In most states, motorcycle eye protection is required by law.
Having the right motorcycle eyewear can make the difference between a
great day on the road, or one that will make you wish you were home
long before you're ready.
Selecting the right motorycycle eyewear is one of the hardest choices
to make. There are literally hundreds of choices in all price ranges.
There are hundreds of styles
and quality varies widely. All these choices combine to make it very
hard to select the product that is right for you.
In this article I want to help you get a better understanding
of all of the choices and what factors you should consider when
choosing. The choices
can be boiled down to 10 basic points that are each outlined below.
These same points apply to both regular motorcycle eyewear and
presription motorcycle eyewear.
1. Frame Types
Goggles vs. Glasses – When it comes to
motorcycle riding, the type of helmet you wear and whether you use a
windshield are a primary influencers of your decision. In general if
you wear a full face helmet, 1/2 or 3/4 helmet with faceshield,
motorcycle sunglasses are the preferred choice. If you don't use a
windshield and faceshield then goggles would be your preferred option.
The obvious reason is because you don’t run the risk of losing the
motorcycle eyewear in the wind if a serious wind gust or bump occurres
during your ride. A number of motorcycle sunglasses are coming on the
market that either convert to goggles, or have an adjustable strap
option.
Metal vs. Plastic/Nylon Frames – If you’re opting to go with
sunglasses, the best choice here is going to be a plastic or nylon
frame. Metal frames don’t hold up to the rigors of travel and can get
bent repeatedly during storage and while taking them on or off. When
selecting eyewear for riding, look for plastic or nylon frame
construction.
Contured/Aerodynamic Design – Look for glasses or goggles with
a contoured bend to go with your head. This means you’ll cut down the
amount of air and debris that can come between you and the lens and
also cut the chance of reflection on the internal side of the lens.
2. Lens Type and Quality
Glass vs. Polycarbonate –
Polycarbonate hands down. Most states that require eye protection do
not consider glass acceptable. Glass shattering during a strike from an
oncoming object such as a rock, gravel or bird can render your lens
useless and leave you blind. Polycarbonate is a shatterproof compound
that will deflect objects as detrimental as a fired bullet.
Optical Quality – Optical Quality is critical to vision fatigue
and damage to your eyesight. The five dollar blue-block eyewear that
John Doe sells on the side of the road is probably made of low grade
plastic and obscures the image enough to cause damage and fatigue while
you ride. Stay clear of these cheap sunglasses. To check for this,
simply hold the lens a few feet from you and see if the vision is
distorted vertically or horizontally.
3. Lens Size
Those small lenses may look cool, but provide little eye coverage. The
bigger the lenses the better when it comes to your motorcycle eye wear.
4. Lens Coatings
There are all kinds of lens coatings. Let’s take a brief look at the important ones and how they affect your ride.
UV (Ultra-Violet) – The most standard coating of all which
protects your eyes from the rays of the sun. If you don’t see eyewear
clearly marked with a UV mention, pass on it. Even clear lenses should
have UV protection.
Scratch Resistant – If I’m riding all day your motorcycle
eyewear will be on and off more than a dozen times. Inevitably the
glasses are dropped. Once a lenses are scratched they will impair your
vision – ever so slightly, but enough to cause fatigue. Look for lenses
with a scratch resistant coating. This doesn’t mean you can grind them
into the ground with your boot and they’ll still work great. Remember
that they are SCRATCH RESISTANT not SCRATCH PROOF.
Non-Reflective Inside Coating – With normal glasses your skin
can reflect on the inside of the lenses. This will really mess up your
eyes when you’re riding. A non-reflective coating eliminates this and
is usually only found on eyewear about $75 and above. You can spot a
non-reflective coating because it shows up as a purple hue on the
inside of the lens. As long as your frame has a good contoured wrap,
the reflection will be greatly reduced without the need to find eyewear
with a non-reflective coating.
Polarized Coating – You’ve probably been in a situation where
you were riding directly into the sun, or got blinded by a puddle of
water. Polarized coatings greatly reduce glare and allow you to see in
the most blinding conditions. Up until recently you had to pay through
the nose for this luxury, but technology and popularity have brought
the cost down on this option. Get it.
Anti-Fog – Sounds like a nice idea. And in many cases it works
very well. However in full face helmets, the coatings don't work. One
important consideration about Anti-Fog coatings is that they will
eventually come off of the lenses after several cleanings. For that
reason it is a good idea to find a combination cleaner and anti-fog
coating compound that you can apply to your lenses. There are serveral
brands available
such as CatGutz and Zooke.
Transitional Light Adjusting – Transitional lenses work by reading the
UV light and adjusting the lens color to provide better more shading in
bright conditions, leses during moments of low light levels (such as
riding into a tunnel). True transitional lenses are found on high end
priced eyewear and may not suit you if you’re the type who losses
glasses every six months. The option is to go with interchangeable lens
motorcycle glasses or goggles. Usually these will contain a minimum of
clear, smoked and amber lenses which cover most situations and are a
cheaper option to the transitional lenses.
5. Lens Colors
Depending on the time of day and
conditions you can utilize a number of lens types to enhance your
vision. As mentioned above, touring multi-lens setups provide a good
option to dealing with various conditions during a given ride.
Clear – A clear polycarbonate lens means you’ll be able to
operate your bike legally at night, when tinted lenses are deemed
illegal otherwise in many states. These also come in handy during rainy
moments when a tinted lens hinders your ability to see.
Yellow/Amber – A yellow or amber lens increases your depth
perception during foggy and low light conditions. These are kind of fun
to drive around with at night as it gives you the feeling you’re out
performing some secret military mission for the armed forces – even
though you’re not.
