Finally getting around to doing something about my crap eyesight and just wanted to hear from folk who use contacts or glasses for riding, and ideally from anyone who’s tried both. I use glasses for TV and driving, but when I tried riding in them it made me feel pissed (not sure why, but possibly because I don’t wear my glasses very much). If I use contacts, I’ll need to wear glasses or goggles over them to keep the crap out, so I’d probably prefer to persevere with the glasses really – seems simpler than faffing with contacts. Anyone got any tips about this? Are Oakleys worth splashing out on? Any special lens coatings or finishes to get? I prefer natural, un-tinted. Ta for any help or advice.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/contact-lenses
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/contact-lenses-2
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/contact-lenses-3

FWIW, I can highly recommend Oakley clear-black photochromic lenses. Not cheap but it means you can have one pair of glasses for everything.

I wear contacts all the time for riding…never felt the need to wear sunglasses/glasses over the top as well. I reckon I started using contacts some 20 years ago, I use soft lens monthlies. Been riding regularly all that time too, from short commuting and trail centre blasts, to extended day rides in the wilds of scotland to multi day road bike rides.

I have a neoguard on the forks and a crudcatcher on the downtube to stop mudfling on my mtb, nothing on the road bike. Only time I’ve ever struggled with my eyes was on a hot dry day when I got a mix of suntan cream and sweat into my eyes. although i don’t think having contacts would have made a bit of differnece to that.

nemesis – cheers, will check these links out.
gwaelod – cheers. Problem is that 50% of my rides (100% this time of year) end up with me having tons of sh*t in my eyes, even using a front Mucky Nutz guard. Defo don’t fancy contacts without using some protection over the top. I’m guessing that mud and contacts really don’t mix. Correct me if I’m wrong tho.

I’ve never liked the idea of contacts, so have always ridden with glasses. The problem is always that good ones (and I’ve always used Oakleys, and they are really good) are f’ing expensive. I started with orange tinted ones (persimmon), and even used them fine for night riding), then moved to clear.

I’m due a new set of riding glasses soon. I’d really like to try some of the clear-photochromic lenses, although I worry about how durable they are. I’ll probably tend towards clear lenses, with a full frame (rather than half-frame) for durability’s sake. Lenses are currently held into my half-jackets with silicon 😉

I’ve never liked the idea of contacts, so have always ridden with glasses

Have you ever actually tried them (and if so, recently?). IMO, contacts are just so much better than glasses that I think you’re really missing a trick if you don’t.

Used both contacts & glasses for years before having my eyes lasered. Annoyingly, aged 43, my nightsight has now deteriorated to the point at which I need something for night riding / driving again.

Previously, contacts worked largely fine for me. Only conditions which I really didn’t get on with them was in a particularly wet road race (imagine very wet conditions, gritty spray off rear wheel in front) & on an off-road descent when my eye watered, I felt what I thought was a tear rolling down my cheek. Unfortunately, it was a lens, when I was in the middle of a Colorado descent, miles from my base, with no access to spares for a couple of days. Ah well. Not bad for about 10 years with contacts.

It’s worth mentioning I nearly always used a set of sunnies over the top – I hate squinting in bright conditions – or just feel vulnerable without them protecting my eyes, even at night. Oakley Pro frames all the way, even now, for their great around the head fit. But all in all, contacts worked 99% of the time for me, biking or not.

Glasses, well, they’re expensive & readily scratched, even with the various coatings if dropped. Plus few give the wrap-around coverage of a decent sunglass lens. It’s nice to be able to remove sunnies mid-ride if it gets too wet – you can’t do this wearing glasses with -7 prescription without inviting a painful death.

So if you can’t afford / don’t fancy / aren’t the right person for laser treatment, contacts every time.

I’ve used contacts for yachting, windsurfing, kitesurfing and biking. I’ve lost the odd one or two over 30 years and had little problems except in really hot and extremely windy conditions when I’ve had a couple dry out on me and blow out of the eye.
The main problem I have with glasses is the distortion cause by the extreme lens I need for my bad eyesight. Change between my two different prescription pairs for different distances and I have to hold handrails going down stairs as I feel really uncertain of where the steps are. Put on contacts though and the problem is gone.

Contacts for me. Daily disposables. Riding in my prescription glasses just seems wrong to me, they feel heavy and fragile compared to me contacts and bike sunglasses.

I prefer glasses for work computer and electronics stuff and then for my lunch time bike rides I put in a pair of daily disposables just for the bike ride, swapping back to glasses when I get back to work. Although this is to use up my stock of single vision dailies.

Recently I have another issue that my near sight has dropped off a cliff and now have a new supply of multifocal contacts but don’t ask me how they work but they do. Using a Garmin or reading a map while out in my older single vision contacts got increasingly hard work. So the multifocal contacts get used at the weekends and when on holiday.

But sooner or later I will run out of my old single vision contacts and will need to make a decision about my lunchtime bike rides

1. Use my multifocal contacts just for an hours bike ride. seems a waste
2. Buy some prescription sunglasses just for riding. Sounds expensive
3. just put my regular single vision glasses on and squint 🙁

BTW, I have sea kayaked and white water kayaked in my contacts and have never lost one when capsizing. I might not be ale to see for a while as the lens gets washed around in my eye but so far its always stayed in.

