After breaking ground in the world of neck braces, the brand Leatt have since been slowly building their product range with little fanfare or media attention. 2019 saw the launch of their all-new goggle line-up in the form of the Velocity 6.5. We got ourselves a set and put in some hours to give all you out there…The Dirt.

Ultimately known for their excellent protection products, including the very first neck brace, did you know that you can kit yourself out from pinky toe to the last hair on your head with Leatt gear? Well, except for boots (though they do socks and under brace socks), you can be a Leatt guy. And now with the addition of the Velocity 6.5 goggles, the package is nearly complete.

The Velocity is definitely late to the party in the goggle market. A goggle is such an affordable item for the consumer to buy that it really should have been higher on the production line for Leatt. But rather than out sourcing a goggle from another company and putting their logo on it, it’s pretty clear that a decent chunk of R&D has been put into the Velocity to bring it inline with what the new industry standard is today.

And it is pretty clear where that is going and can be recognised by two major aspect of goggle design.

1. Outriggers - The use of outriggers improves the goggles ability to fit inside the eye port of just about any helmet. The extra arms allow the frame to go deeper into the helmet and seal around the face for a better fit. Without the outriggers, if your face is short, the goggle can sit on the edge of the helmet and not seal on the face properly.

2. Injection molded lens - This is new-ish to the goggle world but provides exceptionally better clarity and they are super strong. Think of brands like Oakley, Scott and Fox have the injection molded style.

Leatt have adopted both aspects into their new Velocity, bringing them inline with the big players. The goggle may resemble what could have been an affair between the Scott Prospect and the Oakley Airbrake, but visually, it’s where the similarities end.

Lens

Leatt have opted to go with a double lens setup as their anti-fog system to starve off the frosting on the inside of the lens. This is something more akin to the likes of snowboard goggles, but comes standard with the Velocity. And on top of that, the lens is said to be certified bulletproof, up to a US military spec that has lots of numbers and letters that really mean nothing. But Leatt do provide an image of one of their lenses having been shot with something small. Maybe a .22? Gun buffs might be able to recognise the size from the image. So there is some truth to that claim which for us here, means getting a stick to the eye could be a hell of a lot safer.

The lens is curved and tapered in thickness and has scratch resistance on the outside for those pesky bullets. It comes with tear-off posts fitted into the lens which are also compatible with the roll-off system too which is nice. There are nearly 10 different lens options for light transmission, ranging from 20% to 83%. The Iriz mirror lenses are pretty cool looking but are slightly more expensive - but totally worth it.

Frame

The strap is a pretty healthy size at 50mm wide, and connects to the outriggers on the frame. There outriggers are also how you get the lens out, by simply clicking them away from the frame with two fingers. The outriggers are attached to the frame with metal T15 Torx-headed bolts, giving you an option to replace broken parts if need be. The overall shape of the Velocity is pretty wide, giving you really wide horizontal view from your helmet, though vertically it seems a tad short, in comparison. The goggle also appears to be overall tapered to help fit a wide range of helmets - which it did.

This is actually a two-stage goggle with the foam being able to be removed from the frame which is awesome for cleaning after a mudder. Which means the foam section could actually be replaced if damaged, like the outriggers could too - but as yet no word from Leatt or NZ distributor Whites Power Sports about replacement parts for the Velocity. In the box also comes a nose guard that is optional.

The Dirt

No matter how great a goggle stacks up on paper, it is out in the field that matter the most. The times you are ripping around the moto track picking ruts, or zipping through the trees dodging rocks. Comfort is a priority in our eyes so it was great to feel instant comfort when slipping on the Velocity. Fit is always pretty personal but after passing the goggle around to a handful of people at a Maramarua trail ride it was pretty unanimous on the comfort.

There is plenty of room for my eyes and nose and the edges of the goggles don’t restrict any of your vision. The pre-curved design also makes a really good seal between face and foam which stops anything from getting in. You almost can’t see the edges of the goggle frame which is a great feature, thanks to the tapering out towards the edges. The foam is also tapered on the inside and that allows you to wear glasses with these goggles too. Comparative, the height of the goggle is noticeable when wearing them. You can see the top and bottom of the inner frame, more than I would have expected (being how wide they are) but not to a point where it’s invasive.

The foam was also very comfortable and the dual-layer moisture absorption was spot on out on the trail. We sweat a lot and never had sweat running down the lens in the inside. This frame seems to breath really well too which we think helped with that.

Not having a lot of humid conditions to score back on, the anti-fog on these goggles never really got challenged but also have never missed a beat. We took them through some slow moving trails and got hot and heavy up some hills with no signs of fogging up. The coming months should be a better indicator when the humidity comes with the rain so we will check back then.

But perhaps our stand out feature, and probably most obviously too, is the ease of lens changing. Gone are the days (and they should be) where you have to try and line up tiny notches in the lens with even smaller notches in the frame, while getting very frustrated and trying not to smudge up the lens too much. The outriggers clip out and swing away from the frame, leaving the lens to push off two small locating slots and slide out upwards easily .

One snag though is that you have to use your fingers and push the lens from the inside, which of course leaves finger prints on the lens. Not cool. This is probably my only gripe with the velocity, and one that is a little annoying. We found using the goggle bag as a barrier when pushing the lens out works and popping it back in is no trouble either. Give the outriggers a solid click back into the frame and you are away.

With so many different design elements going into this new goggle from Leatt, we expected it to be up in the realm of the Oakley Airbrake and Fox Vue goggle in terms of price. But it has come in impressively under both those brands at $149 for the clear lens, and $169 for the Iriz mirror lens - on par with the Scott Prospect.

It took a while for Leatt to join the goggle game but they have come in firing on all cylinders. The Velocity is comfortable, has and easy to change lens, is very well priced and comes with innovative safety features that do translate to on-track use. Pretty damn good first effort from Leatt and a goggle that will easily slide right into our rotation and on par with the best of them.

CLICK HERE to check out the range of Velocity goggles that are available from Bits4Bikes - Distributed by Whites Power Sports.

If you need anymore information about our thoughts on the Leatt Velocity goggle, please get in touch by emailing chris@thedirt.co.nz.

Price:

Leatt Velocity $149.00 - ($169.00 Iriz lens)

Competiton:

Scott Prospect $169.00

Oakley Airbrake $229.00

Fox Vue $229.00

Leatt Velocity 6.5 Highlights

• Bulletproof tested and certified to: ANSI Z87.1-2015, Military Ballistic Impact Standard (MIL-DTL-43511D), CE EN 1938 :2010

• Out-riggers with a 50mm Anti-Slip coated strap

• WideVision (170°) Anti-Fog lens

• Permanent anti-fog function built into the inner lens polymer

• Self-draining lens/frame design

• Easy clip-in/out lens change

• Dual-density frame for fit, seal and comfort

• Tapered custom shape to fit even those difficult helmets

• OTG – over-the-glasses fit

• Triple-layer, dual-density foam and anti-sweat fleece backing (removable for washing)

• Roll-Off ready for our WideVision 48mm system (optional)

• Tear-Off ready with posts, tear-off pack included

• Removable nose guard

• Soft bag included

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