Sunglasses

While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

On Sunday, September 22, 2019 at 1:10:46 PM UTC-5, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

If you are doing 40 mph, you must be going downhill most of the time.

Only time I got to 40 was going down a bridge.

Andy

On 9/22/2019 2:10 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

I've had excellent luck with "sunglasses" since I started riding avidly
in about 1973. But my "sunglasses" have always been my regular glasses
with photochromic lenses.

For me, it's just one less thing to worry about. These work with any
bike I ride, for day or night riding, they work with my home-made
eyeglass mirrors (one stored in each bike), they never get misplaced
because they're always in front of my eyes, they don't clash with my
street clothes nor my riding clothes, etc.

I suppose in almost five decades I've had a couple incidents of grit or
a small insect getting in my eye, but it's never been more than a minor
irritation, and it's been rare enough that I don't feel the need for
fancy special protection.

YMMV.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Sun, 22 Sep 2019 18:55:52 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 9/22/2019 2:10 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

I've had excellent luck with "sunglasses" since I started riding avidly
in about 1973. But my "sunglasses" have always been my regular glasses
with photochromic lenses.

For me, it's just one less thing to worry about. These work with any
bike I ride, for day or night riding, they work with my home-made
eyeglass mirrors (one stored in each bike), they never get misplaced
because they're always in front of my eyes, they don't clash with my
street clothes nor my riding clothes, etc.

I suppose in almost five decades I've had a couple incidents of grit or
a small insect getting in my eye, but it's never been more than a minor
irritation, and it's been rare enough that I don't feel the need for
fancy special protection.

YMMV.

I don;t wear glasses for normal vision - only when things get too
close - but have been quiter happy with "safety glasses. They are
shaped to provide eye safety, i.e., heep the crud out of the eyes, and
seem to have rasonably good sun protection. AND, are nrmally quite
reasonible in price :-)
see
https://www.amazon.com/GaoCold-Outdo...9194420&sr=1-6
--
cheers,

John B.

On Mon, 23 Sep 2019 06:23:07 +0700, John B.
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Sep 2019 18:55:52 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 9/22/2019 2:10 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

I've had excellent luck with "sunglasses" since I started riding avidly
in about 1973. But my "sunglasses" have always been my regular glasses
with photochromic lenses.

For me, it's just one less thing to worry about. These work with any
bike I ride, for day or night riding, they work with my home-made
eyeglass mirrors (one stored in each bike), they never get misplaced
because they're always in front of my eyes, they don't clash with my
street clothes nor my riding clothes, etc.

I suppose in almost five decades I've had a couple incidents of grit or
a small insect getting in my eye, but it's never been more than a minor
irritation, and it's been rare enough that I don't feel the need for
fancy special protection.

YMMV.

I don;t wear glasses for normal vision - only when things get too
close - but have been quiter happy with "safety glasses. They are
shaped to provide eye safety, i.e., heep the crud out of the eyes, and
seem to have rasonably good sun protection. AND, are nrmally quite
reasonible in price :-)
see
https://www.amazon.com/GaoCold-Outdo...9194420&sr=1-6

Goodness, the selling checker must be broke :-(
--
cheers,

John B.

On 9/22/2019 6:55 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/22/2019 2:10 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the
eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris
that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are
especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or
more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been
thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough
to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at
critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now
of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I
cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too
small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and
out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes
the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California
roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable
to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy
wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several
spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now
breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any
improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the
uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with
the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics
can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of
peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one
would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the
speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

I've had excellent luck with "sunglasses" since I started riding avidly
in about 1973. But my "sunglasses" have always been my regular glasses
with photochromic lenses.

For me, it's just one less thing to worry about. These work with any
bike I ride, for day or night riding, they work with my home-made
eyeglass mirrors (one stored in each bike), they never get misplaced
because they're always in front of my eyes, they don't clash with my
street clothes nor my riding clothes, etc.

I suppose in almost five decades I've had a couple incidents of grit or
a small insect getting in my eye, but it's never been more than a minor
irritation, and it's been rare enough that I don't feel the need for
fancy special protection.

YMMV.

BTW, I'm just back from a short ride to visit a friend. I went there in
daylight, returned in dark. Same glasses, no problem.

Also, it's so nice to have a powerful dynamo light ready at a click.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Sunday, 22 September 2019 14:10:46 UTC-4, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

I use these OVER my prescription eyeglasses. These sunglasses had tinted side pieces as well that block the sun when you're riding at right angles or close to right angles of the sun. They work very well too when riding bright to shade to bright to shade...