Grey/Smoke – Grey lenses provide the truest picture of the
actual light you are seeing, while providing respite from the high
light levels of a sunny day.
Green/Blue/Brown and all other colors – Eyewear can come in a
variety of other lens color choices. The choice is yours, but remember
you’re not getting the real picture if that’s critical to you, rather a
tweaked out Technicolor view of the world outside.
6. Fitment
Your eyewear has to fit right. It’s no fun pushing glasses half way back up your nose as you roll down the highway at 60 m.p.h.
Ear Tips – How the eyewear rests on your ears is critical. Look
for frames that are comfortable – not too loose, not to tight. Have you
ever felt the ear tips of your glasses grind into your temples when you
put them on through a full face helmet? An unpleasant experience indeed
so look for ear tips that point outward at the end.
Nose Piece – Find a set of glasses that have a comfortable nose piece.
Adjustable nose pieces are okay and may be necessary as you’ll see in
the next section. A nose piece should not leave indentations behind
after you remove your eyewear.
Eye Coverage – The more coverage around the eyes the better.
When trying on different glasses, you may notice some will slide down
your nose and allow light to enter through a crack between your eye
brows and the top of the eyewear. Not good. Eyewear with an adjustable
nose piece will provide you the needed option to get the glasses
further up your nose and seal the light gap.
7. Prescription Lenses
If you’re near sighted and need prescription glasses to ride you’re in luck. There are three options for you!
Custom Lenses – the obvious option is to have custom lenses
ground and put into the frames by the manufacturer. A number of them
will do that now. Typical cost for the service ranges from $75 to $150.
Some examples are:
Custom Inserts – There are a number of touring glasses on the market
with interchangeable lenses. Custom lenses can be created for these
models as well.
Goggle over glasses – Many motorcycle eyewear manufacturers
have developed goggles, that are large enough to allow you the ability
to place them over your prescription eyewear.
Right: Glasses that offer to ability to include your prescription in
an insertable frame behind the main lenses offers the great ability to
have interchangeable lenses and the cost savings of only having to buy
a single set of prescription lenses. A couple of good examples of these
are:
8. Lens Care
When you’re out riding your eyewear is getting
exposed to far more dirt, dust and your own hand oils, than if you were
driving a car. Keeping the eyewear clean is critical to insuring your
vision is the best it can be every time you ride.
Cleaning Cloths – Micro fiber cleaning cloths are the best
material to clean your lenses with. The cloth is such that dirt can
imbed itself into the cloth so you don’t scratch your lenses as you
wipe them. A cotton handkerchief does not allow the same absorption of
dirt. Never, never use paper towels or any other paper products such as
napkins to clean your lenses. It’s a surefire road to scratching your
eyewear and ruining it forever. Wash micro fiber cleaning clothes
regularly by hand with mild soap and water.
Soap and Water – Mild soap and water is a good way to remove layers
of body oils, suntan lotion, face moisturizer and other residues that
can build up on your lenses. This is a good thing to do each day you
ride. DO NOT resort to ammonia based cleaners such as Windex because
these have the ability to rip through the microscopic coatings such as
the UV, polarized and tint layers placed on the lenses by the
manufacturer.
Plastic Cleaners – Because your eyewear is made of
polycarbonate, you can successfully use a quality plastic CLEANER such
as those on the market by Griot’s Garage, Meguiar’s and Honda. Noticed
I capitalized "cleaner." These companies also make scratch removers for
plastic windshields which are not appropriate for your eyewear’s
coatings.
9. Storage
Storing your eyewear properly will make it last longer.
Cases – For the kind of full wrap eyewear we’re discussing here, hard
cases are out of the question. You can however purchase soft padded
nylon cases at most outdoor shops with an external clip that will allow
you to clip the case to a number of places on your person or bike.
These cases should be cleaned out each season you ride so as to remove
any harsh dirt that may have found its way inside. Get a case that’s
big enough to store both your eyewear and a small micro fiber cleaning
cloth. Most interchangeable lens touring sets come with their own case.
Pouches – A pouch made out of micro fiber material is a simpler
way to go. You kill two birds with one stone by providing storage for
your eyewear and the ability to clean it all in one piece. Micro fiber
pouches should be washed in mild soap and water every season you ride
to insure they remain clean and won’t scratch your lenses.
10. Price Ranges
Quality eyewear doesn’t have to cost a lot. In fact, when it comes to motorcycling, it shouldn’t. Let’s look at a few ranges.
$5 to $20 – Eyewear in this range typically comes with poor
optical quality and is manufactured to last a short time. Not
recommended.
$20 to $200 – This is the recommended range to be looking for
eyewear in. The variations such as frame versatility, lenses coatings,
interchangeable options and lens tints are all factors in just how much
a set of glasses or goggles will cost.
$200 plus – Unless a product in this range features
transitional lenses or contain prescription lenses, it’s likely you’re
paying too much for what you’re getting. It’s time to look at less
expensive options with the same features. After all, you’ll be using
your eyewear under some extreme conditions such as riding into a dust
storm, or simply just dropping them on the ground now and then as you
put your gloves and helmet on. If you ride year around, 12 months maybe
all your eyewear will last before the lenses show signs of wear, so why
sink a boatload of cash into the purchase.
Jeff "Tools" Sinason is a long time motorcycle enthusiats. Being a
motorcycle nut, he has run into all kinds of conditions and ridden
through them unscathed. He is the owner of
Bikerwares which is a site dedicated to Enjoying the Ride.
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