Whether you’re an experienced rider who has recently needed to start wearing glasses or a new rider with extensive glasses wearing experience, you might be wondering if you can wear motorcycle goggles over your specs…and with good reason! Seeing is important-especially when riding on a motorcycle. We’ve researched this topic thoroughly and have some solid information for you to keep you safe and stylish while riding.
Technically, you can wear regular motorcycle goggles over your glasses, but, to ensure your safety (which should always be your first priority,) it’s critical to purchase specific over the glasses goggles, also known as OTG motorcycle goggles, which are designed to fit over your prescription glasses. This design also helps keep your prescription glasses safe from being damaged.
We know that’s a lot of information to digest. Which is exactly why we break it down for you in this post. Keep reading to be taken on a helpful ride to answers about wearing motorcycle goggles over your glasses.
Let’s Start This Ride With Some Basics
Motorcycle goggles are safety eyewear designed to keep motorcyclists’ eyes protected. While safety goggles are highly encouraged and necessary to wear while riding a motorcycle, Wearing glasses alone is not recommended. They may help you see better, but they do not provide substantial protection and insulation from the wind, debris, or other particles that may impair or harm your vision.
If wearing goggles over glasses isn’t for you, have no fear! There are prescription goggles for bikers. You can purchase prescription motorcycle goggles here.
Safety Tips
Having good vision has a tremendous impact on your safety. If you’re an experienced rider who just started wearing glasses, you may have a favorite pair of motorcycle goggles. It may be tempting to force these goggles over your glasses. While this may seem like a good idea, it definitely isn’t. Using motorcycle goggles that aren’t OTG motorcycle goggles puts your ability to see, and in turn, your safety in jeopardy.
What Makes the design of OTG motorcycle goggles so special?
- Ultimate visibility-OTG motorcycle goggles are generally equipped with wider lenses compared to regular motorcycle goggles. Because of the wider lenses, OTG motorcycle goggles allow you to see best not only downward, but through your peripheral vison as well. There are also other design features of OTG motorcycles that ensure your overall visibility is the best it can possibly be while riding.
- Great for day and night-Some OTG motorcycle glasses have photochromatic lenses, also known as transition lenses. “Photochromatic” and “transition” are just fancy adjectives for lenses that darken during the daylight and soften or become clearer during nighttime. Your glasses might already have transition lenses. But, if they don’t, we highly recommend purchasing transition OTG motorcycle glasses. Although OTG motorcycle glasses with transitional lenses may be a bit more expensive, they’re absolutely worth it if you’re the type of rider that enjoys riding during the day and night.
- Safety features for eyes and glasses-OTG motorcycle goggles not only keep you safe by helping you see better, they keep your eyes and glasses safe too. The unique design of OTG motorcycle goggles includes extra padding, which aids in protecting your eyes from all sorts of debris. This inner padding also provides more all-around comfort where the glasses touch the riders’ face.
- Bump in the road? No problem- Designed with slits or indents distinctly designed for glasses, OTG motorcycle glasses help keep your glasses in place. If you’re an off-road rider and hit a bump or a street rider that runs over some debris in the road, your glasses won’t be slipping and sliding off your face because of this unique and useful design feature.
Brands that make OTG motorcycle goggles-
Good news and bad news. The good news is most major motorcycle and eyewear brands manufacture OTG motorcycle glasses. Amongst these brands are Oakley, VonZipper, American Legend Rider, J&P Cycles, and Chapparal Motorsports-just to name a few. The bad news is for Harley Davidson riders. Unfortunately, Harley Davidson does not manufacture OTG motorcycle goggles.
Have fun riding-but most importantly- stay safe!
Keep in mind the reason you’re wearing goggles over your glasses- safety. Safety might not always be the most fun or convenient option-but it’s what allows you to continue to have fun. Happy riding!