Motorcycle sunglasses affect both comfort and safety, but many riders wear glasses that match their riding attire better than their riding environment. This should be expected since it is almost impossible to find objective information on this topic. This guide is our attempt to remedy that problem. As an avid motorcyclist and the owner of ADS Sports Eyewear I get to road test every major brand of motorcycle glasses on the market. As an optician I know what’s needed to improve contrast and protect eyesight. The following guide presents two fundamental steps to follow when selecting motorcycle eyewear. At the end I also give my opinions about the Best & Worst products from the top four manufacturers, and let you know how they compare to each other.



Step 1: Choose glasses that fit the type of riding you will be doing.



Longer rides or rides at higher speeds require motorcycle glasses that prevent wind from swirling around behind the lens and drying out your eyes. If you’re usually riding between stop lights you will want eyewear that allows more air circulation to minimize fogging and perspiration around the eyes.



Panoptx and Wiley-X each offer several glasses with a foam eyecup that protects the eye from swirling winds. Both manufacturers also feature a venting system that manages the amount of air that comes through air vents on top and escapes out the bottom or on the sides. While too much circulating air will dry out your eyes, too little circulation will suffocate them. Either condition will reduce the amount of time you can ride comfortably. Many of the knock-off versions of these glasses are not designed well enough to effectively balance airflow requirements.



Gatorz Eyewear and Harley Davidson Eyewear both have several models that protect your eyes from wind and debris, but allow a little more air circulation than the Panoptx or Wiley-X models. These glasses will keep you cooler and more comfortable at slower speeds or on shorter rides.



Be extremely cautious about wearing eyewear on a motorcycle that is not designed specifically for speed. Choose a frame that adequately wraps around the side of your eye. Smaller frames will direct the burble of air created by the lens right into your eye. While this might keep the bigger bugs from directly impacting your eye, it will provide little protection from wind and dust. The frame should also be built to withstand impact. An unbreakable lens has little value if it is mounted in a frame that could disintegrate right in front of your eyes.



Step 2: Choose a lens that fits your needs.

There are an infinite number of good lens choices available to motorcyclists, and an equal number of bad choices. The importance of making the right choice cannot be overstated. The correct lens choice should reduce eyestrain, improve contrast, and quicken reaction time.



Factors to consider when selecting a lens include: lens material; polarized or not; photochromic or not; and lens color. Regardless of what you choose, there will be lots of pros and cons. We try to present the pluses and minuses associated with each alternative.



Lens material choices should be limited to polycarbonate, Trivex, or SR-91. Any other material could shatter if struck by a rock or a bug at highway speeds. If you wear regular street eyewear on a motorcycle it’s just a matter of time before Darwinism takes you out of the gene pool.



If you’re purchasing prescription motorcycle glasses and someone offers to sell you a UV lens treatment, you can assume this person is either inexperienced or unethical. The three lens materials listed above block UV rays naturally. No additional coating is required. Any lens that requires a UV lens treatment is breakable and should not be used in motorcycle eyewear.



We use polycarbonate lenses in about 80% of our prescription motorcycle glasses. Trivex lens blanks are still not available in sizes large enough to fit most 8-base wrap-style motorcycle glasses. The new SR-91 polarized prescription lenses are now available for most of our motorcycle frames. SR-91 is about 50% more expensive than polycarbonate, but the optics are phenomenal. The SR-91 Copper-12 is well suited for motorcycling. Very few labs in the country have the equipment required to edge this new lens material, so it may take a few days longer to get SR-91 than polycarbonate. All SR-91 lenses are polarized, none are photochromic.



Polarized lenses are the most effective way to cut glare and get a clean, crisp view of the road. Polarization is not a lens coating. It is a series of crystals sandwiched inside the lens that blocks scattered light from reaching your eye. Sources of glare could be windshields, wet roads, buildings, or directly from the sun. Reasons not to get polarized lenses include: some LED instrumentation is not visible through a polarized lens; vision could be distorted if polarized lenses are worn under some full-faced helmets; and polarized lenses are more expensive than traditional lenses. If you do not have LED instrumentation or a full-faced helmet, we highly recommend polarized lenses for motorcycling.



Photochromic lenses are becoming very popular with people who want one pair of motorcycle glasses for both day and night riding. This is especially true of prescription lens wearers. The biggest downside of photochromic (or Transitionsฎ) lenses is that polycarbonate lens material does not get quite as dark as the more breakable photochromic lenses (like glass or CR-39 plastic). For people who are more sensitive to bright light, or people who prefer a dark sunglass lens, these may not get dark enough to be comfortable.



Panoptx has two innovative was to address this issue. Their newest solution is the High Noon Eye Cup that works with glasses in their CV Series. (All of the High Noon Eye Cups are listed at the very bottom of the Panoptx page.) This eye cup features a slightly tinted lens that supplements the regular Transitions lens. At night, the glasses are worn with the regular, non tinted, eye cup.



The Panoptx Dusk-to-Dawn lens is their original solution. This works best for people who hate to swap out anything while riding. Panoptx put a slight copper tint on a regular photochromic lens to make it just a bit darker in sunlight. The tint also cuts the glare from oncoming headlights during dusk or dawn hours. This lens works fine for night riding under streetlights. But if your only source of light is your motorcycle headlight you need a lens that is completely clear.



Lens color is almost as important as polarization when trying to maximize clarity and contrast. For most people, shades of copper provide the best contrast, and copper will always sharpen colors like reds and greens. Grey or brown lenses are best for maintaining true color. In low light conditions like dusk, dawn, or rainy days a yellow or light rust lens color can cut glare and improve contrast. But as you just read, if your only source of light is your motorcycle headlight a slight tint will not improve contrast. It will just reduce the little bit of light you have to work with.