I love commute by bike for grocery and stuff, but riding in rain is my least favorite stuff ever. Even though i have poncho, it makes me looks like a Ring Wraith on bicycle, and it’s quite fussy trying to put it on. And even i get to keep everything dry somehow, the rain drop might sometime score a direct hit on my eyeball like the car salesman slapping the car. It’s annoying, irritating, and frankly quite dangerous. My vision is blurred, so is my glasses, and it almost got me into trouble a few times.
So how do you guys protect your eye and keep your vision clear? I live in tropical area so the rain can be quite heavy at time, and i can’t wait until it stop because sometime it will go on for hours, even if it get lighter.
For me, glasses (which I wear normally) and a helmet with a visor. That usually works; if I tilt my head down, the visor normally blocks any rain while riding
What I would like is something for dealing with lens fogging in snow when I’m wearing a balaclava. Ski goggle work, but I hate wearing them.
Shaving cream on the lenses can prevent fogging. Just smear it on and wipe off with a dry cloth. Not sure if the rainx anti fog is safe for plastic lenses but it works great on my windshield.
What I would like is something for dealing with lens fogging in snow
I’ve got a tubular scarf that has a mesh grid where your mouth is. While wearing that I only get fogging while being still but on the move it’s not an issue but it still retains enough heat to stop my mustache from freezing solid. I imagined that a Buff scarf would be thin enough that this wouldn’t be an issue but it’s not.
Seconding the use of protective glasses as a sort of windshield. I use clear ones in the winter and tinted ones in the summer.
Here in the sub-arctic we get some heavy showers but likely nothing like what you get if you have monsoon seasons or the like. But snow and sleet and the like can be surprisingly unpleasant to get on the eyes anyway.
I frequently wear safety glasses, you can get some that can be worn on top of a pair of glasses but still provided wrap around protection like:
:o
Why didn’t i think of that, i use this at work and been protecting my eye with it
Gonna get an extra pair and put it in my bike bag just in case
Do it!
I use clear safety glasses when it’s dark and tinted safety glasses when it’s sunny. I’ve been hit by so many bugs and random debris that I think it’s unsafe to not have eye protection when riding.
I’m a commuter, so I don’t wear fancy clothes or have a fancy bike, so I think it fits the whole ensemble.
Also, make sure you have a decent light, both for you and others, especially for rain since everything seems to blend in when wet.
How do they handle condensation (from the inside)?
It varies. IME you can’t combine them with something like a respro mask in winter, you have to choose whether to expose your lungs or your eyes. In some weather you might feel like you need wipers, at that point you kinda just gotta use your fingers.
(I used to wear a respro in winter here in Oslo, but between replacing diesels with EVs, some route changes and generally mild auto traffic here, I haven’t bothered this winter. Used to develop this kind of mild, sporadic but chronic cough, but now I think I’m free, apart from when I actually get close to a diesel with their rancid winter fumes.)
Yeah if you’re exposed to cold weather then ski goggles tend to handle not fogging up with a scarf/mask better. You can get some pairs with clear, swapable lenses for biking at night.
Best when paired with something like RainX
I never had luck with anti-fog additives when I was riding (and e-scooter) with a motorcycle helmet, especially during the colder months. The only thing that worked was cracking the visor open a bit to let air in.
With my cycling glasses, I only run into issues when I’m at a stop and have just come off a hard effort… or when I wear a balaclava over my face. 😵
You can also get safety sun glasses. Best thing I purchased when working outdoors.
Oh and as for raingear goes, I’ll wear it in colder seasons, but my favorite is summer rain. Just put on some wicking material and treat it as free sweat.
I live in a tropical country. I use goggles and my gloves have a little squeegee on the finger that lets me get water mostly off the goggles. Here it rains so hard that i just try not to ride in the craziest rain but when i do i put on a full plastic rain suit. They sell them at gas stations for a few thousand pesos so everyone just buys one if it starts downpouring.
there are a few cycling helmets that have magnetic visors. Mine is a Rock Bros, and I have a darkened visor for daytime use, and a yellow visor for nighttime (the helmet came with a clear visor). It’s done just fine in snow and medium-heavy rain, but I have worried about it in very heavy rain.
I also have a pair of goggles made for motorcycling that are made specifically for wet conditions - there’s a foam gasket around the visor and air vents on the bottom. They’re also large enough to wear sunglasses or prescription glasses underneath. I think they were about $30 on ebay a few years back, and looking now, similar items are pretty common.
geet a couple of dry sacks too. Those are the waterproof bags that the open end rolls up and clips shut. I keep spare clothes in a smallish 2L dry sack on my bike.
Motorcycle helmet with rainx on the visor.
Sadly the sporty looking biker glasses that make you look like you are a 45 year old man in your midlife crises work best in my experience. I have a pair with only a very slight shading so I can wear them on cloudy days. Mine are also made out of plastic, which makes them not get so blurry from condensation
Maybe a motorcycle helmet? They have built-in visors that protect well from rain.
I find that they block your ears and reduce your vision too much.
There’s plenty of cycling helmets with a visor.
I wear photochromic cycling glasses. Day, night, rain, wind, and snow.
My eyes are happy all the time. The only annoyance is sometimes the lenses can get foggy when I’m wearing a balaclava.
There is anti fog spray you can get. It really works - I’ve been on rides where people were having all kinds of issues with fog, and I had clear vision the entire time.
I always wear cheap frameless glasses. They do not fog up as easily.
Something like these NRC glasses from China. Get the photochromic version with fully clear lens if you can. That will work night or day and is what I ride with most of the time.
I agree. Got fake (chinese?) poc devour glasses which cost 1/10 the price of the original thing. Though allegedly the vision quality is not on par with the originals (…that’s to be expected) they’re big enough to cover half your face from the elements and yet somehow almost never fog - not an easy feat in my case because I always wear a bandana covering mouth and nose.
Oh and they came with 4 lenses and a plastic thing where you can mount your prescription glasses, which allegedly the originals do not have.
I have a pair of photochromic cycling glasses that I bought off of AliExpress for like $10 or so. They work quite well for all kinds of sunlight and rain I happen to cycle in. No issues using them at night either, as they become mostly transparent at that point. Finally, they protect well against cold winds which can be troublesome on the eyes when biking.
Baseball cap and sunglasses shields me pretty well, to be honest.
Most serious outdoor rain jackets have a little visor in the front that can protect your eyes, especially if you incline your head slightly. Worth the investment for a nice one if you’ll be riding in the rain. Make sure it’s helmet compatible.
I use to have something like this https://mysunprotection.com.au/collections/helmet-hats/products/water-proof-explorer-high-vis-yellow?variant=40272676421709
