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Now we are back to riding the winter slop, and instantly getting eye problems after a single muddy ride despite wearing cycling glasses, I was thinking of getting some goggles - anyone wear them with a "normal" helmet? If so, strap inside or outside the helmet? Will people make fun of me?
Or is there an in-between, e.g goggle-like glasses that offer better protection than normal cycling glasses?
They may keep mud out of your eyes, but you will look like a weirdo.
I find them quite restrictive from a vision and breathing point of view. Oh, and they will most likely fog up a lot, unless you are racing DH and sponsored by the company supplying you with them.
Remember to wear them round your neck when not riding and position the strap so we can all see the logo.
i sometimes use them with a 'enduro helmet' when its sloppy.
They only restrict breathing if you buy ones that dont fit your face. (my oakley o frames are great my 100% i`ve had to trim the foam by the nose)
vision wise ive not noticed much restriction - some goggles are better than others. Melon optics are supposed to be really good.
They do steam up when not moving - again you may need to remove some foam on the vents
they also get covered in crap and you cant see (much like yr eyeballs!)
dont wipe the grit off run some water over the lense.
strap outside of helmet.
you might want to consder where you stash them for climbing as some helmets the peak prevents you just shoving them up a bit. (i tend to run mine sideways it looks stupid but it works)
+1 for Trimix - if you're wearing a trail helmet, you'r eprobably pedalling and sweating, which means fogging and restricted breathing. Fine if you can stash them for the climb and put them on for the descent, but for me not worth the hassle. They do keep the crap out of your eyes, mind. can't fault them on that score.
Oaklley do stuff liek the Field Jacket or Jawbreaker, or the 100% Speedcraft, those are goggle-like but without the above.
I sometimes I wear goggles with an open face helmet. As I have dodgy eyes, I have to use some kind of prescriptive lense when riding. I've not yet found any glasses that don't steam up when riding hard, so I wear contact lenses and put goggles on for longer descents, to stop me eyes drying out. I just pop them up under my helmet visor when climbing so they don't get steamy.
I have a pair that are really well vented. So well vented, in fact, that on wet, muddy days (so most of them, then) all the crap thrown up seems to manage to find its way through the vent at the bottom and into my eyes. Every. Single. Time. This is running a mudguard and a full face helmet. So not only do I have crap in my eye, it's also impossible to get rid of it without stopping and faffing.
I don't wear those any more.
IME goggles fog up less quickly than glasses, but that might be because I keep my goggles in much better condition than my riding glasses and only wear the goggles on the descents.
Goggles for enduro rading, big mountain, winch & plummet only really. For me. You can do whatever the hell you want.
DezBJr likes his goggs. Wears em with a normal helmet and looks ok. Not that he cares really!
I bought some and thought I looked a right div, but might use em for a BPW trip or something.
I suppose they don't look any more divvy than a normal pair of clear shades.
ps. Strap outside 😉
Used goggles on a couple of days at BPW this year, one very moist. I was impressed by how well they worked. Fogging wasn't a problem and any restriction to vision wasn't a problem once moving. I may well give them a try with open face helmet over the winter. Mine are basic Oakley O Frames, nothing fancy
Goggles are great when descending, shit the rest of the time. Made considerably better (as are glasses) by using a big mud guard like a Mudhugger (if you don’t already have one)
I got some of these and drilled holes in them for venting, they are not to bulky and don't steam up too much.
I think the OP would be better off going with a Ryzen 5 and a 1070 tbh
Fit a RRP PROGUARD MAX then only your bike looks stupid
If you're going to wear goggles do the decent thing and buy a good looking full face helmet.
Too hot? Buy an Ebike 😉
you can't put a price on vanity
Cheers for the insight everybody - like the screwfix goggles tip - i'm a total cheapskate, will be trying some of those.
Reassuring to know that there's virtually no such thing as glasses/goggles that don't steam up on a climb - I tend to wear the glasses on the end of my nose for climbing, which barely works and probably why I end up with mud in my eyes anyway.
I'm upping my front mudguard game this year - mudhugger combined with a crudguard on the downtube.
I wear Oakley Crosslink glasses with prescription, transition lenses and they don't steam up when I ride hard. Might a little when I stop, but they clear quickly. Also give good coverage and I've never got any muck in my eyes while riding from memory.
I've a cheap pair of 100% Accuri, and a Bluegrass helmet, they work quite well together, and goggles tuck up above visor when I'm not descending.
It's incredible how many times I forget to take them though!
I like to blink. Blinking's good.
Have you tried blinking?
You too? I love blinking!
Buy an Ebike
you can’t put a price on vanity
Teh irony, your e-bike looks honkin’ 😀
Er.. Compared to an Orange 5 it's ****ing popstar beautiful.. We're talking Proclaimers rather than Bieber though.
Never once have I claimed that my filing cabinet is good looking
Goggles are great for coming down. They will steam up during any slow/pedaly/sweaty/no airflow situations.
Who cares if it looks daft if it keeps shit out your eyes.
I just bought a pair of 100% enduro goggles with the dual lens for winter riding, on sale for £25 on CRC. Much more fogging resistant, with a front mudhugger should be all win. Apart from the looking stupid bit, ah well.
