I bought a nice BiKase mirror for my new touring righ bike but, the clamp cannot work with handlebars >28mm diameter.
I have to return it and am rethinking a bike mirror. Maybe I do a helmet mirror instead. I used one on my road bike but, I like a larger mirror.
A lot of pics of bikes I see in the forum don't seem to have handlebar mirrors showing.

What do folks like to use?

I turn my head both left and right, when changing lanes, and glance behind quickly. It's much easier than using mirrors, at least for me.

Some inexpensive mirrors that mount on the end of the drop bar. It’s not high quality but it does the job. Have these in both road bikes and I also use a Varia radar which tells me there are cars back.

look for barend mirrors that plug into the end of the bar rather than clamp around it.
makes for a better connection, less vibration, clearer view.
leaves bar less cluttered.

measure the inside of the bars...........you may find motorcycle barends fit your fatter bars better.
if the plugs are too thin, just add shims.

something like this on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/293576916237
https://www.ebay.com/itm/286443332639
https://www.ebay.com/itm/173902756265

i've used this mirror for years.
solid connection, no joints, no flex, no vibration, wide view.

I use a Third Eye brand one that clamps onto the visor on my helmet, the clamp is threaded so I can remove it when I travel to avoid damaging it. I do not think this would work on a helmet without visor.



I have toured with a friend that preferred a mirror that clipped onto his glasses.

What kind of handlebars do you have?

I use one that clips on my glasses.

Works fine though I haven't quite adjusted when touring in countries where they drive on the left since I still clip on my left side.

Blackburn Bike Helmet Mirror
Been using one for decades, always carry a spare when touring. The sticky foam mount is poor - I epoxy it onto the helmet. Yes, the mirror is small but because it's so close to the eye, the field of view is much greater than a bar mirror, plus one can scan behind by slightly moving one's head. That's very handy. One's head doesn't move to check the mirror directly behind, just a quick movement with the eye does it. Buy two or three - they're inexpensive, $13 on Amazon.

I never ever ride without a mirror. I use a Tiger Eye Bike mirror mounted on all of my helmets. It's available in an eyeglass mount as well.

I like the EVT Safe Zone helmet mirror. It's huge (2.25"), infinitely adjustable and attaches to your helmet vents with two simple wire ties ...

Everybody knows I use one of these now days...


Thanks for the idea 10wheels...

I used to use a Third Eye Pro which is a pretty good mirror but it does wear out at the pivot on the mount.



I’ve since started using The EVT helmet mirror. I find it stiffer and more steady than the Third Eye. I use the small base or modify the larger base to the small one.

Inexpensive and do the job

I have relatively recently gone from being a long-term use of Busch and Muller mirrors to a Mirracycle mirror. I should have jumped the fence a long time ago. I am very impressed with the size, the image in the mirror and that it is pretty rock solid (little to no vibration, for example).

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/aushiker/, on Flickr

I have drops, not a straight bar.

Looks like sticking with a helmet mirror might make sense.
I like looking at what you all use. Thx

Totally agree. I am a "mirror" person (as compared to glancing back). I have used mirrors for 45+ years. This is by FAR the best mirror I have ever used. The view is easily the equivalent of what you see if looking through one eye. Plus, their customer service is excellent. I scratched my mirror about 5 years after I bought it and they sent me a new one for free even though I told them the scratch was my fault. One of the few products I wholeheartedly recommend.

let's face it, a lot of people don't like using mirrors , especially helmet mirrors, because of the dorky look. I have tried all kinds of mirrors on flat and drop bars, and a long time ago figured out that helmet mirrors are the most effective--for numerous reasons--but some find it difficult to get used to having an object in ones field of vision all the time (and again, it makes you look like a dorky old person, a real put off to a lot of people, especially if younger---and let's face it again, most of us here are fricken old)

I prefer the Take-a-Look helmet or glasses arm mounted mirror, have used it for 15 years or so. It has a flat plane mirror (much easier to judge rear incoming vehicle distance as opposed to convex mirrors with the wide angle effect) but is a smaller mirror, so one has to be adept at moving ones head a bit to see different areas in it, but in a corner it is super handy to be able to turn your head a bit and see what vehicle is doing entering the curve behind you, like hugging the inside for example. Fixed mirrors on bars don't allow you to see things not in a straight line behind you.

