Bike Forums - Mirrors...

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Quote:

Originally Posted by steelbikeguy (Post 18936903)

I suppose everyone's experience is different. My head seems to be in a pretty consistent position while riding. A quick flick of the eye to the upper left lets me see my rear view mirror, which shows me the road behind me. It works quite well for me. No change in head position during the process, although I can scan left and right if I want to see to the sides behind me.

Don't handlebar mirrors also require a consistent head position (although not a consistent pitch, roll or yaw angle)? i.e. if the mirror is adjusted correctly for riding on the hoods, wouldn't it be incorrect if you were on the top of the bars or in the drops?

I'm assuming a flat mirror.
A convex mirror will produce a wider field of view, but make the image proportionally smaller.
I started using an eyeglass mounted mirror when riding on busy roads (back in 1978). It didn't take me any time at all to set up or get used to it. I found it very helpful for letting me take a brief glance at the traffic behind me in a fraction of a second.

More recently, I started riding recumbents, where a mirror is essential, so I'm familiar with the arguments for bike mounted mirrors, and a lot of people use them.

I have seen people struggle with setting up helmet mirrors, though, and that can be a hurdle to adapting to them. Chuck Harris was a fellow who sold a lot of helmet mirrors, and he had a nifty process of helping people adjust their mirrors. I wonder if I still have a copy of his printed instructions somewhere? Well, the essence was that when well adjusted, you should be able to look forward and glance up and to the left where the mirror will be positioned. When looking into the mirror, it should be adjusted so that you just see the edge of your ear.

Chuck has passed away, but HubBub Cycles sells a modern interpretation of his design. The mirror is a bit larger than what I bought from Chuck, but I use it for the helmet I wear on recumbents. The head position on the 'bents is more upright than regular bikes, so the mirror is adjusted accordingly. It's very well made. Welcome To HubBub Online

You might poke around some of the recumbent shops and forums. As heavy users of mirrors, they might have some lesser known products. One larger 'bent shop is the Hostel Shoppe... they show a few, including some that mount with brackets. Search - Hostel Shoppe

good luck!

Steve in Peoria

Yeah- there's pros and cons to each solution, and everyone's experience and needs are going to be slightly or even majorly different. As for me, I'm generally always between the tops, corners, ramps or hoods, rarely in the drops. People with different riding styles would find other solutions much more beneficial.

One of the things I looked at, before starting the thread, was a lot of the recumbent threads/posts that were linked off Google Images. Recumbent cockpits are as varied as the folks riding them and you can see that level of personalization to them.

Thank you for your opinions and reasoning! It's a great counter to what I'm looking for, and it'll be good for anyone else searching out this same stuff sometime down the line.

I use mirrors on every bike, currently most favored is the zefal spy mirror. It gives decent view with minor distortion, bands on near end of drop. It can slightly interfere when in the drops. Overall I am pretty picky on mirrors but must have them, the zefal is not ideal but I do have 5 of them on the bikes so is my preferred for now. I have also tried

1)mirracyle for flat bars but mounted on bar end hole, then swung around. A big mirror but the best for non distored vision, very wideview of what is coming behind you. Cannot mount if using bar end shifter. Otherwise hard to beat this mirror but is large. Still use on some bikes

2)glasses mounted mirror. Good mirror with minor adjustment, but always in your periphery which can be very annoying depending on how well you can filter/ignore. Used on season but finally got tired of periphery.

3)drop bar end mirror above with plugin. It needed some tape on the ball joint to prevent jostling around. Pretty distorted depth perception, you can see traffic but hard to judge how close. Also cannot be adjusted out much without losing straight line. Used half a season, still use occasionally if necessary.

4)blackburn pcitured above with clamp. Large mirror with little distortion but shakes a good bit. Also hard to find a mount on drops where is does not interfere with some hand position. Used two seasons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtchuck (Post 18936517)

I bought a Safe Zone Helmet Mirror from Amazon a few years back. It has a huge 2.5" mirror and is very sturdy.

Looks dorky, but give you a clear wide range view.

+1
I've had the same one for several years and love it. After using other brands of helmet mirrors that eventually broke or moved out of position with vibrations, this one is rock solid and offers a much bigger field of view.

At least from my experiences the things I don't like about handle bar mounted mirrors:

- More distracting and time consuming to look down and focus on the image than a helmet mounted mirror.
- When I start a turn I can no longer see what is directly behind me because my bars are pointing in the wrong direction.
- Bar mirrors tend to get bumped out of position much easier and vibrate more.
- At least with some bar end mirrors I've used visibility can be cut due to rear panniers.

I agree this mirror is bit large and may appear dorky but compared to everything else I've tried it offers a superior view of what is coming up behind me. I'd rather be dorky and better prepared to make a move averting a collision from behind than be injured or dead.

Regardless of what method you decide to use, a view to your back that may provide an opportunity to avoid a potential life threatening mishap is a no brainer in my book.

I use the same mirror as Eddy Merckx and Peter Sagan. :p

I gave up on mirrors. I found them to be more distracting than they were helpful.

I know you said you don't like helmet-mounted mirrors, but I have happily used a CycleAware Reflex helmet mounted mirror for about 20 years and don't know how I ever did without it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fender1 (Post 18937633)

I gave up on mirrors. I found them to be more distracting than they were helpful.

Me too.

I've developed skill with my Take-A-Look mirror, and I use it on almost every ride. I do have to turn my head, but I can do it quickly with good aim. I keep it with my helmet and gloves, and I use the helmet, mirror and gloves on whichever of my too many bikes I choose to ride. I attach the mirror to my glasses which I wear whenever I ride.

