Curiouswill

Hi, I have only recently started biking a whole lot in the last month and have noticed that I constantly have to turn my head right or left and depend on my phereperal (sp?) vision to spot any cars coming up from behind. Do anybody knows of any solution to this? I have tried the mirrors that attachs to the glasses, helmet, and handlebar and none of them works as well as my turning my head to see behind. So I'm hoping that there are something that I have not tried and can help me out with this.

P.S. I'm a complete amateur with electronic but I may try to attempt to make a kind of proximity sensor that attach to the rear of the bike seat or rack and whenever anything comes into range, it'll light up a small LED that I could clip onto my glasses. Though because of the limit of how good a proximity sensor I could get, this should only be considered a last line of notice since I probably would only be able to sense anything less than 15 feets or so (not sure how big of a range these sensors have though).

slowandsteady

What about the mirrors don't work? I can't use a helmet or glasses mounted mirror, but my handlebar mounted mirror works just fine.

Ideally, you use the mirror as you would in a car for brief scans. If you need to change lanes, merge, or turn you must also turn your head.

AlmostTrick

Getting used to using a mirror takes time. Stick with each one for a while until you find one you feel comfortable with. You will never be able to turn your head frequently enough to catch every vehicle.

recursive

When I'm using my headphones, which many people say causes a much greater impairment than being deaf, turning my head and looking behind myself seems to work for me.

Midnight Cyril

+ 1 to what slowandsteady said about mirrors. They can be helpful, but you need to be able to turn your head and scan while holding your line. I use a handlebar mounted mirror on my straight-bar bike and it took a little getting used to, but I like it.

If you go the electronic route, you've got to post a project thread and keep us posted about how it goes. That would be too cool.

N_C

If you are hearing impaired the only solution I know of is looking behind you, which is a good practice, even with good hearing, & mirrors.

You will develope instincts as you ride more & more. Kind of a bicycling 6th sense if you will, that will tell you. You will also develope the ability to turn & look over your shoulder or under your arm better as time goes along.

Brian Ratliff

I don't ride with a mirror, but I make good use of my ears. If you are hearing impaired, you should probably try to make do with a mirror.

On a side note, I remember seeing a helmet which used a periscope type thing to show a view to the rear. I'll try to find it again and see if it is still being sold.

Curiouswill

Yeah I got this idea from seeing some of those luxury cars with a blind spot sensor that had some LED built in the side mirror. (I already have most of the led and other component (in a electronic kit that I keeps) neccessary for this, the only thing is to try and find a suitable proximity sensor for this purpose and integrate that into the set-up.)

I may try the mirror again later on when I start setting up a before or after work exercise routes. Mainly I didn't like the handlebar mirror cause I'm not too steady with my steering most of the times when I try to look into the mirror and this kinda defeat the purpose of the handlebar mirror. the glasses or helmet mounted mirror, I have only tried it once but I just hated the way it feel like it just sticks right in my face. If I could find one around here that holds a mirror a little further away from my face then this one would have the best chance of being used. anybody here knows of any reliable source of these mirror online?

I will continue to look behind me, I was just wondering if there was a safer/easier method to noticing cars behind me. Thanks y'all for your responses.

Curiouswill

That sound interesting, I need to buy a helmet anyway and if this indeed does what I need it to do then I just may buy it.

I'll be waiting to hear whether you have found out the info on this

Brian Ratliff

Here it is: https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2533829.stm

This is the company's website: https://www.reevu.com/, but they don't have any information on the bicycle helmet version; I don't even know if they sell it anymore. I would suggest calling them or emailing them and finding out where you can get one of these helmets.

Brian Ratliff

If you search on these forums for "reevu", you'll find some threads discussing it. It kind of seems like they are out of production and were never retailed in the US.

donnamb 

This mirror is built locally, and I've seen it on more than one helmet. It's big and it's farther away from the helmet than others I have seen, including my own.

joejack951

With a properly adjusted eyeglass or helmet mirror, the sensation of it being in your field of view will quickly go away with day to day use. It took me about a week before I stopped noticing my eyeglass mirror when looking straight. Now it so natural to glance to my left to look behind me. I almost want to wear it when walking since I've become so dependent on it (in a good way of course). The mirror provides valuable information that would be impossible to safely obtain using lookbacks. I just cannot complete a full lookback as quickly as I can divert my eyes to glance into my mirror, nor can I hold as perfectly straight of a line (important when the path you are riding in is a 6 inch wide tire track through snow).

