Sight is a mountain biker's most important sense. Especially those who ride on sight without knowing the route rely on their eyes more than on any other sense in the body. Left, right, root, stone, jump. The eyes take in the visual stimuli and in a matter of seconds the brain calculates the ideal line depending on the available grip and speed. If you can see well, you can ride fast, you could say.
No wonder the industry is constantly coming up with new tricks to make this difficult task as easy as possible for our eyes with the right glasses. The pinnacle of eyewear development: changing conditions. Especially those who are travelling in the high mountains often have to contend with this. Above the tree line, the sun is blazing down from the sky, later the sky has clouded over and in the forest in a valley there is only minimal residual light. In the high-end segment, goggles with varifocal lenses have been developed that can now change tint in a fraction of a second, such as the Uvex Variotronic. But the technology has its price. Not everyone can or wants to spend almost 300 euros on a pair of glasses.
Changing discs made easy
In the lower and medium price segments, another technique is therefore very popular. Adjusting the tint using interchangeable lenses. However, this is not always a simple matter. You often have to literally tear the lenses out of the frame, for fear that the lens might break, only to then have to choke the new lens back into the frame. It is almost inevitable that the panes will be full of fingerprints afterwards and will have to be thoroughly cleaned.
Although lenses fitted in this way hold well and the goggles are light, anyone who changes lenses frequently will find it totally unsatisfactory. The engineers at Uvex were also anything but happy with the technology. For this reason, the new Sportstyle 115 and Sportstyle 705 models have a different system.
Change discs at the touch of a button
The Uvex Sportstyle 115 is the slightly cheaper model (69.95 euros). Two separate lenses are used here, which are locked into the frame. The lenses can then be easily removed by pressing a button on the inside of the temple. This minimises the amount of cleaning required after changing the discs.
The Sportstyle 705 is even simpler: it costs 99.95 euros, but the entire lower frame can be folded down and the one-piece lens can be easily removed and replaced with a more suitable one. To ensure that the windscreen still sits securely and the frame does not fold down unintentionally, the windscreen is secured with a locking mechanism that also blocks the lower part of the frame. This is designed to keep the lens securely in place even during heavy use on the world's trails. The Uvex Sportstyle 705 can also be combined with ground lenses and is equipped with an anti-fog coating. Both glasses provide 100 per cent protection against UV radiation.
More information on the manufacturer's website. Here to the Sportstyle 115here to the Sportstyle 705.
Adrian Kaether
Editor
