Do you use a mirror when you ride?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Years ago, I didn't use a mirror. Then I got one for a gift, and I'm
hooked! This first mirror was a helmet mount, but now I prefer a
handlebar mount. What do you use?

My ears and my eyes. I listen for cars, which tend to be incredibly
noisy (tire and wind noise always and frequently music, exhaust noise,
rattles, etc). On windy days that is less effective, and interestingly
when several cars are passing you only hear the first one, so the second
or third can surprise you. I accompany that with looking over my
shoulder. Back when I raced on the velodrome for a couple of years, we
were drilled by the instructor on riding in a straight line while
looking over our shoulders. It was a very handy skill to develop. Some
guys could ride an entire lap while looking over their shoulder, I never
got that good.

I don't use a mirror on a bike. Mounted on the bars they vibrate too
much; mounted on the helmet or glasses the orientation of the mirror is
too uncertain. The rearview mirrors of a car are fixed in place and
that makes it easier to judge where the things you see in the mirror are
located relative to yourself. I find that mirrors mounted to my head
result in uncertainty. I suppose that might improve with practice.

I don't use a mirror for day rides, but when I'm touring with a heavily
loaded bike (front and rear panniers, sleeping bag, tent, foam pad) I
find it helpful. It's just a little bit harder to turn around and look
back while riding such a bike.

At first I tried the small clip-on helmet mirrors but the small size
limits my backwards field of view. I had to scan behind me by twisting
my head, in order to get a decent view. Also, in the event of a crash
I'm not crazy about having another thing up there near my eye.

I agree that a mirror on the bars vibrates too much.

What works for me is a wrist-mounted mirror. While touring through
West Yellowstone, a bike shop sold me a snowmobiler's mirror. It is a
convex mirror about 3 inches in diameter. An elastic strap holds it to
my left wrist. A slight arm movement is all it takes to see anything
behind me. The front of the mirror is a white reflector for added
safety. This mirror looks a little odd, but it works out well. It
doesn't vibrate, it is large, there are no sharp edges, and it's not
close to my eye.

Quoted message said:

Years ago, I didn't use a mirror. Then I got one for a gift, and I'm
hooked! This first mirror was a helmet mount, but now I prefer a
handlebar mount. What do you use?
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

I have used a handle bar mounted mirror ever since buying one while on
my first bike tour in 1991. Contrary to other comments, it does not
vibrate too much. In fact, I don't even notice vibration. I'm sure it
does, but it does not reduce it's effectiveness. It's a relatively
large, flat mirror. One quick glance and I know what's going on behind
me (even if it's a "tiny" bicycle in the distance).

Of course you can hear cars coming from behind, but how many are there?
That's where the mirror comes in. I feel blind whenever I ride a bike
without one. I also enjoy having a mini landscape "painting" off my left
handlebar - blue sky, green grass and trees, black/gray road.

My preference is "The Mirrycle."

http://www.cycletourist.com/Scenes/Bar_End_Mirror.html

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
*****************************

I don't use a mirror, I tend to just look behind me. 🙂

Tim McNamara wrote:
What do you use?

Quoted message said:

My ears and my eyes. I listen for cars, which tend to be incredibly
noisy (tire and wind noise always and frequently music, exhaust noise,
rattles, etc).

I was on a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway during the early season when
there were just a few cars on the road. Like you mentioned above, I
could hear the cars long before they got to me. However, I was
surprised by how close the "touring style" motorcycles (i.e. Honda Gold
Wing etc.) would get to me before I could hear them. Even the ones
that were pulling a trailer were so quite that by the end of the trip I
had a few close calls. I came away from the trip concluding that on a
more typical road with higher ambient noise levels this problem could
be even worse. Probably what saves us on these more typical roads is
that there just are not that many touring style motorcycles relative to
the number on the scenic roads like the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Denis K

Quoted message said:

Years ago, I didn't use a mirror. Then I got one for a gift, and I'm
hooked! This first mirror was a helmet mount, but now I prefer a
handlebar mount. What do you use?
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

After 20 years of adult cycling I decided to try a mirror in 2002. I
scanned the web looking for advice and decided to default to Sheldon
Brown's Third-Eye Pro (helmet mirror). I told myself I would try it
for one month (I ride every day, mostly long commutes in traffic).

