The Slendale SL glasses are a slimmed-down version of the 100% Slendale shades, specifically designed for smaller faces. Although that doesn’t mean they won’t appeal to men, older people and anyone who doesn’t like the current trend for conservatory-sized sunglasses. Despite being a smaller version, they still offer excellent coverage with no peripheral issues, and the pinky purpley lens on this model is most excellent for all-day all all-conditions riding. Their price makes them incredibly appealing, too.
The Slendale SL is a smaller version of the 100% Slendale glasses that are specifically designed for smaller faces, which will be “uncompromising for women and young athletes” according to 100%.
They come with a microfiber cleaning bag and a spare nose pad included in the box.
Designed in California, spare lenses are available, including the 100% HiPER lens and photochromic lenses. The Ultra HD lens is manufactured from shatter-proof and impact-resistant polycarbonate with 100% UV protection.
There’s a scratch-resistant coating that seems to be doing its job well, despite a life of misuse befitting an off-road set of glasses. A hydrophobic and oleophobic lens treatment repels water, dirt, and oil, ensuring that the lens can be easily cleaned when necessary.
The frame is a durable, flexible, and lightweight TR90 frame with ultra-grip rubber nose and temple tips to provide a secure fit, and the temples are adjustable so you can bend them to fit if needed.
This Matte Chalk frame with purple highlights colour combo comes with a Purple Mirror Lens with a light transmission of 29%.
100% Slendale glasses - Performance
The Slendale SLs don’t come with a hardshell clamshell case, just inside a cardboard box with a microfiber cleaning bag for day-to-day storage and non-scratchy cleaning duties, so if your glasses are regularly tossed in a travel bag or bouncing about in the back of the van, this might be a minus point.
Although the Slendale SL is a smaller pair of shades, that doesn’t mean that you can’t wear them if you’re a grown-up or male, or both, and have a narrow face, or just don’t like the HGV windshield look that is the fashion of many modern cycling sunglasses.
The glasses are light enough at 33g but feel solid, and have done a very good job at being invisible on every ride, there are no creaking hinges either. The whole 65mm of the purple covered temples are mouldable, so if you need better skull retention, you can bend them to fit. As they were out of the box was absolutely fine with me.
100% list the standard Slendale glasses as having a width of 156mm, height of 61mm and a temple measurement of 119mm, although I’m struggling to see where they’re getting that last measurement from. The SLs here are spec'd as having the same dimensions on site, but hand measured, they’re 58mm tall, 150mm wide measured hinge to hinge, and the temple end to lens is about 165mm. The SL lens also differs from the standard Slendale lens in that it’s open-ended and doesn’t have a half frame at the bottom of the lens, though it misses out on the pair of vents.
While a smaller lens than might be on trend, they still offer impressive coverage with a high brow, limited check gap and plenty of peripheral vision, without the edge of the lens or any frame architecture getting in the way.
The standout feature of this Matte Chalk frame with Purple Mirror lens, though, is the colour of that lens. Listed with a light transmission of 29%, it’s a pink-tinted lens that you can wear all day in and out of the woods riding. The tint of the lens increases contrast, but contrary to many other lenses, it actually mutes colour just a little bit.
But what makes this lens tint so great is its versatility. It’s light enough to be worn in all weathers from overcast to bright sunshine without it ever feeling like your eyes are straining against the gloom or squinting in the glare, so days that are ridden under scudding clouds going from shade to bright are easily dealt with. The lens does struggle a bit with full summer sunshine bouncing off white chalk tracks, but the mirror coating does its best to bounce most of that glare back.
It’s also a great lens for rides where you’re dipping in and out of the trees, especially under full undergrowth shadow, where the lightness of the tint means you can still see clearly in cases where you might have to holster a darker lens. I’ve worn these glasses from dawn to dusk under all oktas, across open moorland, through singletrack, onto the moors and back under the trees again and never felt that I might need something lighter or darker, it’s an excellent and adaptable lens.
100% Slendale glasses - Verdict
The sports sunglasses market is incredibly busy, and let’s face it, you’re more likely to buy a new set based on colour, fashion and brand than anything else, or in a show of inverse snobbery, you can buy perfectly good ones for a fraction of the price. Fit is incredibly important to me, and I just can’t wear ones that make me feel like I’m peering through a Scania windscreen. Same with overhanging mushroom helmets, but I digress…
The difference between the 100% Slendale and the Slendale SL can be seen in this review of the former by Suvi, who found them excellent but big on her face with a touch of helmet interference, the SLs would have avoided that.
The Oakley Radar EV Path would be the most obvious candidate for comparison, and it’s been my favoured sunny for aeons because the size and shape simply fit and suit my face. There’s a lot more choice of frame colour and lens, custom even, but at full retail, they’re almost twice the price, whether you think that’s just down to Oakley tax is up to you. I will say I didn’t miss my favourite shades at all while wearing the 100% Slendale SL’s.
Sharing a remarkably similar DNA but more expensive than the Sungod Velans, justify that price hike by offering a removable bottom half frame, and if you want to pay a bit more, they’re fully customisable.
The 100% Slendale SL is a sensibly sized set of sunglasses in today’s iMax world, so it might be for you even if you don’t have the thin or small face they’re designed for. The fit is comfortable enough not to notice even on the longest days, and the pinky purple lens works incredibly well under a variety of skies and through changing scenery, meaning that you don’t need to buy extra lenses for different conditions, making their price even more of a good deal.
