I've always had to take the glasses off to get a full face lid on and off. Needing some new glasses, so I am. But just bought tyres, not sure I can afford glasses.... I like the look of those earlier in the thread with no things that wrap round your ears. May have to take out a mortgage though.
I tried varifocals but like you everything was curved. A line of print was like a banana and curled up at both ends of the sentence, not for me.
I have varifocals. Years ago only for reading (the top was pure glass), now I have developed astigmatism so the top part is rx for nearsightness and the bottom for farsightedness. This IMO is the worst possible scenario for people with vision problems. The trick with varifocals is quality: for example Zeiss (or similar) high quality varifocal lenses have a larger tunnel at the bottom which makes head tilting less of a problem. Sadly very expensive.
Even before varifocal lenses I have had that problem. Because I'm that short sighted, before these lightweight materials my glasses were like jam jar bottoms. Trying to check for straight level lines in things can be very interesting. I started wearing them when I was 14. I was shortsighted before that, but nobody noticed. I used to make scale models, very fine detail, which of course I could see perfectly from close up. I said to mother that I needed some glasses, and she said that if I could see to make those models there was nothing wrong with my eyesight! The thing I remember most vividly was, after failing the eye test at school and getting glasses, the dog actually had individual hairs, and wasn't just an amorphous blob. Trees had leaves too.... Funny what you get used to. I am very pleased with the flip front lid, makes life so much easier. Its an avg one.
Thankfully Sandy my youngest was diagnosed needing glasses much younger than you. I recall the childminder chastising him for walking under her feet all the time near main roads but in actual fact I now believe it was a lack of depth perception i.e. kerb edges etc. To avoid conflict with helmets I feel the answer is partly in the blades of the glasses, some are quite pointy, good, others have a blob like end, bad.
See the earlier cooments I wear both types, flip up and full face, both are Nolans, and I think you should take your glasses off before putting the helmet on, then put your glasses on afterwards to prevent any damage to the spectacles.
My brother was too... He was late walking cos he couldn't see. Mother (ever the observant one) picked up on that one day when she said 'look at that big red bus' and brother went "what bus?" He's way more shortsighted than I am, and 10 years older than me. Thought dear mother might have learned something, but no. Agreed re the ends of the glasses. The straight arms should fit in easier. I don't know how I'd get on with them though, as I really need them to bend round my lugs, had the bridge of my nose, err, 'remodelled' by a well aimed Glesca kiss*. Glasses just constantly slip down. *I wouldn't mind, but he had got the wrong person. He apologised after.
So to make things clearer (for me) what is the problem when putting on a full face helmet while wearing glasses? Does the chin guard knock down the glasses? I am asking because I seem unable to find a flip front helmet that I like...
@The Viking Nowadays I love tight bends and cornering on my bike, I was the fastest kid on the street when I just left school and got my Gilera moped and I got an unknown to me reputation for riding into bends fast.... WHAT FOKKING BEND??? Argh!!!! Nipped my arse up more than I dare to admit so on went the ‘just for TV specs’ permanently!! I realised that I had to wear my specs for riding. On another note for those new to varios, LOOK OUT FOR DOG SHIT ON CANALS!! You kinda slip on that sort of out-of-focus mush!! Make sure if you need variable focus lenses that your speedo is still in focus as opticians will guide you toward book reading and table work rather than driving. Another thing, sports bikes and glasses can be hard work as more weight is placed over the front and more sensations go direct through your arms/shoulders and jolt your vision more in your helmet. Keep visor closed if possibly so your glasses don’t steam up when cold. T junctions and ‘life saver’ views can distort vision drastically as your neck muscles strain the alignment on your glasses. Not much to remember then?!
I put my helmet on (full face Shoei) with glasses off. You obviously then need to feed the legs down each side. Pointy legs work but over time the hinges get sprained slowly but surely. Previously I had two pairs of normal use glasses and so kept one pair specifically for the bike due to the above issue.
I have replaced my Bell stock visor, which is vertical, close to the face, with a Bob Heath wraparound visor, as above, which is farther from the face. This makes putting the helmet on whilst wearing glasses very easy. I was hoping to find a solution with a full face, since there's no way I would put my glasses on and off every time I stop. I don't believe flip-ups are much safer than open-face helmets.....
