Does any one wear sunglasses under their helmet while riding? I am asking because i'm thinking about getting a perscription pair to wear. I am not really sure if there are motorcycle specific or just outdoors active types. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
i used to wear those clip-on type for my glasses, worked great, until i lost them :( i'll be getting another pair soon
I do occasionally, sucks when you forget you have them on and try to remove your helmet. I wear regular sport type sunglasses, usually cheap knockoffs because I am always losing or breaking them. I prefer my tinted visor though.
i wear 'em under my helmet, mainly because at slow speeds i like to ride with the face shield up
i have 2 pair that work well, both are bolé 8)
I wear a pair of prescription Nike sunglasses under my helmet.
Any sort of "sport-type" should do well, preferably wrap-around style. Few things are more annoying than sun coming in from the sides of your shades.
Also keep in mind that when you're riding a motorcycle you'll likely be looking more "up" than "forward," so they'll need to be "taller" than normal glasses, too. Again, close-fit wrap-around style fit the bill.
Lastly, unless you get a flip-up helmet, you'll be putting them on through the visor gap. Trying to get curved ear pieces around your ears can be difficult with the pads. Straight-type are highly recommended.
When you try them on, wear them for at least 15 minutes. That'll give you some idea of how the nose and/or ear pieces will feel. You don't want them to be a distraction while you're riding. Plastic frames are great if the nose piece fits, but metal frames give you a little bit of adjustability.
Otherwise, the biggest problem I have is keeping a pair of regular glasses in a backpack or just wearing the shades all day. Even when I had my little get-off (at 50 mph) my shades stayed put.
I dont leave home without my sunglasses. (sensitive eyes) I wear Okaleys and ive gone 10+ hours in em. Comfortable if you have the right pair of sunglasses. Its much better than having a tinted visor in my opinion. Mostly cause i ride with visor up all the time since my bike is an urban commuter. That means stop and go traffic with visor down is the same as gagging me. i also dont need to carry another sheild so i can ride at night.
I also went down with my glasses on (visor up) ~30-40mph. No problems. If you have the proper fitting helmet, they shouldn't move around. Try to get something that hugs the face and has the least amount of frame around the lens. Also, i wouldnt ride with a pair of lens that are not ansi rated polycarbonate.
Just make sure you get some with semi-straight earpieces. If your helmet is correct fitting and snug it helps if the earpieces are straight. I wear Oakleys also, have been for years.
I always ride during the daylight hours so I always am wearing Sunglasses. I have several pairs of Oakleys that I can wear. I have very sensitive blue eyes and I also use a Gold Mirrored visor.
The best Sunglasses I've used of the Oakleys are the ones that have plastic frames.
The metal framed ones like the Romeos won't work for me because they have to flex when going through the visor opening in the helmet and the metal framed ones don't so they dig into my skull.
I have a pair of Oakley Radar Pitch , Monster, Racers , Pitboss, Oil Drum and Square 5s to mention a few that work fine all day long.
Polarized are good if you don't mind the discolorization of some things when looking into the direction of the Sun such as blue leaves on trees, and blue tar snakes on the road.
I always wear a silk Helmet liner and the Sunglasses slid over the liner into many different positions .
Dolph :)
I have Arnette plastic framed polarised wrap arounds and pair of clear (for low vision days/evenings) semi wraps, both prescription and both work well. Both combined cost less than one pair Oakleys. I have been told Oakley have best optics for curved prescription lenses and will look at them next time.
It sounds and looks silly but seriously, bring your helmet with you when you get your glasses. Put the helmet on and see how the glasses fit with your helmet on. Tilt your head down a bit like you do when you ride and see if you can still see out of the glasses. One of the main problems I have had with glasses of any kind is that rigid frames sometimes lift off your face as the helmet moves around from wind pressure.
Also, I got a pair of polarized glasses that caused me to see rainbows while riding. That wasn't fun at all. I'd be scooting along and then this rainbow jumps out at me from the floor. Turns out the polarized lenses didn't like the contour of my visor and caused black things like tar snakes to look psykadelic rainbowy and jump out at me. [roll] Dunno if it's just my optomitrist doing a bad job on the polarizing or what.
+2 for bringing your helmet with.
I have two pairs of Oakleys that I wear under my helmet. My husband also wears Oakley under his helmet.
Be aware that polarized lenses distort colors and give you a "tripping" effect with your face shield down; As erkishhorde said.
I found it to be too distracting and got a second pair without polarization.
Thanks for the great response! I tend to ride with my visor up most of the time, so the combo of the polarized lenses and the visor shouldn't be too much of a problem. I think i've narrowed my choices down a little and will try some on with my helmet.
my Rx revo sunglasses are polarized, and do the same wacky shit to me if I go visor-down.
I have oakley A-wires w/clear Rx lenses for all-the-time use, and are absolutely perfect for riding
I also use a tinted visor when I ride... if I get stuck in traffic, I just crack it up like halfway so I can breathe and still be shaded
I have a pair of Oakley Whiskers with the Gold Iridium lenses. They work great. My helmet is a Shoei X-Eleven. I would say the Whiskers match the opening 99.5%. The only place light makes it around the frame is a very narrow sliver on the sides.
http://oakley.com/pd/2111 (http://oakley.com/pd/2111)
HJC FS-10 + prescription glasses. Built-in sun shield (not great, but pretty good)
Scorpion EXO-400 with Nike Fusion sunglasses.
I'm not sure if Nike makes the Fusion anymore, but they do the trick. Straight earpieces make for easy on/off, wide well-padded nose area, and decent wraparound. My only riding issue is when looking back over my shoulder, if my head shifts any inside my helmet it can push the glasses from side to side. Minor irritation, but if you want to be as safe as possible then your riding gear probably shouldn't be shifting around on you...
Other than that, the only real hassle is getting them on and off through the helmet opening. Gotta have a pocket for them when gearing up with the bike warming up, too, or they'll vibrate right off the seat and get scratched on impact.
So, my next helmet will have a flip-down. I'm also thinking about dropping the cash for a smoked shield in the meantime. Riding with shades isn't bad, but eliminating the minor hassles is probably worth the small cost.
+1 on Oakley's with straight ear pieces. Easy on and off. I have polarized lenses and have not had an issue with distortion when riding. However, significant imperfections in plastic will appear because of the polarization. If your face shield has imperfections, this could be a problem.
Cheap Uvex Bandit safety glasses with mirrored lenses.
Work great on the street...but they slide down my nose at the track.
Quote from: ducpainter on August 23, 2008, 05:57:06 AM
Cheap Uvex Bandit safety glasses with mirrored lenses.
Work great on the street...but they slide down my nose at the track.
gforces? ;D
Quote from: ducpainter on August 23, 2008, 05:57:06 AM
Cheap Uvex Bandit safety glasses with mirrored lenses.
Work great on the street...but they slide down my nose at the track.
You could take a cue from DucMouse and tape it to your forehead. ;)
Quote from: Obsessed? on August 23, 2008, 06:27:01 AM
You could take a cue from DucMouse and tape it to your forehead. ;)
[laugh]
I have ridden over 15 years w/ the classic Ray-Ban Aviator glasses under the helmet. Great eye coverage and minimal frame inteference. These worked well for me under Bell, Shoei, Arai and Airoh helmets.
I switch back and forth btwn tinted shield & sunglasses. For longer distances, I wear both tinted shield & glasses because the wind dries out my eyes (contacts). I wear a pair of Dragons and Shoei RF1K...
Quote from: ducpainter on August 23, 2008, 05:57:06 AM
Cheap Uvex Bandit safety glasses with mirrored lenses.
Work great on the street...but they slide down my nose at the track.
I had a pair of cheap glasses w/ mirrored lenses that I used to wear all the time. I liked them a lot but the arms were a bit wide. The thing that caused them to slide down my nose was the wind pressure on the helmet. When I hit the freeway the helmet would compress on my face a bit and then when I got off the freeway the helmet would relax and push away from my face and take the glasses with it. So on a really windy day the glasses would be like an inch away from my face after an hour. [roll]
Quote from: flanman on August 19, 2008, 05:21:11 PM
Does any one wear sunglasses under their helmet while riding? I am asking because i'm thinking about getting a perscription pair to wear. I am not really sure if there are motorcycle specific or just outdoors active types. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
I have a pair of Oakley A wires I wear under my helmet, but I just bought a tinted visor so I wont have to any more. Just be carefull putting them on and off. Pull them straight out and straight on your face so you dont bend them.
and dont forget to take them off before you take off your helmet
Quote from: teddy037.2 on August 20, 2008, 05:22:14 PM
my Rx revo sunglasses are polarized, and do the same wacky shit to me if I go visor-down.
I have oakley A-wires w/clear Rx lenses for all-the-time use, and are absolutely perfect for riding
I also use a tinted visor when I ride... if I get stuck in traffic, I just crack it up like halfway so I can breathe and still be shaded
Polarized lenses will allow you to see "stress" lines in the visor (birefringence for you nerds out there). These lines may appear like rainbows or just dark and light spots. I get the rainbow effect with my visor and it sucks!
polarized lenses are nice but avoid them if you want them for riding.
I'm a fan of the cheapos, but if you're going to go persription, I would definitely go with name brand. I've tried Nike, Oakley, and Smith (granted not under a moto helmet), I just go through them too quickly to justify paying as much as they cost (who knew they wouldn't stay on the beer tray at 40 mph?). All the companies everyone has mentioned are top shelf, but glasses are very much a custom fit. Places like REI, Galyans, Dicks, and the like should have tons of different brands on hand for you to try out. Trust me, when you find a pair that fits right, you will know. Oh!! Check the local cycle (bicycle) shops as well. Specialized, Trek... have numerous different options, most of which have perscription lenses available. It's a personal preference, I mean clear visor and sunglasses vs. tinted visor, vs visor up and clear glasess.......just experiment a bit. You'll figure it out.
What helmets have provisions in the padding specifically to accomodate sunglasses? My Arai Profile does, but my Shark RSX does not. I get the worst pressure when wearing my Oakleys and the Shark. It makes me wonder why all helmet vendors can't do what Arai does.
Quote from: puchika on August 31, 2008, 09:12:43 PM
What helmets have provisions in the padding specifically to accomodate sunglasses? My Arai Profile does, but my Shark RSX does not. I get the worst pressure when wearing my Oakleys and the Shark. It makes me wonder why all helmet vendors can't do what Arai does.
or why they don't make helmets with built-in sunglasses (like some manufacturers do)
Quote from: puchika on August 31, 2008, 09:12:43 PM
What helmets have provisions in the padding specifically to accomodate sunglasses? My Arai Profile does, but my Shark RSX does not. I get the worst pressure when wearing my Oakleys and the Shark. It makes me wonder why all helmet vendors can't do what Arai does.
I believe all Shoei's do. My HJC did as well and it was an cheapo model ($75 on sale). My Scorpion EXO 700 does as well. Sometimes they don't quite seem like they're specifically for glasses and they're just a separation between pads and they cause your glasses to sit funny.
Quote from: IdZer0 on September 01, 2008, 07:05:01 AM
or why they don't make helmets with built-in sunglasses (like some manufacturers do)
A lot of manufacturers don't do the in-helmet sunglasses because the extra mechanism is a lot more work. It makes the helmet slightly heavier and bulkier. Also, nobody really has a good system for deciding how far down the glasses go; most are either all the way up or all the way down. Everyone's face is different and this causes the glasses to not work well for everyone.
I do. It is hot as hell in West Tx, and so I ride with the wind screen up during the day w/ motorcyle glasses. At night I just ride with the clear visor down. Plus, I'm lazy and I hate switching out the clear and smoke visor.
I can't handle just regular sun glasses... the wind dries out my contacts. i have to use riding glasses.
Sunglasses, yes Revo with polarized lenses. Helmet Shoei with clear shield. Get sunglasses that can slide easily on and off when wearing the helmet.
I wear sunglasses all the time during daytime riding, and like being able to ride into dusk & nighttime without fussing with changing a visor. Plus, Arizona requires eye protection, so riding with my visor cracked or up still has my eyes protected -- police routinely pull riders over here for riding with visor up & no glasses on. Can't say I blame them -- we've got some HUGE flying bugs around here!
My favorite glasses so far are a rose-tinted pair of Tifosi bicycle glasses that look a fair amount like these:
(http://www.tifosioptics.com/images/q3/frame01.jpg)
They're pretty cheap, and the thing I like best about the rose color is that it's enough tint to keep my eyes relaxed in full Arizona sunshine, but not too dark; where I used to ride in Maryland & Virginia, it was always a bit disconcerting to ride on bright sunny days, as the best roads took you in & out of the woods. Your eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the shift, and I often found dark gray lenses to be way too dark to see comfortably in shady woods. You know, where the deer live. Rose was a really good in-between color that covered a super wide range of light conditions.
+1 on the negative comments above about polarized lenses. For me, the weirdest part was suddenly seeing all kinds of "wet" or "oily" patches in the road that turned out to be simply strange reflections, after I'd already taken unnecessary evasive action.
I just picked up a new pair of prescription sunglasses and took my first ride with them the other day. The frames are Ray-Ban 3176, and for me the are PERFECT! They fit very comfortably inside my helmet without adding any pressure along the temples or by the ears, provide good wind protection when I have my face shield up, and almost completely completely cover my field of view while wearing the helmet (SO much nicer than my regular glasses, which I was constantly glancing around or under to check gages and mirrors). I would definitely recommend these to anyone looking for Rx shades for riding [thumbsup]
Quote from: He Man on August 19, 2008, 07:13:37 PM
I dont leave home without my sunglasses. (sensitive eyes) I wear Okaleys and ive gone 10+ hours in em. Comfortable if you have the right pair of sunglasses. Its much better than having a tinted visor in my opinion. Mostly cause i ride with visor up all the time since my bike is an urban commuter. That means stop and go traffic with visor down is the same as gagging me. i also dont need to carry another sheild so i can ride at night.
I also went down with my glasses on (visor up) ~30-40mph. No problems. If you have the proper fitting helmet, they shouldn't move around. Try to get something that hugs the face and has the least amount of frame around the lens. Also, i wouldnt ride with a pair of lens that are not ansi rated polycarbonate.
