Adidas Evil Eye Evo Launch!

Justin Leov putting the Adidas Evil Eye Evo Pro to the test! Photo: Ralf Hauser

One might argue there was a fair bit of fanfare the other week in the South of France for a pair of glasses. The world’s mountain bike media gathered in Apt, Luberon for the launch of the new Evil Eye Evo Pro from Adidas. The Evil Eye isn’t just any old pair of biking glasses though; it has a heritage in MTB that stretches back 14 years…

The flagship pair of specs has been adorning the faces of racers and riders whilst our sport has undergone some huge changes. 2015 is going to be the year that sees the biggest update to the Evil Eye yet…

Christian Jany from Adidas Eyewear launches the new glasses officially! Photo: Rou Chater

There are two models being released, the Evil Eye Evo and the Evil Eye Evo Pro, both are a full-framed lens with a huge focus on improved vision when on the trails.

At the core of both pairs of glasses are the Base 10 Vision Advantage PC lenses, these multi-layered polycarbonate lenses offer the best protection for your eyes, whilst giving a really wide angle of vision. Base 10 for those not initiated into the intricacies of eyewear relates to the curvature of the lens.

Increased curvature of the lens offers better protection; you also get improved vision and clarity. It is measured on a scale of 1-10, 1 would be a flat lens and 10 would be the most curved lens you can create with current technologies. Adidas offer seven different tints for the lens to ensure there is something for everyone.

The Adidas Evil Eye Evo Pro

To make changing lenses easy a Quick Release Hinge has been utilised, this patented release mechanism allows you to easily lock the lens in place, or release it using the hinges at the temples. It’s very simple to use and you can swap lenses in seconds without having to bend the frame.

If you wear prescription glasses then the Evil Eye Evo is for you, it is compatible with their RX series of prescription options meaning you can have an insert fitted inside the lens. This means you can do away with contact lenses and the issues they create on the trails and always have a clear line of sight down the trail.

The Quick Release Hinge, simply slide it back when the arm is folded and release the lens.

Adidas have also looked at ensuring the Evil Eye Evo offers a perfect fit regardless of the shape of your face. To achieve this there are two sizes of glasses, Large and Small. In addition the arms have three clicks of vertical angle adjustment at the temple. The nose bridge offers 4 different settings to fit different sized noses and the SPX arms are designed to flex and fit snugly around the side of your head.

Another important feature is the Climacool Ventilation System; this is dynamic ventilation technology that directs airflow across the lenses to prevent fogging. The Pro version of the Evil Eye Evo also comes with a sweat bar that is designed to keep sweat out of your eyes. The sweat bar on the Pro has additional ventilation built in and of course the lenses are treated with an anti fog coating.

The sweatband on the Pro version and the integrated Climacool ventilation.

The multi position nose bridge has 4 different settings to ensure a perfect fit!

There is one last bit of tech, which is equally important, the Hydrophobic Coating that Adidas utilised on some of their lenses last year has been used to treat all the lenses for the Evil Eye Evo, including the clear lenses. This means when the rain and mud starts flying around it won’t stick to your glasses. Instead it balls up and rolls off, leaving you with clear vision whatever the conditions!

The arms have three different angle settings and are flexible to allow for a snug fit.

First impressions were very impressive, the glasses are really comfortable and the large spherical lenses offer excellent vision without distortion. You also don’t get blind spots from the frames and when we were riding we didn’t have any issues with seeing parts of the frame when we wanted to see the trail.

It was all smiles at the end of the first major decent! Photo: Nathan Hughes

Personally I have a pretty hot head, so when we were invariably stopped waiting for other riders to catch up and for photos opportunities to be taken the glasses did steam up. However, they cleared within seconds once I was riding again, so quickly in fact that I had the confidence to head off down the trail without feeling the need to wipe the fog away.

The scenery and back drop in the area was stunning!

It didn’t rain while we were there, so the hydrophobic qualities didn’t get tested but we’ve tested lenses with this coating before and it works exceedingly well. The fit is really comfortable and the light frames are hardly noticeable on your face. The arms grip well and even on the technical steep and rocky terrain we didn’t notice any movement.

Lastly the sweat bar, it looks great and it’s a brilliant idea, it works to keep some sweat out of your eyes, but the shape of it is fixed so it will work on some face shapes better than others. With a baldhead I do get quite sweaty on hot rides, it’s a neat addition, but it won’t replace the sweatband I wear in the summer. Think of it as extra security against sweat in the eyes, rather than a total solution if you suffer from sweat when it gets hot.

Rene Wildhaber is a big fan!

We put in 30 miles with the Evil Eye Evo Pro glasses, and absolutely loved them, we’ll be running them over the winter and will bring you a full test once they have been abused by some rain and mud and some more rides. However, first impressions are excellent. There is just one piece of bad news though; you won’t be able to get your hands on a pair until February when they are officially launched!