Any Opinions on Bike Mirrors?

[Mark Blacknell]

@DaveK 22200 wrote:

Fred.

Yeah, but if I’d had it when you “dropped your chain” in Philadelphia, I would have noticed and you wouldn’t have been so lonely for the next few miles.

[Tim Kelley]

@Mark Blacknell 22250 wrote:

Yeah, but if I’d had it when you “dropped your chain” in Philadelphia, I would have noticed and you wouldn’t have been so lonely for the next few miles.

Then I would I have been lonely for the next few miles off the front…

[creadinger]

I have used a helmet/sunglasses mirror for the past several years, especially when I knew I’d be riding busy roads.

The sunglasses mounted one worked great, but twice I found that the tension it put on the arm of my glasses broke it, so I had to chuck ’em. I currently use a helmet mounted mirror which attaches quite nicely to the visor on my helmet. I’m not sure if this would work on a helmet without a visor though.

I find having the helmet or sunglasses mounted mirror preferable to the handlebar mounted one because sometimes what you want to look back at isn’t directly behind you. Just by turning your head you can look at whatever you want to behind you.

Also, more experienced cyclists will say they just look back if they want to know what’s back there. I can say that in my experience, there are times where looking back is not really possible for me. For one example, in PA I was at the top of a ridge on US Route 30, which is a busy high speed road, and also has lots of trucks. It was Bike PA Route S though heading into Breezewood, so I had no choice. Anyway, heading down the mountain close to 40 mph I came upon rocks and potholes along the road edge that I had to get around, but going that fast I did not want to look behind me. I’m just not comfortable doing that going that fast. So the helmet mirror can more safely show me if I can safely move out to the middle of the road to avoid the crappy stuff on the edge of the road.

Most mirrors should be cheap enough ~$10 that if you lose it, break it, or don’t like it, you’re not out a ton of money.

[papalena]

Two things about bicycle mirrors:

1. They can be an acquired taste. For many years, although I had tried them, I couldn’t make one work for me. Handle bar mirrors vibrated relative to my head/eyes, and I found the mirror too small for them to be useful. And I couldn’t get used to the one-eye use of helmet mounted mirrors in the limited time I tried them for them to feel comfortable. I found I could get by just fine turning my head when needed.

2. Then I starting riding a recumbent. On a recumbent, a mirror is almost a necessity because its so difficult to turn your head around, in the leaned-back position these bikes have. So I got a head mounted mirror, and quickly got used to it. Now I feel naked without it — even when I’m not on the bike. Sometimes if I’m walking down the street I find myself glancing up and left to where my mirror should be.

I prefer a head mounted mirror – although the mirror itself is smaller, the nearness to you eye means that it takes up a larger solid angle of your vision, and you get a much better view of where you’ve been than bike or bar mounted mirrors. My current favorite is the Cycleaware Reflex Bicycle Helmet Mirror
(http://www.amazon.com/Cycleaware-Reflex-Bicycle-Helmet-Mirror/dp/B00012343C) which I use on all my helmets. It has a flexible attachment – less likely to break when it gets bumped, and easier to position it where you really want it.
The only drawback I’ve seen to the head mounted mirrors is that the ball joint connecting the mirror to the armature often loosens with age and the mirror can constantly get out of alignment from a touch or a steady headwind. With this model, a bit of sticky duct tape and a small zip-tie around the ball-socket holder firms it up nicely.

For other opinions, check out http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/best-bicycle-mirrors/

[guacamole62]

Wowwowowow! Thanks for all the amazing feedback. So many choices, but they don’t seem like they’ll break the bank so maybe I can afford to get him a couple different ones to try out and go from there. Thanks for taking the time and energy to recount your experiences. It’s much appreciated!

[creadinger]

@papalena 22317 wrote:

Sometimes if I’m walking down the street I find myself glancing up and left to where my mirror should be.

If I only had a dime for every time I did this…. Haha, it’s such a let down to not be able to see behind you just by looking up and left a little bit.

[Bill Hole]

I find it too hard to use a mirror mounted on a regular bike, but they’re very useful on my recumbents because they are more in my line of sight. I have a Take-A-Look mirror on my helmet and it’s massively useful on either type of bike, especially as I stiffen up with age. Also, the Take-A-Look is almost indestructible. I knocked it off once while riding and it was run over by two cars. I bent it back into shape and it was good to go.