+1 for Take-a-Look mirrors.

I prefer mine attached to a tab stuck on the inside of my helmet, and find that I miss it when I'm X-C skiing. It required a little time, maybe a month, to get used to it, but now wouldn't want to ride without it. It does help to bend the wire mount slightly to give the best view. Now it's very solid, and easy to re-adjust if it gets bumped.

I have bar end mirrors and I hate to say it (because they look very cool--as if they were totally integrated into the design of the bars themselves), but they suck.

The images are tiny and it's very hard to make out what's behind you without a prolonged stare at the mirror/s rather than a quick glance. They can be, and frequently are, jostled out of position rather easily. Also, they pick up smudges like you wouldn't believe.

9/10 or 10/10 for esthetics; 2 or 3/10 for functionality. Do not recommend.

I would love to say they're better than nothing, but it takes so long to make out what you're actually looking at in those tiny mirrors that it's actually safer not to use them at all, which is what I usually do.

They do look cool, however, which is what really counts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dfrost (Post 18938751)

I am glad to see someone else likes helmet-mounted mirrors. Mine is never distracting, unless I allow it to be., and it is extremely helpful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dfrost (Post 18938751)

+1 for Take-a-Look mirrors

1st commute with mine last week & it came in handy. in a tight spot turning my head could have caused me to swerve off the roadway & fall into the path of this construction equipment (note broken pavement). yes I could have just assumed the big weird noise behind me was something dangerous, but seeing exactly what I was about to deal with was useful & convincing information

considering this particular situation, which included no good shoulder area & no room for maneuvering in either lane/direction, I decided to pull over making it easier & safer for the construction equipment & 4 vehicles behind it, to pass me

I don't have any mirrors but a couple of times I wish I had something useful, and I'm not convinced of the efficacy of either bar mirrors or helmet/eyeglass mirrors.

I wonder if anybody has made a bike-intended rear-facing camera with a small viewing screen to mount on the bars?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John E (Post 18939124)

I am glad to see someone else likes helmet-mounted mirrors. Mine is never distracting, unless I allow it to be., and it is extremely helpful.

I have a friend to whom I've suggested that he should consider using a mirror. He replied that he's seen one or two fellows using a mirror that seemed to be distracted too much, so he didn't want to have the same issue.

My answer was that was a problem with the person, not the mirror. I asked him if he was distracted by rear view mirrors when he was driving his car.

Steve in Peoria
(I've since seen him wearing a helmet mirror on group rides.... he seems to be doing fine with it)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nashvillebill (Post 18939399)

I wonder if anybody has made a bike-intended rear-facing camera with a small viewing screen to mount on the bars?

They exist but not cheap and I have concerns about how viewable the screen would be in daylight.

The Cat Eye BM-300G is the go-to mirror for all my drop bar bikes and the favorite with local mirror users. The Mirrycle is the choice for flat bar bikes. My Raleigh DL1 has the shiniest mirror of all!

The cat eye gets middling reviews on amazon.

It appears as if it suffers from the same problems that bike mirrors generally do:

1. small reflection

2. easy to move and displace

I might experiment with the cat eye anyway. It's only 10 bucks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by American Euchre (Post 18940447)

It is the best I've used so far, and it says "Racing" on it. Ergo it must make us faster! :lol:

I liked the original Mirrycle mirror back when none of my drop bar bikes had aero brake levers and I did without when I began using aero levers. Barcons prevented the use of barend mirrors. I recently began using a Third Eye helmet mirror and like it a lot.

Haven't found the perfect solution but here's a few I use. The Italian made bar end has terrific optics (best) but a challenge to set-up. Always fixed and bulky at the circumference. Riding in the drops sometimes requires a slight movement of the wrist to see the mirror.

[IMG]https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8810/2...69813bb7_c.jpg IMG_5329 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8737/2...18cf8a0d_c.jpg IMG_5326 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8850/2...c03d7a35_c.jpg IMG_5710 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

I also like this one and having the adjustable ball socket type. Great too when the bike gets knocked around or at a bike rack. Optics not as good vs. the Italy made glass one above, but overall decent. Downside is no chance for use with bar-ends.

[IMG]https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8514/2...b3388cb9_c.jpg IMG_6835 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8801/2...3aabc87c_c.jpg 1982 RRB by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

I like mirrors and think they are a nice safety feature, but I don't use them anymore. My favorite mirrors are the bar-end types that don't interfere with shifting, braking and hand placement. However, I have switched almost all of my bikes to bar-end shifters over the years so I can't use bar-end mirrors anymore except on one bike. I have tried helmet mirrors but could never keep them adjusted, and I seemed to be endangering my safety more by trying to use them. The other types that mount to the brakes and handlebars seem to interfere with my riding. So, I tend to rely on my hearing to sense what is coming behind me.

No pics but for experimentation, on my Trek touring rig I attached a 2 inch diameter glass mirror that has the extend-able radio antenna. Used in household task, NO convex shape. It simply slides into two tiny loops on the handlebar bag. Works fairly well with a super adjustable range. Though with the temporary mount on the soft handlebar bag it has too much movement. If a figure a way to make it solid, it might be the answer. These type of mirrors only cost $3.

My favorite Mirror.
Left in a motel in AZ.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...y%20mirror.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10 Wheels (Post 18941789)

My favorite Mirror.Left in a motel in AZ.

classy :thumb: