Best mirror for drop bars

druidh said the following on 20/06/2006 14:44:

Quoted message said:

Right or wrong, I just feel more relaxed when I can see what's
approaching me from behind. On my old flat handled commuter, I had a
bar-end mirror which worked great. Now I've got drop-bars, I can't get
it into a position which works for the various hand positions.

Are there any good options?

The one I swear by is one of these Blackburn mirrors:
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bb_mirror.jpg

(Just happened to have a photo on my webspace, as you do!)

It fits around the hood, whilst still allowing you ride on the hoods,
and is pretty stable. Used one for years, and you can get them from
just about anywhere. Try wiggle where it's a tenner and free delivery,
or your LBS where it'll still be a tenner with free delivery!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

"Paul Boyd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

druidh said the following on 20/06/2006 14:44:

Quoted message said:

Right or wrong, I just feel more relaxed when I can see what's
approaching me from behind. On my old flat handled commuter, I had a
bar-end mirror which worked great. Now I've got drop-bars, I can't get
it into a position which works for the various hand positions.

Are there any good options?

The one I swear by is one of these Blackburn mirrors:
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bb_mirror.jpg

(Just happened to have a photo on my webspace, as you do!)

It fits around the hood, whilst still allowing you ride on the hoods, and
is pretty stable. Used one for years, and you can get them from just
about anywhere. Try wiggle where it's a tenner and free delivery, or your
LBS where it'll still be a tenner with free delivery!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Agreed on the BB mirror - works a treat, and doesn't affect hands when
riding on the hoods

RG

Paul Boyd said:

The one I swear by is one of these Blackburn mirrors:
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bb_mirror.jpg

(Just happened to have a photo on my webspace, as you do!)

Bit short on kitchen detail.

druidh wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

I've seen these helmet mounted mirrors too and I remain to be
convinced. Is the image large and stable enough?

Yep, very good IME - the mirror is tiny, but very close to your eye, so
although the image is small, it is large in your field of view. No
vibration problems, as it's isolated from the road surface by you.
I was given one which had one which had a slightly convex surface, but
the image distortion around the perimeter of the mirror was just
confusing. I ended up giving up on that and going back to an older
model with a flat mirror.

Quoted message said:

And how do they attach/detach from the helmet?

In an interesting variety of lousy ways, my ones used either:
sticky velcro pads which stuck to the shell of the hemet, with matching
velcro on the arm bar of the mirror
-or-
velcro straps which went through the vents of the helmet.

Both came under the heading of "a bit [censored]", but easy to improve on
with blobs of silicone etc.

Id' suggest bringing your helmet when buying if possible. Not just to
ensure that they will fix on ok, but also that you can adjust them to a
position where you can see the mirror without undue contortion of the
eyeball.

Quoted message said:

Is this system liable to wear?

Um, if snapping the arm when putting the helmet in a locker, or
dropping it, counts as wear, then yes. They're just a bit vulnerable
(and/or I'm a bit clumsy), and I went through three of them over about
2 years of commuting.

When I stopped wearing my helmet all the time, I kept looking up/right
to where the mirror had been, and that was just infuriating. I snapped
the long arm on the mirror shortly after that, and never bothered
replacing it.

What I would consider is the kind that clip on to the arm of spectacles
(if you wear them), or clear cycling glasses (if you don't). As you're
probably fairly careful with your specs, they might be less liable to
damage than anything attached to your helmet. Also, depending on your
inclination, you can wear them independently of your helmet, though of
course, you do need to don the glasses.

TBH, I haven't yet found a mirror of any kind that wasn't more of a
faff than useful. In particular, if the mirror was set so that I could
see traffic behind me while riding on the bar tops, when I went down
onto the drops, it would be looking at the clouds, so I would have to
raise my head to get the image back - at that stage, it's as easy to
look behind you as use the mirror.

The "Mirricycle" is one mirror that can be used with drop bars - it's a
mirror, a short arm with a couple of pivots, and a bar end plug. It's
pretty much universal.

hth,

bookieb

RG said:

"Paul Boyd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

druidh said the following on 20/06/2006 14:44:

Quoted message said:

Right or wrong, I just feel more relaxed when I can see what's
approaching me from behind. On my old flat handled commuter, I had a
bar-end mirror which worked great. Now I've got drop-bars, I can't get
it into a position which works for the various hand positions.

Are there any good options?

