Like probably every other rider here, I've gone through atleast a dozen sunglasses trying to figure out which pair is the best to ride with as far as cutting down the most amount of wind & trying to prevent your eyes from tearing up likeholy-hellduring a ride. Yes, I do sometimes ride with goggles & yes, there's nothing like 'em...period! But sometimes I just want to ride with a nice pair of sunglasses on instead of always looking like I'm going into WWII combat in my P-51 Mustang!

Well, the pic below is the best sunglasses I've found so far & usually what I ride with on a sunny, warm day. They're called Choppers CH106 & cost about $20. They really cut down alot of the riding wind & also look great. What doYOU guys recommend & have found to be the best riding sunglasses as far as having the most wind elimination for non-goggled sunglasses?

 

i got a pair from my local HD dealer for two bucks. they have a strap that can be removed. and have foam on the inside of the glass to cut down the wind. they work pretty good, i got them in smoke and in yellow for night riding! i wouldnt ride without them. sorry i do not know the brand or anything.

 

hahaha... two bucks... nothing at an HD dealer is that cheap...

i meant $20!!!

 

Two bucks??? When did you buy them...30 years ago?

 

I bought these a year ago and I like them. They have multiple lenses to swap depending on the environment.

http://www.smithoptics.com/Catalyst-Slider_30_32.html

 

Good thread..I'll follow along to see what others use because I have the same problem.

 

I wear contacts, so this has been an issue for me as well. Most of the time I wear Bobsters (goggles), but if I ride less than 75mph, I wear safety glasses I pick up at a local welding supply store for around $2 each (they come in all sorts of tints and reflections and styles). Around 80-100mph, they start to wobble depending on wind conditions.

 

Dude, my best results have been with cheap, "foamie" glasses but only ones that I have tried on for fitment. I usually wear expensive sunglasses that I also, obviously, try on for fitment first. I have a pair of $150 Oakley's and a pair of $200 Costa Del Mar's that I drive, fish, mow grass, and pretty much do anything else outdoors with. I've gotten so used to sunglasses that I can't stand to be in direct sunlight without them anymore. As comfortable and effective as they are for me anywhere else, I can't ride in them without my eyes tearing up. It's caused by the wind getting behind the glasses and moving across the eyes. That's where the foamies come in handy. I look at the foamie type sunglasses as sort of a goggle/sunglass hybrid. But, the key is that they must fit your eye socket correctly in order to work properly. They don't have to form a perfect seal and you probably don't want them to because they may fog up and times and/or get uncomfortable. What I've found is that they need to fit such that the wind just can't easily pass through them from a gap at any point out through a gap at any other point. In other words, if there is enough room for air to pass at the bottom, there shouldn't be enough of a gap at the top to create a cross-breeze effect - make sense? Compare it to a room with windows at either side. Open one window and you may feel a slight breeze coming in. Then go to the other side of the room, open that window, and then go back to the first one - the air will be flowing at a much higher rate (cross-breeze).

I'm sure there are plenty of expensive riding glasses out there that work just fine as long as you can try them on for the proper fitment. But, what I've done is visit vendors at bike events and try on different frame sizes and styles to find the ones that fit me the best. They typically run from 10 to 20 bucks a pair and often they will give you a break if you buy 2 or more pair. They have polarized lenses just like the high dollar ones do (I've got the "raccoon eyes" to prove it ) and they work great for me. I usually find the frame that works best and then buy the ones with the lense color I want and then grap the identical glasses with clear lenses to match for "dark riding".

The foam around the eye socket is key though - to keep too much air from moving over your eyes and causing the tearing.

 

I should add that I have a wide (wifey says fat) head and most sunglasses are too tight, hence the need for safety glasses.

 

I wear Panoptx (now known as 7eye) transitional lenses. They have a foam seal around the eye cup that can be removed to make them more like regular sunglasses. They can also be ordered with prescription lenses, if you need them. They're not cheap, though.

Info on 7Eye (Panoptx) motorcycle glasses here