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TECH NEWS

Oakley Jawbreaker cycling glasses launched + video

Mark Cavendish's new eyewear now available, offers 44% increased field of view

After first being spotted on Mark Cavendish during last year’s Tour de France, Oakley has this week properly unveiled the latest addition to its cycling eyewear range, the new Jawbreaker.

The Jawbreakers have been two years in the making, and put through 100 design iterations and 9,600 hours of lab and field testing, according to Oakley. They get their name from the hinge mechanism that pivots to separate the lower half of the frame to allow easy lens changes. This hinge works in combination with a hinged nosepiece, using the Switchlock technology from the Radarlock, that secures the lens in place.

As you can obviously tell from the photos, the lens is far larger than the current pros favourite, the RadarLock. Oakley claims a 44% increase upward field of view. It’s apparent that Oakley has looked to address the issue of some eyewear obscuring vision when riding in an aggressive position, such as in the drops, when the top of the frame can block the field of view. The top of the frame curves upwards to “to give the wearer an unprecedented field of view.”

There are also new lenses utilising Prizm Technology, with a new Prizm Road and Prizm Trail lens for on and off-road action. The new road-specific lens has been developed to help “spot subtle changes in the texture of the road surface.” The lenses are  ventilated to reduce fogging.

 

“The idea of Jawbreaker was inspired by professional cyclist, Mark Cavendish,” says Oakley. “Whether it’s measuring his own wattage output, pinpointing his drag coefficiency in a state-of-the-art wind tunnel, or adjusting his seat position by a fraction of a millimeter, he leaves nothing to chance in his preparation. This obsession led to a unique collaboration with Oakley. His challenge was to design an ‘armour for speed’.”

The new glasses also look to take inspiration from the iconic Eyeshade glasses, first worn by Greg LeMond in 1985, and which kicked off the fashion for cycling-specific eyewear, at a time when most weren’t wearing shades in races, other than the occasional aviators.

The Jawbreakers will be available in six frame colours and a choice of lenses, including Prizm Road, Trail, Grey Polarized, Sapphire Iridium and Red Iridium Polarized. Details of pricing and availability TBC.

www.oakley.com

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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16 comments

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aslongasicycle | 9 years ago
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Love. Want. Will kill for. Yum.

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themartincox | 9 years ago
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I do believe that road.cc had an exclusive first picture of these glasses!!!

http://road.cc/content/blog/123036-tour-de-france-stage-1-view-team-car

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JohnnyBBM | 9 years ago
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Was looking to get some Radarlock to compliment my Jawbones... But these look too cool to ignore...  16

Will be buying.

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McVittees | 9 years ago
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I still use M-Frames with Heater lenses. No visibility restrictions there.

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sorebones | 9 years ago
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Not for me either. Appreciate the added field of vision, I swapped Jawbones for Radarlock for that reason. The styling is a bit ski goggle / LeMond '90's throwback though!

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Kadinkski | 9 years ago
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I hate Mark Cavendish because he insulted me on twitter once. As a result I refuse to buy anything he endorses. That'll teach him. He who laughs last and all that.

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edster99 replied to Kadinkski | 9 years ago
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Kadinkski wrote:

I hate Mark Cavendish because he insulted me on twitter once. As a result I refuse to buy anything he endorses. That'll teach him. He who laughs last and all that.

Ha! that showed him. Bet he'll be crying in his beer tonight.

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themartincox replied to Kadinkski | 9 years ago
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Kadinkski wrote:

I hate Mark Cavendish because he insulted me on twitter once. As a result I refuse to buy anything he endorses. That'll teach him. He who laughs last and all that.

what did he say?

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Kadinkski replied to themartincox | 9 years ago
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themartincox wrote:
Kadinkski wrote:

I hate Mark Cavendish because he insulted me on twitter once. As a result I refuse to buy anything he endorses. That'll teach him. He who laughs last and all that.

what did he say?

He called me mis-informed, an idiot and a twat in the same sentence. It may have been justified but it was quite embarrassing as my mates picked up on it and I never heard the end of it.

I'd just made an innocuous tweet about cycling drug cheats in general and some idiot replied to me and mentioned @cav in his reply.

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Chasseur Patate replied to Kadinkski | 9 years ago
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Kadinkski wrote:
themartincox wrote:
Kadinkski wrote:

I hate Mark Cavendish because he insulted me on twitter once. As a result I refuse to buy anything he endorses. That'll teach him. He who laughs last and all that.

what did he say?

He called me mis-informed, an idiot and a twat in the same sentence. It may have been justified but it was quite embarrassing as my mates picked up on it and I never heard the end of it.

I'd just made an innocuous tweet about cycling drug cheats in general and some idiot replied to me and mentioned @cav in his reply.

It must be a Manx thing, Kennaugh wets his pants on Twitter too.

More to the point though, these are yet more hideously ugly glasses from Oakley. It's like they're permanently stuck in 1998.

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edster99 | 9 years ago
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'measuring his own wattage output, ...' maybe they should work on better marketing bollx. Cav is very publicly not interested in the numbers, but in the wins.

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giff77 | 9 years ago
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Hmmmm  39

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hampstead_bandit | 9 years ago
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Can't say my Radarlock's have ever restricted my field of view, maybe I just don't go fast enough  3

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bikeandy61 | 9 years ago
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BIG fan of Oakley but these are one of those that just don't do it for me. Appreciate the increased view field (Jawbones I find restricted when looking over shoulder) but think I'll stick to Radar/Radarlock.

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DavidC replied to bikeandy61 | 9 years ago
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bikeandy61 wrote:

"Jawbones I find restricted when looking over shoulder"

Agreed — I have the same issue, but the fit and comfort are excellent.

Last year I had prescription lenses fitted in mine, which are also excellent, and I wish I had done that sooner.

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aschmid | 9 years ago
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 16

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