I like the Third Eye Foam helmet mirror. The shaft has an I beam cross section that reduces vibration.

That sounds attractive. I use the long-arm version of Take-A-Look, and I sometimes think about trying the short-arm version because I get some vibration some times that makes it hard to resolve at a distance whether that's a car or not.

buy a helmet mounted mirror and and a bar mounted mirror. Use them and see which works best for you, or use both

It's a good design. I've tried some others an they are circular in cross section and cantilevered out far enough to vibrate quite a bit. The Third Eye is a little shorter, and that I-beam cross section eliminates a lot of it.

With my new helmet, I had to use two layers of velcro tape to put it in the best place, and even at that, the vibration is still well managed. :thumb:

Here is how I mounted it. I dunno if you can see the I-beam construction there. It has two ball joints ... one at the mount and one at the mirror.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2e75f7d6ce.jpg

Thanks, nice picture. I see what you did there. You score at least a MacGuyver for the double layering, nice work.

Several up-votes for the take a look mirror. I'm adding one more for it. The downside is that for me I need to clip it onto a visor on the helmet. Many helmets don't have a visor so that could be an issue. Aside from that it takes about a ride or 2 to get used to it. I found that my eyes wanted to focus past it the first few times if that makes sense. After that it's great and I don't leave home without it.

I use the clearviewmicromirror.com. It is a helmet mount with a small mirror on a very short stem. It took me 30 minutes to get it properly adjusted and comfortable using it. This is my first mirror so my learning curve was probably steeper than most rider's.The company is a small Mm and Pop, maybe even just Pop, but product support was very good. The web site is a little old school.

I too use a Take-a-Look mirror. I tried using it on my helmet visor but the mirror fell off when riding over rough asphalt. How do you keep you mirror on the visor? I do like the Take-a-Look mirror on my eyeglasses or sunglasses ear piece.

Cheers

Have not lost one while riding but did lose one recently in the process of driving from Indy to Gulf Shores, AL. May be in car somewhere well hidden. Local bike shop had a replacement for the lost mirror.
I have used electrical tape to semi-secure to black visor but only sure attachment I have found is to drill holes in visor and use 1 or 2 small zip ties.

Thanks. I'll try that.

Cheers

For many years I used Take a look mirrors and similar helmet and glasses mounted mirrors. A few years ago I switched to the Italian bike mirror an all of my bikes and never regretted the switch. They are made out of glass and very clear and unobtrusive. Took a while to get used to bar mounted mirror after using a glass mounted mirror.

Somewhere on Bike Forums I've posted photos of how I secure the Take-A-Look mirror to my helmets.

• I use one of those plastic discount cards from a grocery store and cut it to fit the recesses in the softer EPS foam inside the helmet. This will serve the same purpose as the earpieces on eyeglasses -- something for the three grabbers on the mirror stem to hold onto.
• Then I'll punch a hole in the plastic card. That's the zip ties to go through so nothing slips off.
• I use one zip tie to secure the mirror to the card, with the zip tie going through the punched hole.
• I use a second zip tie to secure the card (again, through a punched hole) to the helmet, on the inside, going through a vent.
• This leaves enough wiggle room to adjust the angle of the mirror stalk/stem up and down a bit. I'll snug up the zip tie to hold the tension so I don't have to keep adjusting the mirror.

It's simpler to make that it sounds. Takes only a few minutes.

For now I have one Take-A-Look attached to my Bell Formula MIPS. The second is loose so I mount it to whatever sunglasses or safety glasses I plan to wear. That's for use with my POC commuter helmet or my aero helmet. I wear the POC on my hybrid, which has bar-end shifters so there's no handy place to mount a mirror on the bike.

The aero helmet lacks vents for mounting, and a permanently attached mirror would defeat the purpose of an aero helmet. The aero helmet and jersey are usually good for an extra 1 mph on my workout routes, especially on windy days. But depending on traffic I may wear glasses with the mirror on days when I'm using the aero helmet. When I reach my usual workout routes with 2 to 6 mile time trial segments, I'll stick the mirror in my jersey pocket and just wear the sunglasses or use the aero helmet's magnet mounted visor. If my neck flexibility was better I wouldn't bother with this setup, but it helps me with navigating traffic until I reach my workout segments. There isn't much traffic there so I only need the bar-end mirror.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ee48352fc0.jpg

This is how I mounted the mirror to my visor. Drilled three holes and two zip ties. Used construction silicon to secure the visor to mitigate vibration.
Not for everybody but it works for me, Frank.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Miele Man (Post 21359225)

I too use a Take-a-Look mirror. I tried using it on my helmet visor but the mirror fell off when riding over rough asphalt. How do you keep you mirror on the visor?

I do like the Take-a-Look mirror on my eyeglasses or sunglasses ear piece.

Cheers

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I too prefer an eyeglass mount for my Take-a-Look. Just a few minutes ago I posted:For winter riding I wear goggles over my prescription eyeglasses, but not those with an elastic band that would not support my mirror:

This is exactly what I use on my road bike.

