Who wears glasses ?
 

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.

I use disposable contact lenses. Works like a charm!

Lasik solved my problem.
Rode with glasses for 25 years and said enough is enough.

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.

You're a braver man than me :cool:

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.

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.