I am in desperate need of some prescription cycling glasses but the price really makes me bork.

I have done the usual google search and Rxsport seems good along with a couple of others but for direct glazed the price is always over £200.

Does anyone have any suggestions apart from inserts to bring the cost down?

If not has anyone tried these?
Bolle Spiral

Do you really need a wrap around sports frame?
I use a titanium frame with tinted rx lenses, £125 for two pairs from Speccies.

One of the reason for a wrap around is due to wind. My eyes water like crazy on fast descents and I was hoping a wrap around would eliminate this.

You could try Optilabs. http://www.optilabs.com/
They are a bit less than £200 for cycling glasses with prescription lens.

Have you looked at Optilabs?

I’ve just retired a pair after about 4 years of use. This time I’ve just gone for some Oakley Crosslinks with the decent non Oakley lens that RXSports do as I wanted less cycling specific glasses this time round. Working well so far with a clear lens rather than transitions. Not that I suffer from streaming eyes though

Edit: too slow

Disposable contact lenses?

Hmmm Optilabs seems pretty reasonable, thanks! 😀

Cannot use contacts, the thought of touching my eyes *shudders*

FWIW, I tried contacts but just couldn’t get on with them. Fitting and removing was fine but I found that the slightest bit of wind would make my eyes water and I’d flush them out.

I gave in and got some prescription Oakleys. Yes they were expensive, but I’ve looked after them and they’ve lasted about 5 years so far. Compared with some of the other costs of cycling, that’s a pretty good investment. I can guarantee they made more difference to my riding than a £800 set of forks or a £2,500 frame would !!

I got DX Jokeley Split Jackets and then had some prescription lenses made up by Ciliary Blue

I think the price for one set of lenses and the frames was around £35/£40.

With hindsight I would spend a bit more and get the extra thin lenses, it’s a bit of a squeeze with the normal ones.

Careful what your prescription is. Although others on here seem to have got wraparound lenses at high prescriptions, when I asked about this at the optician I was told “no problem, we use Nikon and they’ll do your prescription no bother”. When I came to order them, however, apparently they couldn’t go as high as I needed (+5.50).

not a glasses wearer but a couple of mates have the Evil Eyes
http://www.adidas.com/Eyewear/content/au/products/10215/evil-eye-pro-S
with the RX inserts
http://www.shimano-eyewear.com/publish/content/eyewear_2010/en/nl/index/technology/rx_clip.html
It’s also available for the much cheaper Shimano glasses.

Lots of versatility in lens choice etc and the optical part is behind something protective.

Cannot use contacts, the thought of touching my eyes *shudders*

How about some MTFU? You don’t even need a big dose – just a teeny weeny dose. They are your fingers and your eyeballs. You don’t even need to grow a pair for that – I know girls who use contact lenses.

Cannot use contacts, the thought of touching my eyes *shudders*

I’m the same… 😳

Prescription WileyX with Transitions lenses for me! 8)
…………………………………………. see what I did there ^

Ordered a pair of Oakley prescriptions from RX Sport recently after years of balking over the price and trying cheaper alternatives (I will be getting rid of my Adidas gazelle prescription insert sunglasses at some stage if you’re interested). Probably best cycling related purchase I’ve ever made. Clarity of vision is stunning and the transition lenses are superb. The cost is ridiculous but really wish I’d bought these years ago.

Just walk into TK Max or Decathlon or any other store and buy a pair of wraparound sport sunglasses. Pop the lenses out and take them along to the high street optician and ask them to glaze them to your prescription. They will moan and want to get a disclaimer from you that you understand that the edges will be thick but it can be done. I got these winter riding glasses done in plain clear plastic for £50 and the actual frames cost me £12.99 at TK Max:

I would avoid the insert system of getting a prescription lens. I had the Adidas evil eye with insert and found them a pain. The actual sunglasses were brilliant for not steaming up but the insert would fog as soon as you hit the first climb and because they were clipped behind the tinted lens they took ages to clear.

I have Rudy Project Rydons with Rx insert. Considered other options, but a +5 prescriptiom means that these are limited. I have the thinnest highest RI glass and find that they fit fine, offer very good vision and don’t really steam up.

Before I bought them, I wore contacts for mtb and sometime day wear. But since I bought them, I haven’t used contacts at all.

Not cheap, but as already said, one of the best bike purchases that you will use and use.

I have been looking at Cilary Blue for reglazing some old Oakley Monster Dogs with transition lenses. It would only be £45 but I am worried about what transitions would be like for night riding. Anybody have any experiance with this?

This!

hitman – Member

Ordered a pair of Oakley prescriptions from RX Sport recently after years of balking over the price and trying cheaper alternatives (I will be getting rid of my Adidas gazelle prescription insert sunglasses at some stage if you’re interested). Probably best cycling related purchase I’ve ever made. Clarity of vision is stunning and the transition lenses are superb. The cost is ridiculous but really wish I’d bought these years ago.

