Review: Tifosi Moab Eyewear

 Note: Tifosi Optics sent the Moab model eyewear to Guitar Ted Productions at no charge for test/review. I am not being paid nor bribed for this review and all opinions expressed are my own. 

The Tifosi Optics Moab in the Sahara colorway.

Tifosi has been around quite a while now. I first came into contact with the brand when Tifosi sponsored the first Trans Iowa in 2005 by providing each entrant a free pair of glasses. Since then Tifosi has been a brand I have used off and on for my eye protection needs on the bike. Last year I was able to review their Rail model glasses, and now comes the brand new Moab model which I am reviewing here. 

What It Is: In typical Tifosi style, the Moab is available in several colors and with a couple of options in lenses including Fototec, Tifosi's photo-chromatic lens technology, Interchange, which includes three lenses for varying light conditions, and the Clarion lens which has a water repellent enhancement to prevent excessive moisture build-up. The frame is made of Gryllamid and has hydrophobic ear and nose pieces which get grippier with moisture build up and are also adjustable for a premium fit. The Polycarbonate lenses are scratch-resistant, shatterproof, and on the Moab, have ventilation spaces to allow for anti-fogging. The Moab weighs a claimed 31 grams and is recommended for Medium to Large faces. The price for the Moab is $79.95

The two optional lenses which come with the Interchange package.

I received the Interchange package with my Moab frames which includes a mirrored lens, a reddish colored lens called "Red AC", and the clear lens for night time or low-light conditions. 

The lenses are not too bad when it comes to exchanging them, but you will have to clean them each time you do this since it is nearly impossible not to switch lenses without touching them in the process. Fortunately Tifosi's included bag for the storage of the Moab doubles as a cleaning cloth. There is also a soft case in the box which you can stash the two unused lenses in, and which holds the Moab frames. 

Fit And Function: 

The Moab is a "sheild" style of eyewear that is popular these days with cyclists and the lens bridges across both eyes in one piece. This provides excellent peripheral vision without obstruction. I found I could only see tiny portions of the frame while wearing the Moab, despite its full-frame design, and even that was no distraction at all. 

The Moab looks okay on my large face, if I do say so myself. Others thought they looked good on me. So much for that. This doesn't matter while riding, really, but it was nice to know that people thought these enhanced my appeal, I suppose. 

As for riding, yes, they do the job. I did notice less air turbulence behind the lens and around my eyes. The day I tried these was a very windy one with gusts up to and over 30mph often during the ride. This did not deter the Moab in its mission to keep my eyes from dealing with that. Plus it was full-Sun out and the Moab did a bang-on job of helping me discern which lines were best in the gravel as I rode. 

The day also happened to be well into the 90's for temperature and the nose piece and ear pieces did their job of keeping the Moab on my face where I wanted the Moab to sit. No sliding down the nose at all. 

So Far... Tifosi does it again with a great style for cyclists and with their typical value-packed, feature-rich glasses. I do like this style of eyewear and it is nice to see it offered at a reasonable price. I'll be trying out the Red AC lens next and I expect similar results as I experienced with the Red AC lens in the Rail model last year. 

Stay tuned for a Final Word coming in a few weeks.

Friday News And Views

 Today's "News And Views" is going to feature a lot of press release material. There has been an uptick in activity here since the Taipei Cycle show is coming up soon. Okay, on with the FN&V!

Shimano announced new eyewear. (Image courtesy of Shimano)

Shimano Releases New Technium and Twinspark Eyewear:

Shimano announced three new pairs of Sunglasses for all disciplines of cycling on Wednesday. Included in this announcement were the Technium half-framed models, the Technium and lighter weight Technium L, and the full-framed Twinspark. These are in addition to the SPhyre models released last year.

Featuring Shimano's Ridescape lens tech, the glasses come with three lens options and each of those is paired with a clear alternate lens which can be swapped in for low-light or night riding conditions. The glasses have reversible nose pads for a customized fit and also feature "Arkema Rilsan® clear G850 Rnew® 45% bio-based materials that help reduce carbon emissions during the manufacturing process.", according to the press release. 

Prices are $100.00 USD for the Technium models and $65.00 for the Twinspark model. 

Comments: Shimano debuted the Ridescape lens eyewear last year and....I hate to say this, but I was not impressed. (You can read my take on them HERE) I looked to see if Shimano had said anything concerning an update to the lens but I did not see that. (Confirmed by my Shimano contact) I liked everything else about the glasses, but the clarity was....off. Hopefully my pair were an outlier and not representative of the main output of these glasses. 

