Helmets and corrective lenses

What say the Hive?

This is mostly for motorcycle, but also should I attend any autoX this year. Current helmet is a full face snell MC, HJC AC-12. Current glasses are wayfarer-esq heavy black frames and one year old. These are a very snug fit inside the helmet. Lastly, I have a fat head. XL helmet, size 55 glass frames.

I see 3 options. The first is contacts. It seems to be the simplest. Option 2 is helmet friendly glasses. This likely means going back to wire frames. Choice C is a more glasses friendly helmet. Probably a modular. I have been considering one anyway, but it would only be for bike use only due to not being Snell.

So, what path seems best?

I can barely navigate our house without glasses or contacts so I have some experience with this...

I don't like riding with contacts as getting dirt in the eye turns into a serious problem. My personal preference is using glasses with titanium (bendy) frames as those appear to be the only ones to hold up to very regular use. I also don't like loosely fitting helmet because of the additional noise you get from them.

Very interested in what other people do with this. I'm super blind without correction. I used to wear contacts for autox, track, etc. but now that I lost an eye they want me to wear shatter resistant lenses all the time. Getting my glasses I have no one with my current helmet is really hard.

I can pass the DMV eye exam without my glasses, but the difference is enough to not go without them

Both my parents have mild correction, and one sister is close to me in being able to go without at times. My other sister is 20/400 uncorrected.

Look for straight ear pieces. I have prescription and non-prescription Oakley sunglasses that work great in a helmet. If you just want a decent set of shades to wear with contacts, they sell some pretty nice polarized and tinted safety glasses at home depot.

My Wayfarers fit inside my helmet, but it's a tight fit. I have some Oakley Fives for helmet use--straight temples and somewhat small lenses. Take-home message: Yeah, some glasses fit better in helmets than others.

I took the helmet with me when I went to pick out glasses, which would have gotten me strange looks except the optician was a personal friend and already knew what was wrong with me.

I've got 144mm wide frames and they fit in my 3x helmet. Open face though, which probably helps. Try an online glasses store like Zenni. You can get a pair of glasses for like $10. Get a narrower frame and since they're helmet only the style's less important.

You can filter most of those sites by width, so you can find a pair narrow enough but not TOO narrow.

I agree with buying a specific set of glasses for the helmet. I just kept a previous frame, and used them, but have now had new lenses made for them. Cheap online is also an excellent idea.

Streetwiseguy wrote: I agree with buying a specific set of glasses for the helmet. I just kept a previous frame, and used them, but have now had new lenses made for them. Cheap online is also an excellent idea.

Now that I think about it, it's good to have a second pair (your "normal ones") with you, too. In case of impact. Or dropping them while chasing cones.

I can't do contacts, I wear wire frames in most of my helmets but also have script sun glasses that wrap around nicely Liberty sports / Rec Specs "biker" snug but not to tight.

Biker

I guess I'm lucky to have my glasses kinda fit in a helmet. But this is something I don't think about often.

It might even be a good idea to get prescription sunglasses if you're buying a second set just for the helmet. I've had poor luck with tinted visors and our end-of-season events have a very low sun in the afternoon.

Some motorcycle helmets (like the Schuberth S2 I'm wearing) have an internal drop-down visor that works rather well. I do have prescription sun/driving glasses, but the internal visor is good enough so I don't have to wear those. Haven't seen anything like that on a Snell car helmet, though.

Contacts for me.

Oh one thing worth mentioning is if you have polarized lens in your glasses and a polarized shield thing can get funky. I get my glasses non polarized just incase

Some shields are some are not

I take my glasses off, put my helmet on, put my glasses on. QED

Maybe I am lucky.

I'm rather blind; -7.5/-9.0. I've worn soft contacts for more than 30 years, daily disposibles since they were available.

I've been a motorcyclist/cyclist/kart/car racer over this time with zero issues.

Bear in mind that my race car is open cockpit and tops out above 140 mph. Helmets have been a Bell M4 Pro and a Simpson Carbon Bandit.

Just another route for those who might be on the fence. I was legally blind without corrective lenses until 2001 when I got Lasik eye lasering. Best use of money EVER!

Seriously folks, if you are on the fence about this, just get it done. So nice to just be able to see and not hassle with glasses/contacts.

I'm one of those weirdos that go swimming with my contacts in and have no problems. I also do a lot of 4 wheeling and I've never really had a problem with getting dust in my contacts. The fit is tight enough I guess.

The only bad thing thats happened to me is one time the contact dried out on my eye and when I blinked it folded on itself and fell out, and I had to hunt it down...

There is a new style of contact out that you actually wear at night. It bends your cornea or something (I'm no eye doctor), so that when you take it out in the morning, you have perfect vision for the entire day. Then you put it in again at night to keep your cornea bent how its supposed to be. Anyways, might be worth looking into.

iceracer wrote: I take my glasses off, put my helmet on, put my glasses on. QED Maybe I am lucky.

This is what I do. Might help that I wear some nerdy round John Lennon specs. Just get some glasses that work with your helmet. Don't choose a loose-fitting helmet.

I use prescription sunglasses and can get my helmet on with the glasses on, it took a while to get used to putting it on that way though.

With a fullface helmet that is tinted, is there any issues using sunglasses with being too dark? or should I switch to eyeglasses if Im going to get a tinted fullface

In reply to KyAllroad: I've talked to someone that had to do the procedure over again at about 10 years after the first one. He opted not to do it a 3rd time.

To Brian: I would personally get smaller glasses that fit the helmet better.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

I've heard of people having to redo it too. Although 3000 for perfect vision for ~10 years still isnt a bad deal really. I would probably spend about a grand on contacts over 10 years.

I prefer contacts. Never had an issue with then while riding.