I am pretty short sighted (-6.5 ish) plus astigmatism so wear specs all the time, incl on the bike. I can’t ride in contacts due astigmatism although I do wear them for swimming.

I have however reached the ripe age of needing varifocals, which I picked up at lunchtime. They are high index thin ones from independant family optician that we have used for ever, so I will have full support etc while I try and get used to them (not wearing just now as at work 🙂 )

Anyway, question is, anyone use them rding ? My first though is to continue to use my distance specs until I cannae see things close up enough that it becomes a problem ?? not sure how swapping between the pairs wil be etc ?

any experiences ?

Thanks

I ride in varifocals and I’ve never found it a problem. I didn’t really have to get used to them either, just put them on and walked out of the shop. No issues.

onewheelgood – that’s encouraging ! I found them weird in shop and decided to wait till home to try them i earnest – I think the whole moving head rather than eyes thing will take me a bit to get hang of.

I’m riding velodrome tonight and don’t want to cause carnage 🙂

Will try and get the hang of them off the bike first methinks

I do ride in mine and it is not a problem for riding. However, there are a couple of things to consider:

1) I struggle with trail side fettling when when wearing them and having to fiddle with small bits. I really need the reading specs for that. Minor problem.
2) Your lenses, like mine, are probably an expensive bit of kit so be careful wiping grit and crap off them on the go, resisting the temptation can be hard. It is for this reason ride in a pair of distance reactolite sunglasses just in case.

It took me about a week or so to get used to mine in the office, but worth the hassle in the long run. The only minor problem I now sometimes have is occasional artifacts in the transition from oncoming headlights when driving at night.

I found that to start with it was disconcerting riding with varifocals as the trails looked blurred when I looked down. So I carried on riding with standard lenses for quite a while. However, now I have got used to looking through the top for distance vision and so put my head further down when looking close to the front wheel, it is not a problem and I ride in either.

thanks, sounds like they should be ok after a bit of getting used to. jimw – the blurred peripheral stuff is what I’ve been worrying about…

Same as onewheelgood I’ve been riding for 4 years on mine with no problems. Love them. Reacted light scratch resistant.
But as bullroar says the lenses can be expensive, I’ve just got new specs €320. So I’m a bit worried with dirt and stuff too, but I’ve got my old ones for now till the “I don’t want to ruin my new ones” goes away. Problem is the new ones are solo much clearer.

I use varifocals and had no problem getting used to them when new, or riding with them. Once you are used to them you should be able to use them pretty much all the time and you won’t even think about which part of the lens you’re looking through. As already mentioned though, you’ll need to be careful about scratching them if you keep wiping them when they’re dirty.

I now ride using photocromic wraparound sunglasses as they keep the wind and flying things out of my eyes much better than my glasses do. The sunglasses have single prescription inserts so not varifocals, which is fine for riding but is a problem for close up work like map reading or fixing the dreaded flat, so I carry my normal glasses with me.

My favourite solution though is to use the sunglasses without the inserts (which tend to hit my eyelashes), and wear contacts instead. It’s more comfortable and no danger of the inserts steaming up. I carry reading glasses to correct the contacts if I have to stop for repairs etc.

And BTW, I’m astigmatic too and had no problem getting contact lenses which correct for that and are fine even for driving a car. My strength prescription isn’t much less than yours (-5.something) but maybe there’s a limit on how much astigmatism/strength they can correct and you’re over it. Just curious why yours would be ok for swimming but not for riding – what is it that don’t they correct?

corsair, thanks for that, some good info. My contacts are the weighted ones for astigmatism, but they do move around a little when I blink, which is a bit disconcerting. Also, for ease I have them both with same prescription, although my eyes are slightly different – I could have them the same, but as I don’t find them good in normal use, having them the same is fine for swimming and saves working out which side is which. I undertand that it’s the nature of my astigmatism which makes them less than perfect.

The reports of people getting used to them quickly is very encouraging. On the cleaning thing, I agree, and am used to being careful – my current distance specs which I wear all the time, with ultra thin lenses etc, were pricey and the varifocals were 30% more again….

Have a look into laser eye surgery. If it’ll work for your eyes then it’s a life changer

Ivor, not for me, but agreed good for many 🙂

You will get used to those varis sooner than you realise – the human brain is very very adaptive. Varifocals really are the mutt’s nuts.

But they are too good for cycling. Nip to TK Max or Decathlon and buy some cheap sporty sunnies, pop the lenses out and ask your optician to glaze them with standard lenses in plastic. These will protect you eyes and it won’t matter if they get dropped or scratched.

I have astigmatism also (a lot of short sighted people do but probably don’t know until they try contacts), and the ‘toric’ lens for that works fine for riding. Maybe it depends on the strength or something though but I find it fine.

I get the opposite issue when blinking with my non-toric lens dislodging as I posted here – http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/contact-wearers

Myself I wouldn’t ride with my glasses or any expensive prescription glasses. That’s based on costly experience of smashing them up, and general annoyance of getting something that fits right and not being able to swap lenses, not being able to easily wear goggles, etc. I do however have to wear regular protective glasses / shades to stop stuff getting in my eye which is worse with contacts when you get bugs or grit behind the contact or in the corner of your eye and it gets infected.

As for vari… do you need anything other than distance for riding? My eyes are just starting to be an issue for close stuff, but riding is fine. An issue if there’s a technical and need to fiddle with something close though, but I could pop reading glasses in the bag when I’m down the line when it’s got bad enough. Not there yet but give it a few years.

In fact, I might carry a monocle and wear a top hat when riding. I do live in Surrey after all 😀

Made the switch to varifocals a few months back. The lens setup means cycling related activity is actually easier as it is natural to look up and forward at the distant road / trail and look down at any computer, map, phone screen, repairs, in closer proximity. Everything is in focus without any conscious thought. Peering over drizzle soaked lenses can give the impression of the ground rushing by but that’s only an issue downhill.

I wear mine so I can read a map when out – and you soon get used to them for most things though the other week did one of those “go ape” type ropes courses and realised how looking down can be very fuzzy if don’t get it right

the blurred peripheral stuff is what I’ve been worrying about…

scared myself badly first time drove in them – failed to spot a car entering a roundabout – think optician should have warned me to really really look hard and turn head