I wanted to dump it after the first few days but looking back my
frustration was due mostly to fine tuning the mirrow position. Four
years later, I am so used to it I feel naked without it. I ride a road
bike, often in the drops, and I am aware of every car coming up behind
me. I know if the motorist is crowding me or not. When making a left
turn I can turn my head and scan several lanes of traffic behind me.
The only time I turn around and look is to get a drivers attention.

Speaking from my own experience,
Tom

Chuck Anderson said:

My preference is "The Mirrycle."

http://www.cycletourist.com/Scenes/Bar_End_Mirror.html

A couple of fellow riders swear by the "Italian Road Bike Mirror" from
Aspire Velotech:

http://tinyurl.com/hyrpu

I'd consider one of these.

Most riders I know use helmet mirrors. But my helmet gets stuffed into a
backpack and generally thrown around, so a helmet mirror would be getting
knocked out of alignment all the time. An eyeglass mirror would be
equally inconvenient.

I do fine without a mirror, but they're a good idea. When riding into the
wind, I often can't hear vehicles behind me at all. So I look back often.

Matt O.

[email hidden] wrote:
....

Quoted message said:

I wanted to dump it after the first few days but looking back my
frustration was due mostly to fine tuning the mirror position. ...

To adjust a helmet mirror, place your left finger at your ear as though
you're about to block a loud noise. You should be able to see your
fingertip in the mirror. Move the mirror or the mount as needed.

HTH

--Karen D.
20-some years of watching Chuck Harris adjust his mirrors

Matt O'Toole said:

Quoted message said:

My preference is "The Mirrycle."

http://www.cycletourist.com/Scenes/Bar_End_Mirror.html

Quoted message said:

A couple of fellow riders swear by the "Italian Road Bike Mirror"
from Aspire Velotech:

http://tinyurl.com/hyrpu

Quoted message said:

I'd consider one of these.

I wouldn't for a couple of reasons. The needed size of the mirror is
dependent on distance from the eye to give a reasonable field of view.
This mirror is about the size of a dental mirror and at more than arms
length from the eye. It is also not adjustable so it can serve for
only one position (on the tops or in the hooks). In addition, it
vibrates with road roughness and gets knocked off as easily as my bar
end caps do that I replace now and then because they are missing.

Quoted message said:

Most riders I know use helmet mirrors. But my helmet gets stuffed
into a backpack and generally thrown around, so a helmet mirror
would be getting knocked out of alignment all the time. An eyeglass
mirror would be equally inconvenient.

That's a lesser problem than a fixed mirror on the bar plug.

Quoted message said:

I do fine without a mirror, but they're a good idea. When riding
into the wind, I often can't hear vehicles behind me at all. So I
look back often.

That may be a problem if you want to know what is going on behind all
the time.

Jobst Brandt

jobst.brandt said:

Matt O'Toole writes:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A couple of fellow riders swear by the "Italian Road Bike Mirror"
from Aspire Velotech:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://tinyurl.com/hyrpu

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'd consider one of these.

Quoted message said:

I wouldn't for a couple of reasons. The needed size of the mirror is
dependent on distance from the eye to give a reasonable field of view.
This mirror is about the size of a dental mirror and at more than arms
length from the eye. It is also not adjustable so it can serve for
only one position (on the tops or in the hooks). In addition, it
vibrates with road roughness and gets knocked off as easily as my bar
end caps do that I replace now and then because they are missing.

