For those
of you who, like myself, enjoy wearing open-face helmets and ride classic or
neo-classic ‘bikes, finding decent eye protection that also looks the part is a
very difficult task. Nowadays, most motorcycling goggles are of the off-road
variety, and are hard to tell apart from ski goggles. And when companies do
offer “classic style” goggles, they usually have more of the comedy-opera look
about them than anything else. Neither is exactly what you want to be seen in
when proudly riding your Vincent Rapide, your Triton or your Hinckley
Bonneville.
Fortunately,
some companies do take us classic stalwarts seriously. And none more so than
Halcyon with their pretty extensive range of goggles. This range covers the
ground from exact replicas of the goggles worn by RAF pilots during the war to
more colourful items for the Vespa-borne fashionista. I am personally a rather
subdued fellow, so I chose the Mark 9 Rider goggles in black synthetic leather
(yes I know, I’m a cheapskate…), and also ordered the supplementary smoked
polycarbonate lenses.
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| As you can see, we're not in Skeggy. |
The
goggles are truly magnificent: the grey powdercoated brass frames are
hand-stitched to the facemask and held together by the screw-action nose bridge
adjuster. Absolutely no difference with a similar pair of goggles a
motorcyclist would have worn back in the Fifties. And they’re not made in the
Far East: the right-hand frame has “MADE IN ENGLAND” proudly stamped into it. [...]
