Hey,

I want to finally admit to age catching up in a big way. I need to get varifocals and want a pair of photochromatic riding glasses which I can get made with a prescription lens. I am fed up with riding with my glasses in my bag, or indeed around my neck these days : O

Has anyone any practical experience in this they can share. ‘Why to…’ and indeed ‘Why not to…’opinions equally welcome, as well as your mileage on types and styles,

Cheers Guys,

Zzz

What do you need your glasses for?
I just need mine for clearly seeing the garmin/occasional map reading or checking the phone, so I have just bought plastic prescription lenses which stick to the bottom inside corner of both riding lenses. Not fantastic but suits me and can move from one pair to another. Around £20 from amazon.

I use normal Transitions specs. Fine. 6000mpa on and off road.

Although I should have varifocals too, I’m too tight to shell out so I stick to normal distance lenses and just do that weird squint through specs perched on end of nose thing when looking at maps or other small things close up.

I need to get varifocals and want a pair of photochromatic riding glasses which I can get made with a prescription lens

Rudy Rydon with Rx insert. I’ll be needing varifocals soon. I’m +5/+3.5 so always need glasses for distance and reading! The stock photochromatic lenses are excellent.

+1 rydons with insert … my optician easily changes the lenses
in my inserts when needed.

Thanks Guys,

I need what I would call ‘varifocals’, as in, for both close up and distance. I carry my prescription glasses around my neck at present on my ride, for C/U, maps and Garmin etc. which I really cannot see, even with arm extensions, without them. However now, due to age, I need lenses for distance also.

So ideally varifocal photochromatic prescription lenses but want to put these in a decent set of biking friendly frames. I’m thinking solid style Oakley etc.

I don’t mind paying for the right pair. Not keen on squinting : )

Zzz

If you don’t mind the cost then prescription Oakley glasses are good if they go up to your prescription strength. If you can’t get hold of them then I’d recommend Optialbs, They’re really good quality and reasonably priced.

Optilabs look really good and not massively over the price of decent normal frames either,

Thanks,

Zzz

Always worth checking RXsport too, plenty of good info on their site, and reasonable pricing (my Oakley M2 XL’s came in at £120 less than Vision Express, and I found out far more on their site than on Oakley’s own). I’d recommend a direct glaze over seperate inserts too, less weight, clearer vision, and much less fogging.

I was using Rudy’s with inserts but got tired of them fogging on wet days… went for Oakleys with Transistion lenses from Extreme Eyeware who also do prescriptions beyond those that Oakley do

I am in same boat, cant always ware contact lens and dont like wearing my designer glasses on the bike or for working on car etc. So I went to Asda, they have a close fitting close surround pair, I bought two sets on the £100 offer for both, one pair clear, one pair tinted, anti uv, and presecription including varifocal,
I had my prescription from an earlier visit to a proper optian

+1 for Optilabs – on my third pair. I’ve always used prescription lenses; but they also have inserts in the range

I have a pair of Oakleys with two sets of lenses – one transitions, one dark polarised. From RX Sport, whose customer service and price matching I recommend.

Cost me a freaking fortune (and will do again when my prescription changes), but they are really excellent.

Rarely suffer from fogging and easy to clean.

B

Rudy Rydons with prescription photochromic lenses here, excellent. Not cheap. But excellent. RxSport.

Optilabs will send you up to 3 sample plain lens pairs to try for a week. I’m going to get some prescription wrap around type frames myself, don’t fancy the insert type glasses, handy to try different frames as some of the ones I picked were a bit small. I think it was the Mirage that gave excellent coverage.

Also, have you tried varifocals? I’ve only needed glasses in the last 4 years or so and tried varifocals about 3 months ago, couldn’t get on with them, made me feel sick when walking about and found the reading part of the lens too small. But, I’m ok for reading and general stuff with my normal glasses but use another pair for really close up work.

I’ve got clear prescription Oakleys and they scratch really easily, the lenses have what appears to be a normal type lense within the lense and it doesn’t seem to be toughened at all. The tinted prescription Oakleys I have are fine but the clear ones are crap and have tiny scratches from the first day of use from when I half went through a bush.