It's a convex mirror so alignment isn't an issue. I'm sure vibration
is a problem on rough pavement though.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I do fine without a mirror, but they're a good idea. When riding into
the wind, I often can't hear vehicles behind me at all. So I look back
often.

Quoted message said:

That may be a problem if you want to know what is going on behind all
the time.

It hasn't been yet. I make note of and remember what's around me, and
look around occasionally to check on things.

Matt O.

Matt O'Toole said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A couple of fellow riders swear by the "Italian Road Bike Mirror"
from Aspire Velotech:

http://tinyurl.com/hyrpu

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'd consider one of these.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I wouldn't for a couple of reasons. The needed size of the mirror
is dependent on distance from the eye to give a reasonable field of
view. This mirror is about the size of a dental mirror and at more
than arms length from the eye. It is also not adjustable so it can
serve for only one position (on the tops or in the hooks). In
addition, it vibrates with road roughness and gets knocked off as
easily as my bar end caps do that I replace now and then because
they are missing.

Quoted message said:

It's a convex mirror so alignment isn't an issue. I'm sure
vibration is a problem on rough pavement though.

That only makes the imaging worse. As they say on car left side
mirrors, "objects are closer that they appear" meaning that images are
far smaller than real and give little information of their proximity.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I do fine without a mirror, but they're a good idea. When riding
into the wind, I often can't hear vehicles behind me at all. So I
look back often.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

That may be a problem if you want to know what is going on behind
all the time.

Quoted message said:

It hasn't been yet. I make note of and remember what's around me,
and look around occasionally to check on things.

It's the vehicles behind that look out for objects ahead. The one
ahead needs to look back only when making a lateral change in
position. For instance, when making a turn or riding around an
obstacle at the road edge.

Jobst Brandt

Tim McNamara said:

My ears and my eyes. I listen for cars, which tend to be incredibly
noisy (tire and wind noise always and frequently music, exhaust noise,
rattles, etc). On windy days that is less effective, and interestingly
when several cars are passing you only hear the first one, so the second

Those darned new Hybrid card are close to impossible to hear at low speeds.
They can creep up on you at an intersection, or slow traffic and not let you
know they are there till too late.

I use two mirrors, one on each handle bar, it helps when making left turns on
the road.

mike

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

Quoted message said:

Matt O'Toole said:

Quoted message said:

My preference is "The Mirrycle."

http://www.cycletourist.com/Scenes/Bar_End_Mirror.html

Quoted message said:

A couple of fellow riders swear by the "Italian Road Bike Mirror"
from Aspire Velotech:

http://tinyurl.com/hyrpu

Quoted message said:

I'd consider one of these.

I wouldn't for a couple of reasons. The needed size of the mirror is
dependent on distance from the eye to give a reasonable field of view.
This mirror is about the size of a dental mirror and at more than arms
length from the eye. It is also not adjustable so it can serve for
only one position (on the tops or in the hooks). In addition, it
vibrates with road roughness and gets knocked off as easily as my bar
end caps do that I replace now and then because they are missing.

Quoted message said:

Most riders I know use helmet mirrors. But my helmet gets stuffed
into a backpack and generally thrown around, so a helmet mirror
would be getting knocked out of alignment all the time. An eyeglass
mirror would be equally inconvenient.

That's a lesser problem than a fixed mirror on the bar plug.

Quoted message said:

I do fine without a mirror, but they're a good idea. When riding
into the wind, I often can't hear vehicles behind me at all. So I
look back often.

That may be a problem if you want to know what is going on behind all
the time.

Jobst Brandt

Actually, the Aspire Velotech mirrors work well, and road vibration is not a
problem. Of course, YMMV. I use one in preference to helmet mirrors, which
I've tried several of. While they're a little tricky to adjust, once in the
right place, they work just fine from the drops or the hoods. And they
cannot come off easily. The way they're attached, they're *far* more secure
than a helmet mirror. There is no way they come off like bar end caps. To
say this shows complete ignorance of how they're attached.

