Goggle Roll Offs vs. Tear-Offs While Racing

Goggle roll offs are basically a roll of clear film packaged in a canister that looks like a roll of 45 mm photography film and can be advanced

through a pull cord on the goggles. They are meant to instantly clear your vision when racing through the mud while keeping knicks and

scratches off the lenses.

A roll holds up to 40 advances, which should be enough for   racing motocross.   If you are riding trails, you can pack additional rolls and change them out when necessary.

A. Roll-Offs Work Better When the Weather Is Bad

When it’s raining, or the mud is flying more than usual, Roll-offs might be your best bet.   The rider is limited to how many tear-offs he or

she can place on their goggles.   Modern tear-offs can be stacked laminations allowing the rider to have more tear-offs, but as the stack gets

thicker, the vision quality goes down dramatically.   Since Roll-off systems allow for more “vision clearings” they are preferred in the muddiest

of conditions.

B. Roll-offs Last longer

To keep your vision clear with standard tear-offs, you need to limit the lenses that you stack or your vision will be cloudy. Laminate lenses come in stacks of 5, 10, and 15 because they are laminated together from the factory, the vision clarity through this stack is better than individual tear-offs.   You can even stack multiple laminated stacks, but once again, you have to limit the total depth of disposable lenses or your vision will get cloudy. If you are racing with tear-offs you may need to use them sparingly according to the conditions and length of the race.

If the conditions are nasty, or you will be riding all day, you may opt for roll-offs.   They allow for more “vision clears” than tear-offs,

and the layer in front of the lens is always just one thin layer of film, so your vision never gets cloudy.   Depending on the conditions, a rider

could ride all day with one roll of film.

C. Roll-offs save More Work

When installing roll-offs, you may have an entire day’s worth of lenses and only need to be installed once per event. When you need to clear the goggles, you pull a cord to advance it.   But with tear-offs, you need to either install them one at a time for standard lenses, or one stack at a time for laminated lenses.   One at a time can be tedious, especially if you want 20 lenses.

During a race or on the trail, you need to reach up and tear off a lens, being careful not to pull them all off.   This is actually very common.   Letting go of the handlebars can be a challenging task and most riders are rushed to pull a tear-off and get their hands back on the bars.   Grabbing the whole stack instead of just one lens is an easy mistake.   Once that happens the rider has to finish the entire race with just the stock lens on the goggle.   Race results will surely suffer!

Disadvantages of Roll Offs

Limited vision compared to tear-offs

The riders total vision is limited to the height of the roll film.   As mentioned earlier, the 45mm wide film is a huge advancement over old roll-film systems, but the total vision is still not a good as a full-sized tear-off.

Tear-offs are shaped to fit exactly to the goggle lens. When the rider pulls a tear-off lens it is like having full vision again,

not just a strip of vision like a roll-off system.   The advantage is more peripheral vision on the top and bottom of the lens.  

The Rolling Mechanism Can Lock Up

The rolling mechanism that clears the lens when it gets dirty can sometimes lock-up, creating a dangerous situation. The mechanism may

not be stuck, but it could be due to the film sticking to the goggle lens, which can happen if water gets between the film and the goggle lens.

If the film gets too hard to pull due to debris, water, or any other reason, the gearing in the roll-off system can often fail. Too much resistance in the roll-off system can cause the cartridges to rip apart, or the gearing to strip, causing failure.

Another reason the rolling mechanism may be jammed is thatdirt and other debris might have gotten in the canisters or gears that make the

system work properly. The best way to prevent that from happening is to take it apart and clean it regularly--ideally after every race or ride.

The last reason it may fail is that when you advance the dirty film, you’re dragging the mud or sand into the canister. This can cause the diameter of the used film to expand beyond the space available in the canister.   The excess mud and dirt trapped in the used roll of film can jam the mechanism.