A Serious Eye Opener
Sunday, 10th October 2004
Cycling presents a challenge for eyewear: it needs to be somehow capable of handling a wide array of light conditions that often change multiple times during a ride. Specializeds new line of Optics professes to be the first to specifically meet this requirement with a unique colour-changing lens technology.
The secret say Specialized, is their exclusive Adaptalite photochromic lenses, which automatically darken or lighten in response to UV conditions, eliminating the need for multiple lenses. Specialized's Adaptalite lenses are made from NXT, a revolutionary unbreakable optical polymer that's 10-20% lighter than other plastic lenses. Originally developed for the bullet-proof windshield panels in Apache helicopters, it is claimed to be optically superior, lighter, and more shatterproof than any other polycarbonate lenses.
TriSportNews' Women's Test Panel acquired Specialized's Cortina Optics this week and on first impressions these sunnies look very, very cool. The Cortina frame design is suited for smaller riders or those desiring less coverage. The frames are very light and fitted a female face perfectly. With frame colour choices in Black, Steel Blue, Silver and Pink the only initial problem that I could see with the Cortina would be which colour to choose. At least I didn't have to choose the lens colour as well. The Adaptalite lenses appear to be pink in colour which looked gorgeous with the silver frames. These frames are not only light with an excellent fit, but they look good on a small face.
So far this week I have commuted in this eyewear and taken them on an 80km club ride. As all this cycling has taken place in the UK, the light conditions have varied over these few days, however, the colour-changing technology of the Adaptalite has so far stayed true to its claim.
The Cortinas will remain with me for the next few months and have relegated my old favourites to the draw indefinitely. Look out for future reports.