Classtime 

I'm being cheap. I want to use my already paid for glasses for cycling but they do not protect from the wind very well. I'm looking for a recommendation for a pair of sun glasses/goggles that will fit over my glasses.
I kinda wish that my Giro Air Attack had a shield.

DiabloScott

None of the options are great, but there are some that work like the "dilated eyes goggles from the optometrist" type that are a little more stylish and less dorky.

LLBean

terrymorse 

Search for "safety glasses over prescription glasses".

Here's one at Amazon.

staehpj1

What kind of prescription do you have? At one point in the past I have found glasses that I was able to order simple diopter value inserts for. They were inexpensive sunglasses and inserts. They worked out okay and could be ordered in reading glass value diopter values. Since I needed a simple diopter value lense that was fine. I forget who I ordered them from and what brand/model they were.

For a few years I just used my regular glasses. I did use some eye drops to keep my eyes from drying out too much.

Recently I spent $$$ on nice prescription bike sunglasses. I have found it to be really nice riding with them and worth the expense for me. According to my opthamologist, I am close to being ready for cataract surgery so I may be back to riding with no prescription fairly soon (maybe next year or the following one). If I get the surgery, I have the lenses that the expensive sunglasses came with, so I can replace the prescription lenses with the original non prescription ones in that event.

BobbyG

I'm a near daily, year-round bike commuter. I use an older pair of glasses. I tend to wear larger lenses, so wind is not usually a problem, even in the winter in the teens (F). I carry old-fashioned strap-on shop goggles in my commute pack for when the wind becomes an issue, but that hasn;t happened in years. They're definitely dorky. I have a pair of those "slightly-dorky" over-your-glasses-sun glasses in the car, and I think those would work well.

I don't usually have an issue with dry eyes, but at 61, I'm sure that will become an issue for me soon.

big john

My prescription isn't a lot different than reading glasses. This allows me to use off the shelf reading glasses for riding, just weaker than my regular glasses. I get them (cheap) from Readers.com. Reading sunglasses, not bifocal. Some protect from the wind better than others.

Bob Ross

The first year I started doing recreational group rides -- iow, when I stopped being an occasional utility cyclist and started being an obsessive roadie -- I wore a pair of these over my regular glasses:



They worked great...unless you were interested in actually being aware of what was happening on either side of you. Which hopefully every cyclist is. They suck for peripheral vision. I might have ridden with them for two months before I threw them out and invested in prescription cycling glasses.

OldTryGuy

Easy-Peasy Cocoons Clip-Ons Sunglass --

https://cocoonseyewear.com/shop/coco...mber-lenses-2/

pdlamb

My first prescription sunglasses were bought for fishing; they were big enough to cut out glare from almost all angles (large, coke-bottle-bottom prescription), so they were great for cycling too.

Improved lens material meant the next sunglasses weren't so good at blocking the wind. I'm not a fan of doubling up (goggles over glasses), so I eventually sprung for prescription cycling glasses.

Really, asking the interwebs for glasses recommendations makes about as much sense as asking random people on the street what prescription glasses you need.

terrymorse 

It seems to make sense to me. Outside of the correction, everyone's eyeballs experience the same environment while riding a bike. Things like wind, cold, sunlight.

pdlamb

Respectfully, I disagree. Consider the following:

Say you live and ride near a coast, I live and ride in rolling hills. You think a 15 mph wind is a mild breeze, I think it's a stiff wind, both based on what we typically experience. I don't need nearly as much protection from side winds or head-on turbulence as you want.

Or I live where a 60F dew point is high humidity, you have 80F dew points regularly. Fogging is a much bigger problem for you that for me. A double lens solution (either goggles or a prescription insert) may be unworkable for you, except for a very expensive glasses brand; I've only read or heard about glasses fogging.

And the correction itself can have a big effect on glasses selection. If I could wear mail-order glasses (Zenni or the like), it would not be a big deal to buy a cycling-specific pair of sunglasses. If you've got a -10D prescription with crazy astigmatism, it might be harder to pick a separate $900 pair of cycling sunglasses.

And since (a) OP didn't give us all those details, and (b) most of us have fairly limited experience in the glasses selection trade space, about the best that one could hope for is that each respondent lists all their background and experience, as well as their recommendation, and it's up to OP to decide. That's not much different than OP just picking one without lots of extraneous chatter.

Classtime 

Thanks all. I do appreciate the input.
I need glasses for near and far and it's getting worse. Until last last year, I never wore prescription lenses on my rides. Now when I wear my glasses on a ride it is fun and safer to see stuff like whales in the ocean and seams in the tarmac. These days, without glasses, it is hit and miss trying to adjust a limit screw or find the glass shard that caused a puncture. The thing is that my glasses don't wrap around to provide the peripheral vision and the top of the frame interferes with looking ahead without extending my neck to the limit. And of course regular glasses do not protect from the wind very well. I've decided to wait til spring and get some prescription Smiths for my Bday as I've been very happy with that brand since it was called Action Optics.
Thanks again,
Jeff

terrymorse 

Now that you've decided on sport glasses with a prescription, I'll share my personal experience.

My correction has changed several times over the years, and now I need correction for near and far vision with astigmatism, so I opted for a wrap-around cycling glasses with an insert.

The insert option lets you change prescriptions easily, and it accommodates a wider range of corrections. My lenses are progressive with astigmatism correction -- the same as my every day glasses.

Since the mid 2000s, I have been using these "flip up" glasses by Rudy Project. The flip-up feature has been very useful when a ride starts before dawn, when the road leads into a shady forest, or when I go indoors. The frames are pricey, but they are a "buy once" item.




One thing you must check when looking at prescription sports glasses: will the glasses accommodate your prescription? The glasses should list the maximum correction they can handle.

BTinNYC

+1
Bad bad vision, no wraparounds will work for me. The Rudys were on my list, but went with Ray Ban Nomad frames that I'll also use as regular sunglasses.

peterws

I used to use welding glasses for cold and wind protection. They worked well and fitted over my glasses quite nicely.
Then frames became larger.

smoore

Who cares about glasses that make you look "dorky" while riding. You're on a bike on the street wearing cycling shorts....you already look like a dork.

oldbobcat

I've been riding with prescription glasses for over 50 years. My helmet straps always fit over the glasses because if I removed my glasses before the helmet, I wouldn't be able to find the helmet.

I've used close-fitting aviator frames, Vuarnet cateye style frames, and currently, Ray Ban Daddy-Os.

oldbobcat

This guy didn't need special-purpose bicycling sunglasses.

oldbobcat

And this guy was obviously almost as blind as I am without specs, but he never let that get in his way.


Note how the eyeglass temples go under the helmet straps.

Photokid1970

I've had glasses for 50 years now, and generally I just deal with the discomfort of having to wear them. But with the onset of mask-wearing with the pandemic, I've moved more towards my contacts and readers. On the bike, if I'm just in the neighborhood, I can generally skip the readers since I'm farsighted anyway.

The one disadvantage is reading the GPS. With regular progressives, everything is fine... but with only distance vision contacts, I can't see how slow I'm going... which is not necessarily a bad thing sometimes.

Calsun

I buy readers in the form or safety glasses. These provide better side protection from windblown dirt and bugs and are available in a range of diopter magnification. The trick is to find ones with a small enough magnification area so they do not interfer with normal viewing of the road.

The reader type safety glasses come in clear, gray tint, and yellow tint, and I have pairs of each. Average cost is around $13 per pair and they for years if I clean them with liquid lens cleaner and a microfiber cloth.

OldRonin

I had cataract surgery done about 4 years ago. As someone who has had to wear glasses since they were 14 with lenses that were just short of making me legally blind in my left eye I can't tell you how much of a relief it is not to have to wear them while riding or driving. The only thing I need are a cheap pair of reading glasses and I can ride with a regular pair of polarized sunglasses without having to worry about being blindsided. It also made riding in the rain so much easier and safer as well.

canalligators

I respectfully challenge your desire to do it "on the cheap".

I bought a good pair of sunglasses (RayBans) about 20 years ago. They had some wrap-around, enough that I don't get a lot of wind around them. The bows are substantial enough to hold my eyeglass mirror. I had my prescription put in them, along with auto darkening coating. These are my cycling glasses; they can be the only glasses I need on tour. I had the lenses replaced about three years ago. Total cost about $300, over 20 years, and they're still in service. That comes to about $15/year.

This may be a case of your being penny wise and pound foolish. Spend the money and buy something good. It may end up being cheaper in the long run.