I use monthly disposables.
I prefer glasses for day-to-day stuff and I’ll commute in them too mostly cos I can’t be bothered with the hassle of taking glasses and contacts but for ‘proper’ riding I’ll always use contacts and I always wear glasses over the top – Oakley clear-black photochromics are my go-to eyewear now, before that I had Oakley Half Jackets with interchangeable lenses. G30 or persimmon (light enhancing) were good for 90% of the time although I seemed to acquire about another 8 sets of lenses over the years. 😳

Cool, some useful info here so thanks for that. The case for contacts seems stronger than I thought, although I’ll defo need clear specs to go over them if this is the route I go down. I’m going to ask an optician about the ‘pissed’ feeling I got when riding with my regular specs – I had to take them off about 10 seconds into the first descent. Don’t know if that’s coz I wasn’t used to it, or because my regular specs’ design/lenses just aren’t suitable for biking.

had glasses since age 10, (45 years ago) – right pita(esp given motorbiking, surfing/winfsurfing, football etc ..), but even in older age I just can’t do contacts so my specs have always been general purpose

My learnings – If you need thick lenses pay extra for ‘thinner’ – weight makes a big difference, esp on a hot sweaty face. Titanium is light and bends/rebeends well(see weight comment), big nose bridges look crap but don’t hurt/mark as much when something gets rammed into your face (or on a hot sweaty day/weight comment), when fitting I found it useful to have a pair that can sit normally OR halfway down nose[without falling off] so you can look over the top when it’s raining etc to stop fractal vision time), always have a spare pair fairly handy, glasses straps are sensible for many sports etc as without them you can actually bounce your specs off your face, I always get flexi hinges (or titanium) as they usually end up getting bent etc …..

I ride with contacts, usually use riding glasses to protect my eyes but often commute with bare eyes and not actually had a problem, though I wouldn’t ride off road without eye protection.

A roadie mate has a lovely set of reactolite Oakley’s, which are handy for driving as well.

Contacts for me. I started out with glasses and it was getting way too expensive smashing them up, and then you really want prescription sports glasses which are extra cost over your normal ones, and you’ll still smash them up.

Contacts give you far more options, and you can get cheap sports glasses, different kinds like clear and shades for conditions or interchangeable lenses, and can wear goggles for full face or the Enduro look days. For me, I ski also so I can also wear ski goggles without needing ones suitable for glasses. Again I have different lenses for different conditions and all these glasses/lenses would be an insane cost with prescription stuff.

Also, I don’t need to change the glasses or lenses if my prescription changes over time, only get the contacts changed which for me is no additional cost on my monthly sub.

Myself, go cheap. Fancy stuff will still get smashed up or scratched, and there are some fantastic glasses available in the safety spec range, along with some relatively cheap multi lens stuff generally (Madison D’Arcs I’ve used for years, though they do scratch easy, but parts are cheap).

Can wear contacts alone, but yes bugs and stuff get caught behind the lens which is at the very least annoying.

Edit: oh, and obviously I’m looking at this from the perspective of a mountain biker 😉

reactolite Oakley’s,
which are handy for driving as well.

Assuming you mean photochromic (eg go darker in sunlight) then are you sure as they work on uv and cars’ windows block uv. Mine don’t work in the car.

I rode with contacts for years but last year bought a pair of Oakleys with dark and yellow interchangable lenses not cheap but brilliant. Wouldn’t go back to contacts now.

Daily disposables here. Been using them for years without any problems at all including a 4 week trekking/climbing trip to Nepal…

Riding in glasses is shit. I like having peripheral vision so will only ride in contact lenses.

I used to wear contacts aged 16-23. Never got on doing trials riding in glasses. COntacts were fine until summer when I had hayfever problems. Then I got laserbeamed. that was 10 years ago and not had any problems. It was cheaper to get lasered than to keep buying contacts.

Daily disposable contacts and cheap safety glasses for me… I don’t want to damage my expensive prescription glasses. The only trouble is that I now need varifocal lenses or maybe a monacle so I can read a map without holding it at arms length!

I use both (not at the same time though!). Contacts for most of the time, with Oakley Jawbones for protection. In the summer I suffer from Hayfever so Contacts are unbearable. So I have some Oakley clear-black photochromic prescription lenses to go into my Jawbones (not cheap but very good).

The only issues I’ve had with contacts are that my eyes stream in the cold when going at speed, and the other is getting mud in your eye, which is very painful. Since switching to Jawbones (which has a think frame at the bottom) I’ve not suffered with this.

Disposable contacts for me, in warmer weather with sunglasses to keep insects out. In colder weather the glasses steam up (for all that they are meant to be vetilated) and that’s no fun, so contacts only then. I don’t get too much crap in my eyes but I have a bike with guards and rarely ride behind someone who’s chucking mud into my face.

I wear contacts for riding, with no goggles or glasses over them. I’ve never felt the need. Occasionally get a bit of crap in my eye but it’s easy enough to wipe out with dislodging the lenses. With glasses I’d be worried about them steaming up, getting dirty or falling off.

Disposable, multi-focal lenses here for the most part with riding glasses over (have had the grit/lens/eye interface & it wasn’t pleasant).

Also have some cycling glasses with prescription inserts which are fine, albeit you lose a fair bit of peripheral vision. Went for these so that if my prescription changes I only need to have the insert reglazed & it was the cheapest way to get interchangeable lenses. Ended up with Norville SRX 09’s for about £50 including 2 lenses.

I’m on monthly lenses now as the astigmatism in my left eye wasn’t fully corrected by dailies (something to do with a weird angle). To echo comments above, I found riding in glasses meant poor peripheral vision and a feeling of motion sickness after a while. Glasses are also a nightmare for climbing and skiing.

After going through numerous cheaper forms of eye protection for riding I’ve now got some Oakleys with a few sets of lenses. More comfortable, better vision and more durable than the bargain bin stuff, although can’t comment on their relative merits over similarly priced brands.