If the mirror seems like it's in your view to the front too much, try moving the arm outward away from your face some. With the proper angle on the mirror, you should still be able to clearly see in it. If you get it too far away from your face, it will be cumbersome to glance at though. You should be able to find a sweet spot but it does take some experimenting.

joejack951

That thing is a monster! I guess if you can't adjust to the smaller mirrors (my eyeglass mirror is less than 1.25" in diameter) that might be a solution but I have as good of a view of view as I could ever want from the much smaller mirror.

Bikepacker67

Depending upon your ears to alert you to approaching cars is a stupid way to ride anyway.

Many modern cars have engines far too quiet to give you enough heads-up, and not to mention the hybrid/electrics that will become more prevalent.

Either learn how to use a mirror (the Mirracle works for me) or how to glance back while holding your line (something you should learn to do, regardless of using a mirror).

Bikepacker67

Aye, yi, yi!

That thing is unwieldy! A wonder what it's like to have that thing attached to your noggin while descending at 40mph.

kalliergo 

JJ is absolutely right. It may take a little while to become used to a helmet/eyeglass mirror, but only a little while, and it is, by far, the most effective solution available.

I strongly urge you to try a couple of types (I prefer helmet mounts) and to stick with at least one for long enough to find the best adjustment and become comfortable with using it.

kalliergo 

Right. Also, in heavy(ish) traffic, it is impossible to adequately distinguish individual vehicle sounds.

Maybe listening is adequate on lonely rural roads, or very quiet residential streets, but nowhere else.

Mr_H

I've tried three different types of mirrors before settling on a type that attaches to my glasses. However, I don't rely on that alone. I use it more as a spotting guide, but I still look behind myself quiet often. I'm also finding as I ride the road bike and I have to wear a backpack that it doesn't look 'over' my pack, so I turn a lot more.

Listening is a good aid, but I wouldn't rely on it, for example when the wind really gets blowing here, I'm lucky to hear my own tires going. A combo of mirror and looking is best imho.

Pat

What are you trying to accomplish by knowing that a car is approaching from the rear?

I figure that in my days of cycling, I have been passed by tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of vehicles. It is impractical to take evasive action to every vehicle that might come close to me. In practice, I have yet to be hit by an overtaking vehicle. From the statistics I have seen, overtaking collisions with cyclists by motorized vehicles are rare. Most of the bike/motorized vehicle collisions occur at intersections. Also, if you are paying attention to vehicles that are coming from the approaching from the rear, you just might not pay attention to a bigger menace and that is debris and potholes up ahead. It is a balancing act. Well, I hope you forgive the tirade.

I have had a couple of times when I have been overtaken by aggressive drivers who have leaned on their horns and I have been able to hug the margin of the road or even ride off of it to evade them. Your situation does not really give you that possibility. For your situation, the mirror is probably the best approach. Good luck.

Curiouswill

Yeah I know that the chance of a overtaking accident is rare but being deaf myself, I do gets occassionally suprised by a close passing vehicles and that could "wobble" my steering at times. I just wanted to find out if there was a way to help keep an eye out for the traffic from behind (at least until I improves my handling on the bike and ride straighters)

Thanks for all of the responses above, I'll try out some of the mirrors and try to make that electronic idea just to see if it would work and if anybody else could use it.

P.S. I will start a seperate thread if I do start this electronic project.

Bikepacker67

I hope your luck holds out.

In my experience, knowing what/who's around me (including the rear) allows far greated safety and 'rideability'.

AndrewP

I use a Third Eye glasses mount mirror for keeping myself aware of the traffic behind me. By moving my head a bit it allows me to scan a wide angle behind my - even cars merging from the lane to my right. You still need to look over your shoulder before making lane changes because that give a cue to the cars that you are about to move. For looking behind you it is easier to do it by tilting your head forward as well as around.

The electronic device should be able to adjust the warning to blink earlier when the approaching speed is greater.

banerjek

A couple questions. When you tried the mirror, did you go with glasses or helmet mount? Also, what kind did you try?

There are significant differences between the glasses and helmet mounted mirrors, and how you mount them also affects how close they are to your eyes.

One mirror I'm particularly fond of is the Take-A-Look. You can even attach it to your visor (putting it even further from your face).

Even as a hearing person who is happy to ride in darkness and conditions people avoid driving in, I wouldn't consider riding without a mirror. Knowing where cars are and what they're doing is just handy. They warn you not only about potentially troublesome vehicles (e.g. people about to overtake and turn right in front of you, extra wide loads, trailers, people who have drifted right while decelerating for that coffee hut, cars that have just entered the road and are accelerating, etc). There is no downside.

RomSpaceKnight

I love my bar end mounted mirror and can't believe I rode for years without one. Nice large no shake image. A glance down and i got an excellent look behind me. I still check the blind spot but rely heavily on my mirror. Feel naked now without it.