Engearment

Erin Trail

Smith Optics Loam MTB Goggles – Dusk/Bone + Contrast Rose Flash Lens, $55

https://www.smithoptics.com/en_US/p/goggle/loam-mtb-mtb-goggles/M004401TR99SA.html

Initial Impressions

Unobstructed field of view goggles – great for bike park riding in and out of trees.

Detailed Review

I usually wear giant wrap-around sunglasses with my full face MTB helmet at bike parks. It’s not great.  The tint of the glasses is too dark, the frames bang against my helmet, and the arms smash into my ears. I’ve been looking at transitioning to MTB goggles for my park days and it just made sense to review a pair of Smith MTB goggles alongside the Smith Mainline MTB helmet.

Erin’s Smith Mainline MIPS MTB Helmet Review here 

About me:  I have a small face and head circumference.  I have spent six days this summer at MTB parks, riding technical downhill trails.  

This gear test consisted of 2 days of downhill park riding at Snowmass, approximately 6 hours/day of riding. Temperatures were in the mid-70s with beautiful bluebird sunny skies.

I chose the Contrast Rose Flash lens for testing because the lens isn’t too dark.  The Visible Light Transmission rating is 50%, which rates it as being appropriate for cloudy to partly cloudy light conditions.  I was riding a variety of trails, ranging from exposed berms, to shade dappled tabletop runs, to deep-in-the-woods technical trails.  For this type of riding, you have to decide if seeing in the deep shade is more important than being blinded in full sunlight. I decided that seeing in the deep shade was more important and intentionally chose a lens on the lighter side. 

Fit

Dialing in the fit on the Smith Loam MTB goggles is pretty easy, as the only available adjustment is the goggle strap width.  I loosened them up to the fullest extent and still found them to be a bit too tight for my preference.  When on the lift, I purposely stretched the goggles over the jaw guard, and on my second day of riding, the goggles felt better. 

While wearing them, I did notice that they fit more comfortably if I put them ever-so-slightly lower on my face, with the bottom the goggle hitting about 1/3 of the way down my nose.  If they crept higher, I noticed a bit of pressure, but lower, they were perfect. 

The goggles interfaced seamlessly with the Smith Mainline helmet. The top of the goggles matched well with the opening of the helmet.  There was no awkward clanking or noticeable gaps. The goggle strap, which has a silicone grip along the length of the strap, fed into the channel that wraps around the helmet and stayed in place for all of my riding.

The goggle foam that contacts you face was nice and supportive. When positioned on my face properly, I didn’t feel the goggle frame at all.  The size of the goggle was good for my small face, never feeling too big vertically or width-wise.

Visibility

I’m used to wearing goggles while skiing, but wearing them while riding a bike was new to me. My first run was a bit disorientating, as my eyes adjusted to the tint of the lenses – and as they also got used to having something fully covering them. Once I got used to the goggles, I was locked, loaded, and ready to fly. 

The Contrast Rose Flash lens was great in both full sun and in the shade.  I was taking a 2 day bike clinic, where we would occasionally stop for pointers or for intel trail features below us.  These stops were usually in open, sunny areas, where we would pause for a few minutes before diving back into the woods to ride.  My eyes were able to easily make the transition from full sun into full shade and I never once felt that I was unable to see what was coming at me on the trail. 

The field of vision was great.  I didn’t feel like I had to move my head to see around blind spots.  I was able to focus on scanning the trail with my eyes and looking through corners, and was pretty much able to ignore the fact that I had anything covering my eyes.

Ventilation

The Loam MTB goggles have a web-like interior frame that allows for a whole lot of air movement as you ride. The structure allows lots of air to move through the goggles, but also keeps debris (and bugs!) from getting inside. Every once in a while (usually when stopped), I would notice some sweat accumulating under the foam that contacted my skin.  It evaporated quickly, just by holding the goggles off my face for a few seconds. I experienced zero fogging.  As an added bonus, the lenses tolerated being touched when I took them off as I got on the lift/gondola and put them back on: no smudges. 

[insert loam vents.jpg] caption: close up showing Loam MTB goggle vents and seamless fit with the Smith Mainline helmet]

Overall Impression

The Smith Optics Loam MTB Goggles are lightweight goggles with a wide field of view and great ventilation.  They work seamlessly with the Smith Mainline helmet and offered unobstructed vision, allowing the rider to focus on the trail ahead. 

Erin Trail