Certainly not the money, but more importantly your eyes, the only ones you'll ever have by the way.
You hear about it every year, especially during the summer months, about protecting yourself from the sun. With it's harmful UV-rays beating down on your skin, doing untold amounts of damage. New stations report it, in fact, some even have a daily index on it to keep you up to date and scared out of your wits reminding you to put on that super-duper SPF 500 so you don't get skin cancer. What you hardly ever hear about is just how damaging this same sun and UV-rays are to your eyes. In fact, the surface of your eyes can burn from these same UV-rays that damage your skin. We don't even want to go into the bad stuff that could be caused from long-term or prolonged exposure to these rays like macular degeneration and cataracts and a lot of other nasties.
A Little Science Behind UVR
So just what is ultraviolet radiation (UVR)? Well, unfortunately, or fortunately however you look at it, UVR is a by product of our sun. Now I'm no scientist or anything like that so I went and looked it up to get the scientific definition of the matter so pardon me while I go a little geeky on you here. Basically UVR is divided down into three different types: UVA (long waves), UVB (medium waves) and UVC (short waves). These waves are actually no different than say radio waves that bounce about the atmosphere all around us and if you can remember back to your science class radio waves had what's called wavelengths. The wavelength is nothing more than the distance between the top of two waves.
They've actually divided UVA out into two separate parts. There is a long UVA and a short UVA. Now I don't really know how they did that because if it's a short UVA wouldn't it just be a UVB instead. And from our good friends over at wikipedia you can tell that it really is just that as it acts just like UVB. Long UVA doesn't cause burns, but short UVA's can. Even if you get pretty large doses of long UVA it's come to the conclusion that it doesn't cause much of a reaction.
UVB rays are the ones you've actually got to look out for. Eventhough they are partially blocked by our atmosphere, they still sink down to the surface of the earth. These are the ones that can get you and cause all of your problems from sunburns to cancers. You can wear long shirts to partially block them, put on the sunscreen to block UVB's as this is what they are designed to do. But what are you going to do for your eyes? Get a cheap pair of motorcycle sunglasses?
UVC rays for all intent and purposes here, who really cares as they are completely blocked out by our atmosphere and don't really serve any kind of purpose on what we are talking about in this article.
That's enough geekdom for one day, if you want to know more about UV you can visit wikipedia here. Overall though, what you need to know from this is that UV-rays are most intense between 10 in the morning till around 4 in the afternoon. An overcast or cloudy sky won't even stop them from penetrating through and getting to you.
Where do we go from here?
Well, knowing this, you should know that you shouldn't just select a pair of motorcycle sunglasses based on looks alone to complete the ensemble. You should be selecting the appropriate pair of sunglasses based on what you're doing and you're environment. Not only will they affect your comfort, but they could save your eyes as well. Here's a few tips for selecting the right pair:
1. Get the right pair of sunglasses for the type of riding you're going to do. If you do a lot of riding back and forth daily to work and are forced to make frequent stops either due to stop signs or traffic lights, you're gonna want a pair that allows for air circulation. This will help in preventing perspiration and minimizing fogging of the lens. If you're more of sunday rider where you like to get out on the open roads and take a long cruise, you'll want a pair that really restricts the air from slipping behind the lenses and drying out your eyes. This can actually make a long ride not very enjoyable quickly.
2. Get the right frames. If you're gonna be cruising down the highway on your motorcycle, sure you'd look cool in some aviator type sunglasses. But those really aren't going to protect your eyes. You really need some sunglasses that are going to wrap around to the side of your face to cover your eyes. Those aviator type frames and frames that are smaller in stature will only let the wind whip right around the sides and top and go directly in your eyes drying them out and possibly throwing some dust or bugs in the mix. Nobody wants that. While we are on the topic of frames, make sure that they are somewhat impact resistant. You don't want them to break if they do happen to fall off your head.
3. Make sure the lenses are right. These days there are a ton of choices for you which makes it even harder to choose. To make it easier, only go with the ones that are UV-resistant. They should say it right there on the glass. Not that they are glass lenses as you have to take precautions as glass scratches rather easily. But you could use some that are polycarbonate. These are much more impact-resistant. Of course you'll start thinking about whether or not you'll need some polarized motorcycle sunglasses or what about those new fangled photochromic motorcycle sunglasses, you know the ones that change color from light to dark based on the amount of light your in. Bottom line is get one thats right for you. If you like polarized, get polarized. If you like photochromic lenses, get photochromic lenses. You need a lens that will do it's job which is reduce your eyestrain, cut glare and improve the contrast. This will ease the tension on your eyes while riding your motorcycle allowing them to increase in their reaction time to catch those fleeting glimpses.
One interesting fact about those lenses in your sunglasses, just because you get a pair that have really dark colored lenses doesn't necessarily mean that they will protect your eyes better. In fact, it's been shown that these darker colored lenses can actually make your pupils dilate. This can actually be a little more harmful to your eyes as it would let in more of those UVA's and UVB's we talked about earlier.
4. If you're gonna spend the money on a decent pair of motorcycle sunglasses, use the cloth that comes with them to clean them. Don't go throwing your shirt at them to get that pesky little particle off your lens and for heavens sake don't use just an old rag with who knows what on it. Those cloth's that come with your glasses are made specially to remove the dirt and dust from your glasses without leaving a scratch or smudge.
So just what are some top-name motorcycle sunglasses?
Again, here we go with a lot of choices but there really are 4 or 5 real name brand type sunglasses for motorcycle riders. 7Eye (formerly Panoptx) is an outstanding and trusted name in motorcycle eye wear. With there famous 7Eye Diablo, many bikers really rave about these. Wiley X is another name to look for, you really can't go wrong with a pair from Wiley. And who could leave out Harley when your talking anything about motorcycles. Harley Davidson produces motorcycle sunglasses that wrap around your eyes to protect them from the elements and are pretty innovative with them as well. One that you are probably not as familiar with are Gatorz. Gatorz have some that do the same as Harley and plus the both offer models that will let in some air to keep your eyes comfortable.
