Rear view mirrors?

[jdudleyuk]

Who has them and how beneficial do you find them?

Also, I've been looking at prices and it seems that you can find them for less than £5. Am I to assume that paying peanuts means you still get monkeys?

Regards

Jason

[wirral_cyclist]

I use a glasses mounted one and love it. The advantage of glasses/foam hat mounting is that the swivel of the head/neck is that you can see anywhere behind - a handlebar mounted mirror can only see behind the handlebars current position. MR5000 is latest model and about £15 from UKbikestore.

Sent from an Android by a human

[nirakaro]

I tried one or two, and dropped them because of two problems:
1. Because it's a small mirror, it's very convex, and cars that are far back are too tiny to see: by the time it's close enough to see in the mirror, I can hear it anyway.
2. Every time I got on the bike, it needed adjusting, and I tended to fall off/ride into things/nearly kill myself while trying to get it right.

[Ambler]

I have this one
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php ... 0s192p2081

Decent quality and it's big enough to see what's coming.

[snibgo]

I use a Blackburn bar-end mirror (on drops). It works fairly well in letting me keep an eye on following traffic, but it's no substitute for a proper look.

I agree somewhat with nirakaro's first point, but I find it useful when there is too much traffic noise to hear the vehicle immediately behind me.

[horizon]

If you use a Blackburn drop bar mirror, there is little or no vibration, the mirror is large enough to see cars a long way off, especially at night, and it allows you to see cars you cannot hear - the ones following the one you can hear. A mirror enables you to ride assertively because you can constantly check where cars are and position yourself accordingly. It's not my job to encourage you to use a mirror - it's your choice. But how you can cycle as safely and as calmly without one, I don't know.

[irc]

I use them on all my bikes except my MTB. Bar end mirrors on my two flat bar bikes and a Blackburn Road Mirror on my drop bar tourer.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/blackburn-bl ... rc=froogle

Benefits? I see close overtakes before they happen so I can judge beforehand if I need to move closer to the kerb. Turning right in busy traffic I can see a gap coming without swiveling my head constantly. I still do a final shoulder check before maneuvering though.

Last year in Nevada if I had been relying on traffic overtaking me safely I would have been hit by a huge camper van doing around 60mph. I had to ride off the road to avoid being hit by the thing which didn't slow at all and completely filled the lane. It couldn't move out because of oncoming traffic. I think using my mirror saved me from severe injury or death.

Nobody drives a car without mirrors. So why is it thought to be optional for bikes where the danger from overtaking vehicles is far higher?

[Swallow]

I have mirrors on all of my bikes, I use Cateye and find them very good http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-bm-300g-race-mirror/

[LollyKat]

I wouldn't like to be without my mirror. As well as the benefits others have cited, I find it really helpful on our bad road surfaces that I can quickly and easily check whether I can dodge the pothole in front of me, without having to take my eye off it except for a split second.

IME the cheap £5 Cat-eye mirrors rattle loose and have to be reset constantly. On drop bars I like the B&M Star mirror, and for straight bars the Zefal Dooback. Both of these are completely reliable.

My favourite was the original Mirrycycle on old-fashioned non-aero levers. When I changed to STIs I considered the new Mirrycycle but some reviews suggested that there were problems with vibration. However Ambler seems happy with his.

[nmnm]

My Mirrycycle is great on flat bar bike. I removed the extender strut, so it's nearer to my hand, suitds my riding style / arm thickness. Not so great on the sti. Again, removed extender strut (minimising vibration) but have to adjust riding position to see and it's not so good as on the flat bar bike. But it's so good on flat bar that I consider taking flat bar touring just for the mirror. It's fantastic for monitoring and not having any surprises.

[niloc]

I used to like my Blackburn road mirror until it broke and stuck in my chin when I fell off on some ice. Also it doesn't swing out of harm's way if you brush past something.
So I now use a Zefal Cyclops on the bar end, which does swing out of the way. But unfortunately it stops me using bar-end levers.
I find my helmet mounted mirror suffers from too much vibration to see much.
I do find a mirror very useful, especially in traffic.

Does the Mirrcycle road mirror swing out of the way, when necessary?

[Barrenfluffit]

I found that having got one into a position where you could see behind it would then get knocked out of position when the bike was leant against something. However it needed to be flexible to be set into the right position.But if it was flexible enough to avoid damage then the vibration (and sometimes air pressure) would cause it to change position. It was hard to get it rigid enough in the end. I wouldn't assume that cheap = rubbish and expensive = good; price doesn't really help. I bought two in French supermarkets, one failed and the other didn't and cost similiar amounts.

Completely worth having though.

[Ambler]

I used to like my Blackburn road mirror until it broke and stuck in my chin when I fell off on some ice. Also it doesn't swing out of harm's way if you brush past something.
So I now use a Zefal Cyclops on the bar end, which does swing out of the way. But unfortunately it stops me using bar-end levers.
I find my helmet mounted mirror suffers from too much vibration to see much.
I do find a mirror very useful, especially in traffic.

Does the Mirrcycle road mirror swing out of the way, when necessary?

Yes my Sti one does very easily.

[ANTONISH]

My girlfriend has a mirrcycle fitted to the top of her brake lever. She uses dropped bars with bar end gear levers. The brake lever is drilled and tapped at the top to take a 6mm bolt. I've done this for her on most of her bikes and because she has some hearing difficulty she finds it a very good way of being aware of approaching cars.

[Nettled Shin]

Can you get updated versions of the chrome ones on a 12" stalk that I had in the 1970s?