Originally Posted by
Tim_Iowa
For a closer mirror, the Take-a-Look and similar eyeglass or helmet-mounted mirrors would probably work well. Personally, I don't like helmet mounted mirrors because they don't stay in place and they invariably get broken when I take my helmet off. And I don't wear sunglasses at night, so the glasses-mounted ones are out for me.
I don't see how the hand mirror you linked to would be any closer than a mirror mounted under the grip.
ATMO, that hand mirror seems like a lousy design. I move my hands around a lot during a ride, so I'd have to constrain that movement in order to keep my rear view aligned. How would you look in the mirror when signalling, shifting, or drinking a water bottle?
My go to mirror is the 2.75" diam helmet mount mirror by Efficient Velo Tools. It suffers from all the disadvantages of such mirrors but I've had mine for a few years and it is still going strong. I have a Blackburn bar end mirror on one of my bikes and it is never in quite the right position to see what I want to see. I have learned to instinctiely roll my handgrip forward or backward to get the right angle. There is just enough squish in the handgrip and mirror mount to fine tune the view to perfection. I don't think the hand mirror would replace a helmet mirror but it could. For one thing, even with your hands on the bars the mirror would be closer to your eyepoint than a mirror 4" below handlebar level. Enough to matter. Next you can easily take your hand off the bar or twist your wrist this way and that. You, like many on this forum, consider a mirror to be a passive warning device that is constantly monitoring your rear end and ready to warn you of imminent danger. I disagree. A mirror is useless until it is looked at. Whether you look at it as part of a regular 360* scan or as a status check before an offensive maneuver like a lane change or overtake, the mirror cannot provide any useful information until your attention is focused on it. I consider myself reasonably acronym proficient. What is ATMO pray tell, I need to add that one to my lexicon. If you get from this that I think the snowmobile mirror is an underrated method of checking behind you would be correct. And, FWIW, the price in that link is especially attractive. I have seen them for twice that price plus shipping.
H