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Tear Offs - I see said the blind man to his deaf wife..
by superfly
Posted: Jan 20, 2009
Tear-Offs are a wonderful thing, after all they keep you on track and in a straight line and out of the Accident and Emergency Department don’t they? Perhaps we should think of them as essential safety wear, up there with knee pads and a spine protector?
First up you need lenses with tear-off posts. These are the small molded dimples that raise some 5mm high at either edge of your goggle lenses, don’t worry as they are not distracting, you can’t even see them from the inside. Top Tip - Whenever you buy a replacement lenses, always buy one with these posts on as you never know when you might need tear-offs, we do ride in the mountains and hills after all!
First up you need lenses with tear-off posts. These are the small molded dimples that raise some 5mm high at either edge of your goggle lenses, don’t worry as they are not distracting, you can’t even see them from the inside. Top Tip - Whenever you buy a replacement lenses, always buy one with these posts on as you never know when you might need tear-offs, we do ride in the mountains and hills after all!
Before you even attempt to start fixing tear-offs on, make sure your lens is clean and dry, as are your goggles and goggle bag. Even better if you can do this at home in front of the fire place, never attempt the following procedure outdoors, sitting in the car or van will ensure no rain or dust will get trapped in there and distort your view or damage the lenses.
Decide now which hand are you happier with to pull the tear-off with. First thing to do to ensure a quicker pull is to fold the tear-off on the perforated line outwards when inserting one. Then just pop the tear-off which will have two holes that fit snugly onto the two lenses posts.
Left or right handed?
For multiple tear-off applications follow this closely. Never put one on the right and then one on the left and visa versa. Come the heat of the race and you might just pull the left one first, forgetting that you should of pulled the right one first, DOH!
The simple way to do this is to fix your first one in place and carefully fold the tear-off arm over so that the big hole is now over the lens post. Then apply your next tear-off straight over the lapped over tear-off arm and repeat until the desired number are fitted. Once you start fixing over 6 tear-offs your vision will become distorted, Fort Bill you need 3-4 maximum and most muddy races two will suffice.
In the summer and dry days you should still ride a single tear-off just to protect dust from scratching your lenses. Like me if you are a bit of a tramp and tighter than a ducks ass I’ll dust that tear-off down back at base and re-use.
Race Preparation!
If you are lucky enough to have a spare set of goggles then maybe think about keeping these for your race run. Back at base prior to race fit your desired number of tear-offs and pop goggles into the dry and clean goggle bag. Your goggle bag should get washed weekly, just make sure you check those drawstring knots are tight though. Then pop into the kitchen and grab a freezer bag from the middle drawer and pop the goggles in there and seal that bag up.
Come uplift keep your fresh clean goggles under your race top and away from the elements. As you are lining up with your lid on, with 2-3 riders to go, leaning forward now unwrap your goggles and place them on your helmet, at all times sheltering them from the rain. Pop the goggle bag up your sleeve or down your race pants looped around your waist buckle and heads up and you are off.
Before you even start your race run you must know exactly where you are going to pull your tear-offs, get your game plan together during practice. Let's talk about Fort William! I know come the deer gate after that left turn I will pull my 1st tear-off. Next one will be just up from the big wall ride as you cross that metal rut breaker. Last but not least at the exit of the rock garden before the motorway the 3rd one will be pulled. In all I will put three on and stick to that plan. Remember failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
My other top tip is the same with gloves, keep a pair for race run only and again pop in a plastic bag for toasty warm and dry hands whilst everyone else is freezing. It’s amazing what a difference this will make!
KEEP THE TRAILS TIDY!
Remember tear-offs are plastic and take around 100 years to decompose so let's think about the environment and not use these nilly willy. After all imagine 300 riders over a weekend each lobbing several empty crisp/potato chip packets all over the hill, unsightly and irresponsible.
Sam Flockhart - Crystal Clear. Photo by www.ianlinton.com
If you're at any of the DH races in 2009 and want any advice on fitting tear-offs or lenses then pop over and we will help you out!
Tear-Offs are usually available in packs of 10 or 20, just note each company has different fitting Tear-Offs, therefore Oakley Tear-Offs won’t fit on your Spys and vice versa.
Sam Flockhart photo by http://www.ianlinton.com
Stay Unclipped.
