Cold Weather Eyewear
 

What do you all like to wear to protect your eyes during the winter? In the warm weather, I often wear sunglasses when I go for long rides. I've recently started to ride in the cold weather (18 deg F so far) and think I need something to protect my eyes from the wind and cold during those early morning rides. I went on a long ride the other day in some stiff, cold winds and didn't wear anything. My eyes felt kinda cold/irritated during parts of the ride, especially when I was zipping down some hills.

Recently, I've been wearing clear plastic safety glasses that I bought from a hardware store. However, I think I need something better.

I have thought about wearing ski goggles, but I was wondering if they would fit under my helmet (I don't ski so I don't have any goggles to try it out). I have a Bell Metropolis helment.

I was also thinking about a pair of Wiley X goggles. They have little padded eye cups, but they are smaller than ski goggles, so they would probably fit better with my helmet.

What do you like to wear during those cold weather months (if anything)?

Thanks in advance.

ski goggles, fit them over your helmet. They are made to fit over snowboarding and snowmachine helmets, you shouldn't have any problems.

Just this weekend, my contacts freeze-dried to my eyes when I couldn't find my googles.. not good. Check it out on my blog: ChainDriven Life in Alaska, link below.

I remember the last 3-4 winters having a lot of eye pain after my rides. I don't have contacts & back then I lacked any sunglasses. I would get to my apt, &( post-ride) sit there & get all teary for an hour or so. Literally I couldn't read a book or see tv. Last year I began to wear lighter toned sunglasses at night which made a definate improvement.

When the temps are down to the upper teens- I have a pair of Specalized mountain bike
"glasses" that work pretty well. The don't fog up like safety glasses did and are photochromagenic;
so their darkness will change with sun and reflection off of snow. These glasses were a little bit on the high end, got then last year at an end of season sale; still received some spousal scorn at their cost- most comfortable pair of sunglasses i've worn in quite a while (my justification)
Temps lower than upper teens [pos], I too use some ski goggles; but I had trouble finding a pair
that gave me the needed peripheral vision for riding in traffic.

I wear tinted ski goggles to protect my eys from the sun, the cold, and the road cocktails... they work fine with my helmet.

In nicer weather I wear tinted safety glasses for similar reasons.

Get some cycling glasses with a lot of wrap and coverage, preferably with interchangeable lenses in different colors. Makes a huge difference. I actually like yellow lenses better than clear for riding in the dark and low-light conditions.

Hi All,

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look into some ski goggles for the extreme cold. Right now it's not too bad. I definitely need to wear something during the really cold and windy days. This morning it was chilly out (high teens/low twenties (F) ) and I wore the wrap around safety goggles. They did a pretty good job and my eyes felt fine. There was a lot of ice, slush, and packed snow on the ground, so I didn't go too fast, but on a few down hill sections I must have been going at least 25 MPH and my eyes felt fine. My fingers and toes, on the other hand, felt a little chilly!

I purchased a set of WileyX SG-1 based on forum praise. The option for switching lenses is nice for morning vs. evening commuting (esp. having shaded lenses in sunlit daytime snow cover.). Even tho' the lenses are advertised as anti-fog I have to wear them pretty loose to keep them from fogging. This only works when I can keep moving (then they fog horribly waiting at stop lights). I've only had the opportunity to wear them down to ~15*F and they were sufficient at that temp. I am wondering if I might have to switch to some ski goggles when temps approach (and pass) 0*F to minimize exposed skin as the SG-1 don't provide full coverage when mated with my balaclava. Based on their form factor I don't think the SG-1 will provide a complete cold weather solution if one will face extreme cold...

I didn't want to spend the $25 or whatever on ski-goggles. After a search and reading around I found these.
http://www.labsafety.com/store/Safet...oredirect=True
They're cheap and they work great with my eyeglasses. They tend to fog up some. But a little spit on the inside seems to do the trick. And like ski-goggles, they help keep my face warm.

The best thing i have ever found is NO GLASSES. I used to have eyeglasses and struggled for several years before i found the ultimate solution: Contact Lenses. Now I cover everything except for my eyes and am very comfortable.

Every day i ride in the winter i am grateful that i no longer have to mess with fogging eyewear.

Ski goggles fit under my metro (size small):
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/716/img0982er5.jpg

My goggles never fog. Ever. They're awesome. I got them at Dragon Alliance. http://www.dragonalliance.com/ They came with a free hat. :)

You just like posting that picture, madfinch. A high-vis yeti.

I use shop safety glasses for all weather. I have some tinted ones for the summer/daytime and clear ones for the winter/night. They wrap almost all the way around my face, can take a hit from a rock or whatever, and are cheap. I find them a far better value than any special biking glasses.

And no problems? My contacts freeze to my eyes in anything under 40 degrees, and that's with sunglasses.

Like tarwheel, I use a pair of sunglasses with interchangeable lenses.
I tried a pair of lab safety glasses (made out of plastic of course) when I once forgot my sunglasses, but they were FAR less comfortable.

Don't get these if you ride a road bike with a lot of handlebar drop. They obscure the top of your vision, so when your in the drops it's almost impossible to bend your head up enough to actually see in front of you. They fog up at lights too. I'm really disappointed in mine. I've gone back to wearing no glasses.

there is a solution to all of your problems tested in the coldest weather -30c in alberta. clic goggles. these are of the highest quality glass with unbeatable clarity. and there are 3 lenses. the sides have vents and they are secured at the front with a powerful self adjusting magnet. the inner lens is also treated for anti-fog. I wear these over my toque and when biking i wear them over my balaclava. I have no issues with the balaclava covering my nose with these either.

they do not fog...at all. better yet when entering a building/house without removing them there is no instant fogging that other glasses get.

Ouch!

This morning I used my new Exo-Pro Extreme neoprene face mask with my Uvex goggles and it worked great but I switched to my Panoptx glasses without the facemask this afternoon when the temps were higher.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a21...2/IMGP1168.jpg

Do the clic goggles feel like swimming goggles at all? They just look a bit on the small side, but potentially awesome!

Where did you get that face mask? The one I got seems to vent all of my breath right up behind the lenses of my glasses.