Sunglasses?

[lizbids]

Thanks for all the advice!!

[Tuckervill]

This cracked me up, from the website about visors. one of the features is that it protects you from:

*Unidentified pace-line excretions



Karen

[Mr. Bloom]

OK, here's a serious question. I'm intrigued by the possibility of presription sunglasses for cycling.

Here's my dilemna. I'm blind, but have good peripheral vision. I ride with my normal rimless bifocals or with standard rectangular lenses with clip on sunglasses.

I find that when I "look back" over my shoulder, I am not looking through my lenses, but rather through the gap between face and lenses. If I didn't have this space, my vision would be very limited.

All these sunglasses look like they have thick side frames...do they block or limit peripheral vision?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

MrS,
With your vision problems especially, you might want to consider using a mirror to help you keep what's behind/around you in your field of vision. You could put one on your helmet (I use the Third Eye brand mirror) or you could get a bar end mirror that plugs into the ends of your drop bars.
Many is the time when I could NOT actually look back safely during a particular tricky road situation but was able to quickly glance at my helmet mirror to see if I was safe behind. It's amazing how a tiny little 7/8 round mirror will give you a panoramic view of the entire road and both road shoulders behind you.
I will say that it takes 2-3 weeks of constant use to get used to a mirror, but once you do, it sort of "disappears" and you dont notice it blocking your front side vision anymore- you just sort of see through it. My mirror has helped me avoid MANY a hairy situation on my bike in traffic. I would not ride without one now.

[Mr. Bloom]

MrS,
With your vision problems especially, you might want to consider using a mirror to help you keep what's behind/around you in your field of vision. You could put one on your helmet (I use the Third Eye brand mirror)

I've given some thought to this. It seems like a good idea to me, but Silver has discouraged it...ever image conscious like she is

But with the advice coming from you, I think that maybe she'll succumb to letting me try one Her vision is twice as bad as mine, but she can wear contacts...I can't.

[Mr. SR500]

Mr. Silver,

My wife asked me to chime in. I don't think you would have any problem. The glasses fit close to face so you can glance to the side without moving you head. I've been really impressed with my Tifosi glasses. The frames are very reasonable and available at many bike shops. Since we live in a small town, Tifosi sent me several pairs of glasses to try before making my choice for my RX lenses. I just returned everything when I was done. Since I need a stronger prescription the lenses use a special technology to achieve good vision in a wrap. That said they are AWESOME. Before I wore Smith glasses with a RX insert, my new Tifosi's are a huge improvement. They ended up around $300 because of the lenses, but still competitively with a regular pair of eye glasses.

I had my eyes checked, told them I was ordering some bike glasses, and they took all the measurements. I faxed everything to Tifosi and my glasses showed up in about 2 weeks it seems. Any Tifosi dealer can order RX perscriptions, but I have a friend who has a bike shop about 10 minutes from Tifosi's HQ, so he processed the payment part of the transaction. The glasses are then drop shipped. They don't have a direct order process, and some dealers are clueless, but my buddy knows his stuff. I can get you contact info if you are interested.

Here is a pic of me sporting my shades



I can snap another of the glasses from the rear so you can see the lens. Sorry about the long post, I'm a little more windy then my wife.

Good Luck - John

[susan.wells]

I ordered from my optometrist, at her recommendation, a pair of Wiley X for cycling. This will be my first year without contacts for riding. Last year my vision with the contacts was not really acceptable or safe. I hope to have them within the next week (yes I live in a geographical oddity).

[Mr. Bloom]

Lisa...Silver gave me permission to get the mirror

So, as we arrived at the beach, we went straight to the LBS, but alas, they're closed until Tuesday!