Review: Serfas Aileron Sunglasses
Not five minutes into the Outdoor demo at Interbike last year, as I was making my way to the Turner booth to demo a Sultan… I happened upon the Serfas booth where they were handing out sunglasses like candy. Could it be true? Free sunglasses? They said no catch, just try them out and keep them.
I picked up a pair of Aileron interchangeables (without the interchangeable lenses though) and wore them the rest of the week. In fact I’ve been wearing them as my regular sunglasses on and off the bike for the last six months.
I love them. Not only do I love them because they were free, but I have been in the market of sub 50 dollar sunglasses my entire life, and these baby’s take the cake in comfort, style and durability and protection.
Now they don’t come close to the quality of a pair of Giro Filters sunglasses (at $220 that is an entire different league of eyewear), but they do work really well for mountain biking and occasionally road biking in the sunny Arizona weather conditions. The standard dark lens is just the right amount of dark and it has all the UVA/UVB protection you need.
What I love best about the Aileron’s is their durablity. They are a solid pair of sunglasses. Not flimsy or fragile, like they’ll break just putting them on (which has happened to me before). And they fit around my cranium just right — snug, without loosening up over time. The elastomer nose pads are soft and comfortable as well as the temple inserts.
The top rim of the sunglasses stays off my eyebrow, letting the sweat drop to the side of my face instead of dripping down the lens. Dripping sweat down the lens is a dealbreaker. I’ve had many a shades that did that…
I also picked up a pair of Serfas Hunter Sunglasses that did come with 4 sets of lenses. The Hunter is a decent frame, but not at all as rigid or durable as the Aileron. I have only worn the Hunter for Photo-Chromic Sunset Oange lens, when it’s overcast out, which isn’t all that often in AZ.
If I can get the extra lenses for the Aileron I will have the only Sunglasses I’ll ever need. (Which makes me really happy that my buddy was with me at Interbike and picked up a pair as well, he handed them right on over to me as my backup pair.) It looks like I can order lenses and other parts right from Serfas. Free shipping. Woo whooo! But at 10 bucks a lens I won’t be ordering all the colors, maybe just one extra set of rust orange or yellow.
I’m set for at least the next couple of years in shades, thanks to Serfas. Hope to see you at Interbike again this year!
