All I know is the bike I rode no-handed (all the time it seems) had a longer rake angle on the front forks....totally different geometry than my short oldschool trek. No way I'm going no handed on that. Face plants are painful.

I saw a guy on our local MUP a few weeks ago, riding his mountain bike no-handed, while strumming a full-size dreadnaught acoustic guitar. Scared the hell out of me, and I was on foot. He did have a strap on the guitar, so I can only assume he swung it around behind him when he needed to stop/start.

I have mtb mirrors on all 3 bikes (2 road and 1 trail) as I could not use the helmet ones comfortably. I 'm not looking for a perfect image of whats behind, just wanting to know if anything is, therefore, I don't worry about a bit of vibration.

Some of my bikes let me ride no hands, others don't. I know it's the bikes because I still have some of the same bikes I used to ride hands-free as a youth and they still work fine. Its easy to test by moving your hands about 1" from the handlebars.

Looking back is an acquired skill. One important thing is that when you turn your body, your arms( not your hands ) have to be looser on the handlebars so that as your body turns, you are not inadvertently pushing and pulling the handlebars. So I lean forward slightly before looking back. I don't look back with only one hand on the handlebars. Having both hands on the handlebars, gives me the feedback that I need to maintain a straight course. Having only one hand on the handlebars while looking back, is definitely a recipe for disaster. It's almost like riding with your arms crossed on the handlebars.

The easiest way to practice is to sit in your desk chair with your finger tips on the desk. Then turn and look behind you. Feel how your arms flex. Then when you feel conifident, find an empty parking lot to practice in.

It never occurred to me that this change was age-related, though perhaps I should consider that! I always presumed it had more to do with the weight & geometry of my bikes:

Prior to 2006 I rode fairly heavy bikes -- hybrids, mountain bikes, old electro-forged Schwinn road bikes, etc. And I could ride no-hands fine, and I could turn around to view traffic fine. In 2006 I got my first sub-20lb road bike, and I instantly became much more sketchy riding no-hands. Hey, no big deal, since I concurrently started doing group rides with pacelines there ceased to be enough good reasons to ride no-hands for it to be an issue.

But I also became much less stable when looking behind me to check on traffic. Unless I concentrate very hard, the bike will drift slightly to the left when I'm looking over my shoulder...and, even more egregiously, when I turn back to face forward something about that motion seems to really throw off my line and there's this moment of horrific squirreliness. I've had to work really hard to keep that under control.

The two best tricks (sic) I've learned to hold a straight line while looking backwards are 1) conspicuously bend my right arm & dip my right shoulder downward when looking over my left shoulder; and 2) conciously tell myself "Look straight ahead!" before I turn my head back to face forward. They seem to work, but both require much more concentration than I would have expected.

And again, prior to '06 I didn't need to do either. Always figured it had to do with my new bike, but maybe it's 'cuz I'm getting old?

Getting old? Hah, no faster than I am. But I'm still convinced it is more about bike frame geometry and it's handling differences.

Like you said, I have to work on not cranking the rest of my body and pulling the steering and "line" out of shape. We dont have much to work with in our area....what, 2ft of shoulder outside the fog line. That get's scary in highway traffic.

Me? I like living....

There are several points on my (new, here in SLO) regular routes where a good look back is really necessary, e.g. the bridge just north of Morro Bay on Highway 1, northbound: typically, the wind is in your grill, hence very difficult to hear; the shoulder space narrows down to just a few inches; overtaking traffic is doing 60+ mph; a semi in each lane leaves very little room.

The check-your-six before changing line, blowing nose, etc., that is, glancing to see if there's a cyclist just behind or on rear quarter is not enough.

So, IMO, stop and look back, else master the skill. Me, I don't mind stopping, which I have done, many times. Over the months, however, I have learned to mark the next "x" feet (depending on speed) and direction and keep the bike on that course while I get my look. It takes practice. Part of it is using peripheral vision to keep the bike on track.

fwiw, I barely qualify at 53, and flexibility is just fair; I do have to open the hip quite a bit in order to get my head around enough, just under 30 degrees.

Also fwiw, I've met several cyclists who do not look back on approach to aforementioned bridge, nor at the several on and off ramps. "Ride predictably..." they say.

"Not with me," say I, to myself.