The one I swear by is one of these Blackburn mirrors:
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bb_mirror.jpg

(Just happened to have a photo on my webspace, as you do!)

It fits around the hood, whilst still allowing you ride on the hoods, and
is pretty stable. Used one for years, and you can get them from just
about anywhere. Try wiggle where it's a tenner and free delivery, or your
LBS where it'll still be a tenner with free delivery!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Agreed on the BB mirror - works a treat, and doesn't affect hands when
riding on the hoods

RG

Yep I'll third that. Good bit of kit. Slight snag I've found is a
slight tendancy to drift a little out of position.

in message <[email hidden]>,

druidh (') said:

Right or wrong, I just feel more relaxed when I can see what's
approaching me from behind. On my old flat handled commuter, I had a
bar-end mirror which worked great. Now I've got drop-bars, I can't get
it into a position which works for the various hand positions.

Are there any good options?

For old style brake levers with the cable coming out of the top, the
original Myricle was wonderful. Unfortunately I don't know of anything
even nearly as good for more modern levers.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Wise man with foot in mouth use opportunity to clean toes.
;; the Worlock

bookieb said:

druidh wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

I've seen these helmet mounted mirrors too and I remain to be
convinced. Is the image large and stable enough?

Yep, very good IME - the mirror is tiny, but very close to your eye, so
although the image is small, it is large in your field of view. No
vibration problems, as it's isolated from the road surface by you.
I was given one which had one which had a slightly convex surface, but
the image distortion around the perimeter of the mirror was just
confusing. I ended up giving up on that and going back to an older
model with a flat mirror.

Quoted message said:

And how do they attach/detach from the helmet?

In an interesting variety of lousy ways, my ones used either:
sticky velcro pads which stuck to the shell of the hemet, with matching
velcro on the arm bar of the mirror
-or-
velcro straps which went through the vents of the helmet.

Both came under the heading of "a bit [censored]", but easy to improve on
with blobs of silicone etc.

Id' suggest bringing your helmet when buying if possible. Not just to
ensure that they will fix on ok, but also that you can adjust them to a
position where you can see the mirror without undue contortion of the
eyeball.

Quoted message said:

Is this system liable to wear?

Um, if snapping the arm when putting the helmet in a locker, or
dropping it, counts as wear, then yes. They're just a bit vulnerable
(and/or I'm a bit clumsy), and I went through three of them over about
2 years of commuting.

When I stopped wearing my helmet all the time, I kept looking up/right
to where the mirror had been, and that was just infuriating. I snapped
the long arm on the mirror shortly after that, and never bothered
replacing it.

What I would consider is the kind that clip on to the arm of spectacles
(if you wear them), or clear cycling glasses (if you don't). As you're
probably fairly careful with your specs, they might be less liable to
damage than anything attached to your helmet. Also, depending on your
inclination, you can wear them independently of your helmet, though of
course, you do need to don the glasses.

TBH, I haven't yet found a mirror of any kind that wasn't more of a
faff than useful. In particular, if the mirror was set so that I could
see traffic behind me while riding on the bar tops, when I went down
onto the drops, it would be looking at the clouds, so I would have to
raise my head to get the image back - at that stage, it's as easy to
look behind you as use the mirror.

The "Mirricycle" is one mirror that can be used with drop bars - it's a
mirror, a short arm with a couple of pivots, and a bar end plug. It's
pretty much universal.

hth,

bookieb

I've got one of these:-

Quoted message said:

http://www.bicyclerepair.co.uk/shop/3/35/

They come in various lengths.Never given any bother.

Sam Salt

Sam Salt said:

bookieb said:

druidh wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

I've seen these helmet mounted mirrors too and I remain to be
convinced. Is the image large and stable enough?

Yep, very good IME - the mirror is tiny, but very close to your eye, so
although the image is small, it is large in your field of view. No
vibration problems, as it's isolated from the road surface by you.
I was given one which had one which had a slightly convex surface, but
the image distortion around the perimeter of the mirror was just
confusing. I ended up giving up on that and going back to an older
model with a flat mirror.

Quoted message said:

And how do they attach/detach from the helmet?

In an interesting variety of lousy ways, my ones used either:
sticky velcro pads which stuck to the shell of the hemet, with matching
velcro on the arm bar of the mirror
-or-
velcro straps which went through the vents of the helmet.

