yet light and good three-lens value, possibly just for the Bianchophile

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Bianchi Falco glasses

Size tested: Uni

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Bianchi Glasses are designed to the highest quality by their research and development department in Bergamo Italy. The Bianchi Falco sunglass is bike specific design with a casual style and fit, 3 lenses and a cleaning bag. With high impact polycarbonate lenses offering with 100% UV protection. The flexible GRILAMID frame is lightweight and durable, with high-grade anti-slip rubber arm pads and nose pads offers maximum comfort.

They're glasses, they're okay, and turquoisey.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

GRILAMID Polycarbonate frame

Hytrel temple ends

Rubber nose pads

Three Lens Set (Smoke/Clear/Yellow) with 100% UV protection

Carrying Case and Cleaning Bag

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
7/10

They feel light and a little flimsy but are put together well.

Rate the product for performance:
 
5/10

Lightweight glasses with good lenses whose optical performance fades off at the very edges. Fogging could be an issue.

Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10

They haven't fallen apart or snapped, and the lenses are scratch free.

Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
9/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
9/10

The narrow frame and tight fit might not suit everyone, but the rubber nose pieces and Hytrel temple ends were comfy enough.

Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Light and with good lenses so you don't know you've got them on, choice of three lens shades is useful.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Lightweight, narrow fit.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Fogging, although infrequent. Need a Bianchi to match.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? No, I don't have a Bianchi. I have rules. Silly rules.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? If they had a Bianchi.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 47  Height: 180cm  Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: It varies as to the season.  My best bike is: The one I\'m on at the time

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, cyclo cross, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Fun

 

Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.

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4 comments

Avatar
truffy | 8 years ago
0 likes
Quote:

they don't interfere with straps or other helmet infrastructure

Cue helmet debate...

More pointedly, I have a broad face (i.e. big head), so these might be a little too 'Italian', but I like them nonetheless. Tempted.

Avatar
CapriciousZephyr | 8 years ago
0 likes

They probably took it down to add in some spelling mistakes and horrifically mangled grammar. It didn't fit the house style as it was.

Avatar
Kadinkski | 8 years ago
0 likes

Dude in the photo probably had them on upside down or something.

Avatar
Quince | 8 years ago
0 likes

Umm... Does anyone know what happened to the Tifosi review?

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