Bifocal sunglasses

Tip O' the Day

For all you eyeglass wearers, it can be very economical to have bike only eyeglasses made. Assuming (I love that word!) you have some old but serviceabe frames available, look in the phone book for your local optical laboratory. These are the folks your optometrist sends your glasses to. Obviously they don't advertise to the public, but call them and ask if they take walk in customers.
I get bifocal lenses made for $28, tinted for $33. As someone above mentioned, I have a much smaller bifocal section made, usually about 10cm tall. That allows me to see instruments, tankbag, GPS in near vision, and distance for mirrors and all else without having to shift my head.

What is with the reluctance to shift ones head? It ties in with the "choice" folks who claim that a helmet limits their vision significantly. I have my head on a swivel all of the time checking my surroundings, instruments, mirrors and even the scenery. I call it maintaining situational awareness as well as problem avoidance.

Motor31 said:

What is with the reluctance to shift ones head? It ties in with the "choice" folks who claim that a helmet limits their vision significantly. I have my head on a swivel all of the time checking my surroundings, instruments, mirrors and even the scenery. I call it maintaining situational awareness as well as problem avoidance.

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I turn my head regularly to check around, but having low bar bikes, with the accompanying low mirrors 'I personally' find it irritating to duck my head to get the distance lens aligned for a mirror check. That movement has me nodding my head down, further away from the road.
I can't speak for the others, but Ithink they're just following my lead.....

cmartin said:

my sunglasses are progressive tri focal and I have never had a problem with them.

The are very expensive $300.00, but worth it.

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All of my glasses are progressives.. They are all about who makes them and who gives the instructions to make the lenses .. I have taken lenses back to my optician 2 and 3 times because I've had problems with side to side ,out of focus and other distortion problems.. My optician will take the time as long as it takes to make sure the progressives are perfect.. He tells me there is never a reason that they shouldnt be right. It's all about how they are made, where the transitions are, the formula that's used and the bend and placement of the frames.

godzilla said:

Do the Transition lenses darken behind a full-face visor? They don't work in a car very well...

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Yes they do, I have them as well, (with progressive lens), the reason they do not work well in the car is that the glass is a UV blocker and it is the UV light that causes the transition lens to change. So as long as your sheild is not UV rated (which I don't think most/any are) they work great.

RM

leadfoot said:

I like the idea of the Wal Mart stick on bifocals. I am gonna give them a look. I think they might work real well on a selected spot on my face shield when wearing my full face helmetso I do not have to wear glasses when wearing it. Might not work, but at least I will not have lost too much.

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I'd be a little leery about having the lens that far from your eyes, glasses are made to be a certain distance from the eyes focal point on your retina, moving them that far in front of the focal point would most likely cause blurring, or at minimum eye strain which can in turn lead to a host of other problems (see below)

Also some thoughts on vision and your eye health...

As someone who has had eye problems most if his life I would caution anyone from buying over the counter glasses, since each persons eyes are slightly different, trying to get ready made glasses can, over time, cause serious eye strain which can lead to headaches and other vision problems. An eye exam is not that expensive and your vision is your primary source of information about the world around you, seems to me its well worth protecting. Guess I'm kinda ATGATT about vision, but having dyslexia and a host of other vision related problems that I was lucky enough to have diagnosed early enough to learn to compensate for and have partly, at least, corrected by “visual training exercises” I did back in the 60’s when the science was very new, I speak form experience! Guess I put it right up there with any other actions we take to protect ourselves and help ensure we continue to enjoy life and health.

I apologize if I sound a bit anal, but I do know something about this and just wanted to pass on some of the knowledge I have thus gained thru my experience, I was very lucky that my folks found that doctor who was, at the time, one of the first in that field, dyslexia was just being recognized as a "real" condition.

As he often said, when we say “I see” it means a lot more than simply “seeing” it means “I understand” and that understanding we gain is, in a very large part, thru vision, so vision is much than just seeing clearly and well worth the expense of an expert and quality eye wear.

RM

rocketman said:

Yes they do, I have them as well, (with progressive lens), the reason they do not work well in the car is that the glass is a UV blocker and it is the UV light that causes the transition lens to change. So as long as your sheild is not UV rated (which I don't think most/any are) they work great.

RM

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So the new Nolan wouldn't work with transition lenses, I take it? According to this link: http://www.nolanhelmets.com/n102ncom.htm the shield is UVA/UVB protected.

Darn. I was hoping to get transition lenses with progressive bifocals and wear them with the Nolan. I don't have either yet. My thoughts are to to skip the transition lenses because I'd need sunglasses when I drove the cars anyway.

godzilla said:

So the new Nolan wouldn't work with transition lenses, I take it? According to this link: http://www.nolanhelmets.com/n102ncom.htm the shield is UVA/UVB protected.

Darn. I was hoping to get transition lenses with progressive bifocals and wear them with the Nolan. I don't have either yet. My thoughts are to to skip the transition lenses because I'd need sunglasses when I drove the cars anyway.

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Interesting in that I have a nolan 102 myself, but then when its sunny and warm I generally ride with the sheild up, since I have windscreeens on both bikes. In the winter it did seem like they were darkening, but its so gradual I guess I just assumed they were when the shield is down. Ha Ha!
So I guess they do have UV sheilds on helmets and Nolan is prob. not the only one then, thanks for the info.
Now on the Nolan you do get a addtional tinted 1/3 sunvisor you can add, and the transision lenses are nice when you are off the bike or not in the car as well, so its kinda you're call as to whether it worth it.

RM