I had “cheaper” Rudy Project insert based glasses. They were OK. Steamed up twice as bad, scratched easily and you het 2 layers of scratches to look through. The good thing with the insert you could relatively cheaply change the lens tint.

However, I now have Oakley transitions prescription glasses and they are much much better. They go clear for night riding and dark enough for summer sun. Optically they are a millions miles ahead of a insert based system. It’s particularly apparent in peripheral vision.

You could get cheap frames and do what people have suggested above but in the longterm you’d be better off in my opinion biting the bullet and spending the £250 or so on the Oakleys.

I_Ache, as long as they go clear when no UV is present they should be fine from a tint point of view.

I took the cheapo option of buying some wrap-around sports glasses and getting Cilary Blue to reglaze them with my prescription of +4.25, 3.25.

I’ve no problem with Cilary Blue’s service but the glasses are virtually unusable as when you glance either way you get double vision from looking through different parts of each lens with each eye. This is even worse at night when looking at car headlights because you see four!

I also went for the cheapest lens option so I have no idea if this would be improved by purchasing the thinner, more expensive lens options.

I went for Optilabs about five years ago for a proper pair of prescription specs. They’ve been brilliant – and when an arm snapped late last year, they were able to replace them, no problem.

I have a strong involuntary eye reaction (according to the opthamology bods at Cardiff University, anyway) and after three or four attempts at fitting contacts over the years have resigned myself to specs and (at some point) laser surgery.

I’ve run Eassuns, Adidas Evil Eyes and Adidas Gazelles with prescription inserts for cycling and yacht and dinghy racing, and they all suffer from the same problem, more or less: moisture gets trapped between the two lenses. This can be a bit of a pain. Prescription lenses largely fix this, and the wraparound means I also don’t get the problem with streaming eyes you mention, OP.

I’d happily recommend Optilabs – excellent bunch, and it’s probably the best £180-odd quid I’ve spent on my cycling.

I should say I uses these every day for commuting, so they’ve been opened and closed twice a day almost every weekday for the last couple of years, as well as use on weekend rides. The lenses are still going strong, the transitions coating is fine, and, aside from one arm wearing out, the frames are pretty happy, too.

[edit] Only downer is I can’t use these for driving in strong sunlight, as the glass in car windows absorbs UV, so transitions coatings don’t work.

Also, what BillOddie said about peripheral vision is really important – it was really noticable moving from inserts to fully glazed prescriptions, and a massive boost. I wouldn’t say it made me faster (maybe it did) but it certainly made me ride more confidently.[/edit]

Used optilabs pair for about 5 years. When i got new prescription the optician had a good deal on oakleys. But would have went back to optilabs otherwise.

globalti +1, my local independent optician did me some reactor light lenses and cheap sports frame for £80, just the job.
No they probably not comparable with Oakley’s frames or lenses quality, but for mountainbikeing, there all I need.

My prescription is -10.5, so I’m fairly limited in my options.
For a number of years I’ve used RP Exception, which have inserts with a flip up front lens. With the photochromic lenses they’ve been great.
Last year I managed to get some Rudy Project Maya frames which are a less ‘special’ looking set. These are also good apart from the small plastic clip to keep the outer lenses flush which wears out after 6 months. I’m now on the third clip in 13 months. Shame really as they’re very good frames but I and my opticians have nearly run out of patience with the system and when the current clip goes they’ll be replaced by another brand.

I’ve never been attracted to inserts because they just look so naff and because there are four surfaces for moisture to collect.

My local optician is an absolute star bloke, really helpful, always ready to discount and happy to go the extra mile where others won’t take the risk.

Zunaid Ali at Ideal Eye Care in Wilpshire, for anybody in Lancs.

another satisfied Optilabs customer here – like that nice Mr Udder above.

don’t order based on the brochure – the ones I thought would be perfect on paper turned out to look just awful on my face. (some would argue that’s more about my face than the glasses , but I digress..). They have a trial mail order service I think if you can’t get there in person.

I can still defeat the glasses and get eye streaming if I really try hard – but its rare. I use mine every day pretty much and they look great and just work. The photochromic lens is excellent too – really clear and fine for night riding, yet able to shut down for bright days ( a little bright compared to a full mirror lens, but just fine for 99% of the time inc this summer).

If you can get to their showroom take a toddler with you and ask that you use their loos – its behind the workshop and you can have a gander at their trick specs making lathes and stuff. (technical description). very friendly people and independent too.

TM

Thanks for all the posts. I think I will probably go for the Oakleys and take the hit on the price.

I had a pair of Oakley Whisker Ti sitting about that I’d bought before I needed prescription glasses.
Sent them to Ciliary Blue and had their photocromatic lenses fitted. Cost me £60. I use them for all my riding, they are fantastic. I use them quite happily for night riding as they go pretty much completely clear. Certainly not enough tint to notice.

I ended up ordering some Half Jackets XL with Transition lenses from http://www.extreme-eyewear.co.uk

Simon was very helpful and hopefully my glasses should arrive in time for a trip up to Glentress.