Strong prescription cyclng glasses

mikebikemike

I have shockingly bad eyesight so spend a fortune on ultra thin lenses. For mountain biking I get away with wearing my normal specs.
Now I've moved into road biking I find I need eye wear that's going to protect my eyes better. Yesterdays ride had my eyes streaming from the wizzy speeds a road bike allows (plus dust plus pollen).
Any recomendations? Is it possible to wear cycling glasses over normal glasses or am I going to have to fork out a fortune on high index lenses in specialist cycling glasses?

raymondo60

mmmmm...don't know about your prescription, but I wear 'real' specs on the bike. I sourced mine from Specsavers of all places. They do a 'ski' type wrap-around style which, although not great for peripheral vision, do provide a prescription lense in a sports style lens set-up, and they have proved really durable. Good luck with yours.

Anonymous

I have the Adidas Evil Eye Pro sunglasses with an optical clip in insert. Perfect! Really good too...

Almost the whole Adidas range has them.

I got mine from here-

http://www.vision3k.com/brands/adidas-s ... lasses.asp

You choose your style and it says what inserts you need...

Unclemonty121

I have a similar problem to you, I have about a -6 prescription, which really is a pain in the backside.

I eventually bit the bullet this year and got some rudy project magsters from rxsport, with an insert.

I got these particular ones as I could change lenses easily, they really don't fog up (they say they have a vent in them, which I can't see but works fantastically), and have lots of flexibility with the arms etc to get comofrtable.

I have had them about 3 months and love them, the service from RX has been great, and the glasses are good. Also if there is an issue you can always take the insert out and transfer to another RP and sell the glasses.

I look at it as an investment for sport and a few years, when my prescription changes I can always just change the insert.

ozzzyosborn206

why not wear contact lenses then radar over the top? does the trick for me and my +6.5 eyes, if you were to wear glasses and they did steam up or even fall off you would be screwed for getting home

ademort

ozzzyosborn206 wrote:

why not wear contact lenses then radar over the top? does the trick for me and my +6.5 eyes, if you were to wear glasses and they did steam up or even fall off you would be screwed for getting home

+1
, I have -3.75 and wear hard contact lenses with Oakley radar,s and have no problem. Did a 170Km event yesterday, drizzle and dirt on the glasses but still no problem.
Ademort

Anonymous

I can't wear contact lenses due to requiring allergy eyedrops

I wanted disposables but I have to have Gas Permeables and you have to wear them every day. I really wanted to go down the contact lense/oakley route

Unclemonty121

Like wise, I can't wear contacts for various reasons, tried three opticians now, so went for inserts.

mikebikemike

good tips. I'll try out specsavers to see if they've owt and if not bite the bullet and go with the addidas type. I've never bought glasses by post/off the web. Hopefully I won't get stung.

I've tried contacts before and like a few folks above find they too uncomfortable with allegies etc

(I'm also not a fan of lazer surgery so will not be addressing the issue that way)

DrDavros

I'm a -9 in one eye and a -11 in another, so I can empathise with your plight . . .

I've shunned the over-priced "big brands" and wear Kontrol Gelshocks with inserts (I can't wear contact lenses). You can get 3 pairs plus a clip-in adaptor for less than £60. (they're at www.kontrolsports.co.uk). They're not the most stylish, but they keep out even the biggest insect-impact-strike. The adaptor is actually very good, BTW.

For glazing, forget the high steet and head to Ciliary Blue (www.ciliaryblue.com/) who will do ultra-thin (1.67 index) lenses even in my prescription for about £100 delivered. Their service is absolutley excellent - we're talking a turn-around of less than a week. (no connection, just a very satisfied customer - you''ll know just how much some opticians try to charge forsimilar lenses).

As Nap says, the Evil eyes are also nice - another option might be these new Shimano glasses with the clip adaptor (http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;p ... =1000,5,67) - Bike24 is a German store, but totally relaible (Its the European Wiggle).

Good luck whichever way you go

FransJacques

I'm -6.5 right and -7 left and got the followimg:

- std plastic frames with the widest wrap possible,
- the highest index possible so the lenses are lighter (1.67 I think. From what the eye guy told me, you cannot tint 1.74s),
- I got the lightest tint possible so that they were usable in as many conditions as possible, and given the fact that it rains a lot on UK sportives I didn't want to have to carry my regular spex or worse, be blinded in a tunnel or coming into tree cover from bright sun,
- I got them polarized b/c I use them yacht racing as well and they're good on the water,
- Lastly, I specified an amber tint b/c a grey tint doesn't work on a grey road in the UK (for me anyway, I don't like the colour contrast grey gives).

All up I spent EUR 300 (got them in Italy) and I'm scared constantly of losing them, but they are nirvana. Even last weekend in a huge deluge they worked, then later, when the sun came out I was glad to have them.

Go for the perscription glasses.

markmod

I use Oakley Radar with their prescription lenses. I already had the radars but after a shocking eye test that showed my eyes rather than being 20 20 were now 16 9 ! I purchased the prescription lens to the exact opticians prescription.

The lens was expensive but the thought of ending up under an unseen car at a junction made me realise the importance of getting the proper job for cycling.

