Commuting - Biking in the rain: Glasses

So I wear glasses. Without them, my life is a blurry mess. Unfortunately, when biking in the rain, they get foggy and the droplets of rain make them very hard to see through, which is again a blurry mess. Any bespectacled bikers bearing good advice?

put the visor back on your helmet if it's off.
wear a baseball cap.
few drops of rain-x (for your windshield).

My visor never seemed to do much, so I just put on a baseball cap on and readjusted my helmet to fit over it. Even the cap isn't perfect, so I may try a cycling cap instead.

I've actually never had a problem with my glasses fogging up.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to order one of these next time I order stuff:
http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photos/medium/LG-WS.gif
Louis Garneau wind screen-velcro's to your helmet.

Personally I just wipe the front of my glasses with the terry on the thumb of my gloves. Might scratch though. My glasses have a Crizal coating so they pretty much don't scratch. If it's raining heavily I do have to wipe the backs occasionally; a pass of my finger usually does it. Maybe a visor'd helmet would help there. My next helmet will have a visor.

Cycling cap helps a lot in lighter rain. In heavy rain / downpour, there's not much you can do other than wipe 'em off with your fingers.

Get smaller glasses that won't trap as much moisture from your face, to reduce fogging. Or I guess you could try some of that anti-fogging stuff they sell for ski goggles.

Try a visor to keep the rain off. I'm not sure if rain-X will work. It will probably destroy any anti-glare coating your glasses may have.

Or I guess you could try some of that anti-fogging stuff they sell for ski goggles.

CAT CRAP!!!!

sorry just love the name of that stuff.

"uhh, do you sell, uhhh; cat crap???" :D

Cycling cap solved the rain-in-the-eyes problem for me. No problem wearing a helmet over that (and a hood in heavy downpour)

A visor or a cycle cap make a huge difference but road spray and fog arre still a problem. If you come up with a good solution let me know.
Craig

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to order one of these next time I order stuff:
http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photos/medium/LG-WS.gif
Louis Garneau wind screen-velcro's to your helmet.

I had one of these and didn't care for it. It didn't quite clear my glasses despite having very small rims, and they were very hot which caused fog. Plus the water on the shield was almost as bad as water on the glasses. The icebike website talks about Visorgogs as a similar solution. I still think these are only a solution for very cold weather to prevent tearing and would not be much help in warmer rains.
Craig

The best solution is laser surgery so you don't need glasses. Barring that you can use Rain-X on the outside face of your lenses to encourage the water to bead off and an anti-fog compound on the inside to reduce fogging. A front fender will help reduce splatter from below and a viso may help some with direct rain. I have not had much success with visors. Riding at any speed limits their effectiveness.

However, no matter what you do, riding in the rain with glasses is a pain.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to order one of these next time I order stuff:
http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photos/medium/LG-WS.gif
Louis Garneau wind screen-velcro's to your helmet.


Why does that pic make me think of Speed Racer?


Ski or paintball goggle antifog spray, e.g. Plexus®, works very well.
Dunno about RainX on glasses though.

The best solution is laser surgery so you don't need glasses.

I thought that until I read the articles on laser surgery in the latest issue of Sky & Telescope. The risks are still too high; there's even a nonzero chance of going completely blind, and the night vision loss risks are still up there high enough to not be ignored. As an amateur astronomer and nighttime bike rider, I kind of like being able to see at night without halos around bright objects and increased dark myopia.

These are not the usual outcome, but there are no guarantees. I wouldn't take laser surgery if they were giving it for free. It's still pretty expensive too. I get pretty expensive glasses at $600 but I wear them for about 6 to 8 years between getting new lenses (at $250) so it would take me several decades to equal what surgery costs. And I actually like wearing glasses.

Besides, even if your eyes are perfect, it's a bad idea to ride without protective lenses. I'd sooner ride without a helmet. I've never dinged my helmet, but I've certainly had my glasses deflect bugs, sand and one or two small stones.

I just wipe them off once in a while. I get used to looking through them, even though they are wet.

As for fog, other people's climates might work differently, but here in Atlanta during the winter, my glasses fog up at stop lights. I just pull them down my nose until I can get going again, which lets the cold air back behind them to defog. I think it's the heat and moisture from my face that causes the fog.

I found that my older, bigger-lensed glasses protect my eyes better than my smaller-lenses from particles and wind that makes me tear up.

I have perscription glasses and my work buys me perscription safety glasses each year. I use the old pair for my bike riding. I do not get fogging up unless I stop. Once I am moving again it clears up. The rain doesn't bother me much but I do slow down because of the visibility problem.

I was coming home just to do a search in this subject.

I don´t wear glasses, but today it was raining very hard, and I was getting hit by water drops on my eyes and I couldn´t see anything.
So I wore my ambar sunglasses. And I still couldn´t see anything.

The rain was almost horizontal, so the baseball hat might only help so far.

I might try that antifog spray. But that will only help with the fog.

What about the drops?
Any ideas?

I read in Bicycling magazine long ago that you can clean the lenses with gel toothpaste to help prevent fogging.

I don't wear corrective lenses and haven't ever tried it. The safety glasses I'm wearing nowadays don't have a problem with fogging.

What about prescription inserts in some cycling specific sunglasses?

I would love to do that but most cycling glasses are 100-200 dollars. Too costly for me.

I read in Bicycling magazine long ago that you can clean the lenses with gel toothpaste to help prevent fogging.

Be very carefull about using toothpaste as a cleaner, I wouldn't even try it. Toothpaste is an abrasive.

Cycling cap helps a lot in lighter rain. In heavy rain / downpour, there's not much you can do other than wipe 'em off with your fingers.

Yep. I completely agree. I always wear a cycling hat under my helmet and in light rain in can help a little, but beyond that, there's not much to be done.

