A Clear Vision for Better Cycling Eyewear
Shimano’s RIDESCAPE technology helps make every ride clearer and crisper through exceptional optical engineering and tuning. Whether you’re a road rider, gravel racer, mountain biker, or anything in between, Shimano’s RIDESCAPE eyewear can help you see tricky obstacles in the road, pick the best line on a twisty singletrack section, and help protect your eyes from the harsh UV light on bright summer days.
To do this, Shimano brought over 100 years of manufacturing and cycling expertise to the sunglass game, crafting great-fitting eyewear that provides lightweight, all-day comfort while boosting visibility wherever you ride. Every kind of riding looks a little bit different, which is why Shimano offers cycling-specific sunglasses with technically tuned lenses to excel in any situation.
The RIDESCAPE Overview
RIDESCAPE Technology tunes each lens with specific filters, highlighting objects and emphasizing colors for different conditions and environments. This yields better contrast that makes nuances in riding surfaces pop, enhancing vision and allowing cyclists to see the road or trail more crisply. The result is clearer vision while protecting eyes from harmful UV rays, dust, wind, and road shrapnel.
A lens's tint helps regulate light transmission, but the real magic of RIDESCAPE comes from fine tuning the color transmission using specific filters. This means that specific lenses will improve contrast and overall clarity for specific riding applications, like road riding, gravel paths, mountain bike trails, and night riding conditions.
Each lens is a five-layer sandwich of tech with a polyamide lens at its core. This material is one of the best for cycling applications because of its durability and enhanced clarity. The low refractive index transmits more light than a polycarbonate lens and elevates the clarity of vision. To boost durability, an anti-scratch slayer is added to both the front and back of the lens. The final touch is a hydrophobic coating that allows moisture from the element and from sweat to bead up and fall away from the glasses.
RIDESCAPE RD – Road Tuned Vision
The RIDESCAPE RD lens was developed for road riding and delivers optimum performance and vision for sunny, clear conditions that are often found on open roads. The lens has a light transmission factor of 21%, but the real magic of the RIDESCAPE RD comes from the color filters that boost the granite, white, and yellow colors of the road. This results in high-contrast vision that makes asphalt surfaces and traffic markings really pop.
The ability to better distinguish small variations in the road is crucial, especially with narrow road bike tires. It's no wonder that this lens is among the most popular in the Shimano lineup. It makes cracks, bumps, gravel, and other road hazards much more visible and easy to adapt to.
Find the RIDESCAPE RD Lens on the following models:
S-Phyre 2, S-Phyre SL, Equinox, and Technium L Sunglasses.
RIDESCAPE GR –Gravel Tuned Vision
As gravel explodes in popularity, people are quickly realizing that gear can be fine-tuned for the crunchy adventure and long days on the bike. Like the RIDESCAPE RD, the RIDESCAPE GR gravel lens allows 21 percent light transmission. This provides excellent UV protection in bright and clear environments, but just as a gravel bike differs from a road bike, the RIDESCAPE GR lens is precision-tuned with light filters to boost the contrast in gravel conditions.
The RIDESCAPE GR filters highlight brown, green, and granite colors, enhancing the contrast of a wide spectrum of road and offroad surfaces. This helps riders discern the nuances between deep gravel, hard-pack sections, ruts, sand, tarmac, and cement.
Find the RIDESCAPE GR Lens on the following models:
S-Phyre SL, Equinox, Pulsar and Technium L Sunglasses.
RIDESCAPE OR – Trail and MTB Tuned Vision
The RIDESCAPE OR off-road lens is Shimano's second most popular seller, and for a good reason–it creates pop and contrast on trails and singletrack to help you take your riding to the next level. The 35% light transmission blocks UV rays while providing a bit more brightness, which is needed when riding through densely forested trails. The RIDESCAPE OR lens also helps reduce glare from scattered sunbeams and dappled light that shines through forest canopies. This means a more uniform field of vision in the changing light conditions that mountain bikers and other off-road riders often encounter.
The pink tint of the RIDSCAPE OR lens and the filters that highlight granite, brown, and green colors help define the trail and enhance the contrast of roots, rocks, ruts, and other features that demand planning and attention. Better vision leads to better reaction time and smoother runs, lap after lap, trail after trail.
the RIDESCAPE OR Lens on the following models:
S-Phyre SL, Equinox, Pulsar, and Technium L Sunglasses
Framed for Cycling
Beyond the lens makeup itself, each frame is designed with key features to ensure excellent optics are paired with all-day comfort on the bike. While Shimano glasses come in full-frame, half-frame, and frameless designs, all models are built to be secure and protective. The design of each eyewear piece places the lens closer to the face, reducing dust and wind intrusion and helping prevent your eyes from watering.
The full-frame glasses feature micro ventilation slits to promote regulated airflow that reduces fogging and preserves clarity of vision. Each eyewear frame's arms are slightly shorter than those of traditional casual sunglasses to ensure they do not interfere with the adjustable head baskets on cycling helmets (from road to mountain bike) making them the perfect fit for any cycling adventure.
Looking to the Future
The construction of Shimano’s eyewear lineup has moved, and keeps moving toward a lower environmental impact. The transparent Polyamide lenses and frame materials are made from 45% bio-based raw materials (castor beans). This has reduced CO2 emissions by 46% compared to traditional polyamide glasses, which rely solely on petroleum-derived raw materials. The carrying case and microfiber pouch now also use more recycled material for less impact.
Best of all, this lower-impact approach maintains the eyewear's technical details with excellent clarity, lightweight characteristics, flexibility, and chemical resistance. The result is a top-performing sunglass package that enhances the ride and is better for all of us down the road.
