My eyes run worse than a leaky tap on winter rides. I usually end up wearing goggles when its below zero or windy, but they aren’t ideal. I’ve tried a few different riding glasses including Smith Attack, Oakley M-frames, and I’m currently using Oakley Radar Paths. I find most glasses let a lot of cold air in around the outside edges which causes my eyes to water, then the tears splash all over the lenses and I’m riding blind. Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Does anyone have a recommendation for a large coverage pair of riding glasses?
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Hey Craig, a variety of issues at work here. ‘Outside air’ can come in from the brow, the edges and the nose bridge. Distance btwn eye and lens can also influence how much air circulates in that space. Visor/no visor and even distance btwn the eyewear to the helmet can make a diff.
Things to consider:
- less airflow = increased opportunity for fogging when stopping or climbing slowly. Like your windshield defroster it is airflow that keeps it fog free in cold or humid conditions. Less airflow can have that downside, hence the logic behind the Advancer feature on some Radars.
- the Path lens is the smallest lens available for the Oakley Radar, perhaps look at the Pitch lens which has a wider lens cut and more coverage.
- I use a Oakley Clifden w the included side shields for gnarly winter conditions where there’s lots of blowing snow, glare, etc. Might be worth a look.
cheers- TT
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Have you tried Oakley Wind Jackets?
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Got a pair of Wind Jkt 2.0 you’re welcome to try if you want Craig. We can sterilize them by rubbing them down w Talisker just to ensure we’re following C19 protocols.
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I heard if you drink enough Talisker it kills all the Covid germs in your body.
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I use Oakley goggles on cold or bad days. They cover a lot of skin for wormth. A bit over kill for anything above -10. For warmer days I just use regular glasses. Both options I suggest carrying extra lense whipes for splashing and humidity.
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While we’re on the topic can anyone suggest a good pair of riding glasses with prescription lenses?
I’m generally just riding in my everyday glasses but down to 1 pair after crushing my main ones sledding last year. In summer I used my prescription sunglasses but only have 1 pair and they cost a bit so don’t really want to break those either.
I’ve got Jaw Breakers which I used to like but can’t get a prescription lens for them so end up with a headache when riding.
It’s been suggested that I move to daily contacts when riding but that makes me queasy.
Prefer Oakley suggestions as I can get those at a good price…
There’s two ways to do Oakley prescription sunnies. One is if you have a pair of their basic RX frames, just about any optician should be able to have a lens made for that. But, if you want the full boat sport sunglasses, you’ve gotta get them via an Oakley dealer, and they are made by Oakley and shipped back to the dealer. Anything with complex curves cannot be done by anyone but Oakley. I have a set of Half Jackets with RX lenses. My last set of custom lenses for them cost $550, and I put them into the HJ frame I already owned. One thing to note–most of the Prizm Trail lenses work really well, but they simply aren’t dark enough for me, so I went with the Prizm Golf.
They are very much worth it, however.
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Oakley Crosslink Pitch are my dedicated biking glasses. I’ve been wearing the same pair for about 5 years with zero issues or complaints.
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That explains why I came across Jeff on his hands and knees on the side of the trail in the middle of an enduro race run…looking for his $500 lenses!
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Yeah, and I didn’t find it until after the four race stages! Glad I did find it eventually however.
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Not the coolest purchase-until it totally is.
Would not have helped me at all. My face hit the ground in that crash, while wearing a full face and the lens flew out of the frame and got lost in a pile of autumn leaves. Keeping the frames on my face was not the problem.
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Ouch! Fair enough!
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I’m old enough to remember when having croakies on your Oakley Frogskins was cool!
My issue isn’t glasses coming off, it’s falling on them too…
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Yep, I went with prescription Prizim Jade lenses on my sunglasses. They were super expensive, I think it was around $700 all up with frames at cost! I had the option for generic sunglass lenses , but the price isn’t that much cheaper and I wanted Prizim lenses.
I have Prizim Trail lenses on my Jaw Breaker. While they are awesome in the right light and trail conditions I find I ended up using the Photocromic lens instead for most rides. When I got them I was riding a lot more wide open hills on dirt trails so they suited at the time.
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There was a long thread sometime this year on this. Might be able to dig it up with some searching.
I’m wearing Pit Vipers because the price was right on sale, and they make me look like an idiot.
So win/win really.
In all honesty they are really good for biking, come with polarized lenses and I dont care too much if they get damaged at under $80.
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@streetgang gave me an Oakley demo last week. I liked the Sutros so much that I ordered a pair when I got home. Thanks T!
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