jppe

I've been riding a road bike about 15 years. My rides are typically 95% rural roads with the urban streets being what's needed to get out of town. I've tried various mirrors with most of them in my early days of riding. At that time I never found a bar or helmet mirror I liked or didn't find distracting.

I've always looked over my shoulder to check on vehicles coming behind me on left turns. I can normally hear vehicles coming up from behind and maintained "faith" they would give me enough room to avoid hitting me. That approach has worked well for me.

There have been a couple times when I was riding on a high mph road with a rumble strip accompanied by a shoulder. I might ride out in the road if the shoulder was pretty narrow or joints made it pretty jarring. If a vehicle was coming up and I knew I might get squeezed I'd cross over the rumble strip onto the paved shoulder until the vehicle would pass.

Anyway, after some research I just got a bar end mirror for my left drop. I think it's a Sprintech and supposedly a good model. It took 2 mins to install and I gave it a try yesterday on a long ride. It works as advertised but I'm not sure it will do what I was hoping.

The challenge is it's just not visual enough for me to be able to glance down to see how much room a vehicle is giving me until it's pretty close to me. I also found I was looking back more instead of looking forward. I'm thinking I need to be concentrating more on what's ahead of me than what's behind.

Those of you with more experience, how have mirrors helped you? Should I just give it more time?

speshelite

Take a look at take a look helmet mirror. Ten bucks just about anywhere. I often take a look over my shoulder even when I use a mirror. Force of habit.

SylvainG

+1 for the helmet mirror. Took me a few rides to adjust from a bar mounted mirror to a helmet mounted one but wouldn't go back. The ability to see all around behind me by just slightly moving my head greatly increases my SA.

david58

Can hardly imagine riding without one. Just became habitual. I use the kind that mounts on my eyeglasses.

flangehead

I've used bar end mirror for 10 years commuting. I just glance at it every 15 seconds or so. That is enough for me to maintain situational awareness behind me. If something serious looks like it is developing I swing around to look (usually gets their attention) and plan my escape route. Use it like peripheral vision... not for detail but for movement of big potentially dangerous objects.

Biker395 

HIGHLY recommended. I use mine all the time. Funny you would mention it, because mine flew off on a 30 MPH descent yesterday. At first, I thought I had a near miss with a bird!

I only rode another 7 miles or so after that, but felt completely naked.

Here is a link to one instance where I was VERY happy I had a mirror. There are others. Like for example, the time I was about to veer right to avoid a pothole, and a quick look in my mirror showed a tandem passing me on my right. :-o No way I would have seen them looking over my shoulder. As a matter of fact, if I tired, I'd have likely HIT the pothole.

Anyway, check this out. Looking over your shoulder wouldn't have helped in this situation, either.

https://www.bikeforums.net/16739164-post17.html

Biker395 

Second note: Get a helmet or an eyeglass mirror. You can see much more, don't need a convex lens (which distorts distance judgments). Trust me ... they rock.

bargeon

^^ Yeah, I have one of those kidney shaped bar end mirrors. Not quite useless, but I can usually hear a car before I see it in the mirror. Cars that have daytime running lights are the easiest to see. Those things should be standard.

John_V 

I use an Italian style bar end mirror on both my road bikes and have no issues with them. I never could get the hang of eyeglass mirrors and the fact that they tend to pull the glasses down your nose when you sweat. I went the helmet mirror route and found them much better than the eyeglass mirror until I started using an aerobar on my bike. The instant you go aero, the mirror is worthless because the adjustment you had when using the hoods is now gone because of the difference in riding position. Trying to move your head around to regain the image of the road behind you just doesn't work. The only issue I have with the mirrors that I use, again, is when I go into the aero position. The elbow tends to hide the mirror but unlike a helmet or eyeglass mirror, a simple lift of the elbow and you still see everything behind you.

If you don't use aerobars, then I would suggest a helmet mirror.

BobbyG

Another vote for the glasses-mount take-a-look mirror. I still have bar-end mirrors, but mostly for redundancy. For me there is no comparison, the glasses mount TAL mirror is outstanding.

practical

Glad to see so many people recommending using a mirror. I wouldn't ride without now. I use a Myracle Mirror on my drop bar and I can adjust it so that it is easily visible and shows the road behind me clearly. Gives me a lot confidence when I need to "take the lane" or when I need to veer toward the center of the road to avoid debris along the shoulder.

Ravenwing

I use a bar end mirror since my limited neck flexibility just doesn't allow for much over the shoulder looking. Its enough to give me some indication that something is back there, but to be honest, I find Cat Ears wind noise reducers to be even more valuable. They allow me to hear cars and trucks coming up behind, often well in advance of when I notice them in the mirror. Haven't had much luck with glasses or helmet mounted mirrors. Seems like I can never get them adjusted just right, and always end up knocking them off or out of kilter.

Dark Arrow

++1 For mirrors. In busy traffic I glance down all the time to check for traffic. When I move lanes I check my mirror and then glance over my shoulder. I can't ride comfortably without one

Bear

Monoborracho

I won't ride the roads without one. And with the Garmin Varia rearview radar it is even better, single or tandem. My stoker really appreciates the Varia when we're on the tandem.

VegasTriker

Once you get used to riding with a mirror, you are likely to keep using one. I ride a recumbent trike with a 27 degree seat angle. It's not possible to look back by turning my head. I use the Myrrycle too. It's one of the more adjustable kind and gives me about the same view I would get from a car mirror. They run around $15. I tried the glasses mount take-a-look and couldn't get used to it. There's no learning curve on a bar end mirror.

doctor j

I use a Third Eye bar end mirror on each of my road bikes. I'm accustomed to their use, and after a few thousands of miles of experience, I can evaluate distances/vehicles behind me reasonably well.

I would not want to ride without some sort of rear view mirror.

wphamilton

I tried a bar end mirror on my drop bars, and gave it up because I couldn't get used to shifting my lean angle to get the right angle to see it. I found that eyeglass or helmet mirror are more convenient.

I prefer them on sunglasses because I ride sometimes sans helmet and I like to have a mirror even so. But it doesn't really replace the over the shoulder look. I use it for planning ahead and then look back before I do.

ZIPP2001

Never tried one, but if I did I would probable go with the bar end one.

10 Wheels

Make um Tall

Wildwood 

Never. But I pick my roads and times. Not a commuter.

Papa Tom

I started using a Mirrycle Mountain (bar-mounted) mirror about four years ago and I can't ride without one now. One thing I have noticed is that I have way less neck pain from not glancing over my shoulder all the time.

I feel like the closer I can make the cycling experience to driving a car, the safer I am going to be, as there's less of a readjustment curve when I get out of my car and onto a bicycle. I only wish those directional signals for bicycles weren't so dorky!

Regarding the helmet mirrors that everyone raves about, they must be effective for so many people to use them, but I don't like the idea of putting that much metal and glass so close to my face and my eyes.

SylvainG

Third eye mirror are made of shattered proof glass. Beside, I wear eye protection (against pebbles thrown by other cyclists or insect amongst other things) which are more closer to my eyes than the mirror anyway.

Carbonfiberboy 

Helmet mirror. Turn my head and scan the road behind me.

PaulH

Bar end mirror. It's in the same place relative to my eye as the mirror on my car, so it is natural to use.

Jim from Boston

Anyone use a rear view mirror?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jppe

...Those of you with more experience, how have mirrors helped you? Should I just give it more time?

Hi @jppe,

I believe I asked you if you wore a rearview mirror on your cross-country ride (no) and your experience was as you described in this thread. I'm a "mirror maven," at least IMO, and here's my frequent post: