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Motorcycle Eyewear - What you need to know before you ride!
In most states, motorcycle eye protection is required by law. Having the right motorcycle eyewear can make the difference between a great day on the road, or one that will make you wish you were home long before you're ready. Selecting the right motorycycle eyewear is one of the hardest choices to make. There are literally hundreds of choices in all price ranges. There are hundreds of styles and quality varies widely. All these choices combine to make it very hard to select the product that is right for you. In this article I want to help you get a better understanding of all of the choices and what factors you should consider when choosing. The choices can be boiled down to 10 basic points that are each outlined below. These same points apply to both regular motorcycle eyewear and presription motorcycle eyewear. 1. Frame Types Goggles vs. Glasses – When it comes to motorcycle riding, the type of helmet you wear and whether you use a windshield are a primary influencers of your decision. In general if you wear a full face helmet, 1/2 or 3/4 helmet with faceshield, motorcycle sunglasses are the preferred choice. If you don't use a windshield and faceshield then goggles would be your preferred option. The obvious reason is because you don’t run the risk of losing the motorcycle eyewear in the wind if a serious wind gust or bump occurres during your ride. A number of motorcycle sunglasses are coming on the market that either convert to goggles, or have an adjustable strap option. Metal vs. Plastic/Nylon Frames – If you’re opting to go with sunglasses, the best choice here is going to be a plastic or nylon frame. Metal frames don’t hold up to the rigors of travel and can get bent repeatedly during storage and while taking them on or off. When selecting eyewear for riding, look for plastic or nylon frame construction. Contured/Aerodynamic Design – Look for glasses or goggles with a contoured bend to go with your head. This means you’ll cut down the amount of air and debris that can come between you and the lens and also cut the chance of reflection on the internal side of the lens.
2. Lens Type and Quality Glass vs. Polycarbonate – Polycarbonate hands down. Most states that require eye protection do not consider glass acceptable. Glass shattering during a strike from an oncoming object such as a rock, gravel or bird can render your lens useless and leave you blind. Polycarbonate is a shatterproof compound that will deflect objects as detrimental as a fired bullet. Optical Quality – Optical Quality is critical to vision fatigue and damage to your eyesight. The five dollar blue-block eyewear that John Doe sells on the side of the road is probably made of low grade plastic and obscures the image enough to cause damage and fatigue while you ride. Stay clear of these cheap sunglasses. To check for this, simply hold the lens a few feet from you and see if the vision is distorted vertically or horizontally. 3. Lens Size Those small lenses may look cool, but provide little eye coverage. The bigger the lenses the better when it comes to your motorcycle eye wear. 4. Lens Coatings There are all kinds of lens coatings. Let’s take a brief look at the important ones and how they affect your ride. UV (Ultra-Violet) – The most standard coating of all which protects your eyes from the rays of the sun. If you don’t see eyewear clearly marked with a UV mention, pass on it. Even clear lenses should have UV protection. Scratch Resistant – If I’m riding all day your motorcycle eyewear will be on and off more than a dozen times. Inevitably the glasses are dropped. Once a lenses are scratched they will impair your vision – ever so slightly, but enough to cause fatigue. Look for lenses with a scratch resistant coating. This doesn’t mean you can grind them into the ground with your boot and they’ll still work great. Remember that they are SCRATCH RESISTANT not SCRATCH PROOF. Non-Reflective Inside Coating – With normal glasses your skin can reflect on the inside of the lenses. This will really mess up your eyes when you’re riding. A non-reflective coating eliminates this and is usually only found on eyewear about $75 and above. You can spot a non-reflective coating because it shows up as a purple hue on the inside of the lens. As long as your frame has a good contoured wrap, the reflection will be greatly reduced without the need to find eyewear with a non-reflective coating. Polarized Coating – You’ve probably been in a situation where you were riding directly into the sun, or got blinded by a puddle of water. Polarized coatings greatly reduce glare and allow you to see in the most blinding conditions. Up until recently you had to pay through the nose for this luxury, but technology and popularity have brought the cost down on this option. Get it. Anti-Fog – Sounds like a nice idea. And in many cases it works very well. However in full face helmets, the coatings don't work. One important consideration about Anti-Fog coatings is that they will eventually come off of the lenses after several cleanings. For that reason it is a good idea to find a combination cleaner and anti-fog coating compound that you can apply to your lenses. There are serveral brands available such as CatGutz and Zooke. Transitional Light Adjusting – Transitional lenses work by reading the UV light and adjusting the lens color to provide better more shading in bright conditions, leses during moments of low light levels (such as riding into a tunnel). True transitional lenses are found on high end priced eyewear and may not suit you if you’re the type who losses glasses every six months. The option is to go with interchangeable lens motorcycle glasses or goggles. Usually these will contain a minimum of clear, smoked and amber lenses which cover most situations and are a cheaper option to the transitional lenses. 5. Lens Colors Depending on the time of day and conditions you can utilize a number of lens types to enhance your vision. As mentioned above, touring multi-lens setups provide a good option to dealing with various conditions during a given ride. Clear – A clear polycarbonate lens means you’ll be able to operate your bike legally at night, when tinted lenses are deemed illegal otherwise in many states. These also come in handy during rainy moments when a tinted lens hinders your ability to see. Yellow/Amber – A yellow or amber lens increases your depth perception during foggy and low light conditions. These are kind of fun to drive around with at night as it gives you the feeling you’re out performing some secret military mission for the armed forces – even though you’re not. Grey/Smoke – Grey lenses provide the truest picture of the actual light you are seeing, while providing respite from the high light levels of a sunny day. Green/Blue/Brown and all other colors – Eyewear can come in a variety of other lens color choices. The choice is yours, but remember you’re not getting the real picture if that’s critical to you, rather a tweaked out Technicolor view of the world outside. 6. Fitment Your eyewear has to fit right. It’s no fun pushing glasses half way back up your nose as you roll down the highway at 60 m.p.h. Ear Tips – How the eyewear rests on your ears is critical. Look for frames that are comfortable – not too loose, not to tight. Have you ever felt the ear tips of your glasses grind into your temples when you put them on through a full face helmet? An unpleasant experience indeed so look for ear tips that point outward at the end. Nose Piece – Find a set of glasses that have a comfortable nose piece. Adjustable nose pieces are okay and may be necessary as you’ll see in the next section. A nose piece should not leave indentations behind after you remove your eyewear. Eye Coverage – The more coverage around the eyes the better. When trying on different glasses, you may notice some will slide down your nose and allow light to enter through a crack between your eye brows and the top of the eyewear. Not good. Eyewear with an adjustable nose piece will provide you the needed option to get the glasses further up your nose and seal the light gap. If you’re near sighted and need prescription glasses to ride you’re in luck. There are three options for you!
