Wearing Glasses while Mountain Biking

YeehaaMcgee

deadkenny wrote:

I know from a skiing perspective, yellow is usually good for flat light in the snow, which is dull light and you can't make out definition in the snow. The yellow helps a lot. Blue for night skiing under flood lights, and assume similar for night rides on bikes with lights.

I'm new to the world of snow goggles, but have noticed that the best for flat light isn't "yellow" as much as a strange orangey-amber. Yellow just seems to make things worse!
Not sure why these colours work, but aren't they linked with snow's inherent whiteness? So although they may translate to MTBing, or be a good approximation, I'm not sure if the exact same lenses would help in quite the same way.

Anonymous

Yeah, there are loads of types. Think my goggles were yellow gold so the box said but the leaflet had dozens of different types listed. These were perhaps a little more amber than yellow, for general use with preference for flat light according to the box. Then there are ones that really are only any good for flat, some that are more of a mixed use not great for flat which were the purple-ish ones I had. Found those terrible in flat light but great in blazing sun, but found my yellow tint bike specs were great in the flat so went for yellow-ish goggles and they were perfect.

S-M

I only take them off for steep climbs.

flappy8

I always wear them but have oftens struggled with soem of the bike specific glasses. I've recently discovered the joys of using protective eyewear though as you can get some fantastic glasses for not much money. You also don't then worry about scratching your £70 Oakleys! They have realised that in factories and labs people want to wear eye protection that looks decent too as it encourages people to actually wear it. Also this stuff meets EN166 which is the standard for eye protection.

I've just bought some of these http://www.arco.co.uk/products/318301/148579/Honeywell+Protege+Eyeshield which look OK, fog up less than most cycling glasses I've ever used and at 5 pounds something + VAT they can be replaced when they are a bit scratched.....

justwan naride

Glasses, gloves & helmet are always on when riding. The ones I've been using for the last couple of years are very lightly tinted and they're fine in most conditions. Colour is "smoke" and it's gradient with the top of the lens being darker and bottom almost clear. So far they have protected me from bugs, dirt and most important, branches.

I've used my snowboard goggles a couple of times as well (with a dirt lid, not xc helmet). They're amber tinted which feels very weird at first but was fine after all. The obvious advantage over glasses is elimination of fogging and watery eyes. I'd recommend goggles for very fast, very long descents, esp in cold temps.

YeehaaMcgee

justwan naride wrote:

I'd recommend [snowboard] goggles for very fast, very long descents, esp in cold temps.

Noooo, you don't say.
Someone should call goggle manufacturers and tell them that... oh, wait

oodboo

I need me prescription lenses to see. Always just used my normal glasses but recently got some yellow Oakley radars. Great in the daylight but were rubbish for commuting in the dark.

Woody80

After reading this thread I might put mine on my face instead of in my pack! I find mine pinch at the end of the arms though and give me a headache. They are only cheap Endura ones though but it could be I have a strange shaped head?!

What are the best but reasonably priced set that people use? Not sure I could bring myself to buy a set of Oakleys as I'd lose them!

flappy8

Woody80 » Wed Apr 4, 2012 6:56 am

After reading this thread I might put mine on my face instead of in my pack! I find mine pinch at the end of the arms though and give me a headache. They are only cheap Endura ones though but it could be I have a strange shaped head?!

I've sufferred with this too but never with the workwear ones - see my post above

diy

I have a set of endura sharks (30 quid), but I find my 8 quid lidl glases with foam (goggle like insert) better, though I ride without the inserts. These come with both arms and a head band.

They were running them a couple of weeks back, you might still be able to get some.

They have various colour inserts including high contrast colours.


