Battle of the roll offs

OAKLEY AIRBRAKE VS FOX VUE Stray

On first glance it is clear which is the pricier goggle. The Oakley Airbrake roll off system is slim line and sleek on the frame, where as the FOX VUE looks more like a traditional roll off system. However is looking flash necessary better though? 

In the past I've been an airbrake man after being taken in by the hype in its early days. I now however have had the chance to run the FOX VUE and Oakley Airbrakes in the same day at a REVO British championship round, so they have had as a good a test as any.

Putting the Fox VUE through some race paces

I’ll start with the FOX VUE Stray, retailing at £115.00 and only £18.00 for a pack of 6 roll off films its a good bang for the buck. The goggle fits well on my face and the 45mm strap with the adjuster means you can easily tighten or loosen the goggle to fit the shape of your face. The wider strap also grips the helmet better so it does not move around when you are riding. They also benefit from a 45mm roll off film compared to the standard 36mm on most other roll offs. This increases your field of vision and when you are in the heat of battle this could be the difference between getting in that rut and not. The canisters may not be as sleek as the airbrake but they WORK! Anyone who has ever been in a situation where you've really needed a roll off, all you care about is that they continue to work and the FOX VUE do just that. FOX have really perfected simplicity with this. No bells and whistles but they do exactly what you want them to do when you are out on track. 

The only little snag I encountered was during setting up the roll offs. I found it was a little fiddly to get the cap of the canisters back on once I had set up the rolls. However I've chalked this up to my inexperience with the goggle and I'm s ure after a few times setting it up it would become easier and easier. Apart from this the goggle was easy to set up and worked instantly with no problems. The cord has a good recoil so the toggle isn't left dangling like it can on some goggles after a few pulls. 

FOX’s TruLock system makes light work of getting the lenses in and out and with its pre curved design glare is no longer an issue.

Like most of FOX’s other products the colour ways available is nearly endless so plenty of options for you to match it with your set up.

The VUE roll off comes with 2 mud strips, 2 roll off films and a spare spindle. 

On to the Oakley Airbrake then. Retailing at the £175 mark and a bag of 6 rolls costing you £29.99 it is certainly the most expensive goggle on the market, but is it worth the extra money.

Oakley really were one of the first goggle companies to adopt the wider roll off system. In 2013 Oakley introduced the airbrake range with its easily interchangeable strap and lenses and its kind of been the bench mark for goggles since. In its early days the Airbrake had a problem with its small canisters not being big enough to hold a whole roll off film when it was covered in mud. Oakley remedied this with some bigger canisters but if like me you try the after market films rather than the genuine ones to try save some money you'll be disappointed to know that this is not an option. I tried an after market roll in them and just had issues with it sticking and not recoiling properly. After switching to the genuine rolls that issue was resolved and it had a smooth pull system. The airbrake is a lovely goggle to work on, its easy to remove the caps on the canisters and insert the rolls. You do however have to be very precise when setting them up as they can be quite temperamental if not done correctly, for example after qualifying i didn't manage to get all the dirt of the pull cord and it caused it to be very stiff and not retract correctly.

If you choose not to run the mud strip you can easily switch between a roll off and tear off goggle, it just a case of swapping the canisters out for tear off out riggers and tagging the wire off the lens. Much like the FOX VUE the roll off film is 45mm wide offering a better view of the track and better peripheral vision.

The Oakley Airbrake does look trick

In my opinion the FOX VUE roll off system wins this one. It does everything the Airbrake does for £60 less. No it may not look as slick and fancy as the Oakley airbrake but it is still a trick looking goggle and when you're 20 minutes in to a race and you can still see where your going and you're roll off cord is still working you're not going to care. Also if you used a bag of rolls a weekend and you race 40 weekends of the year thats a saving of nearly £500, i don't know about you but thats money that could be spent on something else. For these reasons id recommend anyone in the market for a new roll off system purchases the FOX VUE goggle.

Written and tested by Bradley Wheeler