[QUOTE="BoredFish, post: 376894, member: 10885" I don't believe flip-ups are much safer than open-face helmets.....[/QUOTE] Interesting point as I never viewed open face as a sensible option for the road. I do have open face foroff road however.
Glasses are a pain but as I’ve had to wear them for the last 60+ years I’ve figured out how to live with them and motorbikes bring their own special delights for spectaclists!! When buying helmets I take my glasses to try helmets rather than buy a helmet and then taking that to the opticians for frames. Depending on the shape of your head some helmets just don’t work with glasses. Frame wise the thinner the better... particularly the arms as you need to have that ‘corner of the eye’ vision to be aware of traffic at the periphery of your vision whilst looking straight ahead at where you going. The best example is on the slip lane joining a busy motorway where everything is going fast, you can’t stop and you need to be looking in two different directions at once... this is where your vision out of the helmet is important as your head doesn’t swivel enough to see past the visor slit... glasses make it harder which why thick solid frames are a bad idea. I use varifocals mostly, which are potentially worse as unless looking straight ahead I’m looking through the part of the lens which is mid distance and slightly distorted... so have a pair of monofocal if I know I’m going to be on busy roads with angled slip roads or junctions. Downside to monofocal is the instruments aren’t as clear and I can’t read the card machine when paying for fuel !! ... Helmet wise I actually prefer my Shoei J Cruise open face with its full clear flip visor and drop down internal sun visor ... my field of vision is far superior to that when using my Schuberth C3 Pro but of course it’s swings and roundabouts for safety issues.... both helmets are very comfortable with glasses and the Schuberth has the advantage of the flip front meaning you don’t have to take your glasses on and off as you would with a full face helmet. I seem to get by with this for riding but try and get glasses with the thinnest frames and arms that you’re comfortable with... hope helpful
Old age means that I now have to use varifocals, but as I am very short-sighted I always carry a spare pair of specs. The spares are single vision, photochromic, with straight sides, and serve as my riding glasses.
I normally use bifocals but im tempted to buy single vision next for motorcycling. Bifocals are fine but often mislead your peripheral vision into thinking something is there or the depth perception is incorrect due to seeing it subconsciously in the higher magnified section. My first bifocals had to go back as with a distant top and reading lower my car driving was excessively in the middle of the road. The nearside wall wasnt as close as it appeared so I was potentially putting the car in a dangerous position for oncoming cars on small roads. For me distance and intermediates work fine although you sometimes get funny looks in restaurants with the menu at full stretch (with glasses on ).
Hi, I have both a flip front and open face helmets, and each has a sun visor that slides up and down as needed. Where I wear my specs I invariably wack the top of them when I lower a sun visor, so have to push the specs up my nose to an uncomfortable position. And no, I don’t have a big nose. Also have problems with spec lenses steaming up with breath, usually when going slow. Most times I can ride without specs but just struggle to make out anything on the speedo face. I’ve just sent for replacement goggles that fit over specs as the last pair blew away because the helmets don’t have a securing tag at the back anymore, probably ‘cause not many use goggles these days. Ken.
Interesting point as I never viewed open face as a sensible option for the road. I do have open face foroff road however.[/QUOTE] Interesting point....people keep telling me, sensible people don’t ride motorcycles! Ken.
Oh dear.. if the visors are catching your specs it must be wrong helmet ... as I put in my earlier post both the Schuberth flip front and Shoei open face are entirely comfortable with specs and not had any problem with getting in the way of the visors... trouble though with helmets is that they can get expensive so unless you need a new one and can afford one that fits comfortably with specs you may end up compromising in some way... I tried some ‘over the glasses’ goggles when I bought a Bell 500 open face and these were designed to be worn attached around your head inside the helmet... they were awfully uncomfortable and the helmet pushed them down against my glasses and nose ... I tried them outside the helmet and they were just as bad... may have been the Bell helmet which wasn’t comfortable even without the goggles so invested in the more expensive Shoei with the built in visors.