+1 on the Oakleys. I have the Ice Picks, great because they are plastic (they flex a bit more than metal) and have straight bars, easy to get into a helmet. They never move and the polarized thing really helps when it's sunny down here, impact resistant and all kinds of other cool tech. Not cheap but worth every penny, they are your eyes after all
Is there such a thing as non-polarized face shields, specifically for Shoei? I haven't found any, but perhaps somebody has.
I wear prescription eye glasses, so I always have glasses on under the lid. I have several different types of frames and they all fit in my Arai Corsair, no problem. My sunglasses are polarized prescription lenses in Maui Jim full wrap frames. I got the brown lenses as they improve lowlight contrast whereas grays tend to work best for high glare environments. They have a slight mirror to them. Awesome glasses. I'm outside alot and they have held up exceptionally well. I got clocked by an angry squirrel out ridding without a lid (oh my god, no helmet!) on the CB175 and took an acorn or something to the lens at about 50mph. Gave me a slight shiner, but the lens didn't break. It did put a divot in the frame above the right eye.
I ride with my visor up (except at highway speeds) and they provide excellent wind protection. You do get the distortion (mine is rainbows) with the shield down, but I get that from some newer car windshields too. Lots of mind expanding substance use as a youth makes me able to handle the distortion, no problem [evil]
here is a pic of the Maui Jims
(https://mauijimssl.services.att-idns.net/wcsstore/MauiJimB2C/images/catalog/sunglass/LRH189-26.png)
been using RayBan Predators like below for years and no problem with my Shoei helmet, work great for sports, bicycling etc too and are very light so they stay put and wrap around so they keep wind out....though they are polarized so the faceshield looks a little funny when it is down but that is not a real problem for me and the lack of glare makes it worthwhile overall
(http://www.topbuyrayban.com/images/raybanrb4021.jpg)
Quote from: enzo on September 25, 2009, 11:16:28 AM
Is there such a thing as non-polarized face shields, specifically for Shoei? I haven't found any, but perhaps somebody has.
I don't think any company sells polarized visors but some of the mirrored visors might be polarized. You're talking about the rainbows you see with the visor down, right? AFAIK the rainbows are caused by the polarization on your glasses conflicting with the curve of the visor. If you don't use polarized glasses you shouldn't get the rainbows.
I wear sunglasses in the daytime and clear safety glasses at night. The reason for clear glasses at night is that my contacts dry out if I have any amount of airflow against my eyes. I've only used tinted visors on my auto racing helmets...I never wanted to be switching between clear and dark when riding my bikes from day to night.
Two different helmets in 2 different locales. Here in NY,
In Albuquerque, I have an older Shoei on which I swap shields between clear and tinted. The Shoei is OK with a cheapo pair of sunglasses and the clear shield but, in general, I don't feel comfortable with glasses. It is a slight annoyance if you're riding day and night and need to carry the alternate shield to swap. The tinted shield really dims your vision once the sun starts setting. Riding at night with it would be an adventure.
Here in NY, I have an HJC-FS10 which has a tinted sun-visor which slides down inside the shield. It works fine.
I always wear a full face helmet with prescription sunglasses and a clear visor. I wish I could be cool and get a dark visor (looks badass!) and just wear my regular clear lenses but I often go on longer rides in various lighting conditions. Do most of you that use a dark helmet visor always bring a spare for when it gets darker? Is that a pain or something you just get use to doing?
Anyway, regardless of the visor answers I need some sunglasses for moto and all around use. I've been looking at some of the Wiley X brand. Do any of you use these or something similar? Some of them have a removable foam gasket that seals your face to the glasses and protects your eyes from wind, dust, debris, fogging up and your eyes from drying out. They can even be converted easily into goggles with an attachable strap (I probably wouldn't use that very much but maybe sometimes). Some have various interchangable lenses (but can get expensive due to the prescription).
I'm sure a lot of Cruiser guys with beanie helmets wear these glasses. Any advice on sunglasses...good bad experiences? Thanks for your help!!!
I've got a pair of Wiley X's that I use. I used them to replace a pair of metal-framed Nike's that I still have and use for other stuff.
I don't use my regular glasses for riding because they're kind of short, top to bottom, and in the riding position I end up looking over the top of the lenses which makes them pretty much useless.
I really like the Wiley X's. I keep my regular glasses and the clear lenses in the handy little carry pouch and put them in my inside jacket pocket. If I should happen to be out riding and it gets dark, I can just pop in the clear lenses and keep riding. Its only happened to me on a couple of occasions, but it has, and they performed great.
They're pretty big on my face, so they're not "uber-cool" looking, but I pretty much only wear them when I'm out riding and I only ever wear a full face, so that's pretty much a non-issue. I've been happy with them, especially for the money. Plus, they qualify as safety glasses for when I go to the gun range.