I must say I'm very very impressed with the quality of the lens and how they sort my vision issues.

davenice

Raymondo60 wrote:

I sourced mine from Specsavers of all places. They do a 'ski' type wrap-around style which, although not great for peripheral vision, do provide a prescription lense in a sports style lens set-up, and they have proved really durable.

I can't find them on the specsavers website (although I admit I've not looked at *every* pair! Any chance you could look on the arm of the specs and get the name of the frame off for me?

Cheers!

Dave

Cleat Eastwood

DrDavros wrote:

I'm a -9 in one eye and a -11 in another, so I can empathise with your plight . . .

I've shunned the over-priced "big brands" and wear Kontrol Gelshocks with inserts (I can't wear contact lenses). You can get 3 pairs plus a clip-in adaptor for less than £60. (they're at www.kontrolsports.co.uk). They're not the most stylish, but they keep out even the biggest insect-impact-strike. The adaptor is actually very good, BTW.

For glazing, forget the high steet and head to Ciliary Blue (www.ciliaryblue.com/) who will do ultra-thin (1.67 index) lenses even in my prescription for about £100 delivered. Their service is absolutley excellent - we're talking a turn-around of less than a week. (no connection, just a very satisfied customer - you''ll know just how much some opticians try to charge forsimilar lenses).

As Nap says, the Evil eyes are also nice - another option might be these new Shimano glasses with the clip adaptor (http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;p ... =1000,5,67) - Bike24 is a German store, but totally relaible (Its the European Wiggle).

Good luck whichever way you go

Hi where on the kontrol website do you enter details of the prescription, or did you get the insert and have an optician fit the lenses.

moonshine

try http://www.theinternetopticians.co.uk/ for prescription oaklys

there is a limit to how strong the prescriptions go on certain frames tho - give them a call - they are an Optician in Portsmouth i think...

I got prescription halfjacket transitions (clear to 16% tranmission grey) lenses from them quire happy

G

Anonymous

markmod wrote:

I use Oakley Radar with their prescription lenses. I already had the radars but after a shocking eye test that showed my eyes rather than being 20 20 were now 16 9 ! I purchased the prescription lens to the exact opticians prescription.

The lens was expensive but the thought of ending up under an unseen car at a junction made me realise the importance of getting the proper job for cycling.

I must say I'm very very impressed with the quality of the lens and how they sort my vision issues.

I wanted oakley prescriptions but due to the actual prescriptions I require they weren't possible

nickyhoward55

With reference to the shimano S50R's and the rx-clip (http://www.bike24.com/p214121.html. Im guessing you would just take this to your local optician and get them to make you some lenses up? Or am i completly off on this...

ariba

Hi,

I used these guys.
http://www.kontrolsports.co.uk/

for the pair I have
http://www.kontrolsports.co.uk/p/7/pres ... etails.asp

and I went Specsavers when they were doing a 2-4-1 deal. I chose my own normal frames & asked them to put the second pair of lenses in the insert in these. (As an aside, i didn't expect these glasses to generate as much interest from the Specsavers staff as they did, but they were completely ok with doing this & didn't raise any objections at all.

Pros - cheaper: the kontrols are adequate for me (& i didn't want to spend a lot & then find I didn't like them).
I do like them.

cons- only one set of lenses per frame. The lenses come out of the frames easily, but if you want some different colors for different conditions, you may need to get a couple of pairs.

Hope this helps

raymondo60

The wraparounds I got at specsavers are called 'Osiris' Dave. I looked about 4 weeks ago and they were still doing them in my local store in London.

thegreatdivide

I'm amazed people can cycle safely with strong prescription inserts!

I have a very strong prescription (almost -8) and a very bad astigmatism. I started off with Optilabs frames and lenses but that was like looking through a goldfish bowl, then I bought a pair of Adidas Evil Eye Pro S with an insert. I could see straight ahead but in a very small area and I had zero peripheral vision which freaked me out because I'd have to turn my head all the time, so I returned the inserts and kept the frames. I swore I'd never go back to wearing contacts because I'd had a really bad time with them, but now I'm wearing monthly soft lenses and cycling insert free in my Evil Eyes.

davenice

Raymondo60 wrote:

The wraparounds I got at specsavers are called 'Osiris' Dave. I looked about 4 weeks ago and they were still doing them in my local store in London.

Thanks, Raymondo.

I've found Osiris Sun 1 - http://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/men ... ris-sun-1/ - they look on the money! I had no idea specsavers did anything like that.

Thanks :-)

raymondo60

Those are the ones I wear dave - however, do note that the peripheral vision is limited. At first I wasn't sure I could ride in them; now, I just turn my head round more to see behind!
All the best.

andy_wrx

Another happy Evil Eye Pro wearer.

I bought mine a few years ago on the internet from an optician in Nottingham, GoSportsSpex - but I would avoid them now, it looks like they've closed down and sold the site to someone in Harrow, it's still taking orders and money but no goods, no answers to emails, etc
I tried to buy some replacement lenses a couple of months ago and had to claim the money back via my credit card co. Google around and several other people saying same story.

Re peripheral vision, I can see well enough out of the corner of my eye, around the inserts, to see if there's anything behind me for that quick 'lifesaver' glance before pulling-out.