First, I made a joke with the photo of the mod scooter with 20 mirrors "restricting one's field of view somewhat".
It were a joke.
Then, below that, was a photo of a bicycle with the type of bicycle mirror that I use on it.
One little side point: That photo is from Zefal's website... it's intended to show the variety of mirror positionings possible with the 'SPY'. Multiple mirrors on one bike is only coincidental to the mod scooter's multiple mirrors. One instance was fashion, the other was product illustration. I'm sure Zefal would love everyone to buy five of their mirrors, but I only use one.
Originally Posted by Halloween
That's the Zefal 'SPY'... I use one. It obstructs about 4 square inches of the pavement about 5 feet in front and slightly to the right of where I'm riding. That little spot on the street isn't so interesting to me as the big chunk of steel that's coming up from behind.
Below the bicycle with mirrors photo, there's another joke photo, of an SUV backup camera and dashboard monitor.
Then, you said:
Originally Posted by makeinu
I'm glad you're at least willing to admit that using a mirror is a tradeoff. The fact that some people around here won't admit it is baffling. However, I, for one, am keenly interested in those 4 square inches of pavement 5 feet in front of me because I'd like to see that open manhole waiting to devour me, or that little girl darting out in front of me, etc.
I have no friggin' idea how you came to interpret my post as saying there was some kind of 'tradeoff' (your word) where bike mirrors are concerned. I don't know why you thought that I was agreeing with you... I wasn't.
Here's a little visual experiment that doesn't require cardboard peepholes or cars...
Got a penlight, a micro MiniMag, an LED blinkie? Sit on your bike, and turn on your flashlight, and hold in on your barend, and look at the flashlight. Aim the flashlight so that it points to the spot on the ground that you would see were your barend not blocking your view. That spot of light does not fall in the path of your front tire at all, nor anywhere near it, does it? It's over in the other lane... at your 2 o'clock.
The point is: I said that my little mirror doesn't block my view of anything that I need to see, and it enables me to see motorized vehicles that are approaching me from behind.
Originally Posted by Halloween
I use a bar-end mirror all the time.
I'm also a very near-sighted eyeglasses wearer, so the whole peripheral vision thing doesn't really happen for me, but I have wire rimmed glasses, and the eyeglass-mount mirrors don't work so well.
The most important mirror time for me is while commuting at night in city traffic.
Some people are easily distracted by their own image in mirrors.
For them, it could be dangerous to use a mirror while riding a bike.
That last little bit was a crack suggesting that you perhaps find mirrors 'distracting' because you're vain. That was a joke, too. I don't know if you're actually vain. Maybe you hate mirrors because you're a vampire, and you can't see yourself in mirrors at all.
I actually do know what the words "view", "obstruction", and "tradeoff" mean. I find it interesting that you've accused others of poor reading comprehension skills several times in this thread... maybe you should look in the mirror.
One more thing.
I object to the term 'trainwreck' in a bicycling forum thread. It should be 'peloton pileup', or some such term relative to 2-wheeled conveyances that don't run on rails.
(edited to fix split infinitive)