Glasses - help or hindrance?

Loggerhead

Hello all,
What are your views on wearing cycling glasses?
On dry days/nights, I think that a pair of glasses acts as great protection from flying road debris/dirt. When it starts raining I'm less sure. There comes a point when riding with glasses becomes hazardous. When do you decide to ditch the glasses?

redddraggon

I wear glasses all the time. Yellow tinted ones - even at night, they don't negatively affect my vision.

Why would wearing glasses be hazardous?

Loggerhead

Maybe 'hazardous' is a little strong. For me, glasses are especially problematic at night when its raining. The droplets of water that collect on the lenses impair my vision - doubly so when faced with the bright lights of oncoming traffic.

Black Keith

I use gloves with a soft pad on to regularly wipe my glasses, and ride at a speed to suit the conditions.

can't risk an eyeful of shid cos of wearing contacts.

andyfromletchworth

i think they make one look cool................. therefore am prepared to sacrifice quite a lot of vision for sake of coolness.

jonginge

I generally wear glasses on recreational/training rides but not on my commute. I check over the shoulder a lot when in traffic and I don't like the blocking of peripheral vision by the frames.

jonginge

That said, I wouldn't mind some oakley radars with that new fancy-dan hydrophobic lenses: http://oakley.com/radar (but i prefer the dollar price to the uk price, though. dagnammit)

MrGrumpy

Loggerhead wrote:

Hello all,
What are your views on wearing cycling glasses?
On dry days/nights, I think that a pair of glasses acts as great protection from flying road debris/dirt. When it starts raining I'm less sure. There comes a point when riding with glasses becomes hazardous. When do you decide to ditch the glasses?

in the rain they are a mare in fact dangerous plus mine seem to steam up, might try the fairy liquid on them, supposed to help with the rain.

pete236

I've got a pair of Safety Specs I swiped from school years sgo. Frameless with adjustable arms. The bit which protects the bridge of your nose has fallen off but I can ignore that. I wear them all the time now - stops so much muck from the road getting in. If its raining I just give a quick wipe now and then. I reckon its better to have droplets refracting the light than your eyes full of the driving rain that only seems to hit when you're on your bike!
To solve the fogging probelm I use some 'Rain X Anti-fog' bought a bottle at local garage, think it was £5 - use on the car windscreens and on my glasses. Works a treat!

always_tyred

Get a helmet with a clip on visor - stops the worst of the spray hitting your glasses. At lights, tap your glasses on your bars to break the big droplets into tiny ones that don't disrupt your vision so much.

For some reason, roadies turn their noses up at visors; its a style thing. Ignore them and laugh privately at the streak of mud up their back because they also turn their noses up at mudguards.

sadjack

I am suffering with sore eyes tonight, was out in the wind and rain this morning, wearing just my normal specs. I wonder if a decent pair of glasses would have prevented that? Would have to be prescription lens's tho. If I have to wear glasses anyway I have no option but to put up with them so a decent pair may at least alleviate the problem of sore eyes.

Loggerhead

Thanks for the tip on anti-fogging products Pete236.
The same company also do a rain repellent (as do others).
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/p ... lents.html
Anyone tried these? Might be worth a shot for £6-7!

prj45

JonGinge wrote:

That said, I wouldn't mind some oakley radars with that new fancy-dan hydrophobic lenses: http://oakley.com/radar (but i prefer the dollar price to the uk price, though. dagnammit)

I stopped wearing my Oakleys cos the t*ts put freakin great big bits of plastic right where cars are when you look over your shoulder (not that you can tell that cars are there because there's a freakin great big piece of plastic in the way).

Biggest waste of money ever; I don't even like using them when driving as they make the whole side of your car a blind spot basically.

EEEEdiots.

jonginge

Too right
Still want some, though. Just not for the commute rides

fossyant

As a short sighted person, I wear specs all the time - cycling ones when on the bike. Rain does cause vision issues, but I just slow down a little - still need to get round to buying a cap to go under my helmet - the peak stops lots of the rain on your glasses.

spen666

MrGrumpy wrote:

...

in the rain they are a mare in fact dangerous plus mine seem to steam up, might try the fairy liquid on them, supposed to help with the rain.

Can anyone translate this into English please?


" they are a mare in fact dangerous" - any clues as to what this is supposed to mean?