-Jim

jobst.brandt said:

It's the vehicles behind that look out for objects ahead. The one
ahead needs to look back only when making a lateral change in
position. For instance, when making a turn or riding around an
obstacle at the road edge.

This is true -- but it doesn't hurt to check.

Also, courtesy dictates not blocking traffic unnecessarily. If I'm riding
into the wind I may not be aware there's one or more cars behind me,
waiting to pass.

Matt O.

I use a mirror all the time. My favorite is a Tak A Look, which is
metal wire with a rectangular, high quality mirror. I mount it on my
glasses. You can use the adapter they supply for helmet mounting or
push the pins into the styrofoam in your helmet with a touch of glue
on them.

I find the mirror essential for both town and country riding. It gets
little notice when I'm touring or riding my endurance rides. I get a
few howls when training with the racers but also get the
responsibility of calling the "clear back" for the line to change
lanes. My double sided pedals and shoes I can walk in get more Phred
calls than the mirror. They don't like the shower cap over my helmet
in cold weather either but don't refuse my pulls.

Denis K said:

Tim McNamara wrote:
What do you use?

Quoted message said:

My ears and my eyes. I listen for cars, which tend to be incredibly
noisy (tire and wind noise always and frequently music, exhaust noise,
rattles, etc).

Quoted message said:

I was on a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway during the early season when
there were just a few cars on the road. Like you mentioned above, I
could hear the cars long before they got to me. However, I was
surprised by how close the "touring style" motorcycles (i.e. Honda Gold
Wing etc.) would get to me before I could hear them. Even the ones
that were pulling a trailer were so quite that by the end of the trip I
had a few close calls. I came away from the trip concluding that on a
more typical road with higher ambient noise levels this problem could
be even worse. Probably what saves us on these more typical roads is
that there just are not that many touring style motorcycles relative to
the number on the scenic roads like the Blue Ridge Parkway.

When I was on Skyline Drive two summers ago, I heard the rumble of one
of those loud, air-cooled motorcycles (probably a Harley Davidson).
Then I got passed by an SUV. And a car. And another car. And
another SUV. Then by two or three annoyingly loud motorcycles.

I really like my sunglasses-mounted mirror.

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - [email hidden] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Years ago, I didn't use a mirror. Then I got one for a gift, and I'm
hooked! This first mirror was a helmet mount, but now I prefer a
handlebar mount. What do you use?
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

I use a Take-A-Look eyeglass mounted mirror. I find this the best mirror
I have used. Helmet and handlebar mirrors suffer more from vibration;
however the Take-A-Look can be helmet mounted. Other mirrors have too
small a field of view or the optics are poor.

I honestly don't feel safe riding without a mirror. I can look back 100x
more often than without a mirror. I think it's saved my skin a number of
times.

I can see someone not using a mirror because they can't make it work for
them. Other rationalizations are just BS. Knowing what's going on behind
me is important to my safety; call it part of defensive cycling.

--
Mike DeMicco <[email hidden]>

Alan, I have never had a problem hearing any of the V-Twin motocycles
(i.e. Harleys.etc.). I guess your point was that these motorcycles
were loud enough to cover up the sound of approaching cars. I guess
that is another thing for me to worry about.

Denis K

Quoted message said:

I use a Take-A-Look eyeglass mounted mirror. I find this the best mirror
I have used. Helmet and handlebar mirrors suffer more from vibration;
however the Take-A-Look can be helmet mounted. Other mirrors have too
small a field of view or the optics are poor.
--
Mike DeMicco

I agree. The Take-A-Look is the best mirror on the market. I use the
eyeglass mounted one. Absolutely no vibration and once the angle is
adjusted, it stays put! The only problem I have had is that my Rudy glasses
have a triangular temple piece and that makes the arm of the Take-A-Look
slightly tilted. Still, it works right and stays put, so that's not a major
problem.

Pat in TX