More air for your face, less dust for your eyes: What's not to love? Motorcycle goggles are a no-brainer for off-road riding. Here's how to choose your next pair.
Adventure riders cover a lot of ground. If you're anything like us, a decent portion of that ground alternates between dust, sand, and mud, all of which are things you want to keep out of your precious peepers.
In addition to being downright annoying and a sizable safety concern, getting too much dust or sand in your eyes can lead to painful corneal abrasions.
In addition to being itchy and unpleasant, these injuries also come with the unwelcome benefit of looking aggressively stoned for the better part of three straight days.
The right pair of motorcycle goggles will protect your eyes, but can also boost contrast and visibility in sub-prime conditions.
They'll keep sweat out of your eyes and get more fresh air circulating into your helmet (both on road and off), which makes them particularly sweet for hot days around town.
| Goggles: | Summary: | Price: |
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Top-tier fit, visibility, and ventilation at a mid-tier price. | CHECK PRICE |
| Professional-level off-road racing goggle with all the bells and whistles. | CHECK PRICE | |
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Great performance, comfort, and optics on a budget. | CHECK PRICE |
| Klim's flagship goggle with a massive field of vision and fast-swapping magnetic lenses. | CHECK PRICE | |
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Race-ready goggle with outstanding optics, great airflow, and a premium fit. | CHECK PRICE |
| Offers a healthy assortment of pro-level features for less cash. | CHECK PRICE | |
| Mid-tier goggle with features and performance that punch well above their asking price. | CHECK PRICE |
Motorcycle goggles come in all shapes, sizes, and price points.
Unfortunately many of them look damn similar (several even share the exact same lenses), so knowing what works and what doesn't for both your riding style and your helmet of choice can be tough to figure out from behind a keyboard.
To that end, here are a few of the main features we look for when choosing a pair of motorcycle goggles for ourselves.
Size and Fitment
In a perfect world, anyone looking to wear motorcycle goggles would buy the same top-shelf goggles used in off-road competitions like motocross or desert rally.
Unfortunately, those goggles are made specifically for dirt-focused lids, which often means they're too large for street and/or adventure motorcycle helmets.
There aren't any hard-and-fast size standards when it comes to motorcycle goggles, but there are definitely some we'd call "small frame" and others we'd call "large frame."
Most adventure riders and/or dual sport junkies will likely need to stick with smaller frame goggles, as they're much more likely to fit into the viewport of your helmet, especially when working around a flippable face shield.
This also goes for motorcycle goggles featuring outriggers, which are the extended strap holders you'll often see in motocross or enduro goggles.
Outriggers are great because they allow your goggles to sit deeper inside the helmet and therefore closer to your face, but many adventure helmets simply don't have enough space to fit these larger goggles, especially if you want to be able to raise and lower your face shield on the fly.
You'll want to do a little independent research on this point to ensure your helmet of choice is compatible with your goggles of choice.
If you can fit a larger framed goggle with outriggers into your helmet, more power to you (these features typically offer the widest field of vision and the best seal against your face), but most of us will be relegated to simpler options and should shop accordingly.
Offroad riding is much more active than typical road riding: You're moving around on the bike, standing up on the pegs, and putting a lot more effort than you would on a typical road tour.
For that reason we've found that one of the major differences between cheap motorcycle goggles and a truly great pair is ventilation.
Offroad work is sweaty, but a good pair of goggles will both wick and dispel moisture faster than you can make it.
Two main factors effect how well a goggle handles moisture: The foam around your face, and the open areas around the frame of the goggle.
As for the face foam, premium goggles typically use two if not three layers of multi-density foam, all of which work together to ensure a good comfortable fit around your face while also providing the most effective moisture-wicking possible as sweat drips down from your brow.
You'll also typically find a strip of wicking fabric adhered to the outside of this foam, which provides a softer feel against the skin.
In terms of the frame vents, the best motorcycle goggles have large openings distributed around the perimeter of the goggle, which are then covered with a simple thin layer of foam to allow air to flow while also filtering out fine dust and debris.
More premium designs will incorporate larger and more free-flowing channels between the outer goggle and your face, which further boost moisture management and fog prevention.
There's more to choosing a lens for your motorcycle goggles than finding a color to match your style.
