“No doubt, these things look cool. There’s nothing quite like a big, badass goggle frame to make you feel like a king. On day one of The Selection these were the googs I gravitated towards, stoked to start testing next winter’s stuff with a great bunch of riders. Out of the the box and on to the face they felt good – comfortable, with no noticeable distortions or reflections. But then…

To say they misted up would be underselling it somewhat. I’ve been to the river Tyne and seen less fog. I’ve met Damon Albarn and seen less blur. I’ve strapped fucking kettles to my head and been less steamy than I was whilst riding in these.

“Out of the the box and on to the face they felt good – comfortable, with no noticeable distortions or reflections. But then…”

To be fair, it was the worst kind of day to test goggles in. Heavy clouds pushed us into the trees where warm winds wafted over us, we did some hiking, a bit of rolling around in heavy snow… But when I made a fuss and got our gear editor to switch with me, the goggles I got in return were crystal clear. And when he handed the Simplifys back to me at the bottom it was like looking at the world through baking paper, again.

I can’t say what exactly was causing all of this, but even after wrestling the spare lens in via the ‘1-2-3 Shred Replacement System’ the problem didn’t go away. It was like the once the moisture was in, it was there for good. I’d love to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them another go in better conditions, but seeing as a plethora of other goggles available did handle the weather as the week went on I can only report what happened on the day.”

[monetizer101 search=’shred simplify’]