Si Paton..
www.Descent-Gear.com
Mavic 2009 Rims Now Instock.
Editor's Note:
Do you like articles like this or do you have something to say that would help others out in a technical manner? Well then contact me at brule.pinkbike.com and we'll get it out there for everyone to read!
96 Comments
The mountains of discarded tear-offs at places like Fort William is a pretty bad eyesore and cause for concern. Surely tear-offs can be manufactured that decompose when exposed for a period of time to UV light or moisture.
Anyway, they can't be doing any favours for the badgers.
Anyway, they can't be doing any favours for the badgers.
this isnt meant to be offensive and smart but biodegradable tear offs would be as much use as sand paper bog roll, the idea of biodegradable plastic is that the bonds between the polymers break down when wet so if when ur tear offs get wet the plastic would become mushy pretty quick adimitadly not instantly but if u run tear offs to protect ur lenses they would maybe only last a a few days if ur luky
why use tear off's though unless your racing its just plain stupid. stop and wipe your goggles if your just riding instead of harming the environment
tbh honest the enviroment is the least of my worrys wen im pinning it through a rock garden and cant see where im going
fugrus: then you'd use photodegradable plastics when manufacturing them, they would last about 2months of riding untill you could no longer see through them. the only problem with bio/photodegradable plastics is that they might not be a visually clear as other plastics (Oakley for one, prides themselves in their optical clarity)
fugrus why would they be such a bad idea. If the tear-offs were UV decomposable then after like 3 weeks of being outside they would go a milky white colour before getting smaller, shrivelling up and turning into compostable mulch. Agreeably, having them break down in water instanly is a bad idea though.
Im sure some boffins could make some though.
Im sure some boffins could make some though.
fugrus i would like to see you tear a tear off, off whilst "pinning" it through a rock garden. that would be fun to see.
i nevr sed i would if ud read the arctical/knew anything about tear offs ud know tht u wud pull them off before hand
does anyone know anything about the things steve peat uses like in this pic http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/MultimediaFiles/20060528_FORT__WILLIAM_DH_STEVE_PEAT.JPG the big sides on his goggles?
that is called a smith clear view most goggle producers make them it consistist of a slear roll of tape on one side and an empty roll on the other when u tug the cord it pulls a clear bit of tape over ur eyes, they last for ever and for all u green peacers out there u can throw the roll of used tape in the bin when u get home
i aint seen the picture but i think the googles peaty uses have toggles on the side of them and there is like a chemical gel/plastic thing and when you pull the toggle a new layer of the gel/plastic thingy goes over the lens whilst wiping away dirt and grime. Scott make them but you need an offshore bank account for them they cost about 70 notes and replacement gel/plastic is much cheaper.
Peaty for world champion at Canberra
Peaty for world champion at Canberra
There are tearoffs and roll offs. Roll offs have cartridges of film on each side it goes across a small strip infront of your eyes. On cartridge holds clean film then the other side holds the dirty. You pull a string and the film slides across the goggle. The only down side is that it doesnt clean the whole lense just a straight strip at the top.
hawthorn.. you're wrong.. furgust is right, it just pulls a layer of film over the crucial slitt where your eyes are, no gell, and they cost about £40 for the whole goggle and £3/£4 for new rolls of lens
yeah roll throughs are heaps better. For motorcross clubs here have banned tear offs a long time ago because of all the litter.
I just put a single tear off on for my first time and i got like a thousand little bubbles between the tear off and the lense which makes it kinda blurry. Is there a specific way I should put them on?
sounds like you have oakleys and you tore off a tearoff from the stack and put it singly on the lens? your supposed to put the whole stack on, not just individual films!
there is no way to see through the whole pack of oakley tear offs, there is like 25. You need to put them on one at a time so you can fold the tab over. After putting on about 5 it gets pretty blurry.
your thinking of the single lens style tearoffs, oakley has a system which is a stack of 9 films and you put the whole thing on and tear of the single films. It hardly affects visual clarity at all tbh.
Yeah they have laminated tearoffs that water cant get between except between the lense and last tearoff.
however i do agree that tearing off too much while riding could be a bad thing and lead to a scattered mess of the trail
At the risk of looking a complete tard, I'm going to have to say.....Those look really hard to see through.