ABUS Wall Anchor bike storage/security idea. (Image courtesy of ABUS)

ABUS Wall Anchor Secures Bikes In Storage:

A new and interesting idea from ABUS allows you to store a bicycle in a garage or elsewhere that there is a wall and secure it with your cable lock. 

Using a steel angled plate which is held in place by two lag bolts, the Wall Anchor is meant to hold your bicycle in an upright position against a wall by the pedal. A steel loop then allows you to lock the bike to the anchor which has two ball bearings that fit into the fastener heads which are there to prevent anyone from removing the wall anchor. There also is an angled plate which can be placed under the rear wheel to keep the bike from wanting to pivot from the Wall Anchor's pedal grabbing hook. 

In this snip from ABUS' YouTube video, you can see how the bike is supported.

This could be a great solution for those with garage storage of bicycles, an apartment dweller, or for those who have Summer cottages, etc. You can watch a You Tube video explainer HERE. 

The Wall Anchor costs $79.99 and is made in Germany.

Ama Nsek (Image courtesy of Scuderia Pinarello)

Ama Nsek Joins Scuderia Pinarello Team:

USA Cat 1 Elite road race champion Ama Nsek announced he was joining the Scuderia Pinarello Team as an "athlete ambassador" for the 2024 season. Pinarello sent the announcement on Tuesday of this week. 

Nsek will join Scuderia Pinarello's other athletes in a three-tiered team setting consisting of Competitor, Community Leader, and Adventurer categories. 

In all, there are eight riders on the Scuderia Pinarello Team who will be doing competitive events on road and gravel courses while organizing group rides, coaching, and creating a "more inclusive cycling community" while off the bike. 

Other Scuderia Pinarello athletes on the team are Cicily Decker and Ethan Overson (Competitive), Mari Holden and Anthony Carter (Community Leader), and Hillary Allen, Jamie Bestwick, and Johnny Collinson. (Adventurer)

Comments; It is notable that now several brands are skirting the traditional means of athlete/team sponsorships and going into gravel and unsanctioned "adventure/ultra-endurance" cycling events. Specialized pulling sponsorship from athletes notwithstanding, this newer means of aligning a brand with cycling's current hot segments of gravel, social awareness/inclusiveness, and adventure cycling seems to be gaining traction. 

On the athlete side it is interesting that now riders seem to have to piece together a patchwork of sponsors and endorsement deals to make a living at riding a bicycle competitively or on the coattails of gravel and adventure cycling. For some it seems to be working, but I've noted it seems that some are struggling to make ends meet, if social media posts are anything to go by there. 

Courtesy of Panaracer's social media

Let's Speculate!

On Wednesday Panaracer posted a social media short indicating that they will have a new tire, (presumably it is a tire), coming on March 1st. 

Assuming it is another addition to the Gravel King range, what can we draw from the images Panaracer showed in their post? Well, to do that you have to understand what was shown. 

First off they showed a paved road. Then most of the rest of the content was a fast overview of what you see here, which to my eye looks like dirt, or sand. Maybe a desert? Whatever they are showing, it is NOT crushed rock, or as we all know it, "gravel". And maybe it isn't even a "gravel" king tire. Maybe it is "Sand King" or something. So maybe this is not really a gravel tire at all. Still, it may seem odd to many to call it a 'gravel king' if that is what Panaracer is doing here.

But that never stopped Panaracer before. Some of you may remember Panaracer's first "Gravel King" tires which were not anything I'd ever want to ride on "gravel", if we are talking crushed rock roads. Those were 23mm, 25mm, and 28mm tires back in 2013. Crazy, right? Then in 2014 Panaracer came out with a (gasp!) 32mm Gravel King! The brand may have been first to market with a "gravel" tire, but others beat them to producing a "real", 38mm+ width tire for crushed rock roads. So, if this is something on the fringe of what you would consider "gravel", don't be surprised. This brand is known for that. 

Not a criticism of Panaracer at all. Just an observance of what they have done used to speculate about what the brand might be doing. We will see March 1st!

New Podcast Episode:

In the latest "Guitar Ted Podcast" sponsored by CORE4, we attempt to answer the question inspired by Dave Pryor of unPAved of the Susquehanna River Valley fame, which is: "Did gravel cycling save racing?"

We also get into how to grow cycling effectively, plus we gab about nuclear testing, bazaars in Iraq, and tour cycling through Hokah, Minnesota.  Yes. Really. 

