Bike mirrors vs. presbyopia
 

I'm on something of a safety binge these days. I'm about to pull the trigger on some fore and aft lights, and now I'm looking for a mirror. Unfortunately, I think my choices will be limited by the fact that I have presbyopia. Even with progressive lenses, my close-range vision is positioned down toward the bottom of my frames. So I'm thinking that rules out a helmet-mounted or glasses-mounted mirror...right?

If I AM limited to handlebar-mounted mirrors, what do you recommend? I have a hybrid with contoured hand grips, so I imagine I'd be installing a fixed bar-end mirror. (The strap-on kind look incredibly jiggly and useless anyway....)

I wear progressive lenses in my regular glasses and bifocals in my sports/cycling glasses. I also use a helmet mounted or glasses attached mirror for every ride. No issues whatsoever and the quick check to the rear with helmet or glasses mirror, IMO, is safer then using a bar mounted mirror. Best of luck and I applaud your decision to use a mirror.

No, this shouldn't be a factor. When you look in a mirror your eyes focus on the image in the mirror, not on the mirror surface itself. This image is located at an effective distance that's the sum of the distance of your eye from the mirror plus the distance of the object you're looking at to the mirror. So if you're looking at the car that's 50' back your eyes have to focus for that 50' distance no matter whether the mirror is located only a few inches from your eye or several feet away.

What is sometimes an issue is the degree to which one of your eyes is dominant. With a helmet or eyeglass-mounted mirror it's typically only visible by your left eye. If you have strong right-eye dominance you might have trouble concentrating on the image in the mirror seen only by your left eye. Easiest way to check is just to try one out. Bike shops should be willing to let you test one of their mirrors to see how well it works for you.

No, near-sightedness and mirrors don't work that way.

If it did, we could use mirrors instead of lenses. Want proof? You need your glasses to see yourself in the bathroom mirror, right?

There are fans here of helmet/glasses mount mirrors, and those of us who prefer bar mounts. It's really a personal preference matter.

All bar-mount mirrors are subject to some vibration. This does not make them useless in traffic.

Just because I can't read the license plate of the car approaching from behind doesn't mean I can't see the car. Maybe I can't tell if it's a Hyundai or a Toyota (Who can anyway without reading the nameplate?) but I can see that I don't want to move over for a left turn in front of it.

Now, I wouldn't want to shave in a bar-mount mirror, but I don't shave in traffic anyway. Close shaves BY traffic excluded, of course. ;)

I use the Mirrycle: Amazon.com : Mirrycle Mountian Mirrcycle : Bike Mirrors : Sports & Outdoors. It is incredibly stable. The image doesn't bounce around, and the mirror itself doesn't move when I go over bumps and so forth. I really like. I've tried several other kinds of bar-mounted mirrors, but this is the only one that has really worked for me.

With Trifocals.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...ses/FSNMNG.jpg

and

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Blowout011.jpg

My correction is -11 which, if you don't know, makes me extremely nearsighted. I also wear progressive glasses. The helmet mirror works fine. I recommend Take-A-Look mirrors.

Yeah, I'm reading lots of recommendations for that model....How does mounting it on the visor work?

As other have said, you don't focus on the mirror. You focus on the object you are looking at, 30 feet away.

That said, I do not like progressive lenses for helmet/eyeglass mirrors because those lenses (at least the pair I tried) focus clearly at the center of the lens but poorly at the edges. I now use bifocals which are sharp to the edges and give me an excellent view behind with a helmet mirror.

Ben

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=418001
I also wear a glasses mounted mirror with tri-focals. I've tried progressives and hated the lack of distance peripheral vision (at least in my case) which made me feel unsafe in traffic whether on bike or in car. In addition to the glasses mirror, I also have handlebar mirrors. Your glove mirror, while clever, is right in my glove-back snot-zone. But I may give it a try...I like it. Try the take-a-a-look-mirror. It's not jiggly in my experience.

FWIW I use a generic Bell bar end mirror, and on the Black Knight bike I mount it at the end of the bullhorns - which are pointed out, not in. It gives a rider a very clear view of what's coming up behind. The bullhorns pointed out look fredly, but who cares?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=418005

The Mountain Myrricle is an absolutely fabulous rear view mirror. Great picture, steady as a rock, completely adjustable. I won't ride without one ...

My visor has a small downward-pointing lip on the edge that the mirror mount fits on, then I added a small zip tie to secure it.

The arm is metal which is durable and can be bent to different shapes. The mirror is a quality and glass. The various plastic helmet mirrors I've tried always break after a few months.

I am right-eye dominant, and I have no trouble with my eyeglass mirror mounted near my left eye.

Depends on the degree of the dominance since some people do have that problem with a glasses or helmet-mounted mirror. Easy enough to test by trying one of the mirrors (or just holding any small mirror in that position) before buying.

My wife has a bad left eye, she's tried the helmet/glasses mounted mirrors without any luck. Moreover, with the weak left eye, looking over your shoulder isn't that helpful either. She has bar mounted mirrors for all of her bikes. For the flat-bar road bike she has: Robot Check - cheap, easy, effective, durable.

I like the old sunglasses mirrored lens, recycling aspect, of that.

heh I can usually tell the make and model of most vehicles even at night just by the shape of their headlights or tail lights. :)

You misunderstand how mirrors work. You're not looking at the mirror, you're looking at stuff THOUGH the mirror.

If you are looking at something 20 feet behind you in a mirror 2 inches from your head, your eye needs to focus at a point 20 feet, 2 inches away.

My favorite is the Cycleaware Reflex. I used to use a Take-A-Look, but I had an accident and wound up having the mirror's stiff wire and sharp-ish edge of the mirror ground into my face, requiring 18 stitches to close. The Cycleaware does not have sharp edges or stiff wire to ram into your face or eye.