Prescription sunglasses for cyclists

December 20, 2005 3:02 PM

For the glasses-wearers out there, who makes good prescription sunglasses geared toward road cycling?

I've clicked around and seen Oakley offers this, as do others, like Rudy Project...either built into the frame or some clip-on function. Looking for comments or recommendations.

posted by fijiwriter to sports, hobbies, & recreation (5 answers total)

I don't have any personal input, but I've explored bikeforums.net for other cycling purchases. Here's a query for prescription glasses on their road forum: search results.
posted by bonobo at 3:19 PM on December 20, 2005

If you have a strong prescription go with contacts and regular lenses. Oakley glasses are great, Rudy Project are good too. If you have prescription that they can accommodate great. The best biking glasses wrap around for better peripheral vision and (for all the leg shavers) lower drag. Wrap around glasses do not come in strong prescriptions.
posted by caddis at 4:24 PM on December 20, 2005

I have a really strong prescription and don't wear contacts. I used Bolle Edge II for a long time, like till they went out of fashion. Prescription insert. Now I'm using Rudy Project (can't remember the model name off-hand) but they are marketed as baseball glasses. The shield flips up so if I wanna stop at a c-store don't have to stumble around with my shades on. Although the prescription insert is small, it's also closer to the eye so it all sort of works out.
posted by fixedgear at 6:08 PM on December 20, 2005

fijiwriter -

are contacts with shades an option? Because, if so, I strongly second caddis' rec: I've found that to be far preferable. I've gone through lots of bike-glasses over the years, and they invariably get lost, scratched, crushed, sweat-coated and nasty, or some combination thereof. The big advantage to non-prescription is that you can get a good pair with interchangeable lenses for relatively cheap - and have clear lenses for low-light, dark lenses for bright, etc.
posted by fearless_yakov at 7:27 AM on December 21, 2005

Oakleys come in two varieties, prescription inserts, like the Rudy Project ones, which work just like regular glasses, and prescription wrap-arounds with curved lenses. I've got a pair of the precription wraparounds---they don't make mine anymore, but they look something like this.

The lenses have some distortion around the edges, but are ok over the centre of the lens. My optician won't do the wrap-around type of "higher" prescriptions. I have no idea what "higher" means. With no refunds, it's a bit of a gamble that the lenses will be ok for you. I'm happy with mine though.
posted by bonehead at 8:07 AM on December 21, 2005