It doesn't matter whether you're chasing top speeds on a road bike, plowing through the forest on a fully or taking a multi-day bike tour along the side of the country road on an e-bike, good visibility is absolutely essential. Only if you always have the full view, you can safely estimate what is coming and then react in time! If the weather does not call for sunglasses and goggles are then too much for you, cycling glasses are a good option. Why?
What sunglasses are, is probably clear to everyone. Bicycle goggles are now also a well-known term (in the past, goggles were mainly ski-goggles or diving goggles) But what is a pair of bicycle goggles, please? And why do you need one on a bike or e-bike? The answer is quite simple and becomes especially clear on the e-bike. One look at the speedometer tells you - you're going fast. This has two main consequences for your field of vision:
- Most mosquitoes don't manage to get to safety from you fast enough.
- It is absolutely essential for your safety to be aware of your surroundings in a timely manner.
A good pair of cycling glasses will help you there. They are a mechanical protection that keeps stones, dust and branches away from your eyes. The coloring of the lenses can positively influence your vision in a wide range of light conditions. A UV protection is invisible, but effectively protects your eyes from permanent damage. Rain can also spoil your vision. In rainy weather, cycling glasses that also improve contrast in low light are not just an umbrella for your eyes and a fashion accessory, they are an important piece of safety!
But what can cycling glasses do?
How the lenses of cycling glasses work
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Lenses, lens, screen, lens - many terms, one item! Most modern cycling glasses don't have two lenses, they have one screen. This has two main advantages: Your field of vision is not restricted by the frame of the glasses, so you have a clear view in all directions. Apart from that, the driving wind can not penetrate in the middle and around the nose, so these glasses protect you particularly efficiently. Usually, the lenses are curved so that they cover the area around the eyes as broadly and densely as possible. This curvature, by the way, separates the wheat from the chaff! High-quality cycling glasses offer a clear view without distortions, even in the peripheral area, and thus a particularly precise overview of possible dangers.
What color should the lenses of cycling glasses have?
The color will tell you if you are looking at sunglasses, or if they are glasses that emphasize contrasts, for example.
- Gray lenses reduce blinding radiation, they make colors appear true to nature.
- Also blue lenses are suitable for reducing solar radiation, they improve contrast and make bumps more visible.
- Brown and black lenses are usually found on sunglasses. They reliably filter solar radiation, how much depends on the tint strength.
- Yellow lenses enhance visual contrast at dusk or in cloudy weather.
- Tints in amber and pink highlight contrasts especially well in low sun or on cloudy days.
- Clear lenses (or "clear") provide UV protection and, of course, mechanical protection.
The color of the lenses will give you an indication of what the glasses are suitable for, but you should always read the specification of the glasses, because the properties of the tints differ from manufacturer to manufacturer!
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UV protection
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Every high-quality pair of glasses has a protective filter that protects your eyes from harmful UV radiation. Often you will find a statement like " 100% UV protection" or "UV400". Both mean that the glasses filter UV-A and UV-B radiation up to the generally recommended value of 400Nm.
By the way, the tint of the lens does not affect the UV protection offered by glasses!
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Polarized lenses
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Polarized lenses provide good protection against blinding radiation, they filter especially the strong radiation from reflections on water surfaces or windows, making the environment more reliably visible.
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Anti-Fog
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In particular since face masks are part of everyday life, many spectacle wearers know the problem: from the breathing air fog the lenses. When cycling training, the problem can be exacerbated, because sweat provides additional moisture that can condense on the lenses. An anti-fog coating prevents the fogging of your glasses.
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Self-tinting lenses
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Self-tinting lenses react to incoming UV radiation and tint accordingly in seconds. If you ride through a shady part of the forest, the glasses become lighter, if you roll back into the sun afterwards, they darken, so you always have optimal lighting conditions. Many cyclists swear by self-tinting glasses in changing light conditions and fickle weather, while others find the changes in brightness irritating. To find out whether these cycling glasses are comfortable for you, only one thing helps: try!
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Mirrored lenses
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Mirrored glasses mainly preserve your incognito, on the vision the reflective layer has no influence. This refinement of the lenses serves purely aesthetic purposes.
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Toughened lenses
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Particularly with off-road bikers like to bounce stones or branches on the glasses, this can affect the lenses. Also, if you do not always have a suitable cover for your glasses at hand, the surface scratches quickly. Not only can this worsen your vision, but it can also damage the UV protection. Hardened lenses are more robust and therefore less sensitive, they last much longer.
