This season I've been racing with a pair of Oakley Splice sunglasses that I snagged off of ebay some years ago. Though they're not perfect, I really like these glasses.
I used to use the Splice glasses alternatively with some Oakley XX (Twenty) glasses that fit similarly. The Splice glasses were my raceday lenses. They just look kinda tough and badass, so it was a matter of attitude for me. Nowadays, I just roll with them most of the time. I think half of the reason that they've lasted long than most of my other Oakleys is because I bought them with a crazy hardcore Oakley Metal Vault case. I'm pretty sure I got that setup for under $60 shipped. Luck on ebay is always fun.
The glasses have a pretty aggressive look without making you look like a dipsh*t when you take your helmet off. The top of the frames have a metal brow, and the rest is a translucent dark grey plastic. The frames on mine are Blue Iridium in color, but actually look like grey lenses when you wear them.
They have slightly larger ear grippers than most Oakleys, so they stay put on my head very well. Also, unlike most of Oakley's O-Matter glasses, they actually have fixed rubber nose pads (think Oakley XX) that help keep the glasses in place on my nose.
Those little rubber nose pads make the world of difference. With most other glasses, I have trouble with the glasses slightly falling down my nose. Slighty may mean millimeters, but it's enough that I find myself poking them back up my nose like a nerd. That's unsafe at speed, so the fact that the Splices stay put makes me happy.
The main thing I look for in cycling glasses is pure wind protection. I don't like big lenses because I have a narrow face. However, narrow glasses (re: older Oakley Minute)usually don't protect wind from getting in above the outside of my cheekbones. Oakley Minue 2.0s, Oakley XXs, and the Oakley Splice glasses all provide adequate wind protection without being too wide for my face/head.
And, as I said before, they don't make me look like a dork or NASCAR freak if I wear them when I'm not riding.
Other Eye Protection:
At the Ft. Ritchie Criterium, I forgot my Oakley Splices. The only glasses I had were some Oakley Minutes, so I just wore those. Although they don't protect my eyes from the wind as much, I didn't think about them once during the race. Not bad.
Recently I've also been using some OLD glasses I got from Performance years ago. They're Performance Siren glasses and although they don't give me adequate coverage, I use the amber and clear lenses quite often. Tonight I was riding in shady Prince William Forest Park so the amber lenses were great for transitioning between shady areas and bright spots betweenthe trees. They've obviously great for grey and cloudy days, too.
For anyone that rides in the evenings after work, it's important to have some lenses you can use at night. I ride at Hains at night occasionally, so I put clear lenses on the Siren frames to keep the bugs out of my eyes. It's better than nothing, but not perfect.
The fact that my 1-year old Oakley Minute 2.0s broke in half (right at the nose) earlier this season really pissed me off. They are in the mail back to Oakley as we speak, and I'm getting some frame replacements. Those glasses provided great wind protection without looking uber dorky when I wasn't riding. I have the Gold Iridium lenses which seemed to work pretty well for all conditions and the hydrophobic coating was phenomenal. Since Navy isn't available, I will be replacing my broken navy frames (to match the GW kit) with some all-matching, pro-looking white frames.
Those will probably take over for the Splices...
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