When I get my new glasses fixed this weekend (long story) I'm going to see about putting some sort of coating on my old glasses and using them as my biking glasses (to keep my new ones from getting messed up or gross).

I've never tried this other than during the winter months, but..

Last winter I cut a blank piece of plastic used to make an over head for a presentation down the long axis. Then with clear box tape, tape it to the helmet. It kept all the rain and snow off my face, and out of my eyes. On the rare occasion when the plastic fogged, I tilded my head back a little more, and could see to the horizion. When it rained or snowed, a quick swipe of a finger over the plastic cleared it. I was surprised at how well water beaded on the plastic.

I also wear prescription glasses. This doesn't prevent my glasses from fogging at times. When they do fog, I take tem off. Fortunatly my vision is good enough that I can see clearly out to about 6-10 ft, beyond that my vision is good enough that I can avoid large objects (ie I turn away from any big blury things that seem to get larger as I move forward). I know my route well in the sun and the dark, so I know where all the bumps and hazzards are. When I have to ride next to cars, I hit the side walk and go slower.

Be very carefull about using toothpaste as a cleaner, I wouldn't even try it. Toothpaste is an abrasive.

That's the point. It is a very fine abrasive and polishes the lense surface. For droplets (the fog on glasses) to form from water vapor in the air, they need condensation nuclei, which is usually in the form of very small scratchs in the lens. Smooth out the scratchs (polishing using a fine abrasive such as gell toothpaste) and less condensation will develop.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to order one of these next time I order stuff:
http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photos/medium/LG-WS.gif
Louis Garneau wind screen-velcro's to your helmet.

Personally I just wipe the front of my glasses with the terry on the thumb of my gloves. Might scratch though. My glasses have a Crizal coating so they pretty much don't scratch. If it's raining heavily I do have to wipe the backs occasionally; a pass of my finger usually does it. Maybe a visor'd helmet would help there. My next helmet will have a visor.

They fog up badly I gave up using mine

That's the point. It is a very fine abrasive and polishes the lense surface. For droplets (the fog on glasses) to form from water vapor in the air, they need condensation nuclei, which is usually in the form of very small scratchs in the lens. Smooth out the scratchs (polishing using a fine abrasive such as gell toothpaste) and less condensation will develop.

The trouble is, many people have anti-reflective coatings which are very very fragile. There is no safe abrasive for these coatings.

The trouble is, many people have anti-reflective coatings which are very very fragile. There is no safe abrasive for these coatings.

Good point.

I tried Rain-X (still have the bottle), didn't work for me at all. I think it's effective only beyond a certain speed -- and how fast can you go in the rain, anyway.

here in oregon we ride fast and swerve back and forth...ride in-between the rain drops.

It seems to me that work related goggles, the old fashioned kind that can go over glasses, have a flat front that can be easier to wipe off and they will protect your real glasses from getting scratched up due to all the wiping. These goggles are usually perforated on the sides. Yes, I agree that a visor only goes so far. I went and cut up an old hat so that the visor part and some of the crown was all that was left of it. It attaches well enough and allows the helmet to be secure. This is as opposed to putting a baseball hat on and opening the helmet to the max, which compromises the ajustability that makes it safe.

prepare to be grossed out.

coming home on thursday night, i got so fogged up i almost went back to the way we used to handle fog on our swimming goggles masks when i was a kid: a bit of spit, mix with water, swirl, rinse. now that i'm grownup, i think i'll save it for a really desperate day.

My solution years ago....


LASIK.

(though not for everyone)

Contacts really aren't that much of a bother and they are much safer than laser eye surgery. I got them a couple years back and I've never been happier-I just wear my MEC Espresso Sunglasses over them (interchangeable lenses, so I use normal sunglasses on sunny days and clear lenses on rainy ones).

Other than that, I don't really have any suggestions.

Yikes- contacts. *shudders*

My solution years ago....


LASIK.

(though not for everyone)

I got mine in 2001 as did my husband and two of our daughters who were just 20 at the time. We all love it and have had no problems. My husband and I wore glasses since the third grade (we're both 50 now) and our twins since first grade. While our daughters did well with contacts, my husband and I never could get comfortable in them. Our oldest daughter apparently got the recessive genes for good eyesight as she needs no correction. Our son wears contacts and will likely get LASIK when he gets out of the Marines. He wasn't old enough to get it before he went in -- they want you to be at least 20 so that your eyes aren't still changing, I think. He's so bad about wearing contacts too long that the LASIK is sure to be better for his eyes.

I started wearing glasses in the 2nd grade, and needed 8 and 10 diopters of correction by the time I had LASIK surgery three years ago (I was very near sighted).

Now I am slightly far sighted in my left eye, and still a bit nearsighted in my right eye, most of the day. For an hour after I wake up I'm far sighted in my right eye also, until my cornea has had time to rebound from the nighttime compression from my eyelid. Now I can drive without glasses and I can read/use the computer (I'm a programmer) without glasses, which is better than my fifty year old compatriots who are starting to need reading glasses :).

The down side is that my vision without glasses is not as good as it was with glasses. I do have some glare problems with illuminated signs or just seeing in general in dim light. I have given up my childhood ambiton to get a nice telescope for astronomy, since I can't see true "points" of light anymore.

So the surgery has had some pluses and minuses for me. I knew what I was getting into and I'm pleased with the net result. I can actually fall asleep camping and looking at the stars. They aren't points of light, but before the surgery it was "what sky?". More importantly, I'm no longer a "two part" person -- I've cast off my wheelchair.

And it's true that walking/biking in the rain and something else are better without glasses.

Cat Crap, Cat Crap, Cat Crap. That and a cycling cap under your helmet.