Mirror Advice, Please

Chas Douglass said:

I'm contemplating moving my ride from the multi-use trail to open roads.
(I juse rode the first 50 miler of my life, on my 54th birthday last week.)
I'm thinking a mirror would be a good addition, at this point.

My problem is I wear "single vision" contact lenses. That is, my left eye
is corrected for reading, and my right eye is corrected for distance.

I see lots of good things about the "Take A Look" mirror, but I only see
left-side mountings of them. This would use my "reading" eye, and I'm
skeptical that I can see well enough for it to be useful.

Anyone else have this problem? What have you done? Other suggestions?

Chas Douglass

You can mount them on either side, but a right mount will require you to
turn you head further to see the lane behind you. I have ViewPoint
mirrors on both sides of my eyeglasses, and once had to rely on the
right hand one only. It worked, but I didn't have the confidence that I
had with the left hand one -- this might change with experience.

--
Bob Wheeler --- http://www.bobwheeler.com/
ECHIP, Inc. ---
Randomness comes in bunches.

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

Quoted message said:

I'm contemplating moving my ride from the multi-use trail to open roads.
(I juse rode the first 50 miler of my life, on my 54th birthday last

week.)

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking a mirror would be a good addition, at this point.

My problem is I wear "single vision" contact lenses. That is, my left eye
is corrected for reading, and my right eye is corrected for distance.

I see lots of good things about the "Take A Look" mirror, but I only see
left-side mountings of them. This would use my "reading" eye, and I'm
skeptical that I can see well enough for it to be useful.

Anyone else have this problem? What have you done? Other suggestions?

Chas Douglass

My right eye is very dominant (i.e., I don't use my left eye very much).
But, still, I found it reasonably easy to use the Take a Look in the
standard, left-side, location.

You might also want to look into getting a set of contacts for cycling where
the left eye is correct for distance, and the right is corrected for reading
(or, for distance).

Another alternative is LASIK - I had it done 5 years ago, and still
celebrate the freedom from 40 years of glasses and contacts.

GG

Chas Douglass said the following on 12/4/2005 23:43:

Quoted message said:

I'm contemplating moving my ride from the multi-use trail to open roads.
(I juse rode the first 50 miler of my life, on my 54th birthday last week.)
I'm thinking a mirror would be a good addition, at this point.

My problem is I wear "single vision" contact lenses. That is, my left eye
is corrected for reading, and my right eye is corrected for distance.

I see lots of good things about the "Take A Look" mirror, but I only see
left-side mountings of them. This would use my "reading" eye, and I'm
skeptical that I can see well enough for it to be useful.

The TaL mirror can easily be converted to the other side by removing the
mirror-pane itself, flipping it over and putting it back on the frame.

However, using the mirror on your right-side in right-hand-drive traffic
(US, continental Europe etc, unlike UK) sounds like it may give much
less of agood view sa your body would be blocking eveything that is not
exactly behind you.

I use the TaL on my right eye as we here drive on the 'wrong' (TM) side
of the road... When I go back to Europe I convert it back to the left.

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

Quoted message said:

I'm contemplating moving my ride from the multi-use trail to open roads.
(I juse rode the first 50 miler of my life, on my 54th birthday last
week.)
I'm thinking a mirror would be a good addition, at this point.

My problem is I wear "single vision" contact lenses. That is, my left eye
is corrected for reading, and my right eye is corrected for distance.

I see lots of good things about the "Take A Look" mirror, but I only see
left-side mountings of them. This would use my "reading" eye, and I'm
skeptical that I can see well enough for it to be useful.

Anyone else have this problem? What have you done? Other suggestions?

Chas Douglass

Chas,

I use a bar-mounted mirror called a "Third Eye" from a company called Rhode
Gear. (I believe all that's correct.) I've been using them for years. It
sticks in the end of my drop bars. It's very stable (not a lot of vibration
like you can have with other brands of bar-mount mirrors) and it's
streamline ... There aren't a bunch of funky elbows and pivots. Its clean
and simple and it works VERY well to give you a very nice view to the rear.
And since it's on the bike, it doesn't matter what glasses you decide to
wear (or none at all), you've always got a mirror.

I use mine on drop bars. You can also plug it into the end of any other
kind of bar.

I don't know how your eye discrepancies factor into using a bar-mount
mirror. I'd say if your glasses correct for your problems, then a bar mount
should be fine.

Good luck,
--
Bob C.

"Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts."
T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

Just swap the contacts.

No charge for this advice either.

Mike

"Mike" wrote: (clip) No charge for this advice either.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Further proof that advice is worth what you pay for it. :-)