Originally Posted by
3alarmer
....I well understand what they are and used them a long time ago. There's still probably one around here in a drawer somewhere. I realized they serve no useful purpose for me when a bunch of cyclists here got hit from behind in rapid succession. In my conditions (on the local urban roads and down in the Delta), knowing there's some car approaching from the rear does nothing at all for me. If I pull over to the far right every time I see a car in the mirror, that's the only spot on the road I'd ever ride.
It does me absolutely no good to know a car is coming up behind me if I can't tell where it will be in the road when it passes me. It just serves as another distraction of some moving object I can't really do anything about.
If you like to use one, I'm not trying to dissuade you. I just don't get the point of them. If I want to change lanes, I'm going to do a head turn to look back anyway.
I see your use is a lot different than mine is.
I like to be able to see cars or other vehicles that are coming up behind me. At the same time I like to be able to keep my eyes forward to watch other traffic. A helmet mounted mirror o a mirror like a Take-a-look mirror on my glasses allows me to do that. I can even watch that vehicle in my mirror to see if it's drifting into my lane or otherwise is on a collision course with me. I use my Take-a-look mirror so much when riding that sometimes when walking or riding as a passenger in a car I reach up to adjust that mirror even though it's not on my glasses.
I don't leave home on a bicycle ride without my rearview mirror.
Cheers