Who wears glasses ?

Caravan Monster

Caravan Monster

New member
Riding in the winter, with the cold air and damp atmosphere, it's a big problem for people who wear glasses because they fog up so easily. When I was younger, I could get away with taking off my glasses on tougher terrain, but as the years pass and my sight deteriorates, my vision is no longer good enough to pick lines without the help of my glasses. This problem ruined what should have been a good day trailriding yesterday (it was snowing a little) and I am now set on finding a good solution.

Fog is caused when the air temperature cools the surface of glasses. The warm, damp air of exhaled breath is either blown back on to the surface, or else deflects off the chin piece of the helmet, and the warm air instantly condenses on the surface of the glasses.

I'm going to try wearing a trials helmet and see if that helps. Ideally, I would like to be able to wear goggles over my glasses.

Has anyone else had experience of this problem ? Any successful solutions ?
 
I have had glasses for all of my 35 riding years.

Glasses years back actually had glass lenses. The advantage of glass is rain x on the outside reallly works well. Today I have been able to order a set of glasses at Walmart. I then use rain x on the ourside and a scott no fog cloth on the inside. The glasses I purchased have a solid bridge so my eyes do not water at speed in thecold air. This set up is very similar to what I used in the 80"s. Yes my wife does not let me wait this pair of glasses in public:).

For the 20 years since I could not find glass lenses I use plastic. Again rain x on the outside and no fog on the inside. The problem is rain x only works so good on plastic. No fog on the other hand works better on plastic. With plastic lenses I tend to buy glasses with nose pads. This allows a small amount of air to pass keeping the glasses from fogging as easily. With the nose pads my eyes will water from the air flow if it is cold. I use goggles over these glasses. I like Oakley OTG L series. Pull out all the foam - Top, bottom, sides. Use a quick strap so I can pull them off and on easily

Helmet. Pull the foam out of the center mouth piece hole. When ever I get a helmet or try new ones I exhale quickly to see if it fogs the glasses. I have had to modify the debri deflectors on a number of helmets since they would take the exhaled air and push it right into my glasses. Helmets made for snowmobiling actually have a deflector that keeps all aire below your nose by sealling on your nose. I have found this too restrictive for dirt biking but you get the idea.
 
I gave up on glasses. I started using prescription inserts in my goggles last year. Awesome! At least now when I fog up so is everyone else. I do carry an old pair of glasses in my back pack in case I trash my goggles.
 
dgstandard said:
I use disposable contact lenses. Works like a charm!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the optician says contact lenses cannot be used to correct my vision. (And I'm not planning on having the surface of my eyeball peeled back and lasers fired in there :eek: )

Thanks for the suggestions - please keep them coming !

I am considering spending some time and money on this and working through the available options in a methodical manner to determine the best solution.
 
Lasik for me too at 40 yrs. old. One of the best moves I ever made. Made life as a firefighter and dirt biker much easier.
 
dgstandard said:
I use disposable contact lenses. Works like a charm!
Click to expand...

works for me too - went to my optician and discussed the issues. she said just get the disposables. i have astigmatism, and she wrote me a generic script for distance (something about my astigmatism would make contacts very expensive/unavailable...) - she said these will work, but will be no fun for closeup stuff. i bought a 30 day supply of the 1 day disposable contacts via mail order. costs about $30.00. i put a pair in for races every sunday. my 30 day supply lasts about a year. no fog. no hassles. took one race to get used to them. best $1.00 a race ever spent. no more fogging. the only dilemma i've found is now i cannot remove my googles, and rely on my glasses to protect. i stash a pair of cheap safety glasses so i can toss my goggles if the rolloffs jam or goggles get unbearable.
 
I too wear glasses. Usually when I ride though contacts are a savor. But I find anti fog for Paintball masks works extremely well. Good for goggles too.
 
I have ridden with glasses all my life. I have really bad vision and Lasik is out according to the doc. Tried contacts, but they are too uncomfortable with the astigmatisim I have. OTG goggles don't work either, the vibration I get is intollerable.

The best thing I have done for riding with glasses on is to buy an Arai XD1. I use the sheild for woods riding just like on a sportbike helmet. I usually have to leave it cracked open slightly to prevent fogging, but still have adequate protection. If the conditions are really bad, you can crack it open a little further until the fog goes away.
 
Another thing that works great as a anti-fog for both glasses and goggles is shaving cream. Spray it on wipe it off and your good to go. :)
 
THere is supposed to be a new Anti-Fog spray from Bausch&Loam.

I havent checked it out yet.......:confused:
 
although i have no first hand experience of this process....
i know a guy who had the clear part of his eye peeled back and a 'contact lense' was inserted and then the clear covering was put back in place.
he called them permanent contacts.
the advantages are that as your vision changes, new lenses can be installed.
they dont have any maintenance issues. they dont reshape your actual eye so they cant make an error in the lens spec.
also he had one eye set for reading and one eye set for distant viewing.
that is probably weird but he said he adjusted to it in one week.
i wonder if they make progressive contact lenses, like the progressive glasses that have three perscriptions in one??
 
I bought some pro-grip goggles because I had read many times they are the best for fog-free,but I can fog-em just as easy as the smiths I've worn forever. Best thing I've tried yet is to tear all the foam out.seemed to work great last fall. Plan on trying the haber defogger system this season. I'll post my experience.
 
mcnut said:
I gave up on glasses. I started using prescription inserts in my goggles last year. Awesome! At least now when I fog up so is everyone else. I do carry an old pair of glasses in my back pack in case I trash my goggles.
Click to expand...
Prescription lens goggles are the only pair of goggles I ever remember losing. Go figure. I've worn glasses since my teens many decades ago. When it's cold, I take the foam out of the goggles and that does very well at keeping them from fogging. When it's dusty, I put on a pair that has foam. Fortunately, it's either foggy or dusty, but seldom both, so it's worked for me for 40 years of racing/riding. Throw on a few tearoffs when it's really bad and you are peering through several layers, but still better than nothing but glasses. Dick Burleson rode to eight national championships with no goggles, but I couldn't do either. :mad:
 
Thanks Swazi Matt for the info on Haber Vision. The Eliminator fan module will fit most goggles. They also sell the MXT goggle/Eliminator Combo for $75 bucks. You can get double of single lenses for the MXT for $8 and $5. Plus for $25 U can get the MXT optical insert, which U take to your 0ptician and have them put your prescription lens in.
They seem to have everything covered, and for very good discounted prices.
 
Thanks for all the replies on this thread. I'm now using a quick strap on my goggles, with the foam removed, anti fog spray and the gauze removed from the chin vent on my helmet. These simple changes have more or less stopped my glasses and goggles from fogging. I'm going to find out if the habervision extractor fan is available in the UK for next winter.

Keep the replies coming, hopefully others will find this thread to be a helpful reference :cool:
 
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