The yellow lenses ones are a real blessing to have on when a car with those super bright blue tinted headlights approaches me. Also help a lot when meeting an oncoming bicyclist with a ridiculously bright font light.

These sunglasses are pretty durable too.

https://www.gianttiger.com/product/804919.do

Cheers

On Sunday, September 22, 2019 at 7:02:39 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/22/2019 6:55 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/22/2019 2:10 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the
eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

On a bike you need them to shield the eyes from wind and road debris
that might be kicked up from passing cars or the wind. They are
especially important descending when you can be traveling 40 mph or
more in the open air.

This used to be pretty well understood but it seems to have been
thrown aside. None of the reasonably priced glasses are large enough
to prevent a windstorm pulling around your glasses and blinding you at
critical times.

The glasses that used to work well - Oakley, Bolle and Smith are now
of breath-taking expense and they TOO are now reducing their sizes. I
cannot even find a Bolle Contour anymore. Even the $200 Oakley is too
small.

Another thing - as a cyclist you often ride from light to shadow and
out into the bright sunlight again. Heavily tinted sunglasses makes
the road turn totally invisible in these shadow conditions. California
roads filled with potholes and broken whiskey bottles are not amiable
to having your sight hindered. On the first ride on a set of 600 Campy
wheels I ran over a missing utility road opening and broke several
spokes and could barely make it home. I had it repaired but it now
breaks spokes so regularly that I no longer use it.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any
improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

One would think that the Chinese who are generally really fast on the
uptake would jump on this market but they too are both skimping with
the size of the lens and even worse yet the optical characteristics
can have you seeing double.

And the latest fad of very wide side pieces can rob you entirely of
peripheral vision.

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one
would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the
speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

I've had excellent luck with "sunglasses" since I started riding avidly
in about 1973. But my "sunglasses" have always been my regular glasses
with photochromic lenses.

For me, it's just one less thing to worry about. These work with any
bike I ride, for day or night riding, they work with my home-made
eyeglass mirrors (one stored in each bike), they never get misplaced
because they're always in front of my eyes, they don't clash with my
street clothes nor my riding clothes, etc.

I suppose in almost five decades I've had a couple incidents of grit or
a small insect getting in my eye, but it's never been more than a minor
irritation, and it's been rare enough that I don't feel the need for
fancy special protection.

YMMV.

BTW, I'm just back from a short ride to visit a friend. I went there in
daylight, returned in dark. Same glasses, no problem.

Also, it's so nice to have a powerful dynamo light ready at a click.

Powerful dynamo light is kind of an oxymoron. It is nice not to have to remember to recharge, though. I'm going to resurrect mine after locating an appropriate bar mount. Oddly, the CF forks on may Cannondale CAADX commuter don't have a bolt hole in the front of the fork crown -- only the rear. I'm thinking of getting out the drill.

Fifty miles today almost all in the driving rain. Prescription glasses through which I could barely see much of the time. Sunglasses were not a requirement.

On Saturday, I was wearing prescription sunglasses, although I do have some cheap Chinese knock off Oakleys I wear with contacts on rare occasion. If Tom wants bigger glasses, go with Peter Sagan's 100 Percent. https://tinyurl.com/y2dmm3at My son has a pair he got pro deal or super-cheap for some reason, maybe when he was working on Tour of Utah. I forget the story. He likes them.

-- Jay Beattie.

On 23/9/19 4:10 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
While sunglasses are usually valued for their ability to shade the
eyes from glare that is not the first use of them on a bike.

It is for me. Protection from debris is secondary.

The polarized glasses I've used do not seem to provide any
improvements. Though the blue tinted ones seem to be a happy medium.

I use a pair of polarised Bolle sunglasses for both cycling and fishing.
They work fine for me.

--
JS

Am 22.09.2019 um 20:10 schrieb Tom Kunich:

I bought several pairs of $2 Chinese sunglasses in the hope that one would work. One was Tifosi and it is pretty good as long as I keep the speed below 30. Another is an unnamed brand.

Has anyone had any good luck with sunglasses lately?

I'm quite happy with those
https://www.aldi-sued.de/de/angebote...ille-05082019/

Cheapo, close to the eyes. Only problem is that they now have a rounded
frame rather than the rectangular of earlier years, so my take-a-look
doesn't fit any more.

But the 40 mph on the weekend I just did without any sunglasses on, the
midges season is over.