Looking for a new pair of sunglasses to go riding in?
Liberty Sport 'Chopper' Sunglasses
- www.libertysport.com
- Retail $139.00
- 8-base wrap around lens shape delivers excellent peripheral field of vision.
- Comes with removable MagTraxion™ magnetic eye cups to help protect the eyes from wind, dust and light flying particles.
- Raised eyerim back lip provides additional lens retention.
- Pierced temple design allows air flow and help screen out debris.
- Soft nose pad for comfort and fit.
- Head hugging temple design to add to frame comfort.
- Plano frame comes with Liberty Sport Ultimate Driver polycarbonate premium performance lenses:
- Passes all Global Driving Standards.
- Hard Coat Premium Scratch Coating.
- 100% UVA & UVB Protection.
- Sample provided by Liberty Sport for review
I wasn't sure what to think about wearing "motorcycle" sunglasses but after spending the last 4.5 months wearing them I'm pleasantly surprised.
Generally, I only wear sunglasses with wire or thin plastic frames because I like having unobstructed peripheral vision. I was a little weary about wearing these since they have rather tall wrap around frames. But I guess I got used to them after awhile and I can't even tell anymore.
I also thought they wouldn't hold up to the magical wonder that are my Maui Jim rimless glasses, which have the most amazing lenses I've ever worn. I'm a fan of rose/orange tinted lenses, because they just make everything stand out a little bit more. Think of it as going from black and white to color tv. They actually were a little better than mine and I stopped wearing them since having the Choppers, because the lenses are so much better. I do have an older model and they are a little scratched so that may be partly to blame, but overall the quality on the Chopper lens are quite nice. These aren't polarized but I actually enjoyed that as well. I thought I would need the polarized lenses but I guess not.
They're clean, crisp and add a little depth/ definition to everything you see. The reason why I don't swap out visors is mainly because I won't carry an extra visor to swap out. The lenses also don't come close to the quality of high end sunglasses such as these. They're not easy to carry and it's simply inconvenient. I've been wearing sunglasses under my helmet for my entire riding career so far and they have all worked far better than tinted visors.
What makes these stand out from the rest out there are the MagTraxion removable eye cups that sit just inside where the frame meets the lens.
These are designed to "help protect the eyes from wind, dust and light flying particles". Frankly, I found that I didn't really need them to do that. Wearing them felt a little bulky so I never really wore them. However, I do wear a full face helmet and always wear my visor down once I jump on the highway. Around town I do sometimes keep my visor up but not for long since my contacts tend to dry out quickly if I do that. I think if you wear an open face helmet 24-7 you may find yourself using the eye cups more often.
The ones I'm wearing are the "matte black/shiny silver with ultimate driver lens #205" The Choppers all have the rose tinted lenses.
Unfortunately these are definitely too wide for my small face. It's not a women's specific model, but if you have a medium-large helmet size you'll probably fit these really well. Each model has the size specs on their website so you can measure yourself or have your eye doctor measure you to see which ones would be a good fit.
Overall I would recommend these to anyone looking for their next pair of sunglasses for motorcycling, bicycling or any other sporting activity.
Liberty Sport offers a full line of sunglasses for other sports including skiing, diving, cycling and watersports. Visit their website to see what they have to offer.
