One thing I don't understand

[Custom24]

I have a Take A Look mirror, mounts to helmet or glasses. I tried a handlebar one from Halfords before, and it was pointless.

I decided to get the helmet one after I was nearly taken out by a car that unexpectedly passed within a whisker.

The mirror is good optically and in terms of image stability, but it doesn't really help with close passers. There just isn't enough time to realise that the car behind is going to pass too closely, or at least enough time to be so sure of this that an emergency get out of the way is needed. At least not on the roads I cycle.

I have found it useful in that it adds to my awareness of what's around me, and for that reason, I still wear it.

But at least the idea of a mirror is not as misguided as this https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/cycling/varia-rearview-radar/prod518151.html. WTF?

 

[growingvegetables]

.... not as misguided as this https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/cycling/varia-rearview-radar/prod518151.html. WTF?

Not much use, really. "Processing time is 3–5 weeks." Or ....... have I missed summat?

 

[ClichéGuevara]

But at least the idea of a mirror is not as misguided as this https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/cycling/varia-rearview-radar/prod518151.html. WTF?

Amazing what technology can do these days.

"indicates the relative speed of approach and threat level" Presumably it recognises madmen with knives or guns?

 

[theclaud]

I am about to do that thing that always gets me really worried - disagree with @theclaud ...

I use a mirror on all three bikes (tandem, solo, Brompton) and it's the same one, a Mirrycle. I agree that cheaper mirrors I tried before hitting on Mirrycles vibrated too much to be very useful. 90% of my cycling is in one posture and I agree the usefulness would diminish if you swap positions.

I use it
(A) for general awareness of what's behind me. Just cycling along a road, where you probably wouldn't feel the need to look over your shoulder every twenty yards, it's helpful to be aware if a cyclist is drawing near, or if an approaching car seems to be a bit closer than you'd like. It may not make a great deal of difference, but it may affect whether I swerve to avoid a pothole or ride over it, for instance, or save me wobbling because taken by surprise by a close pass. I don't like surprises when cycling.
(B) when changing lane/turning right. You can cycle along the near side, being constantly overtaken by a stream of cars, and be monitoring the traffic flow for a gap, ready, when you see a gap approaching, to shoulder-check and pull smoothly out into it, something not so easy IME to do by shoulder checking.

I do not claim either of those as necessary for safe cycling.

It's good for me - it gives me pause for thought. Anyway I'm not a velonobber and I don't object to people having mirrors if they want them. I just don't want them myself, and it gets on my tits when people barge in shouting that people who don't have mirrors must be insane. But at least we get a good flounce.

 

[RichardB]

I dislike clutter on a bike, but I am considering getting a mirror for the commuter. Although nothing can replace a shoulder check, a mirror would reduce the frequency needed. I reckon it's a good idea to have a general awareness of what is going on behind, in order to plan lane changes etc well in advance - so four glances in a mirror and one lifesaver, rather than constantly looking over the shoulder. On my commute (mainly narrow rural roads), I always try to move into a passing space to let following vehicles through, as traffic is light and I have no wish to hold anyone up, but sometimes I don't hear a car until it is close behind me - usually just past a suitable widening of the road, so I have to push on half a mile to the next one with a Range Rover up my chuff. Knowing he was there half a minute earlier would have let me plan better. I'm still undecided, but this thread has been informative and unintentionally very entertaining, at least at the beginning. I do like a good flounce.

Having ridden motorbikes for 40+ years, I can't imagine riding one without a mirror. And yet, logically, a slow vehicle has more need of knowing what is behind than a fast one ("warning - objects in the mirror no longer matter").

 

[swansonj]

It's good for me - it gives me pause for thought. Anyway I'm not a velonobber and I don't object to people having mirrors if they want them. I just don't want them myself, and it gets on my tits when people barge in shouting that people who don't have mirrors must be insane. But at least we get a good flounce.

I will vouch for the fact that there are several things about my bike that are not to your taste - mirror is just the start, try hub gears and mudguards - but you have never once passed comment.

You've made me think about "clutter" too.

There's physical clutter and psychological clutter.

Physical clutter/beauty in a bicycle is personal. Could I claim that, whilst I may have cluttered the bike with a mirror, I've de cluttered it by choosing hub gears and thereby ditching the dérailleurs? But actually, I don't want to claim that, I have (unfortunately) an engineer's instincts, and beauty to me comes from functionality, not just from simplicity.

Psychological clutter is more significant. Yes, my choice to fit a mirror is, at one level, one further step away from the ideal of just getting on a bike and riding, one further surrender to an anti-cycling culture that tries only to allow us on to the roads if we take this precaution and that precaution and load ourselves up with apparatus ostensibly about safety but more about not inconveniencing motorists. And yet: it works the other way round too. My ideal of cycling is that it should be as simple and natural as possible. No special training, no special clothing, no special footwear, no special protective equipment, just walk out the house, get on the bike, and cycle. For me, a mirror, by making the process of cycling on roads just that little bit easier, counts as psychological "simplification" not "clutter". I think.

 

[martint235]

I'm starting to feel that I'm the only person who rides down the centre line of a busy dual carriageway at speed. I was thinking about it this morning and it would slow me a lot if I didn't have a mirror.

 

[Dan B]

I'm starting to feel that I'm the only person who rides down the centre line of a busy dual carriageway at speed.

I tried it once but I fell off the Armco

 

[martint235]

I tried it once but I fell off the Armco

Ha . Not that centre line obvs.

 

[gottogetfit]

Guys, guys........Please don't talk rubbish....I have a mirror on my bicycle, I use it ALL the time, it's NOT useless, I can see behind me perfectly well.
Origamist.....Surely knowing what's behind you MUST help? A car approaching at speed too close to you.......A tipper lorry swerving....any number of things. Surely ANYTHING that keeps you safer has GOT to be a good thing?
DRYysted......Mirror creating problems? pray tell how?
Drago....Vibrates?...we talking about a motorcycle here?????

well said

 

[glenn forger]

Looking behind is quicker, think about it, you don't have to refocus.

 

[Spinney]

Looking behind is quicker, think about it, you don't have to refocus.

You don't have to refocus to look at the image in the mirror.
If you're focussing on the frame of the mirror, yes, you would have to refocus, but then I think you might just be missing the point of having a mirror...

Looking in the mirror is quicker, think about it, you don't have to turn your head nearly as far.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Looking in the mirror is quicker, think about it, you don't have to turn your head nearly as far.

I don't (usually) turn my head at all to look in the mirrors on my trike. It is all done by <oh crap I cant spell it> peripheral vision (thank you google), so it is even quicker. BUT most of the time you know automatically if something is there by using hearing! I only use the mirrors on the trike because it came with them and tbh 9 times out of 10 I would rather not know that the car behind me has just slammed on its brakes in an emergency stop (and usually stalled) because they decided they were overtaking me no matter what and the oncoming vehicle (on the blind bend) had other ideas. Its actually really stressful having mirrors as well as really useful!

 

[summerdays]

Are the mirrors on the trike further away? And nearer your normal eye line? For me I'd have to look down at the handlebars as well as the other looks to far distance, near distance, side, behind etc. I know when I've looked down to see what speed I'm doing I don't do if I'm going fast or if it's really busy needing my attention on the road.

I ought to give it a go to see if it would be distracting.

 

[Spinney]

I have to look down to look at my mirror (fastened in the bar end of drop bars) - but I find that much easier than turning my head around far enough to see behind me.