Oakley Jawbreaker first look on the track and roads of Milton
Armour for speed is what Mark Cavendish asked for. After two years, along with 9,600 hours of design and testing, the Oakley Jawbreaker is what the folks from glasses company came up with.
by Kevin Mackinnon
Armour for speed is what Mark Cavendish asked for. After two years, along with 9,600 hours of design and testing, the Oakley Jawbreaker is what the folks from glasses company came up with. Combining a somewhat retro look that is in vogue right now with all the latest features Oakley has added to its performance line during the past few years, the result is an incredibly comfortable pair of glasses that are lightweight, provide impressive vision and airflow and outstanding performance.
We got to try the new Jawbreaker glasses out during a special Oakley function at the Mattamy Homes Cycling Centre velodrome in Milton, Ont., which was a great opportunity to test them out while riding. As Triathlon Magazine Canada’s Suzanne Zelazo pointed out as she finished one of the track sessions, what is most impressive about the Jawbreaker is what you don’t notice while you’re wearing them.
That all starts with the impressive field of view the lenses offer. The feeling is not unlike swimming in a fish-filled lagoon with a swim mask versus wearing a pair of racing goggles—you will be amazed at how much more you can see, especially with your head down as you look forward. You don’t see the frame at all as you look up and forward. If you work hard to look to the sides, you can make yourself notice the hinge, but you really have to work at it.
Then there’s the lightweight and extremely comfortable temples, which adjust to three different lengths for helmet compatibility and a custom fit. During both the couple of hours ride on the track and another four-hour jaunt outside, the Jawbreaker felt so good it was easy to forget they were on.
The lenses offer more ventilation than any other Oakley lens we’ve tried. You really feel the airflow through the lens, keeping things cool and preventing fogging. As befitting cycling-oriented eyewear, the Jawbreaker came with new Prizm road lenses. The Prizm technology emphasizes certain colours to enhance your appreciation of the road ahead of you. While it all sounds too good to be true, the Prizm lenses really do provide excellent clarity and seem to help you pick out ruts and pot holes even in the brightest light.
Switching lenses is a breeze, too, thanks to the Switchlock technology that has become more prevalent in many of the Oakley performance designs over the last few years. In this case the nosepiece rotates back and the upper part of the frame hinges, which makes for a really easy and fast lens change when you need it.
Big, retro style glasses are all the rage now, and both Canadian cycling legend Steve Bauer and I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between the lens shape on the Jawbreaker and Oakley’s original Eyeshade which we both wore as Oakley-sponsored athletes in the mid-80s. Certainly smaller than the Eyeshade, the Jawbreaker still provides an incredible amount of protection in a sleek, good-looking package.
Add in all the standard features, such as the resilient frame and impact resistant lenses, and you have yet another example of why Oakley has become such a mainstay in the cycling and triathlon market. While you probably won’t ever sprint fast enough to enjoy the aerodynamic benefits that Mark Cavendish feels makes the Jawbreaker a secret weapon that will help him get more sprint wins, you will certainly enjoy all the other features that make the Jawbreaker a great piece of cycling equipment.