I found this an interesting explanation of why high contrast works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision

mrmonkfinger

Glasses, always, for me, I have one decent eye and one sh*t one, and I don't want two sh*t ones... had too many bits of foliage / bugs / dirt / the odd small stone end up near my eyes to not wear them.

andrewjoseph

The yellow tint in my prescription is much lighter than the standard yellow of many off the peg yellow lenses and lighter than the standard yellow from the opticians. I have them lighten them considerably for me, so instead of e.g. 75% transmission, they are more like 90-95%.

These are my riding glasses, i picked yellow because i can use them in every condition.

Anonymous

Woody80 wrote:

What are the best but reasonably priced set that people use? Not sure I could bring myself to buy a set of Oakleys as I'd lose them!

Madison D'arcs are what I use. Triple set of lenses, about £25.

That said, I've bought three sets over time. One after my big smash as lost the frame, another replacement because I just lost them so on third set now. Though I have plenty of spares as a result. Discovered since you can get replacement bits, like the frame, arms, lens or nose pieces much cheaper.

Still, three sets lots of spares, still cheaper than one Oakley. The amount I come off, there's really no point spending loads.

If you want even cheaper, Bolle safety specs are popular, and no they don't have to look like you work in a chemistry lab! Bolle Contour ESP - £8 aprox

YeehaaMcgee

Woody80 wrote:

After reading this thread I might put mine on my face instead of in my pack! I find mine pinch at the end of the arms though and give me a headache. They are only cheap Endura ones though but it could be I have a strange shaped head?!

What are the best but reasonably priced set that people use? Not sure I could bring myself to buy a set of Oakleys as I'd lose them!

I've only ever had two sets of Endura glasses, but both had wire inside the arm ends, which could be reshaped by hand. Maybe yours are the same - try bending the ends of the arms to relieve the pressure.

Woody80

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I've only ever had two sets of Endura glasses, but both had wire inside the arm ends, which could be reshaped by hand. Maybe yours are the same - try bending the ends of the arms to relieve the pressure.

I'll give this a go, I stopped wearing them because of this and then fogging - I'll try the going faster for that bit though! Almost found myself crashing on a fireroad because of dust and grit. Would have been embarrassing!!

simonp123

I just wear my normal prescription glasses (or prescription sunglasses if it is sunny) when riding and they do not provide enough protection I find, in fact they seem to direct bits into my eyes! I tried to get prescription riding glasses from my optician but there is a problem making the lenses to my prescription, despite it not being that strong. I think that I can get Oakley ones done but keep balking at the cost

chiefinspector

Oakley prescription lenses are excellent. They are quite expensive but fortunately i have a health scheme set up at work where you can claim money back against the cost of prescription eyewear. They were the only type of riding sunglasses that i could get for my prescription. Had them 2 years now and no problems.

simonp123

chiefinspector wrote:

Oakley prescription lenses are excellent. They are quite expensive but fortunately i have a health scheme set up at work where you can claim money back against the cost of prescription eyewear. They were the only type of riding sunglasses that i could get for my prescription. Had them 2 years now and no problems.

I should stop being so tight really. I think I can claim back £50 on prescription glasses every 2 years, not sure if it would cover riding glasses. Maybe now I can ride more again I will cough up the dosh.

nferrar

I rate wearing glasses as highly as a helmet when it comes to cycling safety, I'm pretty sure I'd be a pirate now if I weren't wearing them when I rode into a tree on a night ride and a branch end hit the lens square on. Over the years I've had enough other scares (e.g. a bumblebee hitting the lens in front of my eye descending at 40mph on the road, crashing on the MTB and the bike flipping into the air and the nose of the saddle hitting the lens of my glasses etc. etc.) that it's just not worth the risk to me.
Given you can get OK looking safety specs for under a tenner then cost isn't really an excuse. The fogging up and hassle in dirty conditions I can understand (although with a decent lens and anti-fog stuff I find the fogging a non issue)

cavscp

I find safety specs are good, have these;
my usual pair-


My spares-


The good thing is I get them free from work

rebel_brown

I've got some cheap Polaris glasses (these ones) that I use. They seem to do the job well enough.