Both came under the heading of "a bit [censored]", but easy to improve on
with blobs of silicone etc.

Id' suggest bringing your helmet when buying if possible. Not just to
ensure that they will fix on ok, but also that you can adjust them to a
position where you can see the mirror without undue contortion of the
eyeball.

Quoted message said:

Is this system liable to wear?

Um, if snapping the arm when putting the helmet in a locker, or
dropping it, counts as wear, then yes. They're just a bit vulnerable
(and/or I'm a bit clumsy), and I went through three of them over about
2 years of commuting.

When I stopped wearing my helmet all the time, I kept looking up/right
to where the mirror had been, and that was just infuriating. I snapped
the long arm on the mirror shortly after that, and never bothered
replacing it.

What I would consider is the kind that clip on to the arm of spectacles
(if you wear them), or clear cycling glasses (if you don't). As you're
probably fairly careful with your specs, they might be less liable to
damage than anything attached to your helmet. Also, depending on your
inclination, you can wear them independently of your helmet, though of
course, you do need to don the glasses.

TBH, I haven't yet found a mirror of any kind that wasn't more of a
faff than useful. In particular, if the mirror was set so that I could
see traffic behind me while riding on the bar tops, when I went down
onto the drops, it would be looking at the clouds, so I would have to
raise my head to get the image back - at that stage, it's as easy to
look behind you as use the mirror.

The "Mirricycle" is one mirror that can be used with drop bars - it's a
mirror, a short arm with a couple of pivots, and a bar end plug. It's
pretty much universal.

hth,

bookieb

I've got one of these:-

Quoted message said:

http://www.bicyclerepair.co.uk/shop/3/35/

They come in various lengths.Never given any bother.

Sam Salt

Can be troublesome if you've got bar end shifters ;-)

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>,

druidh (') said:

Right or wrong, I just feel more relaxed when I can see what's
approaching me from behind. On my old flat handled commuter, I had a
bar-end mirror which worked great. Now I've got drop-bars, I can't
get it into a position which works for the various hand positions.

Are there any good options?

For old style brake levers with the cable coming out of the top, the
original Myricle was wonderful. Unfortunately I don't know of anything
even nearly as good for more modern levers.

Its been suggested to me that one just drills the top of a modern lever and
put a nut&bolt to fix a Myricycle to it.
I may try that when I finally change the brake levers to "aero" types on the
old Nigel Dean, though would only be drilling brake levers, not those with
integrated shifters as well. (Unless anyone knows where I can get some
rubber brake hoods for Dia Compe of decent quality, black or brown, mine are
splitting all over the place).

I'm not convinced that the Mountain Myricycle (How do you spell that?) would
work on drops, the bends would be wrong, and it would get in the way of
bar-end shifters.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

On 20/06/2006 15:32, Al C-F said,

Quoted message said:

Bit short on kitchen detail.

Bit more kitchen detail!
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bike_stand.jpg

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd said:

druidh said the following on 20/06/2006 14:44:

Quoted message said:

Right or wrong, I just feel more relaxed when I can see what's
approaching me from behind. On my old flat handled commuter, I had a
bar-end mirror which worked great. Now I've got drop-bars, I can't get
it into a position which works for the various hand positions.

Are there any good options?

The one I swear by is one of these Blackburn mirrors:
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bb_mirror.jpg

(Just happened to have a photo on my webspace, as you do!)

It fits around the hood, whilst still allowing you ride on the hoods,
and is pretty stable. Used one for years, and you can get them from
just about anywhere. Try wiggle where it's a tenner and free delivery,
or your LBS where it'll still be a tenner with free delivery!

Ta muchly.

Off to EBC tomorrow.

druidh

bob watkinson said:

RG said:

"Paul Boyd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

The one I swear by is one of these Blackburn mirrors:
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bb_mirror.jpg

Agreed on the BB mirror - works a treat, and doesn't affect hands when
riding on the hoods

Yep I'll third that. Good bit of kit. Slight snag I've found is a
slight tendancy to drift a little out of position.

I've had a couple break where the joint is. So if anyone needs a
spare mirror bit....

Paul Boyd said:

On 20/06/2006 15:32, Al C-F said,

Quoted message said:

Bit short on kitchen detail.

Bit more kitchen detail!
http://paul-boyd.co.uk/ebaypics/bike_stand.jpg

Nice. Bicycles right next to the beer store.