ALBA OPTICS DELTA
£150 › Retro-inspired race shades
THE FIRST OFFERING FROM NEW Italian glasses manufacturer Alba Optics, the Delta looks like it could have come straight out of the 1980s. The design is reminiscent of Oakley’s legendary Razorblades, which the brand brought back as a limited edition as part of its heritage line a few seasons ago. It was the original forerunner to the Mumbo, which in turn became the M-Frame, and is now the Radar.
The styling may be retro, but the materials used are bang up to date, with TR90 – a carbon nylon blend – in the frames, just like Rudy Project and Tifosi, and an optically-corrected full wrap lens, so you won’t get any distortion. Add in UV400 protection to meet EU, US and Australian safety and protection standards, and these are about as cutting edge as it gets.
Retro styling is a bit of thing, just look at Peter Sagan’s 100% Speedtrap shades, but fashion aside, there are performance benefits too. The lens offers deep frame-free vision and a tight close wrap, which makes these impervious to the wind. The massive 58mm deep lens is best suited to larger faces and we are mightily impressed by the clarity they provide.
The unique double-kinked arms curve around the top of your ear and drop 50mm down. This gives a limpet-like grip, and the screwed tensioned hinges help, so they don’t move around on your face even when bouncing over rocky terrain on off-road excursions. That means you won’t have any issues on the road either. The close fit could mean you experience some problems with fogging, but we are happy to report this never became an issue for us, with the substantial lens staying clean and clear throughout testing.
The downside of the curvy arms is that they’re harder to store in helmet vents when you don’t want to wear them. We resorted to tucking them into the collar on the back of our shirt. They come with a soft cleaning bag and for that truly authentic ’80s on-the-piste look, a clip-in lanyard. This, when combined with the acid green/yellow fade of our GL RV Beetle colourway, makes things just a bit too retro, even for us. Thankfully, the Deltas come in a choice of eight different frame colours and 11 lens options.