MrGrumpy

BentMikey

Eye protection is much more important than wearing a helmet, that's for sure.

Underscore

JonGinge wrote:

I generally wear glasses on recreational/training rides but not on my commute. I check over the shoulder a lot when in traffic and I don't like the blocking of peripheral vision by the frames.

I wear these

so I get the protection without the frame to obstruct my vision. I agree that, in some weather conditions, glasses can impair vision but at least that's predictable and can be compensated for. Definitely going to try some anti-fog on them though...

_

redjedi

I'm short sighted, and when I started to cycle I switched to contact lens.

I need to wear protective glasses, as I find my eyes dry out without them on, and the rain always seems to find my eyeball.

I've got some cheap DHB ones from Wiggle. Decent enough and don't impair vision at all.

The rain drops don't worry me. Perhaps I'm used to it with my normal glasses.

niblue

I always wear some form of eye protection when cycling. When mountain biking I usually wear contact lenses and clear cycling glasses, on the road/commuting I tend to just wear my normal glasses.

cupofteacp

I wear clear cycle glasses to stop the )(&*)*) getting into my eye's.

It's a lot easier to clear a pair of glasses than it is to try and get )(*)(*) out of your eyes.

I rub washing up liquid onto them to help stop them fogging up.

A few years ago, before I used cycling glasses I cycled to work during a heavy snow shower. That was very painful on the eyes.

magicroundabout

Worth wearing mine for the one day a big bit of gravel hit me. I don't know if someone threw it or what - there weren't any cars around. It put a big scratch in my cheap DHB's but my eyes are, thankfully, intact.

It's worth 364 days of wearing them for no apparent reason, to save my sight on the 1 day that happened.

MR

woodgob

I use Madison shields....cheap and functional. Good visibility but find that they steam-up when I stop (at lights for example) in cold weather. Couldn't ride with naked eyes tho....last time I did got a chuck of grit thrown-up by a lorry embedded in my eyeball. Had to go to A&E to have it removed with tweezers. That was nice.

pete236

Loggerhead wrote:

Thanks for the tip on anti-fogging products Pete236.
The same company also do a rain repellent (as do others).
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/p ... lents.html
Anyone tried these? Might be worth a shot for £6-7!

With the Rain-x water repellent - I've not used it but the owner of the garage I got it from uses it on his race cars. Says its much better than wipers when its only drizzling.

Random Vince

i can't wear riding glasses due to wearing normal glasses all the time, occasionally in the rain i need to wipe them, but as said somewhere else in the thread, gloves do this job, that or just whacking the arm of the glasses.

always_tyred

BentMikey wrote:

Eye protection is much more important than wearing a helmet, that's for sure.

Oh dear. A Darwin Award candidate.

redddraggon

Always Tyred wrote:

BentMikey wrote:

Eye protection is much more important than wearing a helmet, that's for sure.

Oh dear. A Darwin Award candidate.

He's got a point though. You're more likely to get crap in your eyes than need your helmet.

Personally I wear both.

Drfabulous0

I find in the wet I have more trouble with glasses than without, I have mudguards and a peak on my lid so I don't really get stuff in my eyes, but glasses seem to get covered in spray, although once a huge bee flew into my eye and nearly got me run over.
If I take the off road route to work on my mountain bike I wear them because of the mud and I wear shades if it's sunny, but generally on the road I prefer to ride without.

Adamskii

I tip for those who have trouble wearing glasses in the wet.

You can buy anti-mist (or quick clear mist) solution which is primarily aimed for use on the inside of your car windscreen. You can buy it from Halfords for a couple of quid.

I coat both sides of my glasses with it and it stops misting and seems to repel the water, to some extent. I'm also aware that you can buy 'Rain-X' or something which is specifically designed to repel water on glass. 8)

always_tyred

redddraggon wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

BentMikey wrote:

Eye protection is much more important than wearing a helmet, that's for sure.

Oh dear. A Darwin Award candidate.

He's got a point though. You're more likely to get crap in your eyes than need your helmet.

Personally I wear both.

I think you are very kind. If that was his point, he'd have a point. Helmets are the sort of thing you might only ever need once, but there's less likely to be an analogy of "oh, I got grit in my eye, I think I'll start wearing glasses when I cycle" with a helmet.

I read it more as "helmets are lame", anyway.