Love the Srewfix tip too. As a bonus, those goggles have an EN 166 rating.
Apologies for being slightly off topic, but does anyone ever look at (or care about) the impact rating for goggles or glasses, given that the potential impact speed with a hard object is > 30 mph?
In my experience there is no one type of goggle which doesn't fog ever, they all do it a bit.
It all comes down to how you manage them.
If the foam is soaking wet they will fog, this could be sweat or rain.
At BPW they have hand dryers which is handy at lunch to dry them back out.
I usually take two pairs when i'd doing an uplift day.
I have Melon, Oakley O frame's and Fox Airspc.
Apologies for being slightly off topic, but does anyone ever look at (or care about) the impact rating for goggles or glasses, given that the potential impact speed with a hard object is > 30 mph?
Nope, I use them to keep mud (and UV when glasses) out of my eyes, safety doesn't come into it (other than not having shit glasses that shatter at the drop of a hat).
Dual-lens are just more expensive to change when they're scratched up ime. Never noticed a significant improvement against fogging like nwnlarge says
I suppose they don’t look any more divvy than a normal pair of clear shades.
Oh but they do, they do. 😉
Who gives a shit how they look? to the non cycling public we all look like divs, whether you're all enduro'd up or dress like John Noakes of the rough stuff fellowship, It's what you do, not how you look.
I recall the same hilarity when Robcolliver posted up a picture, then all the backtracking when the buffoons realised he'd hand you your arse on a plate.
I wear them for uplift or a specific enduro event but if I'll be pedalling up then no.
I struggled stopping my glasses steaming up last year so I've gone with RRP Proguard max this year and my god it's brilliant. Don't bother with glasses now if it's wet out and they are steaming up.
despite being an avid mountiain biker with all the latest gear, i still look like a div, and i think all my mates look like divs. whenever i see a group congregate at a local rendezvous, they all look like divs. the only guys who dont look like divs are the pro's coz theyre paid to wear the divvy gear, or them lads who can ride about in jeans and a hoody like you see in them sick edit drops brah.
As for eye wear, i struggle with any unless its dry bright and sunny! but goggles do make me feel slightly more protected, pretty sure i push it a bit harder in googles? but ultimately they are too much of a PITA for general riding...
get a lid where the peak pushes up and they can just be pushed up, pulled down. no faffing around getting them out of bags etc.
^ all well and good but the steam off yer head shags em up!
i don't find it does particulary on the montaro. and i get pretty steamy...
^ +1 Never had any problem with my Accuri's propped up under the visor on my Montaro either.
anyone wear them with a “normal” helmet?
Only under cover of darkness. Obv the strap is on the outside
there’s virtually no such thing as glasses/goggles that don’t steam up on a climb
A lot of it is to do with your lid and visor. Those visors that can also be used as a snow shovel trap all that warm moist air and where does it condense? On your eye wear. Push the visor up and out of the way so it blocks your helmet light lol or take it off altogether
Pic out of current MBR... I don't think the gogs/helmet combo looks divvy at all. Maybe cos I'm used to the look
or take it off altogether
going bullet with goggles. next years enduro trend right there....
I didn't have much luck with them but I guess it's down to the face/goggle/helmet combo.
It felt like I was riding my bike while looking out a letterbox and the pressure on the nose rendered the nostrils useless as breathing holes. This was 100% goggles with a Bell helmet of some sort, face was my own.
going bullet with goggles. next years enduro trend right there….
EWS tying in with the UCI should put a stop to that!
Oh, just to be clear I don't genuinely care what I look like when i'm mountain biking, especially in the winter where most of the time I look like i've been bog snorkelling anyway 🙂
I ride in all weathers, and I seem to spend all winter with eye infections...
Screwfix tomorrow...
Anybody got a Giro switchblade on the go? My current lid is not goggle freindly so thats a great excuse to cop one of these i rekon.
Nope, I use them to keep mud (and UV when glasses) out of my eyes, safety doesn’t come into it (other than not having shit glasses that shatter at the drop of a hat).
That sums me up too (for glasses anyway). At work though (science labs) all our glasses are impact rated and I've seen in training videos what can happen when they aren't. I also remember seeing an article somewhere about some chap with fake glasses having a nasty injury. Ahhh, found it:
Bump.. So ten months after I posted that, I never went to screwfix, but did pick up some Oakley O-FRAME MX goggles for £26.
Two hour-long rides in rain and utter filth, lots of pedalling, some slow slogs uphill and stopping to rest etc. and, surprisingly, zero fogging so far.
Both rides i've put them on a the start of the ride and not taken them off till the end.
Well chuffed, and I look badass, not stupid, badass 😉
Anybody got a Giro switchblade on the go? My current lid is not goggle freindly so thats a great excuse to cop one of these i rekon.
I have. It's quite warm... I only really use it in the Alps and rarely take the chin off it. It looks a bit special without the chin since and looks a bit more like an open face motorbike trials helmet than a bike helmet. I assume since you were considering goggles with a regular helmet you don't particularly care what you look like anyway 😉
EDIT : Just realised this is a resurrected thread from a few months ago. Anyway, comments still hold true for future posterity 🙂