View Full Version : Glasses and helmets
Brettus
03-08-12, 09:49 AM
Not sure I've got a question here but I'd be interested in advice and debate.
I've just broken my second pair of glasses (in 4-5 years so I'm not really complaining) and I'm looking for replacement, wondered what others do?
My thoughts lead me to the following conclusions:
replace them more often,
use a style more resistive to the pressures of a helmet,
have a helmet that is easier on the glasses (proper cutouts etc) or
have a "sacrificial" pair for riding?
I have been using just a single pair which has left me scuppered when they have finally started to fail, mine suffered a catastrophic failure yesterday but thanks to some superglue and an overnight setting they should make it through till my replacements arrive. Unfortunately that will mean I'm in the car till then though.
On a side note has anyone used glasses-direct.co.uk? heard good things from a friend, just wondered about more opinions.
as usual any opinions/advice greatly appreciated.
metalmonkey
03-08-12, 10:00 AM
Get lazer eye surgery, fixes the problem in one go.
Contact lenses are best as the frames royaly cheeses me off.
£20 wire frame for work use. On line or super market jobs last me a couple of years .
Get lazer eye surgery, fixes the problem in one go.
Its like silly money.Don't work for every one either .
Destruktor77
03-08-12, 10:08 AM
I had glasses, really weakened the frames putting them on and off through the helmet. Also just having to take them off and stuff gets annoying.
Went contacts, never look back for the helmet. Considering laser.
Brettus
03-08-12, 10:25 AM
brr, can't stand the idea of contacts and laser surgery seems too risky. Apart from the helmet interaction I quite like my glasses. maybe I just need to replace them more often rather than waiting till they break. I'm going to get a cheap second pair this time though so I've got a backup at least and don't have to fumble about like Velma till I get them fixed.
Jinkies!
mister c
03-08-12, 10:28 AM
Get lazer eye surgery, fixes the problem in one go.
Only if your eyes aren't too bad. Mine are F*%ked & can't have eye surgery.
I always try a helmet on to make sure my glasses fit snugly underneath. It grates me sometimes because I see a really nice helmet, which is comfortable on your head, but then can't put my specs on.
I even take my helmet to the opticians when choosing new glasses, just in case :)
brr, can't stand the idea of contacts
What puts you off ,Poking your eye?
They are very good clear vision in the damp .
disposables are not too expensive.
Ace for rolercoaster rides and water skiing
Brettus
03-08-12, 10:43 AM
What puts you off ,Poking your eye?
*shudder* that amongst other things, I have an irrational fear I'll take a long blink and end up wedging it somewhere against my optic nerve never to be seen again but felt for all eternity in the back of my head.
and rollercoasters and water skiing aren't high on my daily activity list to be honest. :) I can see the benefits though and understand why people love them but I just can't get used to the idea myself.
Destruktor77
03-08-12, 10:44 AM
What puts you off ,Poking your eye?
They are very good clear vision in the damp .
disposables are not too expensive.
Ace for rolercoaster rides and water skiing
+1
I didn't like the idea at first. But they're brilliant. If you have a specsavers near you go in and ask. My first pair were free (monthly disposables) so I could see if they were for me or not.
They also improve your peripheral vision as you're not limited by the frame on your glasses (Great for seeing pesky cagers) and as mentioned, don't steam up, don't contract the rain etc etc.
I've accidently pushed mine out of place before, and it's not true what they say, you can't get it lost for ever behind your eye, if it moves you just move your eye around until the lense moves back round.
Damn. I should work for SpecSavers... :rolleyes:
Dave-the-rave
03-08-12, 10:49 AM
An open face helmet might eliminate the problem. Then again i might be accused of being mental.
shonadoll
03-08-12, 11:09 AM
I hated using glasses, ruined loads of them so my advice would be get a couple of cheap sturdy types if you're intent on riding with them. My lightweight £200 rimless Police ones broke under helmet, and my lovely D&G sunglasses, I opted for laser surgery after five years of deliberation and can now buy cheap sunglasses and no misting up, best thing I ever did.
rictus01
03-08-12, 11:26 AM
wore glasses for the last 12 years so a good 500,000 miles worth, the trick is to get glass with the thin straight arms, well for me it is as the arai's I use have a nice groove between the pads they slid down, I hardy know they are on, of course misting and spray effect them, but a good buff with washingup liquid normally avoids that, but as Colin said, don't forget to take your helmet with you when choosing.