Dark tinted and/or mirrored lenses help keep glare down in bright sunlight, certain colored lenses like yellow, pink, and blue help to increase contrast and make terrain more visible, and good ol' fashioned clear lenses simply "get the job done' night or day.
In addition to the color of your lenses, you'll also want to consider how easily they can be swapped on the fly (dark tint won't do you any favors if you get caught out after dark), how well they resist impacts and scratches (because roost happens), and how well they resist fogging.
Finally, if you intend to do any racing, aggressive trail riding, or just riding in particularly sloppy conditions, you'll also want to consider getting a lens for your motorcycle goggles that's compatible with tear-offs.
If you're not familiar with tear-offs, they're essentially single-use plastic lens covers that can be stacked over the lens of your goggles and then "torn off" on the fly as they get caked with dirt.
Most adventure riders have little or no use for tear-offs day to day, but it's always nice to have the option.
Keeping the above factors in mind, we have a few goggles we've come to love over the last few years that fit the bill better than most.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but if we were buying a new pair today, here's where we'd spend our money.
If you want a goggle that looks and performs like a million bucks, but retails for under $100, Fox Racing's Airspace goggles are your huckleberry.
We wore these goggles on a month-long tour through the Himalayas last year, and they just plain work.
The Airspace may be Fox's mid-range offering, but they flow air with the best in the business.
We wore these in heat, dust, mud, and pouring rain, and never had an issue with dripping sweat or fogging of any kind.
The Airspace's outriggers and flexible frame provide a fully dust-proof seal, even in the fine white powder we lived in daily at higher elevations.
The injection-molded lenses are clear, distortion-free, and only take a few seconds to swap out.
Our only complaint with the Fox Airspace after a few long trips is that the inner fleece liner has started to peel after about 8 months of use.
It happens to all goggles eventually, but seems to be happening a little earlier with these.
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Fox Racing Airspace Motorcycle Goggles
REVZILLA | AMAZON
Alpinestars and off-road go hand-in-hand, and their helmets, boots, and adventure kits have been favorites of ours for years.
It's only recently that Alpinestars has gotten into the motorcycle goggle game though, and they've absolutely knocked it out of the park with their first attempt.
The Supertech is Alpinestars' first flagship goggle, and we're happy to report they lack for absolutely nothing. With a massive field of vision, three-layer contoured foam, and wide outriggers, these goggles fit like a glove and flow tons of air.
We're also particularly impressed by the Supertech's insanely fast and easy lens swap system, which employs a sliding tab on either end of the goggle to release/secure new lenses in all of ten seconds.
AStars' "Absolute Vision" lenses are equally impressive, providing such clarity and contrast that it feels like seeing the world in HD for the first time.
There's one drawback to the Supertech, and we'll give you one guess as to what it might be. $130 is a lot of money, but for what it's worth, the Supertech might be the best goggle on the market right now.
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Alpinestars Supertech Goggle
REVZILLA | AMAZON
While 100%'s Strata 2 goggle is arguably the most popular motorcycle goggle on a budget currently available, we can't recommend stepping up to the Accuri 2 enthusiastically enough.
For an extra $10-20, you're upgrading to three-layer face foam, a thicker and more secure strap, and improved ventilation thanks to the addition of two vents to the front of the goggle frame.
We've owned both models and while the Strata 2 is a great option on an absolute shoestring budget, the Accuri 2 is by far the better deal in our eyes.
We'll also note that 100% uses the exact same lenses found in their more expensive Racecraft 2 goggle in both the Accuri and Stata offerings, which means you can get the same great clarity and field of vision for a lot less money.
Unlike the Racecraft, however, the Accuri 2 doesn't feature outriggers, so we've been able to fit it into every adventure helmet we've tested to date from the budget-friendly Bell MX9 ADV to the super-premium AGV AX9 Carbon.
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100% Accuri 2 Goggles
RIDE ADVENTURES
REVZILLA | AMAZON
It's no secret we love a photochromatic lens here at Ride Adventures, and this year the Klim Edge goggle with the photochromic treatment might be our favorite setup to date.
Klim's injection-molded cylindrical lenses were alright near perfect, but the auto-dim feature is a game changer.
