As with all product reviews on this website, the products are bought and paid for out of my own money so I can be objective and honest in my appraisal of them.
Today we are looking at Bolle Vortex sunglasses that I picked up second hand for just over £10 on Ebay.
I picked up a couple of pairs at that price based on some historic affection I have for the brand.
My first years of bike racing back in the early 1990s saw their Edge and Micro Edge models as dominant in the peloton as Oakley radars were.
Miguel Indurain, Laurent Jalabert, names that evoke a time when the drugs arms race was starting but when cycling was still a mystical and wonderful sport for a lad in his late teens.
My Micro Edge cost me £29 back then and had a gold mirrored lens. They had black frames with yellow arms and I loved them.
Since then Bolle has had an up and down time on the faces of pro cyclists.
Jalabert stuck with them the longest during his Once and CSC years but after that it was Orica who next took them on before their current position on the face of Romain Bardet at Ag2r.
I was excited to get the winning bid on these pairs and was keen to get out on the road and test them.
The reviews I had seen on the internet were positive. The frames and lenses both scoring well when compared to other brands.
It was a grim morning when I first headed out with the white frames and purple multi light lenses in. They were really comfortable and despite not being the size of some of the modern glasses the coverage was perfect for me, and I do have a bit of a beachball head.
They didn’t slip or move about on my face and despite it being a damp winter morning there was no fogging or misting. i suppose that should be expected as at full price back in the day these were priced at over £100.
For me I wanted a pair of glasses for October to March with no need to change and I got exactly that. They are utterly brilliant.
The other pair performed as well on warmer days and had the addition of a bright red/gold mirrored lens. The sort of glasses you want to look pro by turning them upside down in your helmet vents on a tough climb. You know the drill!
It’s fair to say that Bolle are back at the head of my affections and that I prefer them to a certain American brand that are omnipresent. I go through a lot of glasses as this article testifies but these are about as perfect as you can get.
They ooze retro cool and evoke memories of a period when I was just getting into the sport. But they are also modern enough to wear now and performance is best in class.
Get out there are shop a bargain people!
Fendrien 