Roka CP-1 custom sunglasses review

Sunglasses are an essential part of any riders kit bag, with style and functionality often carrying equal weight when picking your new set of lenses.

>>> Buy now from Roka for £225

Texas-based sports equipment brand Roka has broken into the cycling sunglasses market, offering its own unique twist with the customisable Roka CP-1 model.

>>> Six of the best cycling glasses

The first thing that struck me about the Roka CP-1's is the look - a simple, stylish design that doesn't go overboard on lens style while still offering a visor-like aesthetic.

With two sizes of the CP series - 52mm with the Roka CP-1 or 56mm with the CP-1X - mean you also get a choice of more coverage if a bigger lens is your thing.

One minor detail that could be fixed is the removable lens, with the corners sticking slightly above the frame at the corners. It's not noticeable from a distance, but it does slightly spoil the sleek lines of the frames.

But the real hook of the Roka CP-1's is the customisation, which gives you the opportunity to choose the colour of your frame, lenses, rocker and arms.

With a choice of 13 lens colours and more for your frames, you can design your glasses around your team-kit, favourite colours, or even just as a way of standing out.

The CP-1s have been also been designed with performance in mind and the glasses are ultra-lightweight at 27 grams.

Reducing the weight does come with a sacrifice, and the Roka glasses feel more flimsy than their biggest rivals on the market like the Oakley Flight Jackets.

The wraparound lenses offer great peripheral vision and the frames stay well out of view regardless of position.

Roka's patented Geko retention system - inspired by the sticky feet of the gecko - involves serrated rubber on the nose pad and arms.

The system works, as the CP-1s comfortably grip your head without causing discomfort, staying in place on rough terrain and regardless of how you hang your head when suffering on the bike.

But the close fit of the glasses does compromise vision on occasion, as Roka's offering is prone to lens misting.

While other brands have opted to improve airflow to keep air flowing behind the lens to prevent steaming up when you're giving it gas, the Roka's did tend to suffer from blurring vision when the temperature rose.

At £225 for the standard colourways, the Rokas are also expensive and cost considerably more than rivals like the Flight Jackets, which retail at £185.