[lordofthemark]

Any new thoughts? I mounted a bar end mirror on the beater MTB, and I always found it frustrating – hard to see in without looking too far down, got mis aimed whenever I shifted or braked (when aimed correctly it was too close to my left hand) etc. I haven’t removed it from the MTB but I do not want to put one on the Dew. So thinking probably a helmet mirror (standard Bell helmet) though I wear glasses.

[dasgeh]

I was thinking about mirrors this morning as I commuted with ski goggles, which kill my peripheral vision. Any suggestions for mirrors that work with those?

[cyclingfool]

@lordofthemark 74095 wrote:

Any new thoughts? I mounted a bar end mirror on the beater MTB, and I always found it frustrating – hard to see in without looking too far down, got mis aimed whenever I shifted or braked (when aimed correctly it was too close to my left hand) etc. I haven’t removed it from the MTB but I do not want to put one on the Dew. So thinking probably a helmet mirror (standard Bell helmet) though I wear glasses.

I give very high praise for the Take a Look mirror. Love mine to death. I put mine on my regular eyeglasses, which are what I wear for riding. It can also be put onto the visor of a helmet if you’d prefer, or to the helmet directly with an optional helmet adapter.

[peterw_diy]

My wife has a helmet mirror and dislikes how the setting sun reflects into her eyes when riding east at sunset. I ride drop bars and use Zefal Spy mirrors mounted inboard — still pretty useful, no trouble leaning against walls, and higher stealth/lower Fred factors.

[Steve O]

@cyclingfool 74117 wrote:

I give very high praise for the Take a Look mirror. Love mine to death. I put mine on my regular eyeglasses, which are what I wear for riding. It can also be put onto the visor of a helmet if you’d prefer, or to the helmet directly with an optional helmet adapter.

+1 I’ve had a Take a Look mirror for more than a decade (actually 2; I lost one) and have given them as gifts.

[cyclingfool]

@Steve O 74148 wrote:

+1 I’ve had a Take a Look mirror for more than a decade (actually 2; I lost one) and have given them as gifts.

And once you’ve gotten used to wearing it on the bike, you’ll start expecting to be able to quickly glance up and to the left to see what is behind you, like walking down the street, or in the hall at work. Sadly, it’s not always there, well, unless you forget to take it off once you get off the bike.

[VA2DC]

Based on some of the comments in this thread, I purchased the Take-a-Look mirror to mount on my visor. Any suggestions on where to place it and how to adjust it to get a decent field of view? I’ve tried moving it forward and backward on the left side of my helmet visor, angled it up and down and from left to right. But I found that it’s very sensitive to micro-adjustments, and I have a hard time being able to see what’s behind me and to my left–such as car traffic running next to a bike lane. When I angle the mirror down a little, I just see a bunch of my left shoulder. Angle it up slightly, and I’m looking at the sky behind me. I ride a touring bike with drop bars with the saddle slightly higher than the handlebars. Any tips on how to use and adjust the mirror would be much appreciated!

[anomad]

Because the mirror is so close to your eye a small adjustment to the angle will mean a large change in your field of view. Adjusting the mirror at home in a hallway with a tiny bit of your ear in the field of view is a good place to start. Of course you have to bend to approximately the same angle you would in your normal riding position. It takes me several hours of adjustment to get used to it. If you only try for one or two hours of riding your not giving it a fair chance. Again, for me, it takes 6-8 hours on the bike to train my eyeball where the image is supposed to appear.

I love helmet or glasses mounted mirrors but don’t normally use them because I use clear glasses in the morning and sunglasses in the evening. With a helmet mounted mirror you have to be very careful when handling your helmet. I use a handlebar mounted mirror on my commuting bikes and find myself constantly looking at my left hand on non mirror equipped bikes.

@VA2DC 158661 wrote:

Based on some of the comments in this thread, I purchased the Take-a-Look mirror to mount on my visor. Any suggestions on where to place it and how to adjust it to get a decent field of view? I’ve tried moving it forward and backward on the left side of my helmet visor, angled it up and down and from left to right. But I found that it’s very sensitive to micro-adjustments, and I have a hard time being able to see what’s behind me and to my left–such as car traffic running next to a bike lane. When I angle the mirror down a little, I just see a bunch of my left shoulder. Angle it up slightly, and I’m looking at the sky behind me. I ride a touring bike with drop bars with the saddle slightly higher than the handlebars. Any tips on how to use and adjust the mirror would be much appreciated!

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