Best regards

Awareness of what's behind
 

yet another +1 for 'tale-a-look' mirror

In addition, I find to Garmin Vario radar unit to be of assistance https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/601468 added benefit of being on sale at the moment

Very creative -congrats!
Best regards

I have tried both eyeglass and helmet mounted mirrors and both of them worked great. My preference was a helmet mounted mirror. As my mileage increased and I was doing longer and longer rides, I added clamp on aerobars on my road bike to help relieve some of the shoulder stiffness I was getting. As soon as I would get on the aerobars, those mirrors became useless. They're great if you always ride upright or in a fixed position as the adjustment doesn't vary much. Once I went aero, all I could see with my helmet mirror was tree tops and sky. To see what was behind me, I had to get back to the hoods.

At 73, my neck doesn't turn around like it used to so looking over my shoulder isn't an option. After trying several types of mirrors, the one I finally settled on was the CycleAware bar end mirror. It's adjusted so that I can easily see behind me while riding on the hoods or a quick look over my arm, while on the aerobars. However, for my last birthday, last October, the wife got me a Garmin Varia rear radar, just prior to my cross state ride. I now use it whenever I'm on any street and use my mirror primarily to see which lane a vehicle is in when on a multi-lane road. As nice as mirrors are, there's not a mirror on the market that notifies you of a vehicle(s) approaching 153 yards away. It's paired with my Wahoo Bolt and the LEDs on the computer help with visual notifications along with the audio notification you get when a vehicle is detected. My radar is like my American Express card; I don't leave home without it.

I have two I use.
Round plastic(Third Eye?) and Take-a-look

I prefer the Take-a-look. Bought it 35 years ago to use while rowing and then tried it for road riding.

The Third Eye is now In my boat bag but I never go out for a bike ride without the TAL attached to my glasses.

I've tried several, & never got the hang of it.

Hard to see enough to be useful, & distracting. My son got me one that straps to your arm but maybe my eyesight is not good enough.

I do like being in a group with mirror-users- they call out the cars, and know when you are coming up.

So on the Take A Look mirror....compact or original version?

I like the Take A Look better than the Third Eye because of the longer arm.

The shorter TAL would have the same mirror but since I don’t always use the same goggle or sunglasses the longer arm gives more “temple room” for mounting.

A shorter arm provides a closer larger image but I prefer the smaller image within my normal line if sight. (if that makes sense to anyone but me)

I use a bar end mirror on my road bike. It isn't small, but gives a good view of what is behind. As the first review on the link says, do have to remove the mirror from the mount when you first mount it, and it is a tight fit, but once mounted, works very well and doesn't seem that vibration really bothers it. Inexpensive to boot: https://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Ce-2-.../dp/B00B13686K

I just got an EVT Safe Zone Bicycle Helmet Mirror. It is, beyond a doubt the dorkiest looking mirror I've ever used. It is also the best mirror I've ever used. It can be easily positioned to give a clear, wide angle view to the rear with just a quick glance. The mirror is large, gives a sharp image, and unlike every glass frame mounted mirror I've tried, it stays put with little or no vibration.

I started using a helmet-mounted CycleAware mirror about 15 years ago and don't know how I ever survived without it. The only deficiency is the adhesive system, but it is easy to replace that with a square of double-sided tape. I had to cut a small notch in my helmet visor to clear the mirror mount. I am very pleased with the whole setup.

For that choose to use mirrors, remember; a mirror can only tell you "no", only a head check can tell you "yes".

Since Take-a-Look is a favorite brand of many, I just posted to this aforementioned thread, Jim's Famous Trick for Rear-view Mirror Goggleshttps://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...be0c16ea16.png


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0a07dbad9a.png

Like the OP'er, I ride a drop-bar road bike and I wear glasses. I'm also hearing impaired - mostly in my left ear - so, generally I can hear a nearby car and know to be extra cautious. However, I don't have a sense for what direction car noise is coming from. I've tried five different mirrors in the past three years. Of those, my all-around favorite is a Third-Eye bar-end mirror. It's cheap and cheerful, but the mirror quality is pretty good and it has an appropriate amount of curvature. It helps me spot cars when they're pretty far away (behind me) at just a glance. With it, I can judge overtaking cars' speed and distance quicker and more confidently.

I tried to like an EVT helmet mounted mirror for a year... but I could never get information from it quickly enough. I had to wait for my eyes to focus, and then think about what I was seeing. I think I would have the same problem with any eyeglass or helmet mounted mirror. On my commuter, which has bar-end shifters, I use a Blackburn mirror that straps onto the left-side brake hood. It's okay, but vibrates more than the Third-Eye bar-end. I didn't like the way the D+D Oberlauda mirror mounted. It always seemed in the way of my hands, and it didn't play nice with my bar tape. Also, the Third-Eye is larger and thus more functional than the expensive German mirror.

I recently put one of those on my left-side dropbar end. It's way better than nothing, but I find it's so far away from eyes that the view from it is tiny. I also can only see it when I'm riding the hoods, since if I happen to be riding the tops my arm blocks it. I don't really ride the drops so I don't know if my arm would block it there too, but they probably will. Due to its shaping giving it that "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" effect, and my eyesight being something less than perfect, this mirror is good for a "ok, I'm pretty sure a car is close enough that I gotta look over my shoulder now to know if it's safe to change lanes" and that's about it.

I haven't got a helmet-mounted mirror yet, but if I really want to see what's behind me better, it's probably going to have to be something like that.

The Hafny bar end mirror, 68mm, is way bigger and better than the Third Eye bar end mirror. But, I prefer the "Mirrycle Origional", which mounts to the old style brake levers. The Mirrycle is in a better position both for visibility, and not being in the way.