americanrecluse

Hey all!

I'm an old lady apparently so all of my doctor's appointments come with bad news! Yesterday I was told it's time for progressive lenses/bifocals. The other option is to get two pairs of glasses - one for close and one for far away. That sounds annoying. Getting used to progressive lenses also sounds annoying. Anyone who's been through it have a recommendation? Will wearing progressive lenses make riding my bike difficult?

10 Wheels

No Problem.

I ride with Tri Focals.

MikeOK

My distance vision is not too bad, but my close up is terrible. I wear progressive lenses and they work great on the bike, I can see distance and I can see my bike computer. You get used to them after awhile and it's automatic to look through the necessary part of your glasses. You can even get Oaklies with your prescription in them.

americanrecluse

Oh sweet thank you so much! I feel a little bit better about it.

pdlamb

Cycling is much better than going down stairs with bifocals or variable lenses.

Aahzz

I'll chime in, took me very little time to get used to progressives and have no issues with them on the bike.

CliffordK

I have astigmatism, so the vision isn't that bad, but pretty much everything is just a little out of focus and the glasses help.

I ride road bikes,and tend to watch for gravel, glass, etc under my tires.

I found the first few weeks of riding with progressives was quite annoying as it put the ground near me out of focus.

It has now been a couple of years, and I suppose I just don't notice that anymore.

I have thought about getting bike specific glasses (mainly distance only), and perhaps close-up detail specific glasses, but so far have chosen glasses that cover just about all the bases.

Astigmatism, Progressive, Photo Grey, Safety Glasses, Glass Lenses (my lenses aren't that heavy, and glass is generally durable, except for things like grinding). Unfortunately, they didn't come cheap

rm -rf

I have progressives for my normal glasses.

Lined bifocals
On the bike I have wraparound sunglasses to keep the wind out of my eyes. (Otherwise I get lots of tears, and that causes a runny nose, too.)

These bike glasses are distance vision only, with a small "stick on bifocal" patch so I can clearly see the handlebars and the tiny bike computer text. It works great. (The optometrist told me that "+2" readers would be correct to work with my distance vision lenses.)

It took a couple of rides to get used to the line in the middle of my vision. Now my eyes adapt instantly from the variable focus of the progressives to the line bifocal on my bike glasses. I never notice the change over. It's really interesting how vision is so adaptable.

Note -- I originally had to have the prescription insert re-made. I'm leaning forward, looking upward through the lens, and the insert itself is bent at a slight angle when clipped in. So the prescription wasn't quite right -- too distorted.

Here's the Rudy bike glasses, showing the clear lenses (interchangeable with various sunglass lenses) and the wire framed prescription clip-in insert. The stick-on bifocals were cut way down with a razor knife, and stay on even under running water at the kitchen sink.

Just the width of my handlebars is in close focus -- perfect.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Medium distance glasses
Bifocals or progressives are quite annoying in a few situations:

1. Focusing the whole width of the large flat planel computer displays. (Progressives can be quite terrible if the arm's length focus area doesn't reach all the way across the lens, but is kind of an oval in the middle. This is typical. I would have to move my head a little side-to-side to read wider lines of text.)

2. working above eye level, having to tilt my head all the way back. Grrr.


So, at my last exam, I had the Dr make a separate prescription for a single vision focusing at about arm's length. The eyeglass store had "buy one, get the second for $20" deal. Yeah! I got the cheapest frames available for this arm's length pair.

Really nice. It's kind of odd to walk around with these on, the floor is somewhat out of focus, and the far distance is about half out of focus. But I really don't notice that now when I'm wearing these.

americanrecluse

@pdlamb - oh shoot! I live upstairs! Ha! I guess I'll have to figure it out sooner rather than later.

sbuntin

Stairs can be unnerving in progressives (or bifocals, for that matter), but you get used to it. Just as you accommodate by learning to automatically use the correct part of the lens in different situations, you also learn to either not look at your feet or look *under* your glasses instead of through them when on stairs.

Rollfast

If you see more than one of these at a time





turn the other TV off...

Stick69

I use distance-only sunglasses for maximum peripheral vision as well as good vision regardless of my back angle. They work with bar-end and helmet-mount mirrors. I use the Wahoo app on my phone and numbers are big enough to see at arms length with my sunglasses.

YMMV

steve0257

Personal preference. I tried progressives when I first needed them. After two weeks I went back and had them replaced with lined bifocals. I just couldn't get used to the transition on the progressives, and a lot of time my area of concentration was right where the prescription started changing, which gave me headaches. Never had any problems with the lined bifocals.

Cyclist0084

I'll second that. When I got my first pair of progressive lenses about seven years ago, I did fine right from the start as far as near and far vision was concerned.....except for stairs. For some reason, which I was never able to figure out or have explained to me, stairs seemed "wavy" (for lack of a better word), and there were a few instances of missed steps, although no incidents or injuries resulted. I was told "you'll get used to it" and I was like, 'yeah right.' Well, at some point in the first week or two I did and didn't have any kind of problems after that.

bobwysiwyg

Amen! Watch your step going down stairs and yes, lower your head almost abnormally to get the best look at the steps. Also, no issues with me riding with progressives either.

SlowRider65

Switched to progressives earlier this year (after denying I needed them for several years ) No issues making the transition for me. I did get a pair of polarized sunglasses in regular vision as they had a $99 special when buying a new set of glasses so I use them where I used to use my sunglasses. Good Luck!

AzDzrtRat

I've had progressive lenses since I was in my mid 40's, (turning 60 this year). They never bothered me riding the motorcycle or the bicycle when I returned to riding. It does take a short adjustment period to figure out where to look but, that become habit pretty quickly.

asmac

Me too...

TrojanHorse

I'll be different - I hate progressive lenses. Felt like I could never get the right angle. One thing to watch out for - progressives need more "real estate" and my specs may not have been large enough.

I just make do with distance contacts now, and use reading glasses as necessary. I can sort of make out my bike computer. Mostly.

Rollfast

My optometrist isn't building his retirement on me...then again my nurse practitioner is cuter.


And smarter than me.

Beachgrad05

I had lenses made for my Oakley Split Jackets back in 2011. I recently have been trying multi focal contacts and don't like them. Oakley no longer makes the Split Jacket but I found a pair on Amazon thru a company called Fresh Shades. I also got Racing Jackets from same company thru Amazon and I hope to have new lenses made for those frames. If they can't I can have new lenses made for the new Split Jackets.