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review

BBB Avenger Sunglasses

8
£49.95

VERDICT:

8
10
Well-priced specs for year-round use offering a great fit and performance
Weight: 
30g

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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BBB's Avenger sunglasses are a great package that show you don't need to be spending into the hundreds for a quality pair of cycling glasses. With excellent coverage, a range of lenses and impressive weight there is very little to dislike.

  • Pros: Unrestricted vision, plenty of coverage, great value
  • Cons: Lenses aren't the easiest to change and they'll be covered in fingerprints

The Avenger's use a large single-piece wraparound lens which really keeps the wind and grit out of your eyes as you ride along, even at high speed. As a hayfever sufferer this is a big bonus for me as I didn't get any eye irritation at all from pollen being carried in the air when I was wearing the BBBs.

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To stop fogging there is a slot between the lens and the frame above each eye, and they do a pretty good job as I only had them fog up once going from the heat into a long, cool tunnel and then back out again. The lens soon cleared though.

bbb_avenger_glasses_2.jpg

In the pack are two other lenses alongside the smoke one you can see fitted in the pictures, a yellow option and a clear. Each is made from polycarbonate and offer 100% UV protection.

bbb_avenger_glasses_-_spare_lenses.jpg

Swapping them isn't as easy as some, but you do soon develop the knack of popping them off the tab at the centre of the frame before easing the side tabs out of the arms. Refitting is the reverse.

> Buyer's Guide: 23 of the best cycling sunglasses

It's not possible to do it without covering the lens in fingerprints, though, and the same when you have to swap over the nosepiece. If you are changing them mid-ride then don't forget the included soft bag for cleaning.

That nosepiece is adjustable to dial in your fit by stretching the two arms or compressing them together. I found it plenty comfortable against the skin and no slipping when things were a bit sweaty.

bbb_avenger_glasses_1.jpg

The frame is made from a grade of Grilamid, a polyamide that offers plenty of flex should you drop them or sit on them. Durability should be pretty good too. 

Thickness of the frame has been kept to a minimum, which makes for a great field of vision with nothing in your line of sight when you check over your shoulder for traffic. Clarity from the lens is good, if not the sharpest, and you don't get any distortion from the curved surface.

bbb_avenger_glasses_front_2.jpg

Put all this together and you feel as though you aren't wearing a pair of glasses at all, especially when you take into account the 30g weight. That's the same as the £195 Smith Attack glasses recently tested.

> Buyer's Guide: 10 of the best cheap cycling sunglasses

Value-wise, things are pretty good with the Avengers costing £49.95. They seem to stand up well against the likes of Tifosi's Davos Race Neon glasses priced at £64.99 and have a better fit (for me) and less restricted view than the Lazer Argon ARR glasses which are £30 more.

Overall, the Avengers are very good. Okay, they don't quite have the crisp clarity of some of the more expensive shades out there from the likes of Oakley et al, but when you take into account the price they are difficult to knock.

Verdict

Well-priced specs for year-round use offering a great fit and performance

road.cc test report

Make and model: BBB Avenger Sunglasses

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for

BBB says, "The Avenger performance sunglasses are sporting glasses with a fantastic integrated lens swapping system. This allows you to switch between lenses and the glasses come with additional yellow and clear lenses so that you have a different lens for every type of lighting environment."

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

From BBB:

Futuristic frame design combined with a comfortable fit and genius lens changing system.

Interchangeable polycarbonate lenses.

High-end Grilamid frame with adjustable rubber nose piece.

100% UV protection.

Comes with a pouch.

With extra lenses: yellow and clear.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort (if applicable)
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

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

A great pair of glasses that don't cost a fortune.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Loads of eye coverage.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Lenses are more of a faff to fit than others on the market.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

The BBB Avengers are a great pair of glasses for the money and are superbly suited to the challenges of cycling at high speed thanks to that large wraparound lens.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 39  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: This month's test bike  My best bike is:

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed

As part of the tech team here at F-At Digital, senior product reviewer Stu spends the majority of his time writing in-depth reviews for road.cc, off-road.cc and ebiketips using the knowledge gained from testing over 1,500 pieces of kit (plus 100's of bikes) since starting out as a freelancer back in 2009. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 170,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him, he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. With a background in design and engineering, he has an obsession with how things are developed and manufactured, has a borderline fetish for handbuilt metal frames and finds a rim braked road bike very aesthetically pleasing!

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