Glasses for MTB.

Some help please Ladies and Gents.
My girlfriend thinks she would get on better on the trails with glasses. She will not wear the ones she has for driving because she doesnt want to damage them. She would prefer glasses to contacts. Who can recomend us some cylcling/sports specific prescription glasses? Would light reactive lenses be possible or am I dreaming?
Cheers
Si

prescription Oakleys?

or just normal prescription safety glasses which will be cheaper than sports specific? Better choice available in the US and you probably want polycarbonate lenses with a scratch resistant coating as it will have higher impact resistance and less weight than glass (but plain PC can scratch easily)

Oakleys seem mega expensive.
Normal glasses would not have sports/safety lenses would they? Or the wrap around shape that cycling glasses have to keep shit out of your eyes.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180603523233?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Those are my faves for MTB. But obviously not prescription. Shape is perfect and the clear frames dont ‘get in the way’ like ive found others do.

p.s. I can’t keep up with you editing your post andy! 😉

prescription safety glasses not normal ones: http://www.safetyspecs.co.uk/Bolle%20safety%20glasses.htm

ugly but just an example. Scroll down for PC lens info.

P.S. I edited it ages ago instead of adding another reply. Keep up 😉

US get more choice due to shooting and military: http://www.safevision.net/

You don’t want toughened glass for biking as you will be travelling at high speed and toughened glass breaks into small pieces which will go in your eye.

Polycarbonate (PC) also blocks some UV so is better for your eyes. Just make sure it’s got a coating or it will be all scratched in no time.

ahh bit of googling and you can find some UK places with lots of choice: eg http://www.sportsprescriptionglasses.co.uk/

lots more. Just probably going to pay a ‘sports premium’ compared to safety specs.

edit again 😉 example of the light reactive lenses you wanted: http://www.sports-sunglasses-eyewear.co.uk/html/body_specs_light-reacting.html

Do the bolles scratch as easily as the standard ones? I use Bolles for cycling in but only because they’re so cheap I can just bin them when they scratch, which they do very very easily. Great apart from that.

I used an old pair, close scrip for riding. have jimmy’d a strap round the back to keep them from slipping off my nose on super tech descents.

What you want is these… http://bit.ly/A43HPy

And these… http://bit.ly/wb3hOa

I’ve been using WileyX (AirRage, I think) frames with prescription lenses for 3 or 4 years. I got the Transitions (photochromatic) lenses and like them a lot. Everyone’s head is different, so don’t underestimate the importance of being able to try them on in person before you buy.

I’ve used Optilabs glasses for years. Good prices and Great customer service.

http://www.optilabs.com/

A nice light titanium frame, not too small. With polycarbonate reactions or transitions lenses.
The polycarbonate, is about 30% lighter than std lens. So whole thing very light. Will stay put nicely.
Speccies have free reactions at mo. polycarb and anti reflect is £40
Titanium frame £125 so £165 total.
Or go super cheap, £69 frame free reactions total £69.

Depends on how bad her eyesight is. Some Oakley frames will take prescription lenses, and IIRC Rudy Project and Adidas make bike sunnies that take prescription inserts. However, there are limits to the prescription that will work.

FWIW the optician I go to reckons that disposable contacts and normal bike glasses are the way forward – despite reservations about contacts, I’ve been doing this with no problems.

Andy

Oakleys are expensive..but for a reason.. they work, and work well. They sit well on your face, stop the most amount of watery eye itus.
I’ve had a few pairs of riding glasses now, Oakley 5’s, Rudy rideons and finaly Oakley Jawbones which are by far the best.

I never got on with inserts, they tended to fog up and get in the way of my vision.

Optilabs, good value and very helpful. Their Photochromic lenses change pretty quickly. They will even send frame samples out to you to try before you order.

I have a pair of prescription sunglasses bought from Zenni Optical. It worked very well when cycling, and only cost me $30. Except the tinted sunglasses, Zenni also provides the photochromic and Transitions ones. Both of the types are very functional and affordable. So maybe you can check out Zenni Optical.

Have 2 pairs of Bolle wraparounds (usually get last years models with the cheapest lens, ’cause I’m tight and will be throwing away the plain lens anyway :D), take ’em to my brother who fits my normal prescription lens into the frames (sunglasses and Transitions). He reckons all opticians can do it, but they’re a bit scared of scratching/chipping a new frame putting the lenses in, especially with a wraparound design. If you can convince them you won’t be upset by a possible scratch to the frame then any shop should do it for you – then you get the frame you want/that suits you!

Can work really well if you know somebody who likes the same glasses -you can flog them the spare lenses 😀

As Bampot writes above, the cheap solution is to buy a pair of sunglasses from TK Max or Decathlon (mine cost £9.99) then pop the dark lenses out and give them to a friendly optician, asking them to glaze them with the cheapest possible plastic lenses. They can tint them, make them vari-focal, reactolite or sell you a denser plastic, which will cost more but be thinner at the edges. But basic lenses shouldn’t cost more than £50 – £60 depending on the prescription. They can go quite wrap-around too. A still cheaper way would be to find who is the local backstreet technician, to whom all the opticians send their repairs and ask him if he has a pal who can make lenses. Once you start asking around it’s amazing what you will unearth.

+2 to Bampot/Globalti, a local optician did me a set of cheap wrap around sports frame with perscription/transition lenses for me as cheap as chips. As long as they have the ‘original’ lense to use as a template, they seemingly can re-glaze anything.
Though again as above I actually just use my “spares” during winter, as they clear better than the wrap arounds.

Any normal glasses will do nicely for most of the riding. I have ridden with normal glasses, contacts and prescription riding glasses and still use normal glasses for most of the riding. The only issue is that helmet straps will rub the surface on some fancier frames.
I do have prescription Oakleys but they are bit too dark and not exact match to my current prescription so I’m looking at either contacts and plain Oakleys again or getting new prescription Oakleys.

I have Oakley M Frame and ESS ICE with RX inserts for shooting and for work. They are both a bit heavy for mtb use, even the Oakleys tend to drift down my nose. I got a cheap ti frame from Tesco with thin lenses; nice and light so they usually stay put and the whole shebang cost less than a lens for the Oakleys.