ColinL

I tried a helmet mirror but found it useless. My head was never at the right angle, I could see a lot of my left shoulder, and even when adjusted properly it was tiny and my brain learned to ignore that zone of my vision anyway. Looking over my shoulder was necessary and far better.

I am on the verge of trying the Sprintech road bar-end mirrors. They're at least 3x larger than the helmet mirror I tried.

chipcom 

I like my Take-a-Look.

Point of order...WTF is a Fred Lunchpail thread like this doing in the road forum? We really need a Fred sub forum as a compliment to the 33.

Hunt-man

Sorry but your statement is completely untrue. I went to a small mirror kicking and screaming when I did Cycle Oregon last year. Now I don't want to ride without it. I can lead a pace line and call out traffic back, long before anyone could possibly every hear the car. Very easy to check 6 and know when a car is 1/4 mile away and on the way. Way better then the surprise passes I used to experience when I was trying to listen and look with no mirror.

I think the mirror has saved me from being wacked at least twice by cars, mainly when I wasn't paying much attention and was wandering out into the middle of the road.

This is the mirror I use and like:
https://www.rei.com/product/752285/bi...:referralID=NA

reshp1

That's the one I use too. works great and easy to adjust

I completely disagree with the listening for cars part. With oncoming traffic and wind, it's very easy for cars to sneak up on you without hearing them first.

Also, I suspect the people who didn't like helmet/glasses mirrors because all they could see was their shoulder/back didn't have the mirror adjusted propery. You are supposed to have the mirror tilted off to the side a little, such that to look directly behind you, you have to tilt your head 10-15 degrees to the left. This swings the mirror out past where your shoulder would block the view. My point of reference is that I want my ear just out of the edge of the mirror.

ColinL

I did that with a helmet mirror and instead of tilting my head left (and frequently up/down) to see a tiny, nearly useless image I would rather just look over my shoulder.

What I want a mirror for is to be able to see clearly behind me while moving only my eyes. Ideally it would be in my peripheral vision without even doing that, so that I can see headlights and/or motion without having to periodically look for it.

reshp1

I don't discount your experience, but for me a ~3/4" mirror that close to the eye is actually quite large. I find mine too big in fact, since it blocks some of my forward vision. I really don't find glancing over by a quick tilt of the head is any more trouble than checking the mirrors in my car when driving. It becomes second nature after a while.

UCIMBZ

Most people will take the 5th on this issue.

AlexZ

I hate the helmet and glasses mounted mirrors.
They put a blind spot in your forward vision and are a constant source of distraction, but the over the shoulder and under the arm pit thing will only work for so many years....and then you realize you are no longer quick enough or limber enough.
So the only solution I see is the bar-end mounted mirror. Which brand is another matter. They are cheap enough to try them all until you find what works best for you.
But don't depend on hearing alone.

surgeonstone

I tried them decades ago but they all vibrated so much- drove me nuts.

mtalinm

I used to have a helmet mirror, but I found it blocked my vision.

then I found one that attaches to the STI lever. it's great. wider field of vision and doesn't block what i can see. love it.i think it's made by mirrcycle

desertdork

Well, mere listening doesn't help with pusher buses and RVs. Plenty of those here.

ballistic

+1 on the sunglasses.

I'd try the Italian one if it wasn't $30.

hhnngg1

That's the exact mirror I tried (of many) because of all the good BF reviews on it.

For me - totally, utterly useless. I tried it for a month, thinking there was some way I could get it to work, but I just couldn't. Between riding 21+mph on the flats so I had no time to look into the small area to make out cars, swapping often between drops and hoods for speed, and chugging it hard on climbs, there was no way I could get a consistent, safe view of the road behind.

I'm curious of any of you die-hard mirror users are competitive roadies or ride with them with your mirror on hammerhead group rides. I see a lot of mirrors on the social-paced group rides around here, but absolutely zero mirrors on the competitive roadie rides. I don't think it's just the fred factor as well, based upon my experience - I found the mirror more of a hazard than a safety feature when riding 21+mph.

I've even seen rear racks and friggin panniers on the hammerhead group rides (you know if some dude shows up with panniers that they're going to TORCH the field - you don't show up with that nonaero stuff unless you know you're fast) but zero mirrors.

cyclezen

I kwush'd mine when it could no longer tell me I was the most bootiful in the kingdum.

ultraman6970

Fred uses a mirror.

djb

Take-a-Look, really like it. helmet mounted on visor

takes care of bar mounted vibrations
is not convex, so a truer idea of distances
can jump from bike to bike , same mirror , always there
you can see whats behind you even standing in a climb, very handy
can switch it easily if in a country riding on the other side
tough, doesnt seem very breakable
In my opinion, easy to set up or adjust, and it holds its position well (its not floppy or too loose)
optically is quite good.

plus Im too old to give a frack about using a mirror

ddimick

I use this one. It doesn't look great, but it works very well. It stays where you put it and survived a crash that destroyed the helmet to which it was attached. The locals think it's goofy but most of them wear XXL lycra, so what the hell do they know?

Ice41000

No. But I am not a Fred.

sd790

Mirrors have zero cool factor and are therefore unacceptable - actually you get coolness demerits for using them. Use the Cerebellum Hindsight for a rear view mounted in your cockpit between your Garmin 800 and DI2 shifters and you'll be styling.

chipcom 

chipcom 

I tried a laptop computer decades ago...they couldn't possibly have improved since then

chipcom 

Even I don't use a mirror when racing or on hammerhead group rides...and I'm like the queen of all freds.

AdelaaR

Those "italian mirrors" are neat
Personally I don't use a mirror ... I simply look between my arms or legs ... you need a pretty aggressive position for this though.

BetweenRides

OMG, is that an Osborn? My first computer (at work).

surgeonstone

So the principles of reflective glass have improved that much?