Anyone who makes fun of anyone else's choices is a fool.

fify

Almost all recumbent riders use mirrors. It's harder for them to turn their heads far enough to see behind them. Mirrors are required for HPRA racing.

just 'cause the majority of respondents use mirrors doesn't mean the majority of roadies use mirrors. probably, the over 50 set is more likely to use one. I personally don't use one. I rely on actually looking, despite my arthritic neck. I was riding with a guy last year, and we needed to go left. he glanced in his mirror and swerved across the lane, right in front of a car. he made it, barely. I especially wouldn't use one, after that episode, even though it was a case of him being a guy that only rides twice a year (and drives everywhere with his bike rack on his car, which could be the subject for a whole new thread here). As for using your ears, I think we all use that as a preliminary sense as to whether to expect to see a car back there, just don't decide to swing across the lane (because you don't hear anything behind you), and get hit by a hybrid running on batteries. or a quiet scooter.

I have mirrors on all my bikes. I would not make a move into a lane without actually looking. The mirror allows me to keep track of what is going on behind me. I would not look behind myself every 30 seconds, but sometimes I look at my mirror that often.
I find it easier to look under my left arm than over my shoulder. It is faster, I don't have to think about not swerving, and it only took about a week to get used to seeing things upside down. Plus it hurts less since I broke a cervical vertebra last year.

Even if I don't hear anything, I look--an approaching cyclist would be easy to miss without looking.

unless they are gay

Danged near impossible to turn and look back on a recumbent bike. Doesn't always work so well for captains on upright tandems, either.

I went to a mirror last summer after being run off the road by a careless motorist. I turn my head around still but the mirror allows a very quick rear glance to assess my situation, especially on a road with a 55 mph speed limit. No shame in being safe and living to tell about the ride to me.

Billl

Surely by this you mean HAPPY, right? Because if for some reason you mean something other than that, I'm surprised you are here in the 50+ area, where certainly by now at our mature ages you would not intentionally want to offend anyone, right?

It's a little dorky looking but I'm very partial to using a mirror.

I'm not sure how one's sexual orientation would affect their choice of riding accessories.

Anyway, it's all good. With my degenerate disc disease (misspelling intended) and as a bent rider, mirrors are pretty much required. For the young and flexible, they're probably not necessary at all.

The problem is when one group ridicules another. It hurts. It just hurts, and it's not a very nice thing to do.

Its poor form, isnt it?

The meaning was HAPPY, not anything about sexual orientation, right? I mean, we are all adults here.

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’


’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’


’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”




― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

take-a-look mirror, I REALLY like mine, totally worth the money and yes I still do a head check too!

My thoughts on using mirrors. I need to continually look behind me to be on top of any developing situation. I can't realistically do that by turning my head, twisting my neck or whatever. I cannot depend on my sub-par (putting it lightly) hearing. I live in rural central USA, probably more isolated than most of you, and I still feel that for safety sake I need that continual assessment. I recommended the take-a-look mirror earlier. The bar end mirrors I tried before that did not work for me. I know they work for some people. Everybody is different. One word of advise, the first couple times I used the take-a-look, I had trouble on the focus and was left with a bit of a post-ride headache. Luckily, I got past that. It is so much a part of me now, that when I am walking through the mall for example, I look to the mirror that is not there to check behind me!

I used to have a helmet mirror, but I was a little nervous about what would happen should I crash and have the mirror gouge my face. Then the mirror broke so I replaced it with a bar-end mirror on my drop bar. But that vibrates so much relative to my eye that I find it almost useless. I"m thinking about going back to a mirror attached to my head, but this time one of the light-weight mirrors that clips to my glasses, rather than the more bulky type that attaches to my helmet.

They are very useful, though....

Any of you 50+ folks use a helmet or glasses mount mirror AND have bifocal glasses? I'm considering either, but don't know if I'll be able to focus on something that close to my eyes. Bar mount mirrors didn't work for me because of vibration and/or their tendency to be easily damaged .

I use a glasses arm mounted mirror and I wear lined bifocals. No problems with focus at all, with a mirror you aren't actually focusing on the length of the mirror your eyes are focusing on the distant object, as I recall. Optics was not my favorite part of Physics when I took it or taught it.

Bill

It worked for me but I had to place the mirror very close to my glasses and look at it through the near vision part.

No, I inferred the meaning to be about sexual orientation, not happiness.

mirrors definitely have a place on road bikes. I have the "Italian Road Bike Mirror" on my commuter and race bike. It goes over the end of the drop bars and you tape in on once you get the angle right, then grip tape over the top. it is optical quality glass and not much more diameter than the bar end. obvious advantages for commuting, plus at over 20 mph I can't hear that much over the wind noise. For racing as nerdy as it sounds you can stay aero and still see if anyone else is gaining on you. I have used it to my advantage many times when launching an early sprint. I would also say a mirror enhances safety bc you don't need to turn your head, just a quick glance down and your eyes can be right back where they need to be.

I would not ride without one. There are times when only a mirror will help you identify and avoid a potentially dangerous situation.

This is from the first 50 miles of the Hoo Doo 500. That's me on the shoulder on the other side of the rumble strip.

First Frame: The driver of the westbound auto decided to pass, even though another auto was approaching and visibility was limited. Nice.

Second Frame: Driver begins to "complete" his pass, with both affected autos moving towards the shoulder, one of them onto the shoulder occupied by ME!



Before this began, I was on the drops and going 30+ MPH. But I saw it develop in front of me and thanks to the rear view mirror, was able to tell there was an auto approaching behind me, how far back he was, and gauge the relative speeds of both cars relative to myself. Not possible by turning your head or relying on your hearing.

Should I have had to bail out into the dirt, I was prepared. As it was, I knew there was the danger, but knew there was no need to bail out.

I also find them very useful on descents. I've been in situations where I had a choice of maneuvering around an obstacle to my left or right, and made my choice after seeing a tandem rapidly approaching me from behind. No way I could hear them, and no way I could turn my head in time or keep my head there long enough to gauge their speed. That would have been a nasty crash.

On top of that, they're very handy for surreptitious booty checks.

I know there is a difference of opinion on the matter, but I think rear view mirrors rock.

+1 for the Take-A-Look mirror. It’s mounted on my cycling glasses, but easily removed and mounted on a different pair. I don’t leave home (for a bike ride) without it! Sometimes when I am driving or out for a walk and hear something behind me, I instinctively look up and to the left for my mirror.

Ride On!
-Spoke