In the end, using a mirror gives you an advantage, I rode motorcycles from early on, and just as in a car, using mirrors effectively to assess what the heck is going on behind you is essential.
None of us would drive a car without mirrors, and we are surrounded by tons of metal and air bags.
None of us would ride a motorcycle without mirrors, not knowing what goes on behind you.
A big part of defensive driving, or riding, is being aware of whats going on, and an effective mirror is a big part of trying to put as much of an advantage on your side to avoid those few situations that happen when having a few seconds heads up can make the difference between something bad happening or not.

touch wood big time about this topic though....

I use this also. Works great and is more durable than the Third Eye mirror.

This is what I did. I used a Mirrycle road mirror, which has the same mirror end, and removed it from the supplied mount and mounted it using a clamp I had for a reflector.

There are road bike specific bar end mirrors available though, and I probably would have used one if I didn't have bar end shifters. https://www.amazon.com/Mirrycle-Moun.../dp/B0006I8MEM

I have tried several times to adapt to a helmet mirror, all without success. They suck. The Mirrycle Mirror is the second best I have ever used on a road bike with drop bars. The best is the old Rhode Gear mirror, but it has been long out of production. Fortunately I still have one and use it on my touring bikes.

It really does come down to personal opinion. For decades I had the same opinion as you, but changed my mind when trying out and seeing first hand the advantages of the smallish, flat plane Take-A-Look.
I too used to use the Rhode gear one, I also still have one--but even it has that slight wide angle convex thing going on, which really makes it harder to judge distances and timing--which for me is the kicker.
Being able to better judge timing and seeing better what is going on is a game changer --but I also spent decades looking through small camera viewfinders as a living, so perhaps am more used to looking at a smaller image than other people just from doing it so much.

I put a small block of wood on the end of about 15" of microphone flex. A cheap mirror is screwed or glued to the wood. The flex is held to the handlebar with a hose clamp. One bike has drop bars, the other has a flat handlebar. They have survived falls, storage, leaning on buildings, transport in train baggage cars. My reasoning was if the mirror is on the bike, I'll always have it.

djb, i understand the personal preference thing. I tried three times with three different brands and was unable to get the eye to focus, and this was in my 20's. I will add that I have backed up a huge number of cars and trucks over the years working on a car lot, and I was trained to drive a car using mirrors (no cameras in those days) and it may affect how I use a mirror on a bicycle. Convex mirrors don't bother me at all, and the Mirrycle Mirror has a very minor convex form to it.
I think if the helmet mirror stuck out well forward of the helmet it may work better for me and likely a whole lot of other people. As you noted, to each their own on this one.

I think I got used to it in maybe a week or so. Far enough to one side that it was not where I needed to see anything as I rode straight ahead or slight curves to one side.

And since I have two eyes, it took a while for my brain to figure out which eye I wanted to use, the one that saw what was in the mirror reflection or the other eye that saw what was behind the mirror.

I commuted for decades on motorcycles, they had good mirrors on the handlebars, I did not have to move my head very much to see in the mirrors. That made me want to have at least one mirror on a bicycle too. But I did not want to have to move my head much to see in the mirror. Thus, with drop bars, a handlebar mirror was not what I was looking for.

The only thing I do not like about a helmet mirror is riding away from a rising or setting sun, with the sun in the mirror, thus shining in my eye. Sometimes i reach over and change the mirror angle so that I can't see behind me any more until the sun is no longer a problem, then I re-aim the mirror again.

Ti, the focus thing is probably where all the looking through cameras thing made it easier for me.
Don't forget, when we look in any vehicle or bike mirror, our eye is focusing at very far away, well the distance away the thing that we are looking at is actually at.
In camera lens talk, you'd be focusing the lens at close to the farthest away setting, infinity let's say. ( lenses have the feet or meters marked on the lens, and the farthest away mark is "infinity"---- but all this is to say that when riding, our eyes are generally focused on things far away, 50ft, 100, 500 ft or whatever.
When I glance in my helmet mirror, you just "keep" your eye focus at that far off "setting", and you then see the image in the mirror in focus, so you really aren't shifting your eyes focus that much.
Again, I figure because I looked through viewfinders so much, I do this without thinking.