Custom Lenses – the obvious option is to have custom lenses ground and put into the frames by the manufacturer. A number of them will do that now. Typical cost for the service ranges from $75 to $150. Some examples are:
Custom Inserts – There are a number of touring glasses on the market with interchangeable lenses. Custom lenses can be created for these models as well. Goggle over glasses – Many motorcycle eyewear manufacturers have developed goggles, that are large enough to allow you the ability to place them over your prescription eyewear. Right: Glasses that offer to ability to include your prescription in an insertable frame behind the main lenses offers the great ability to have interchangeable lenses and the cost savings of only having to buy a single set of prescription lenses. A couple of good examples of these are: 8. Lens Care When you’re out riding your eyewear is getting exposed to far more dirt, dust and your own hand oils, than if you were driving a car. Keeping the eyewear clean is critical to insuring your vision is the best it can be every time you ride. Cleaning Cloths – Micro fiber cleaning cloths are the best material to clean your lenses with. The cloth is such that dirt can imbed itself into the cloth so you don’t scratch your lenses as you wipe them. A cotton handkerchief does not allow the same absorption of dirt. Never, never use paper towels or any other paper products such as napkins to clean your lenses. It’s a surefire road to scratching your eyewear and ruining it forever. Wash micro fiber cleaning clothes regularly by hand with mild soap and water. Soap and Water – Mild soap and water is a good way to remove layers of body oils, suntan lotion, face moisturizer and other residues that can build up on your lenses. This is a good thing to do each day you ride. DO NOT resort to ammonia based cleaners such as Windex because these have the ability to rip through the microscopic coatings such as the UV, polarized and tint layers placed on the lenses by the manufacturer. Plastic Cleaners – Because your eyewear is made of polycarbonate, you can successfully use a quality plastic CLEANER such as those on the market by Griot’s Garage, Meguiar’s and Honda. Noticed I capitalized "cleaner." These companies also make scratch removers for plastic windshields which are not appropriate for your eyewear’s coatings. 9. Storage Storing your eyewear properly will make it last longer. Cases – For the kind of full wrap eyewear we’re discussing here, hard cases are out of the question. You can however purchase soft padded nylon cases at most outdoor shops with an external clip that will allow you to clip the case to a number of places on your person or bike. These cases should be cleaned out each season you ride so as to remove any harsh dirt that may have found its way inside. Get a case that’s big enough to store both your eyewear and a small micro fiber cleaning cloth. Most interchangeable lens touring sets come with their own case. Pouches – A pouch made out of micro fiber material is a simpler way to go. You kill two birds with one stone by providing storage for your eyewear and the ability to clean it all in one piece. Micro fiber pouches should be washed in mild soap and water every season you ride to insure they remain clean and won’t scratch your lenses. 10. Price Ranges Quality eyewear doesn’t have to cost a lot. In fact, when it comes to motorcycling, it shouldn’t. Let’s look at a few ranges. $5 to $20 – Eyewear in this range typically comes with poor optical quality and is manufactured to last a short time. Not recommended. $20 to $200 – This is the recommended range to be looking for eyewear in. The variations such as frame versatility, lenses coatings, interchangeable options and lens tints are all factors in just how much a set of glasses or goggles will cost. $200 plus – Unless a product in this range features transitional lenses or contain prescription lenses, it’s likely you’re paying too much for what you’re getting. It’s time to look at less expensive options with the same features. After all, you’ll be using your eyewear under some extreme conditions such as riding into a dust storm, or simply just dropping them on the ground now and then as you put your gloves and helmet on. If you ride year around, 12 months maybe all your eyewear will last before the lenses show signs of wear, so why sink a boatload of cash into the purchase. Jeff "Tools" Sinason is a long time motorcycle enthusiats. Being a motorcycle nut, he has run into all kinds of conditions and ridden through them unscathed. He is the owner of Bikerwares which is a site dedicated to Enjoying the Ride. |
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