First Look: Oakley Airbrake MX Goggle 5

GuyB
1/24/2013 4:18pm
Oakley recently introduced their Airbrake MX Goggle, and we have to say, it's not only innovative, but unlike just about anything we've seen. We've also got a pair that we're trying out, and you can look for a review soon. (Click any image for a larger version.)

Let's set the scene first. The goggle launch was held at Oakley's headquarters in Foothill Ranch, CA.

Oakley's Mike Bell was in charge of the presentation here. He invited up such previous Oakley heroes as Johnny O'Mara and Jeff Ward, and had current riders like Ryan Villopoto, James Stewart, Ryan Dungey, and Eli Tomac up on stage as well.

Ricky Carmichael made his entrance by riding his RM-Z450 down the stairs into the theater.

Okay, now for the hardware. The lens isn't stamped, but instead it's injection-molded from Plutonite, the same material Oakley uses for their glasses. Impact resistance resistance is said to be much higher, as well as being more optically correct.

Here's the exploded view. You'll find that the lens is much more rigid than a standard lens, and it's mounted to a semi-rigid outer frame. The mounting system is dubbed Switchlock, and it's extremely fast and easy to unlock the arms, swing them out of the way, and swap out lenses. While the front frame is rigid, the faceplate and foam portion that fits against your face is pliable and conformed easily to a few different face (and nose) shapes among the staffers in our office. The outriggers are easily swapped out (more on that later), as are the strap mounts.

Here's the complete goggle. You can see how the lens presses against the inner gasket to seal it against the semi-rigid front frame.

The outriggers can be easily swapped out to change to go from tear-offs to a roll-off system. Check out the height of the film here. That's huge compared to some of the other setups that we've seen. Oakley says about 60% bigger.

We'd seen this drop test done with glasses before (the spike is dropped through a tube onto the unsuspecting eyewear), but apparently regular goggle lenses struggle with this test. You can see the gouges on the lens from a couple different drops with the spike...but no penetration. They also have a test rig that fires steel balls at the lenses that would show slight dings, but no penetration.

This was another interesting test rig, where air was pulled through the eyes in the headform, dust was introduces to the inside, and they could test to see how well the foam performed. The anti-fog on these is also said to be extremely good.

Maybe the only negative is the sticker shock for these bad boys. A standard goggle will retail at about $160, while the roll-off version (which also includes the regular outriggers for tear-offs) is supposed to be about $220. No word yet on the replacement cost for a lens.

As we said before, we'll be taking a closer look at these after putting in some laps with them, but in the meantime, how about a couple promo videos from Oakley showing off the features of these bad boys?

Oakley Airbrake MX: Periperal Vision - More Motocross Videos

Oakley Airbrake MX: Protection - More Motocross Videos

Related:
First Look
Oakley
Goggles
5 comments

View replies to: First Look: Oakley Airbrake MX Goggle

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ridemotox4
11 years ago
**** Take a minute to read this..

Pretty interesting story pertaining to the idea of that lens. Might make you all consider purchasing those goggles.

I was racing at Steel City amateur day in 2009, my first "big" amateur race. I was 16 years old, nervous as bad as I was at my first race ever! I wasn't exactly the fastest girl out there, but form had always come easy to me. I always managed to have awesome control and lack speed!

I was in third in the women's A/B moto, such a huge confidence boost! I got to the 3rd corner and all of the sudden my season came to a screeching halt faster than I ever imagined. Before I even knew what was going on, my head felt like it had 4858484 PSI of pressure, ready to pop like a balloon!

My right eye suddenly was stuck shut (I soon realized it was stuck swollen shut) and my left eye was only able to open as a slit. I had no idea what had just happened to me, so I pulled off to the side and got off my bike. I sat on the ground, only to see blood pouring all over my gloves and pants. It was scary seeing the flagger so confused( I didnt fall! ), then walk up to me.. And then have to turn his head away. Soon after, I was strapped to a back board and loaded into the helicopter.. But first I made them pry my eye lids open, I was noooot leaving that track blind!

A simple rock broke my face. Yep a simple rock, literally shattered over 10 different bones in my face. X-Rays showed both cheek bones shattered, both eye sockets broken (right one completely gone), my nose completely blown out shattered, broken sinus cavity, shattered tear ducts, broken forehead, orbital floor fractures, the whole ten yards. Also a torn ligament as well as lots of permanent damage to my right eye retina itself.

Sooo after some new titanium parts, mesh, a "reattached" right eye ligament, and 20/200 vision.. I feel very lucky to be here today. I happened to be wearing Spy alloy goggles, and 5mil (NOT traditional 3m) HRP tear offs. The doctors had told me that without those thick tear offs, I wouldn't be here today. The rock actually penetrated through my lens, but somehow didnt go through the 3 tear offs. The impact of the lens pushing in so hard against my face shattered all the bones.

I cannot express my thankfulness and gratitude to the steel city/ UPMC hospital crew, Spy, and HRP for those tear offs.

What I'm getting at- Oakley is making such a huge step in coming up with these goggles. I truly hope atleast someone reads my story and really considers purchasing these new goggles.

Thank you guys for your time,
Katie
Ridemotox4@yahoo.com
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isaiah.dereta
11 years ago
i better get my exact mph and wifi for that price. For the amount most riders tear through goggles....not worth it.
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Katoomey
11 years ago
the only reason "these are unlike anything we've ever seen" is because they've been under a rock and hadn't noticed Dragon already has a "frame-less lens" goggle. It might not be as tecno as the Oaks are, but they appear to have an even larger lens area (and more peripheral angles) and they retail for under $95 ($125 for a roll-off version). Although I can't find replacement lenses yet. no one seems to have any.

with that said, the Oaks are impossibly cool, and I want them.
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Katoomey
11 years ago
thats too bad. ya gotta try em'. I'm sure they are similar to the Oaks. once you put on a pair of frameless mx goggles you cannot go back. its like HDTV, its the new standard.