Cheers Mark.
Sir Trev
03-08-12, 12:23 PM
I always try a helmet on to make sure my glasses fit snugly underneath. It grates me sometimes because I see a really nice helmet, which is comfortable on your head, but then can't put my specs on.
I even take my helmet to the opticians when choosing new glasses, just in case :)
My optician never batted an eyelid when I wore my lid to try on new glasses. Some of the folks in the shop gave me funny looks but what the heck.
My recommendation is flexible frames. Had mine for about ten years and had the lenses replaced twice due to hazing. Never had a problem with my last three lids and they're very light. The brand name is Flexon but I'm sure there are more options to try. Pairing them with an Aria works well as Rictus said as they have cutouts in the padding for the spec arms.
bladesuk1
03-08-12, 12:42 PM
used to wear glasses up until i broke a set of rimless glasses under a helmet while on my intensive das training course. on day one, too. meant that i rode around all day with a splitting headache, and ultimately failed the test.
but then it got me thinking: what if that had happened at night? or when i was away from home on the bike? what if both lenses broke rather than just one? did that mean keeping a spare pair with the bike all the time? how often would they break? how much would that ultimately cost?
i tried contacts: very dry eyes, ultimately culminating in having a lens stuck on the front of an eye requiring about an hour of attempts to take it out, lots of eye drops and artificial tears, and a sore, scratched eye. my wife, on the other hand, has no issues wearing contacts at all. i would say, though, that you do run the risk of having them dry out under a bike helmet depending on the airflow in the helmet.
so i got mine lasered. cost was around £1200 (wavefront epi-lasek), but now i have better than 20:20 vision, can wear any helmet i like, and don't have to worry about being unable to ride.
for the record, lasek hurts more, takes longer to heal, but ultimately doesn't leave you with a weakened ring of tissue in your eyeball. personally, i felt that the risk of head trauma causing that weakened ring to burst wasn't worth the avoidance of a week of recovery time.
if you *must* stick with glasses, then i'd suggest going to optical4less for cheap glasses, and sticking a spare pair under the bike seat just in case. i'd also suggest a flip-front helmet (e.g. caberg trip or whatever the new version is called) as that makes it trivial to get glasses on safely, and avoid rimless lenses as they're weaker and won't take the same stresses. flexi-frames are supposed to be good, too, but they're expensive.
Shoei seem to be good for glasses not had any problems yet with the set up. Even my crappy Caberg is ok.
Brettus
03-08-12, 12:56 PM
Cool, thanks for the opinions and experiences everyone. I'd forgotten to mention or question if a flip front helmet would help matters. I've got a trial pack of glasses from glasses-direct that have arrived at home today so I can try them on sans the silly looks too so not so bad, I'll back the BFI* meter down a notch or two to avoid sending them back bent ;)
* = Brute Force & Ignorance
bladesuk1
03-08-12, 01:03 PM
my old flip-front caberg trip did well enough with them, but in the end the glass lens just snapped. might have been the action of closing the flip-front, or it might just have been the stress of adjusting the helmet while it was on my head - i don't really remember, i'm afraid. think it was the latter, though.
i'd seriously think about the lasers, though - can't recommend it enough!
My glasses slide on easily within my helmet (Shoei Qwest) but my sunglasses (Polarised Oakley Blender's) hurt my head each time I put them on due to them not having flexible frames... and christ does it hurt. Once they are on its fine.
andreis
03-08-12, 03:41 PM
I wear glasses as well and have somewhat explored the alternatives. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter:
1. I've tried lenses. They work great for some people, but not me. I ride in some dusty areas and, as soon as some dust gets in my eye, it's VERY irritating to have a lens scrubbing that dust around. The lenses would also not help when I'd get hammered, as they would have to be taken off every evening/put back on in the morning. Being wasted and trying to poke them out of your eye has lead to many mornings waking up with red swollen eyes.
Again, this is my experience. I would suggest you try them before dismissing them.
2. There is more than one type of glasses. I've seen some pairs designed for sports wear, with flexible frames that don't break. From what I've read, rec specs are quite good for this sort of thing. You can check out some pairs over here: http://www.sporteyes.com/recspecs.htm (scroll all the way down to see some pairs)
3. Eye surgery is the future. I'll get it done as soon as I have the funds & am eligible (prescription just increased for the first time in 13 years by 0.5)
Brettus
03-08-12, 03:49 PM
ooh hadn't considered that yet, I could get me a pair of these and look like ZZ Riddick!
http://prescriptionsunglassesforsport.com/salice-829.html
Never broken any specs in over 35yrs of riding.