You can find the latest episode at your favorite podcast provider or you can listen by clicking THIS LINK. 

The "Guitar Ted Podcast" is sponsored by CORE4. Thanks for listening!


 Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Gear Try-Outs

Throwin' the Horns

Recently I got a couple of new items to check out. These will be getting reviewed on The Cyclistsite in short order, so stay tuned for that. For now, here is some information and my initial impressions on these two cycling items.

First up, we have Ergon's new glove, the "HE2". Ergon has four new gloves for different mountain biking disciplines. The HE2 is geared for DH and Enduro type riding where the rider would likely be using a GE1 or GA1 grip. (Although in reality, you can use these with any Ergon grip, or any other grip, for that matter.)

The gloves came on an environmentally friendly, 100% recycled/recyclable cardboard display hangar. This is great, but the fine, faded looking print on it was hard to read! Good thing Ergon has a great website!

And on that website, you'll find Ergon's description of the gloves. I won't get all into that here. (Look for details on The Cyclistsite), but I will say a few comments about them right away here.

These gloves look very well made. Lots of stitching going on with the white panels against black, and the heel of the palm protector, in case you biff! One glaring omission here: No terry cloth sweat wiper. Weird! I though every cycling glove had that feature. Guess not anymore!

I've had one ride on them so far, and it is obvious they are still breaking in, so I'll wait for any performance judgments for a bit.

Mrs. Guitar Ted and the Alpha by Spy Optics

Spy Optics has re-entered the "performance eyewear" category with this new Alpha model and three others which are new for 2011.

The Alpha eyewear I received has a gray polarized lens on a matte black, semi-rimmed frame made from Grilamid which is crazy flexible, light, and holds its shape really well. Just perfect for the rough and tumble mountain biker!

There are all sorts of technologies going on here with the Alpha, which I will get into in my review pieces on The Cyclistsite, but for now, I have to say that these are impressive.

Haven't heard of Spy Optics? Well, these are not "cheap sunglasses", by any stretch. These are competitive with some brands you are familiar with, and have similar treatments and performance attributes. My initial testing shows that Spy Optics Alpha is a top notch piece of equipment. Right up there with my favorite eyewear. This should be a good test.

Well, that is if I can pry them out of Mrs. Guitar Ted's hands! She looks better in them than I do anyway! (Well, I think I look "okay" in them too, don't get me wrong!)

Gear Try-Outs

Throwin' the Horns

Recently I got a couple of new items to check out. These will be getting reviewed on The Cyclistsite in short order, so stay tuned for that. For now, here is some information and my initial impressions on these two cycling items.

First up, we have Ergon's new glove, the "HE2". Ergon has four new gloves for different mountain biking disciplines. The HE2 is geared for DH and Enduro type riding where the rider would likely be using a GE1 or GA1 grip. (Although in reality, you can use these with any Ergon grip, or any other grip, for that matter.)

The gloves came on an environmentally friendly, 100% recycled/recyclable cardboard display hangar. This is great, but the fine, faded looking print on it was hard to read! Good thing Ergon has a great website!

And on that website, you'll find Ergon's description of the gloves. I won't get all into that here. (Look for details on The Cyclistsite), but I will say a few comments about them right away here.

These gloves look very well made. Lots of stitching going on with the white panels against black, and the heel of the palm protector, in case you biff! One glaring omission here: No terry cloth sweat wiper. Weird! I though every cycling glove had that feature. Guess not anymore!

I've had one ride on them so far, and it is obvious they are still breaking in, so I'll wait for any performance judgments for a bit.

Mrs. Guitar Ted and the Alpha by Spy Optics

Spy Optics has re-entered the "performance eyewear" category with this new Alpha model and three others which are new for 2011.

The Alpha eyewear I received has a gray polarized lens on a matte black, semi-rimmed frame made from Grilamid which is crazy flexible, light, and holds its shape really well. Just perfect for the rough and tumble mountain biker!

There are all sorts of technologies going on here with the Alpha, which I will get into in my review pieces on The Cyclistsite, but for now, I have to say that these are impressive.

Haven't heard of Spy Optics? Well, these are not "cheap sunglasses", by any stretch. These are competitive with some brands you are familiar with, and have similar treatments and performance attributes. My initial testing shows that Spy Optics Alpha is a top notch piece of equipment. Right up there with my favorite eyewear. This should be a good test.

Well, that is if I can pry them out of Mrs. Guitar Ted's hands! She looks better in them than I do anyway! (Well, I think I look "okay" in them too, don't get me wrong!)