I always run one, but never! use it mid run. I just keep it there as it is cheaper then replacing a lens. At the end of the day or if it gets really bad and can't be cleaned. I'll put on a new one. Cost a few dollars a day, but never having to deal with scratched a lens is (almost) priceless. Dh is normally not bad enough to warrant mid run tear offs. Now MX when you get totally nailed by roost...
that's exactly what I do, my riding shorts have no pockets to hold used tear-offs so I jus leave it on all day. Unless its raining, but then you'd go through like 20 a run anyway.
I don't like the idea of tear-offs. I can understand them at racing events where you need that winning edge and there are people to clean up the mess afterwards, but people using them outside of events makes the place look terrible and gives mtbr's a bad name with other hill users - it's just littering.
Yeah right, riding at Whistler when it's raining and the mud is swamped, covered head to toe in slime, and you're having a hella good time with a mssive grin on yer face.
You're still running at 75% speed, you'd never want to use tear offs would you ?
You're still running at 75% speed, you'd never want to use tear offs would you ?
OK to be anal 75% of your normal riding speed on that specific trail on that specific day in question.
Tera offs are pretty cool but as you mentioned they have to be used on a good spot that you have already prepared in your practise runs.
But I don`t know why but the front side of my lense is in good condution but the inside it horrible. scrathced wherever and I don`t know why. Alsi I can`t understand how can mud get inside of my googles unless they fit to my face properly :?? anyone can help me?
But I don`t know why but the front side of my lense is in good condution but the inside it horrible. scrathced wherever and I don`t know why. Alsi I can`t understand how can mud get inside of my googles unless they fit to my face properly :?? anyone can help me?
if you put your lid on your bars with the goggles on the lid, or even just your goggles on the bars, then they get scratched to f*ck by your levers
i once hung my helmet on the back off my seat with the goggles wraped round the back to push up and when i got to the top i found that the tire had worn through the lens, £30 new turboflow lens, gutted lol
tear offs piss me the f*ck off. i raced moto for years, and you expect a moto track to be littered with them. but seeing them out in the forests really grinds my gears. horrible suggestion if you ask me
opening in the market for decomposing tear-offs? surely it'd be possible? I'd be happy to pay a little bit more and only fit 4 rather than 6 on at a time to know that they'd disappear in a year or whatever
yeah here in holland they make some of the plastic potato chip takeaway cups/plates, out of bio degradable plastic made from potatos starch ?..
and hell yeah..! stay unclipped !!
and hell yeah..! stay unclipped !!
They make all sorts of biodegradable plates and tupperware like containers out of corn starch (possibly potato starch too). I believe the theory is that they begin to break down once exposed to a certain temperature, which I think is achieved in landfills when everything is compressed together. Seems like it could easily be adapted for use in tear offs, although I've never used them, and doubt I ever will.
Being clipped in has its time and place.. as much as I would like to ride my freeride and downhill bikes all the time, there's no feeling better than pedaling a bike efficiently for hours on end. My Intense 5.5 might be my favorite bike of all time.
Being clipped in has its time and place.. as much as I would like to ride my freeride and downhill bikes all the time, there's no feeling better than pedaling a bike efficiently for hours on end. My Intense 5.5 might be my favorite bike of all time.
A closed race course is an exemption for disposing of tear-offs. There are people who have to tear the course down afterwards (ie: me) so we expect to pick up any evidence of there being a race. Your focus as a racer is having the best RACE you can. Let the vollies and organizors worry about picking up your tear-offs... this coming from a race organizor.
Check these guys out: http://www.cheaptearoffs.com/
Check these guys out: http://www.cheaptearoffs.com/
i've ridden/raced in some of the nastiest, snottiest slop you could imagine, and i've never felt the need for tearoffs. in moto, tear offs are required for the racer to have that best race....the heats are also 30 minutes. if you need tear offs on a 5-8 minute dh run, make a fender
What a silly idea, I understand why MX riders use them, but mountain bikers....Come on. I don't see the need for them really. The waste you create along with the eyesore of all the plastic lying everywhere. We already have a big enough environmental foot print on this earth, we don't need to spread it to the forests too. One thing us mountain bikers thrive on is nature, don't destroy it for the rest of us.
Races use too much plastic already. Both sides of the entire race are already ribboned. At the Olympics they used 2 rows of ribbon on either side of the trail! Yes, volunteers clean up, but that plastic is still getting thrown away at the end of the day. And you might not believe where this plastic eventually ends up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch.
