In my seasonal quest to coagulate all the best cycling glasses in one place, I’m revisiting a pair I’ve had in my usual rotation for close to two years now. 100% as a brand rocketed onto the scene a good handful of years ago now with the high profile sponsorship of Peter Sagan (anyone remember the podium goggles?), and a young, but still prolific, Mathieu van der Poel.
Now the brand has settled back somewhat, becoming a staple of the market as opposed to a new upstart, and sponsors the Movistar team. Two of its models, the S3 and the Hypercraft, made it into my overall guide, and today we’re going to tackle the older of the two, the S3.
After nearly two years, with use both in summer and in winter, I’m pretty confident in assuring you this is a quality set of shades. Where do they shine, and where, if anywhere, have they been found wanting?
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Design and aesthetics
Despite the best efforts of Geraint Thomas, large, single-lens cycling glasses are here to stay. The 100% S3 fits this billing, with a half-frame setup, though the nose gripper does extend further along the base of the lens than most, purely for an aesthetic touch.
The lens itself is one of the largest I’ve had on test. It’s slightly larger than the Oakley Sutro but is still dwarfed by the genuinely titanic POC Devour. The lower half of the lens is angled, a little like the Sutro Lite Sweep, but not to quite the same degree.
Visually it’s a much more angular package than the Sutros, which to my mind is its main competitor. There is something about them that seems to hark back to the brand’s heritage in motocross; you could imagine this shape but with a big strap around the back of your head.
Like the majority of Oakley cycling glasses, the arms are straight, designed to wrap around your head rather than hook onto your ears. The arm and nose grippers themselves actually feel smooth, rather than tacky, but we’ll get into how they grip later on. The whole frame, on my test pair at least, is the ‘soft tact’ finish, which is another way of saying it has a smooth matte, rather than glossy finish, rather than implying they are particularly diplomatic when breaking bad news. It’s lovely and makes them feel more…
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