michaelpule
Oakley Expert
TLDR version: New Gascans, looking to restore a squashed pair of A Wires. Love Ruby Iridium.
Found this forum because this past weekend I went looking for some new glasses, fell in love with something that I couldn't get so started doing research on other styles and am now looking to fix up an old pair. Here's my Oakley Story.
August of 1996, a teenager who just turned 16, working with no expenses and just driving a beat up 86 Firebird. Figured something had to look good in the car so I made my first "adult" purchase with funds from my job and bought a pair of Oakley Wires. After the lecture on how my mom couldn't believe I would spend that much on sunglasses, I wore them everywhere! Original A Wires with some kind of reflective mirror like non-polarized lens.
I wore those A Wires daily until about 2005. That's when I met a girl who became my wife. While we were dating, she commented on how beat up my Oakleys looked, the inside coating of the lens was flaking off, scratches all over the fronts, left ear piece flopped around like a dogs ear. So we went shopping. Not seeing A wires anymore, I upgrade to E Wire 2.1 with my new favorite Lens the Ruby Iridium! These quickly became my daily wear to the point that one day, I had the A Wires sitting in my passenger seat, she jumped in the truck, and crushed them. The ear pieces that would normally be perpendicular to the frames, were bent about 85 degrees down, the frames around the lens bent and they were never worn again (BUT I STILL HAVE THEM!!!!)
Fast foward to 2008/9, engaged, and moved to Colorado. I wanted an all black pair of glasses, so off to the store I went (Sunglass Hut sold me my previous 2 pairs so third time should have been a charm). Finding that my now beloved E Wire 2.1's were no longer available, I ended up settling on a pair of Half Wires (Not sure if they are Half Wire or Half Wire 2.0), but they never really felt like the right choice. I continued to wear my E Wire 2.1s and would only ever wear the half wires if the E's were around as I rushed out the door.
This past weekend, I figured, Hey time for some new glasses, my E's were getting a little scratched up so I went to look. This time I started at an Oakley store at Cherry Creek Mall in Denver. Didn't connect with anything too much until I landed on the Touch Screen Customization Flat Panel. Browsing the combos, I settled on a pair of Cabon Juliet's with Ruby Iridium Lenses that they could build right there for me in the store. $370 price tag was a little out of my comfort zone, but the wife said, go for it since I had really only worn 2 pair since 1996 (16 years). As the rep was putting them together I noticed he was using Polished Silver frames and not the carbon. He then informed me that they can't do the Carbon in custom but I could buy a pair with the black iridium lenses (polarized) and then the replacement lenses and he could do it... $465 bucks was now beyond my price range and we walked out.
After stalking Ebay and visiting trusty Sunglass Hut. I am now sporting a new pair of Ghost Text GasCans with Ruby Iridium Lenses (I never thought I would wear the plastic frames) with a Black Iridium Polarized replacement set of lenses.
I then set out on trying to identify my Half Wires and see what I can do to repair the Original A Wires. That led me here. And now I'm already looking into custom cutting new lenses and trying to straighten out the A Wires. I have a feeling this place will quickly make my daily checklist of sites to check.
In the Family:
Mine:
A Wire w/ Some kind of Mirrored Lens (Damaged)
E Wire 2.1 w/ Ruby Iridium
Half Wire w/ Black Iridium
Gascan w/ Ruby Iridium & Polarized Black Iridium
Wifes:
Brown Five Squared w/ a Brown Lens
Black Flack Jackets w/ Black Iridium Lens
Silver Square Wire 2.0 with Fire Iridium and Yellow Socks
My Collection
A Wires (They are severely damaged)
E Wire 2.1
Half Wire
GasCan
Found this forum because this past weekend I went looking for some new glasses, fell in love with something that I couldn't get so started doing research on other styles and am now looking to fix up an old pair. Here's my Oakley Story.
August of 1996, a teenager who just turned 16, working with no expenses and just driving a beat up 86 Firebird. Figured something had to look good in the car so I made my first "adult" purchase with funds from my job and bought a pair of Oakley Wires. After the lecture on how my mom couldn't believe I would spend that much on sunglasses, I wore them everywhere! Original A Wires with some kind of reflective mirror like non-polarized lens.
I wore those A Wires daily until about 2005. That's when I met a girl who became my wife. While we were dating, she commented on how beat up my Oakleys looked, the inside coating of the lens was flaking off, scratches all over the fronts, left ear piece flopped around like a dogs ear. So we went shopping. Not seeing A wires anymore, I upgrade to E Wire 2.1 with my new favorite Lens the Ruby Iridium! These quickly became my daily wear to the point that one day, I had the A Wires sitting in my passenger seat, she jumped in the truck, and crushed them. The ear pieces that would normally be perpendicular to the frames, were bent about 85 degrees down, the frames around the lens bent and they were never worn again (BUT I STILL HAVE THEM!!!!)
Fast foward to 2008/9, engaged, and moved to Colorado. I wanted an all black pair of glasses, so off to the store I went (Sunglass Hut sold me my previous 2 pairs so third time should have been a charm). Finding that my now beloved E Wire 2.1's were no longer available, I ended up settling on a pair of Half Wires (Not sure if they are Half Wire or Half Wire 2.0), but they never really felt like the right choice. I continued to wear my E Wire 2.1s and would only ever wear the half wires if the E's were around as I rushed out the door.
This past weekend, I figured, Hey time for some new glasses, my E's were getting a little scratched up so I went to look. This time I started at an Oakley store at Cherry Creek Mall in Denver. Didn't connect with anything too much until I landed on the Touch Screen Customization Flat Panel. Browsing the combos, I settled on a pair of Cabon Juliet's with Ruby Iridium Lenses that they could build right there for me in the store. $370 price tag was a little out of my comfort zone, but the wife said, go for it since I had really only worn 2 pair since 1996 (16 years). As the rep was putting them together I noticed he was using Polished Silver frames and not the carbon. He then informed me that they can't do the Carbon in custom but I could buy a pair with the black iridium lenses (polarized) and then the replacement lenses and he could do it... $465 bucks was now beyond my price range and we walked out.
After stalking Ebay and visiting trusty Sunglass Hut. I am now sporting a new pair of Ghost Text GasCans with Ruby Iridium Lenses (I never thought I would wear the plastic frames) with a Black Iridium Polarized replacement set of lenses.
I then set out on trying to identify my Half Wires and see what I can do to repair the Original A Wires. That led me here. And now I'm already looking into custom cutting new lenses and trying to straighten out the A Wires. I have a feeling this place will quickly make my daily checklist of sites to check.
In the Family:
Mine:
A Wire w/ Some kind of Mirrored Lens (Damaged)
E Wire 2.1 w/ Ruby Iridium
Half Wire w/ Black Iridium
Gascan w/ Ruby Iridium & Polarized Black Iridium
Wifes:
Brown Five Squared w/ a Brown Lens
Black Flack Jackets w/ Black Iridium Lens
Silver Square Wire 2.0 with Fire Iridium and Yellow Socks
My Collection
A Wires (They are severely damaged)
E Wire 2.1
Half Wire
GasCan
