Question About Romeo 1 Lens Cracking

[Razerwire]

I've been reading up on the Romeo 1 and apparently there are numerous cases of the lenses cracking. What causes this? Is it because people are simply overtightening the orbitals or is it caused by a design flaw in the frame?

 

[RetinaBurn]

From what I understand it is a design flaw. Since there is no flex coupler, the lenses flex when putting them on and taking them off. Its only a matter of time before the lens cracks from the flexing. This is what I have heard, since I don't own one I can't confirm this.

 

[Oakleynerd]

a few years ago after they came out i had returned two of them after a few month. they had those very fine cracks close to the screws on the orbital!
even if you are more than carefully with them it happens if the romeo can't "move", you know.

 

[dr.chop]

it is the inherent design law of the romeo 1. all flex is in the upper portion of the frame and is directly transferred into the lenses. i have cut tons of them as replacements due to that. polar lenses will prevent most of that though because they are thicker, but oakley didn't offer those...

 

[Razerwire]

So it's not so much that the screws are doing but the pressure from the frame flexing?

 

[dcl10]

The Romeo being made of titanium, and with no built in flex points, means that it will simply flex at whatever the weakest point on the frame is. That happens to be where the orbitals bolt to the nose bridge. So everytime that point flexes the lenses do as well, which will eventually lead to stress fractures. At worst I've also seen the bolts break off in the nose bridge, or if the orbitals are left too loose the threads in the nose bridge will become damaged.

A beautiful piece with and an amazing first foray into cast titanium eyewear, but there were obviously somethings they did not account for in the design process.

 

[Oakleynerd]

it's still one of the BEST glasses ever IMO
if you wanna wear one you need a bunch spare lenses :dance3:

 

[Razerwire]

The Romeo being made of titanium, and with no built in flex points, means that it will simply flex at whatever the weakest point on the frame is. That happens to be where the orbitals bolt to the nose bridge. So everytime that point flexes the lenses do as well, which will eventually lead to stress fractures. At worst I've also seen the bolts break off in the nose bridge, or if the orbitals are left too loose the threads in the nose bridge will become damaged.

A beautiful piece with and an amazing first foray into cast titanium eyewear, but there were obviously somethings they did not account for in the design process.

Oh wow. Bolt breakage as well? So I guess that those with wide heads shouldn't wear Romeo 1s? I think with my wide head I might snap some bolts. LOL

Do the lenses usually crack on the upper bolt areas or does it happen on the bottom ones too?

it's still one of the BEST glasses ever IMO
if you wanna wear one you need a bunch spare lenses :dance3:

Yeah I'd probably just go with aftermarket lenses if they're so prone to cracking. Either that or try and get some polarized lenses cut and hope that the thicker lenses will hold.

 

[RetinaBurn]

So it's not so much that the screws are doing but the pressure from the frame flexing?

That is correct!

 

[Oakleynerd]

@Razerwire
please let us know how it works for you with the thicker polarized lenses . . .