I always have the slender metal sidearm types with the sprung flex hinges. Absolutely no problems putting them on with the Shoei Qwest.
Make sure you have a frame where the sidearm hinge arrangement isn't significantly wider than the lens frame, some of them stand out quite a long way. I've just got some new ones from Specsavers, titanium frame with thinner lens type, forget I'm wearing them TBH.
Everyone's mileage will vary, a very personal thing.
I've only really just started wearing glasses while riding. The things I notice now....!
However last weekend, opened up the visor, glasses off and put on the floor... Helmet off and CRUNCH.
Broken glasses all bent back, glass pushed back in and chipped a little too... These are now officially my bike glasses.
MisterTommyH
03-08-12, 04:24 PM
I have to wear glasses when riding. Broke a pair when I was up in Ullapool, which was fun as I had to come all the way back in my sun glasses. They were quite a heavy plastic pair, but it was the hinge that went and I'm convinced it was due to putting them in through the front of the helmet (Can't actually remember them breaking, just picked them up in the morning and they fell apart).
Lazer eye surgery wouldn't work for me due to the astigmatism. And I've spent hours in a Specsavers trying to put contacts in, to the amusement of the staff. The optician couldn't even hold my eyes open to put them in (I must have the worlds strongest eye lids). It's not that I am scared or don't want them in - It's almost an instinctive reaction - I also manage to react and blink before the glaucoma test.
I just accept that sometime the glasses will get broken. Tend to change them at least every 2 years anyway.
Dark visor time Woogie
Aye was considering this but what happens when it turns to night time? have to carry another visor with me? Plus 9/10 on the streets I ride with my visor up as find it too warm or enclosed.
Thin Flexon titanium frames, very flexible. They're not too expensive and more than pay for themselves with how long they last.
Aye was considering this but what happens when it turns to night time? have to carry another visor with me? Plus 9/10 on the streets I ride with my visor up as find it too warm or enclosed.
You can get a visor bag for your clear one.
Or a lid with dual visor like the shark s700 / hjc is16.(I have both types of lid )
AndyBrad
03-08-12, 07:44 PM
I've ridden with glasses from day one. The advice I would give is don't buy thin frames as they bend way too easily. Get a decent helmet that works with your glasses. The shark vision r and shoei raid2 both were good for me but may not be for you. That's the most important thing imo.
Secondly is the fog issue. I've tried almost every potion available from dive and bike shops and finally ending with getting expensive optifog lenses. The issue is it works with fog but if you open your visor in rain your screwed. Best thing I s a very high quality hard coating imo as at least you can see through the rain
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
ethariel
03-08-12, 11:26 PM
Lazer eye surgery wouldn't work for me due to the astigmatism. And I've spent hours in a Specsavers trying to put contacts in, to the amusement of the staff. The optician couldn't even hold my eyes open to put them in (I must have the worlds strongest eye lids). It's not that I am scared or don't want them in - It's almost an instinctive reaction - I also manage to react and blink before the glaucoma test.
Snap!!
But for me add to that I have 'Dry Eyes' so contacts are rally out anyhow (laser surgery will just aggrivate my dry eyes anyhow).
23 years riding bikes and never broke a pair of glasses in a bike/bike wearing manner.
(As an aside, how many opricians do you see wearing glsses? - if the answer is more than zero, just how safe is laser surgery if they don't get it done?)
I can't wear contacts due to astigmatism and also serious double vision, so it's a glasses only option for me.
Having a very boisterous daughter when I first started wearing specs in my early twenties pushed me towards buying frames that had double sprung hinges (they bend out as well as fold in) so I wouldn't keep having to replace them when she managed to whack another ball into my face - I soon discovered they were perfect for biking as well. Decent thickness frames can be had that don't look too 'national health' but the hinges are what makes life easy for me. No matter what helmet I've had they've always gone inside without bending or breaking
I'm due new specs soon so I'll be searching about for something similar to what I have at present
I think most of the important things have been said already - it's just a case of looking at the frames with biking in mind when you're selecting (and vice-versa when choosing your next helmet, if you don't need them all the time).