This product is just another symptom of our throw-away culture.
This product is just another symptom of our throw-away culture.
your telling me when your ripping down a hill at 60, over tech ground, your willing to take all concentration away from trying to get your fastest run, and take one hand off to rip one of these...it wont be your goggles eating dirt...itl be you eating the dirt.
Sam
Sam
Unless your mid race. people shouldn't have a problem with stopping tearing and pocketing the trash. I for one don't like to see litter on the mountain and if it were a problem I could see tearoffs banned from resorts in short time.
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Keep the tear offs on the Motocross tracks and use roll-offs on the mountain, you'll actually get more pulls and nothing gets left behind. Theres a rip cord on the side of the lense and everytime you pull it presto Magico you get a fresh view of the trail, theres a roll off system designed for any goggle in the market today. Best advice I ever got about trail riding is to be sure to take out everything I brought in (tear offs wont work).
When you have some one spinning their wheels rite in front of you like in a MX then tear/roll offs make sense. Orange or yellow sunnies are alot better in the mud. Plus they don’t fog as fast. If you got the cash to pay out for that then do it. Biodegradable or not you should probably go pick your trash up after the run. Paper is biodegradable also but you don’t see every rider leaving their start order where ever they want on the hill. Let the trash Biodegrade in dump not on the Mt.
do you actualy have to flipping ask...
When your doing a run, and its wet youl probably get layered in mud...right? well if your unlucky, youl goggles will get mud over them, in which you pull off a tear off and bobs your uncle you can see again.
I think theyre a pretty good idea, but the fact is, you dont normally get your goggles covered in mud as most people use innertubes and what not between the fork legs and arch in the forks to stop the mud from doing this.
Waste of money IMO
Sam
When your doing a run, and its wet youl probably get layered in mud...right? well if your unlucky, youl goggles will get mud over them, in which you pull off a tear off and bobs your uncle you can see again.
I think theyre a pretty good idea, but the fact is, you dont normally get your goggles covered in mud as most people use innertubes and what not between the fork legs and arch in the forks to stop the mud from doing this.
Waste of money IMO
Sam
I use tear off's, same google as in the article actually and I don't race. being on a the mountian and not having to do the jersey wipe is a great option, but just because the name is tear off, it does not mean throw away. stop, tear, pocket trash keep riding. pretty simple steps really. I hate it when people use speed as an excuse to litter ( not talking about a race run here) practise or shuttling, take your tubes, gel packs, power bar wrappers, water bottles, powerade, gatorade, tear offs and beer cans with you. trash it or recycle it. If your not racing, walk your local course between classes and pick up if you see it, hgelp the volunteers out. If you are at Mountian resort don't assume your lift ticket includes janitorial service. time spent cleaning trails means time not spent building and fixing.
Sorry for the rant.
P.S. tear off a re useless in the rain if your riding all day vs a race run, water builds up between the layers and makes your version worse, great inthe mud though.
Sorry for the rant.
P.S. tear off a re useless in the rain if your riding all day vs a race run, water builds up between the layers and makes your version worse, great inthe mud though.
Well said!
Be responsible for your garbage.
Seeing powerbar wrappers and old tubes on trails is so annoying. If you were able to bring it in, take it back out. Same goes for tear offs.
Like you said, trail maintenance crews are not your janitors.
Be responsible for your garbage.
Seeing powerbar wrappers and old tubes on trails is so annoying. If you were able to bring it in, take it back out. Same goes for tear offs.
Like you said, trail maintenance crews are not your janitors.
^^ totally agree, it's so annoying when people refuse to stop for anything on the way down a run (not racing obviously) Its not like you get a prize for not stopping. Just put yer trash in your packet.
The freezer bag was a bit much, huh? If you use multiple tear off's in rain, water between the layers can cause serious optical issues. I only use one or none. Replacement lences for Oakley Crowbar is cheap.
anybody ever seen In Deep after Crankworx.... tear offs suck. great for clear vision, but interesting riding on a carpet of them.
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Mountain biker enviro-nuts are funny. You think that bit of plastic being manufactured is destroying the world? Take a look at your bike, where and how it was made, and delivered to you. Not to mention how you got to the trail head. A few tear offs are the least of your worries. Jesus.
