Fifty Plus (50+) - People who wear glasses - what do you do when it's raining ?

This question has probably been asked before but riding in the rain while wearing glasses can be a real pain, especially on a hot muggy day. Anybody have any ideas ?

I just take mine off and blink alot.

I just take mine off and blink alot.
I wish. The coke bottle I have on the left side means that I can't see much of anything beside or behind me from my left shoulder without my glasses. I can see well enough without them looking straight ahead but my peripheral vision on the left side is a real problem. Maybe I could wear a monocle with a wiper blade on it ?

I just keep wiping, but I live in the desert and don't have to deal with it much.
There's a product called Rain-X, made for car windshields, that makes water bead up. I've used it on my cars for years and usually can drive though anything with the wipers either off or on intermittent--the water just blows away. You might try that--costs about $6 a bottle now (a year's supply for two cars), and you'll love it on the windshield even if it doesn't work on the glasses.

I wish. The coke bottle I have on the left side means that I can't see much of anything beside or behind me from my left shoulder without my glasses. I can see well enough without them looking straight ahead but my peripheral vision on the left side is a real problem. Maybe I could wear a monocle with a wiper blade on it ?

You should market that idea :lol:

"Rain-X is not an anti-fog chemical. It is designed to make water droplets slide together in a sheeting action and blow off. I have used it on motorcycle helmet shields and it does NOTHING for anti-fogging, although it does make droplets blow off at 70MPH if you turn your head sideways.":lol:

it also appears to remove any anti-reflective coating off of plastic lenses as well.

I just ride. When the water gets in the way, I wipe it off. That's why they put that terrycloth on the thumbs of bike gloves.

I take mine off. With my astigmatism I can't read any signs at all, but I can still see stoplights and cars just fine. I guess I'd be screwed if I didn't know my way around town.

I wear a lightweight baseball cap under my helmet when it rains. The visor doesn't keep all the rain off my glasses but works pretty well. I lose the ventilation of the helmet, but in the Pacific Northwest most of the rain comes during cool weather so that isn't a problem.

You should market that idea :lol:

Different models too :D

Steampunk in brass
Retro in chromed steel
Contemporary in titanium
BadAss in carbon fiber
MickeyMouse in plastic

I just ride. When the water gets in the way, I wipe it off. That's why they put that terrycloth on the thumbs of bike gloves.

Same answer as BluesDawg. I rode over 100 miles in the rain last Sat. Terrycloth works as a wiper, even if it's already wet.

Rick / OCRR

hmm.. The anti reflective coatings on my glasses are supposed to be hydrophobic.
It looks like they are ( I just tried it ). Too bad I can't ride at 70 mph.

Bah.. I'll just go back to wiping. I've heard about using a lightweight cap or visor too. I might try it sometime.

This question has probably been asked before but riding in the rain while wearing glasses can be a real pain, especially on a hot muggy day. Anybody have any ideas ?

I use my fingers as "windshield wipers".

SP
Bend, OR

Hockey buddies polish their visor with a drop of dish soap on a soft cloth to prevent it from fogging up. Just a drop though. The soap is streaky if you have too much.

what do you do when it's raining ? I get wet.

I use a product called Fog Fixer by Encon... works well on my plastic/polycarb lenses and my SCBA mask. I sweat a lot so if the humidity rises my glasses will fog up no matter what I do but the Fog Fixer seems to cut down a lot of it.

Also works good on my helmet visor
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195772

I just ride. When the water gets in the way, I wipe it off. That's why they put that terrycloth on the thumbs of bike gloves.

Yep this is what I do also

Used my fingers (frequently) tonight in the mist, mainly because it was getting dark. I think most of it was road spray from the front tire! lol

I wear a lightweight baseball cap under my helmet when it rains. The visor doesn't keep all the rain off my glasses but works pretty well. I lose the ventilation of the helmet, but in the Pacific Northwest most of the rain comes during cool weather so that isn't a problem.

+1

I take them off. My bad vision is still better than raindropped glasses. Its not safe to go fast, but the rain slows me down anyway.

I just ride, the only time it is a problem for me is when my glasses fog up heavily, then I have to stop and wipe them as the fog seems to form on the down wind side of them. Its not a major problem for me really.

I just wipe 'em off and keep riding. Works for me.

I had my first experience with serious rain last month on a 300k brevet, and it was a challenge. During the day I just took my glasses off and it was tolerable. After dark I tried to put the glasses back on but glare from drops on the lenses made it difficult to see. But without them navigation was tough. I ended up riding with my glasses halfway down my nose and looking over them to see the road and looking through them to see my cue sheet and cyclocomputer.

Ride in the rain? :eek:

Saliva works as a fair droplet repelent. Keeps em from fogging over in the wnter too.

This question has probably been asked before but riding in the rain while wearing glasses can be a real pain, especially on a hot muggy day. Anybody have any ideas ?

My idea is that riding in the rain while wearing glasses isn't a pain.

short answer.....watch TV.

Okay...I have been caught in the rain and I just rode and wiped when needed. As Downtube42 said I also looked over the top at times with glasses slid down on nose.

I may have only ridden it the rain twice, maybe three times.
Rain and bikes and rain and golf are the pits to me. I try to avoid both.

I did have a helmet with a visor on it, and that helps a lot. Ball cap under the helmet otherwise.

We have visors that attach via velcro called Salamander sold by Pacific Rescue for about $15. We wear them all the time. Helps to keep the sun off our faces also.

Saliva works as a fair droplet repelent. Keeps em from fogging over in the wnter too.

Ok, so far we have spit on the glasses and spit on the earbuds before use (suggestion from the electronics forum). This is getting good. :lol:

I bought a cycling cap that has a really low visor. It keeps most rain off the lenses and the little that gets through isn't a pain. Prior to that when it would rain buckets I would just take them off. I can mostly see without them.

Ok, so far we have spit on the glasses and spit on the earbuds before use (suggestion from the electronics forum). This is getting good. :lol:

Sounds like we're talking about the universal solvent and glue all in one.

Remove my glasses and ride on.

Take the glasses off.

I use a cycling cap, Yehuda Moon style, under my helmet. Works pretty well but causes fogging in some situations.

Pull down the visor of my cycling cap . . .

The spit idea is not as ridiculous as it sounds. I lick the lenses on both sides. It's a trick used by scuba divers to stop their masks fogging up, and it works. It may distort the vision a little, but that is going to happen anyway.

A visor/peak on the helmet is mighty useful in passing showers, too.

And a finger wipe can help, too... not the terry towelling bit, but the bare skin.

At speed, one of the major sources of drops is from the front wheel throwing water forward. It's a problem to which I haven't found a solution yet apart from mudguards, but they don't stop the bead of water in the centre of the tyre where the drops come from.

Rowan, hmm, physically it looks like not even Jan Heine's long-forward fenders might stop water thrown up and forward by tires!

Remove my glasses and ride on.

Your myopia is much less severe than mine!

The spit idea is not as ridiculous as it sounds. I lick the lenses on both sides. It's a trick used by scuba divers to stop their masks fogging up, and it works. It may distort the vision a little, but that is going to happen anyway.


Actually, divers use saliva as a 'solvent' to clean the film off the mask, as it is the film that makes the mask easily fog. Then we rinse the mask in whatever body of water we are in - we don't leave the saliva on the mask. It's not as common anymore, because everyone has realized that a drop of dish detergent works much better, without creating a bacteria culture in the corners of your mask. It's being clean that prevents the fog, not some chemical component of saliva.

I just keep riding, occasionally I might wipe, but mostly I just look through the droplets. But then, I drive people crazy by not using my windshield wipers when they would have them on.

No problem. Since Im older and hopefully wiser I come in out of the rain!!!:)

I remember when the remnants of a hurricane blew through MD right as I was riding the Sea Gull Century. It was raining so hard the water ran down inside my helmet, hit the inside of my clear lenses and kept spraying me in the eyes! It took me almost 15 miles before I figured out I was better taking my lenses off.