One thing to note is that it isn't worth going down the Transitions route with glasses you wear for biking. I've had them since I started paying for my own glasses, and every visor I've used blocks the UV out, so they don't activate.
As a full-time glasses wearer though, I am going to look into those Optifog lenses next time I need some - I've lost count of the times I've been unable to see when draining pasta and stuff like that, and didn't know someone had already sorted it out.
tanis34
04-08-12, 08:29 PM
i wear thin titanium frames with an hjc flip front and have no problems
Sir Trev
04-08-12, 08:40 PM
Thin Flexon titanium frames, very flexible. They're not too expensive and more than pay for themselves with how long they last.
These are the ones I mentioned too.
Woogie - search out reactions visor inserts. Reactions lenses don't work behind a visor (or a windscreen in the car) but you can get a Pinlok insert that is reactive. One pair of specs, one visor. Sorted.
Curvy-smerv
04-08-12, 09:03 PM
My problem is that I'm both short sighted and long sighted with a bit in the middle thats ok! I used to be able to get away with contact lenses but alas, no more, its varifocle (sp?) glasses for me (thank the Gods they've moved on in style from the old days!!). This isn't ideal as if they ride up or slip down you end up looking through the wrong part of the lens. It drives me round the bend. Then add to that the fact that I'm quite light sensitive too and have to have some sort of shading when its bright or glary, be it visor or sunglasses, its a complete pain in the proverbial....shall I just get my eyeballs replaced...?
New eyes or stem cell research .
Sy-superfly
05-08-12, 10:29 AM
As said before I wear reaction lenses but work very little through a lid. The two things I would suggest is:
1. The new shark race R lids are fantastic lids + they have cut outs that can be removed to put glasses in.
2. Look at Nike sports sunglassrs, as you can put reacters in them but they have straight Arm's si slid in easy.
Brettus
05-08-12, 10:44 AM
Update: went for my test yesterday and found out I'd had my current ones four years so I can't be too hard on them suffering a metal fatigue.
I've gone for a pair of strong looking sunglasses and some titanium super flex rimless ones. I've just ordered a couple of pairs from glassesdirect to use as biking ones and a spare pair to stash under my seat as I think it's well worth £25 to have a pair sat there if I should need them.
Thanks for all the advice and opinions, I'll update when they arrive!
Spare are essential .Had to drive home from work one eyed .never risking that again.
Lucky I can just put two disposable contacts in my limited tail space on the bike.
punyXpress
05-08-12, 07:33 PM
Required in France:
" Spare Specs - Yes a spare pair of glasses are required if you have contact lenses and are going to be driving in France. "
Put them with your two breathalysers ?
Specks ok. Breathalyser well that's too much .
Dabteacake
07-08-12, 08:59 PM
I have been blessed with good eyesight as I get tested at work every couple of years lol.
What about those frames from about 5-6yrs ago really thin but flexible metal less like to break. You see them in the advert being bent and twisted every which way
some kind of memory metasl frame
hth
Sir Trev
08-08-12, 07:29 AM
I have been blessed with good eyesight as I get tested at work every couple of years lol.
What about those frames from about 5-6yrs ago really thin but flexible metal less like to break. You see them in the advert being bent and twisted every which way
some kind of memory metasl frame
hth
That will brands like Flexon that several have mentioned above...
ethariel
08-08-12, 10:40 PM
Aye ny 'newest' pair of glasses are flexon, problem is the arms will not push in ocer m ears, they just fold up, so its down to my 2nd oldest pair (luckily the diff in pescription for the past 10 years has been negligable) woth sturdy legs (still hinged) and slip in for a perfrct fit.
That said the flexon ones were bought spindly as i was off biles after the accident when i got them.
Professor
09-08-12, 05:58 AM
I buy glasses from Specsavers choosing the sturdiest (non-flexible!) plastic frames with rigid (non-flexible!) arms. Use these for riding my motorbike and sporting activities (tennis, skiing etc). I had such glasses destroyed only once when a tennis ball hit me at high velocity: an elderly tennis partner of mine got into a fit of tennis rage and hit the ball when play stopped and I wasn't looking out for an incoming shot.
Don't like contact lenses. Only keep a pair of contact lenses at work in case I have to ride home in fog.
Considered surgery many years ago when my wife worked in an eye hospital but decided not to go for it, despite the encouragement of all the eye surgeon friends (we'll do both your eyes in 5 minutes etc).
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