In addition to the lens itself, we also love the Edge because it sports a frameless design (something you'll often see in snow goggles), which creates a massive field of view with minimal obstruction from the eyeport.
This also allows Klim to utilize a magnetic quick-release for the lenses, which is about as convenient as it sounds.
Aside from that, we'll note the face foam seals well and does a great job of pulling sweat, while the compact strap attachments and removable nose guard allow the Edge to fit inside most adventure helmets with ease.
As is often the case with goggles like these, the main issue is price, as the Edge's $130-140 asking price is right up there with other best-in-class offerings.
The photochromatic lens will set you back another $40 on top of that, although we can't imagine going back to anything else ourselves.
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Klim Edge Goggles
RIDE ADVENTURES
REVZILLA | AMAZON
If you want for the cream of crop when it comes to motorcycle goggles, you need look no further than the 100% Armega.
This is a top-spec race goggle that lacks nothing in terms of features and technology, and a tough one to beat from an outright performance standpoint.
You name it, you'll find it here. Ultra high-definition injection-molded lenses, a quick-release lens swap system, massive intake and exhaust ports for ventilation, and even a removable nose guard for the roost-adverse.
The optical clarity and field of vision on offer here are downright impressive, but what really sets the Armega apart is its moisture management.
Using a combination of perforated three-layer foam and a unique molded "sweat channel" between two layers of the frame, the Armega is arguably the closest thing to a sweat-proof goggle money can buy, which will be worth every penny for hardcore offroaders.
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100% Armega Goggles
REVZILLA | AMAZON
We've come to think of Leatt's latest Velocity 6.5 as an attractive "premium on a budget" alternative to some of the flagship offerings above.
The 6.5 is loaded with premium features, yet retails for about $100 anywhere and everywhere.
For your money you're getting triple-layer foam that's completely removable and washable, hinged outriggers that double as a clip-in system for lenses, a permanent anti-fog lens treatment, a removable nose guard... the list goes on.
Leatt even includes tear-offs in the box at no extra charge.
Leatt is also the only brand out there that boasts bulletproof lenses in their goggles, and we do mean that literally as velocity lenses are tested to military ballistic standards.
Their field of vision is outstanding (a claimed 170° by Leatt), they're compatible with roll-offs for race use, and they're even designed to fit over prescription glasses.
The main drawback here is that if you are interested in upgrading to the photochromic treatment, you're looking at nearly double the cost of the standard version.
They're also a little on the tall side top to bottom, which means they'll be a tight fit in some adventure-style helmets.
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Leatt Velocity 6.5
REVZILLA | AMAZON
If you want to get into Alpinestars' new lineup of goggles but don't want to shell out for the pro Supertech model, we've got good news for you: their mid-tier Vision 5 checks a lot of the same boxes, but does it for less than half the cash.
You're getting the same "A-Frame" contoured face shape, the same multi-layered foam and plush felt backing, and the same outstanding ventilation system.
The Vision 5 does away with the outriggers and the super-premium optics, but they still get a massive field of vision and are more likely to work with ADV and street-style helmets.
We also appreciate that the Vision 5 motorcycle goggles are compatible with Alpinestar's roll-off system, but also accept traditional tear-offs as well.
If you don't need race-level features, or optics, these are a great value, and still manage to flow air and wick sweat better than most.
The main downside to the Vision 5 offering is actually the fact that Alpinestars also sells a "Vision 8" for about $15 more, which include outriggers for an enhanced fit.
The Vision 5 are lighter and more flexible though, so they get the nod from us.
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Alpinestars Vision 5 Goggle
REVZILLA | AMAZON
Obviously we don't need to sell all the dirt junkies, hard-enduro enthusiasts, and motocross wizards out there on the utility of a good pair of motorcycle goggles.
For anyone else spending a decent amount of time exploring off-road, however, you're really missing out if you've yet to give goggles a chance.
As you've read above, a good pair of goggles can easily be the least expensive piece of gear in your kit, yet also one of the most useful.
There are plenty of options out there that work flawlessly alongside helmets with face shields, even if you're already wearing a pair of glasses under your lid.
Pick up a pair, take 'em for a spin, and let us know what you think in the comments below.
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