Cycling UK Forum

Today I saw a fine touring bike as I was driving through Aix-sur-Vienne, France. It had a new Carradice Super C bag so could have been a Brit.

As I passed, I noticed it had these neat mirrors inserted where the bar tap plugs go on drop bars. The were convex and angled to give them a good view behind the rider. Does anyone know of these mirrors in the UK or are they a French accessory?

They were probably those reviewed in the Apr/May edition of the CTC magazine called Sprintech and cost £20 per pair from wildoo.co.uk.

I haven't seen them in real life but thought they were too small and it would be difficult to judge how far cars etc were behind.

The review it points out that of course you can't use them with bar end gear shifters, the view is limited by a saddlebag and things look smaller and further away than they are because they are convex mirrors.

Have a look at this thread - quite a long one but if you plough through I think two different models were discussed

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14074&hilit=mirror

thirdcrank wrote:Have a look at this thread - quite a long one but if you plough through I think two different models were discussed

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14074&hilit=mirror

I'm a great fan of mirrors (having limited shoulder movement makes looking behind me uncomfortable), and not mentioned on the above thread is a cheaper version of the Wildoo, sold by SJS Cycles http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp?sessionID=CMR&pf_id=12783&showBasket=true , not having seen the Wilddo ones in the flesh , the SJS are almost certainly much flimsier and the optics are 'mirrored plastic' but they are much much cheaper, but certainly do the job for me - as anther poster said, you need to know that there is something there, you don't need to read its number-plate!

Thanks for the quick replies that have fully answered my question. The mirrors were definitely the Italian Road Bike Mirrors which are apparently actually from the USA only (I have never seen them before either here in France or the UK - maybe the rider was American?).

Having carelessly bust 3 vertebrae in late 2007 I still have a little of trouble looking behind me as easily as before and the mirrors millimole uses must be well worth a try.

millimole wrote:

thirdcrank wrote:..... sold by SJS Cycles http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp?sessionID=CMR&pf_id=12783&showBasket=true

These look like they are worth a go for the price, Im going to order a couple.

Mick F had a post about these a while back
http://tinyurl.com/4tzlvy
http://tinyurl.com/qlohal

I've got these on two of my bikes and on the whole they are very good.

The only slight problem, which isn't a problem once you get used to them,

is that anything approaching you appears to be much further

away than they actually are.

I use a much larger flat mirror - the Zefal Cyclops. This plugs into the end of my road handlebars and is easily ajustable, provides a big field of view and I "fold it" out of the way if I lean my bike against a wall or other objects.

Wesh-Laurence wrote:I use a much larger flat mirror - the Zefal Cyclops. This plugs into the end of my road handlebars and is easily ajustable, provides a big field of view and I "fold it" out of the way if I lean my bike against a wall or other objects.

+1 - for something with such a lot of mirror it's not too ugly. A bit brittle, but I liked it enough to by a second one
I do like the look of the Italian roadbike miror, but will wait until I need new bartape.

I used to use Pinney mirrors which were really neat but they dont seem to be available now, the eventually break and I'm down to my last one.
I tried the Italian Road Bike mirror from Velotech in the US. However, it didn't work for me and now sits in a draw. Its not sufficiently adjustable (not at all once its taped up) and angle of view depends on how the drops on your bars are shaped and adjusted.

I now rely on a Busch and Mueller mirror from Bike Fix in London. They are excellent quality and field of view, fully adjustable and neater than the Zefal on my commuter.

Yes, the Italian mirror is great!

I use it to confirm what I already suspect, rather than use it instead of looking, but I would say that's what your supposed to do with any mirror.

It was expensive. The item was cheap enough, but the P+P cost the earth!

It took ages to get it aligned, but there's no need to have it adjustable. The mirror is convex and gives a good view considering how small it is.

asterix wrote:Today I saw a fine touring bike as I was driving through Aix-sur-Vienne, France. It had a new Carradice Super C bag so could have been a Brit.

As I passed, I noticed it had these neat mirrors inserted where the bar tap plugs go on drop bars. The were convex and angled to give them a good view behind the rider. Does anyone know of these mirrors in the UK or are they a French accessory?

Yes it was the italian road mirror, it was my bike you seen I think, its a blue Hewitt Chevoit SE I was in Aix-sur-Vienne that day and I had a Carradice super c bag on the back.

They are a fantastic mirror well worth the price, I wouldnt ride a bike without one now. As Mickf said a bit fiddly to get set up right first time but well worth the effort