But also hardened glasses you should only clean with special glasses cleaning cloths!
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Water-repellent glasses
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If you get caught in the rain while out riding, a pair of cycling glasses will greatly improve your vision - provided the raindrops can roll off the lens quickly. A pair of glasses with a water-repellent coating allows moisture to quickly roll off sideways, so it is called the Abperl effect.
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Curved lenses
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Curved lenses cover the area around the eyes well, so no dust can penetrate, even rainwater or lateral radiation will not cloud your vision.
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Mirrored lenses
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Side reflections or light coming in from above can take away your vision completely for a short time. A mirrored glasses creates remedy here.
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How do you find the perfect cycling glasses?
For optimal protection of your eyes, glasses for cyclists should cover as large an area as possible. They need to be shaped in such a way that they reliably shield you from the wind, but at the same time they need to let enough air through so that you don't sweat too much under the glasses.
The frames or the frames of cycling glasses must serve several purposes:
- They have to be especially light, because that's the only way you'll be able to wear your cycling glasses comfortably for a long time.
- Most sports glasses have brackets that can be adjusted. This is especially important for cycling goggles, because it allows you to wear the goggles comfortably along with your bike helmet. If you read in the specifications that the temples are "cold moldable", you don't even need the help of an optician for the adjustment, you can bend them a bit yourself. So you can vary the contact points of the glasses even on the road, if it should ever press.
- Comfortable nose pads are slightly wider, so they provide more contact surface and exert less punctual pressure. They are also made of a material that feels comfortable on the sensitive skin of the face. Thirdly, you can easily wipe off sweat, makeup or dust.
- Like any sports glasses, cycling glasses are breakproof. However, this applies not only to the frame, but also the lenses usually survive a fall undamaged.
- Whether you choose a pair of cycling glasses with frame or without frame is ultimately a matter of taste. Sturdy, lightweight and tight, the glasses are usually all.
Moldable temples
Some cycling glasses have moldable temples. If you're having trouble with pressure points behind your ears with older glasses, such goggles are a real relief. You can adjust them so that they sit comfortably and do not press even with bicycle helmet. If the glasses become uncomfortable on the road, you can change the position of the temples and the unpleasant pressure is history.
Bicycle glasses for every occasion - the glasses set
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You want to buy only one pair of glasses, but then it should cover as much as possible all areas of the cyclist's life? That's not a problem. Many manufacturers like 100% or Oakley offer cycling glasses with replacement lenses. This doesn't mean that when you order, you get the original lens several times over so you can replace it if it breaks (although, of course, you can buy replacement lenses for many of the glasses here in the store if that happens). You get different fitting lenses with the glasses, so you can customize the glasses for changing light conditions. For bright but cloudy days, for example, there is then a clear lens that serves as mechanical protection and brings a UV protection. For sunny days, you get a tinted lens that ensures you won't be blinded. A yellow lens provides better contrast at dusk and on cloudy days. The composition of the sets varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Depending on what's included, you'll get the right goggles for any weather.
The glasses come in a protective case that has compartments for the individual lenses. So you always have your different lenses at the start and can change on the go as needed.
Bicycle glasses with prescription
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Although it may look like it, a pair of sports glasses with clear lenses does not compensate for any visual impairment, of course. You can, however, at the optician a pair of sports glasses or even sunglasses made in your eyesight. Goggles are a little different. There are some models here, under which glasses can be worn.
Bicycle glasses, sunglasses or MTB goggles?
There is the perfect pair of cycling glasses for every area of use. Especially on the race bike or E-bike, mechanical protection from light, flying objects is often the main focus, because on both of them things like to be particularly nippy. Lightweight glasses with a medium tint are just right here. For tours on the mountain bike, a robust pair of glasses that can also withstand falling rocks or attacking branches without damage is a good purchase. Maybe you should even give preference to fat goggles for off-road adventures, because they tightly seal the area around the eyes and thus also protect against mud and dust. For the changing light conditions on long trekking trips, a set of cycling goggles with different lens options is perfect. If you only go on pleasure tours in good weather, you should at least have sunglasses with you. Here you can order a wide variety of bike glasses, replacement lenses can be found in the accessories, the necessary storage space in the bike bags.
To ensure that every bike lover and every bike enthusiast finds the right eye protection, there are many different bike glasses for women and men here, but many of our bike glasses are unisex models, with which pretty much everyone looks good (out). In most cases, you do not have to worry about the size, many glasses are supplied in one size, which fit both men and women perfectly. Also glasses that children can wear on joint family bike tours, you will find here.
