Originally Posted by
vane171
That's what one would think as first reaction. Perhaps the salesman (that subsumes women as well as men) heard of a law suite brought about by a cyclist, maybe was even instructed by the shop power that be to warn people who ask for polarized glasses as a liability precaution. Or the clerk just read that somewhere and being too honest for the good of the business, can't help mentioning it to people who ask...
I remember watching TDF on TV and after some rider fell off his bike, he got up and was frantically looking around and it turned up, he was looking for the glasses he dropped in the fall. The commentators said, he looked for them because they cost five hundred dollars (or some such amount, no idea if they made the amount up but the guy sure acted as if they were expensive). Probably paid from his pocket, not the stock glasses issued as part of team supplies. I don't really know if pro racers in TDF get glasses from sponsors or team issued, or what.
Those sunglasses might have been prescription. If I lost mine in a bike race crash, I'd sure as heck want to find them to ride the next 50 miles not blind. (And prescription - they might well cost most of $500 but being able to see the rest of the race (and maybe tomorrow's and the day after) would be a lot more important.)
Just re-thought the post I am answering to - if he dropped them, that suggests they were stylishly tucked into his helmet, not on his face. Those guys don't need their sunglasses to see, just to make their lives better.