Another note, tear offs are great for getting scratched, beats scratching your lense.
Another note, tear offs are great for getting scratched, beats scratching your lense.
Now lets make this clear, I am not an enviro nut. I work in the automotive industry and I know about how much energy it takes to manufacture stuff...I even drive a big van.
However, I am old enough to remember the days before there were "Bike Parks" and "Trail Maintenance crews". Its not about being environmentally friendly, its about being in beautiful places and keeping them that way. Imagine that every rider down a trail dropped a piece of plastic. take responsibility for your actions in the mountains..Its a priviledge to be there.
If you drop litter whilst riding with me, you'll get asked to pick it up, I might even ask you a second time. 3rd time you'll be eating it.
However, I am old enough to remember the days before there were "Bike Parks" and "Trail Maintenance crews". Its not about being environmentally friendly, its about being in beautiful places and keeping them that way. Imagine that every rider down a trail dropped a piece of plastic. take responsibility for your actions in the mountains..Its a priviledge to be there.
If you drop litter whilst riding with me, you'll get asked to pick it up, I might even ask you a second time. 3rd time you'll be eating it.
I'm not talking about litter or littering. Obviously that shit is brutal... just to clarify. I'm referring to the manufacturing of plastic tear offs and nothing else. Bigger fish to fry. Disposing of these on a closed race course is perfectly fine in my opinion, provided the race organizor picks them up afterwards.
Breath....
Breath....
They are an auxiliary lens or set of lenses that are placed on mounting studs on the front of your goggle lens. They provide clear vision and protection for your goggles as the multiples of them are pulled off whilst riding. You get mud on one disposable lens you pull it off, and you have a clear lens and so on and so forth.
some tearoffs - like Oaklys - are expensive. Smith goggles are cheaper.
The best place to get them real cheap is
www.cheaptearoffs.com.
The best place to get them real cheap is
www.cheaptearoffs.com.
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Si Paton is right. Tear offs and roll offs work really well! The thing I struggle with is the upkeep. It's hard to stop water, girt getting back there sometimes. I prefer to only use them with fresh goggles on a race run, then regular goggles and a Neoguard for practice and non race day riding. http://rapidracerproducts.com/NeoGuard%20pages/Reviews.htm
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i would run the film roll on my goggles before even considering tear offs, maybe if i were on lets say a muddy bmx track but then u can after ur run is over take and throw it in the garbage, but on the mountain no way
hurray for pinkbike advertising littering! throwing something away is throwing it away. lets not make our trails landfills ok? i hate going for a ride in the middle of nowhere and coming across pop cans, beer cans, tear aways etc.
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the best way when it get dirty and raining it's to combine roll off and tear off with a special mount kit,
i got it onto smith and scott
i got it onto smith and scott
I like some of the original ideas in the article. A single tear away can really extend the life of expensive eyewear. As a race organiser, and a trail volunteer, I recommend as part of your race event, have an organised clean up of your race trail as part of the event after the racing is done. That way you can get the tear aways off the course. If the weather is fair you won't see many cause why take your hand off for even a second to tear away a lens unless dust is really causing visibility problems. I like the use of them during races as it means riders are posting fast times if they can maintain good visibility, and that's just good racing.
However, I did have a clean up job after a rider used tear aways on the race course on a weekend that had no event going on what so ever. The guy did probably 3 laps, checking out how many lenses and where would be good locations to get an easy tear away, and made a mess of it. 15 lenses from one rider in 3 laps (if we found them all), do the math, if everyone starts doing the same, it gets ugly fast.
If you're riding casual, even testing a race course, stop, clean off your tear away lens, and keep going. If you want to run a full lap to check your base time, that's what qualifiers are for.
However, I did have a clean up job after a rider used tear aways on the race course on a weekend that had no event going on what so ever. The guy did probably 3 laps, checking out how many lenses and where would be good locations to get an easy tear away, and made a mess of it. 15 lenses from one rider in 3 laps (if we found them all), do the math, if everyone starts doing the same, it gets ugly fast.
If you're riding casual, even testing a race course, stop, clean off your tear away lens, and keep going. If you want to run a full lap to check your base time, that's what qualifiers are for.
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Another great blog- but you should have put the picture of Fairclough tearing his off mid jump!