Salice 012 CMDCRX sunglasses review

We test Salice's 012 sunglasses. These are in World Champion's colours with a photochromatic lens, but there are lots of other combinations available.

Cycling Weekly Verdict

Comfortable, versatile sunglasses, well suited to UK riding

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Lightweight

  • +

    Good lens

  • +

    Well adapted to UK lighting conditions

  • +

    Come with low light lens

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Prone to misting when stopped

The 012 range from Salice extends to eight different lens types and is available in a host of different lens and frame colours too – in total there are over 30 different combinations to choose from.

The CRX range comes with a single-piece photochromatic lens, as well as a replacement lens for low light conditions – in the case of the CMDCRXs it’s a light orange tint which accentuates detail effectively on dull days.

Vents in the top of the lens help clear misting quickly once on the move

Vents in the top of the lens help clear misting quickly once on the move

The photochromatic lens works well too, reacting quickly to changing light levels and not being too dark to work well in UK summer conditions. The lens is quite large, so there’s good peripheral coverage and side glare isn’t an issue. This does mean that there’s some misting when you stop though, although with slot vents built into the tops of the lens, it soon clears once you get moving again.

>>> Seven of the best sunglasses

Salice claims that the lens is treated to ensure that rain beads off quickly, although this wasn’t an effect which I noticed in practice. There’s also an antiglare treatment to the inside of the lens. I did find that I had little eye strain on longer rides, so this seemed to be effective.

012s come with an additional low light lens

012s come with an additional low light lens

The arms are comfortable and there’s a softer piece built in at their ends. The nosepiece is made of the same material. It’s quite large and extends up toward the bridge of your nose, but I found this comfortable too. If you change lenses, you need to swap this out, although this isn’t a difficult operation and the nosepiece clips firmly into place.

Swapping out the lens is quite straightforward too, with a tab at either end and a slot in the top of the frame into which the lens clicks. It can be slightly fiddly to position, but once in place, I found that it stayed put perfectly well.

Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.