[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Roberta]

For me, mirrors are a must!  

Right now, I have German Mirrors on my albatross bars.

Without bar end shifters, I like the Mirrcylcle bar end mirror, with the 
stem pointed down mirror pointed out, so it doesn't interfere with my hands 
at all (most pics have the stem pointing up mirror pointed out).  The 
mirror I think (remembering) is a better mirror than the German one.  Plus, 
I could rotate it in, so it doesn't make my bike even wider in the hallway.

I used to have a mirror on my helmet and I liked that, got a new helmet and 
didn't replace the mirror.  But as Paul Brodek commented, you have to be 
careful not to damage it when you remove your helmet. 

In Philadelphia, they are moving some, but not all, of the bike lanes from 
the right to the left, necessitating two mirrors per bike.  I might try 
Nick's helmet mirror suggestion for my left lane travels.

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 7:43:04 PM UTC-4, Joe Bernard wrote:
>
> I use bar mirrors religiously and refuse to ride the road without them. 
> For Bullmoose and other flattish bars I recommend the Mirrycle MTB bar-end 
> mirror, it's fantastic. 
>
> On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 9:21:36 AM UTC-7 Matthew Williams wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
>> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
>> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
>> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>>
>> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
>> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
>> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>>
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[RichS]

By all means, ride with a mirror. The German handlebar mirror Riv sells has 
been my go to for several years. The hbar location can be intrusive at 
times but the trade off has been worth it. Have tried a helmet mounted 
mirror but couldn't get comfortable with it. 

As valuable as mirrors are I look back if I'm turning or changing lanes.

Here's looking at you!
Rich in ATL

On Saturday, August 29, 2020 at 9:54:52 AM UTC-4 Joel wrote:

>
> I use a glasses mounted mirror. Since I lost MT Chuck Harris I am now 
> using these made in the US mirrors. 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C17M26/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8=1
>
>
> On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 12:21:36 PM UTC-4, Matthew Williams wrote:
> > Hi everyone,
> > 
> > 
> > I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
> > 
> > 
> > Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Joel]

I use a glasses mounted mirror.  Since I lost MT Chuck Harris I am now using 
these made in the US mirrors.  
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C17M26/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8=1


On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 12:21:36 PM UTC-4, Matthew Williams wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> 
> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the past 
> forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of constantly 
> checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for several months I'm 
> thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
> 
> 
> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Steve Cole]

Matthew,

Sorry it took overnight to reply.  Here's the link to my earlier thread 
-- 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/internet-bob/steve$20cole%7Csort:date/internet-bob/f2U8ngMF1go/qOdQDmHWDQAJ.
 
 I was wrong, it was posted on IBob not RBW.  And, it's a much broader 
thread about safe riding, although I indicate how important a mirror is for 
me.

I too have the Bullmoose handlebars, although mine are the B890Rs.  Over 
the years, I've tried many kinds of mirrors -- I think they are truly 
essential for safety, especially in cities and towns.  After lots of 
experimenting, like Rick Freeman, I settled on the Hafny.  I tried the 
German mirror Riv sells and really found it wanting.  Same for the 
Mirracle.  I won't go into the reasons here but will elaborate if you or 
anyone else is interested. Here's why I like, no love, the Hafny.  As you 
know it is a bar-end mirror.  Inserting it into the bar end and tightening 
it makes it rock solid.  I won't lose it and important to me, the image is 
stable.  Second, it's flexible with respect to placement.  By this, I mean 
it can be set anywhere within the 360 degree circle.  Personal taste. Mine 
is set upward.  Third, it has a stainless steel mirror, which is an 
important safety factor as it won't shatter.  Fourth, it's unbelievably 
inexpensive, $15; the Berthoud on the Rene Herse website is nearly $90 and 
has a much smaller, harder to use mirror.  The Hafny is easily available if 
you are willing to buy from Amazon.  

You didn't ask, but I use the Ergon Biokork GC-! grips.  They are specially 
designed for swept back handlebars like the Bullmoose, which sweeps about 
30 degrees.  They come with openings at the end of the handlebars and 
easily accommodate the Hafny mirror.  In addition, they really support the 
base of my hands, which rarely get numb anymore.  While Ergon grips are 
widely available, the GC-1 model is a little rare.  Be sure you get this 
one; it's easy to make a mistake.

Happy riding.

Steve Cole
Arlington, VA

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 12:21:36 PM UTC-4, Matthew Williams wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>
> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[ted]

Necessary? No. Handy and useful? Yes. Will one make the occasional head 
check entirely superfluous? No.
On upright back swept bars the german mirror RBW sells is great (have two 
of those).
On drop bars (and longer rides with more country road miles) I'm liking the 
GB mirror from RH in conjunction with a varia 510 rear radar these days. 
(silly expensive setup. but, if you can pay for it, nice).

I think this is one of those areas where different folks find different 
things suit them best. So since you are interested, I encourage you to get 
a reasonably priced one (lots of good suggestions here) and see how you 
like it. There is nothing like trying for knowing.


On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 9:21:36 AM UTC-7, Matthew Williams wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>
> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Nick Payne]

I've used helmet or eyeglass-mounted mirrors for the past 40+ years. For 
the past decade or so I've been using the Cycleaware helmet-mounted mirrors:




Nick

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

['Tom M' via RBW Owners Bunch]

Agree with Joe about the Mirrycle MTB bars. Just a great mirror. For drops, 
I've used the German mirror, Italian Road Bike Mirror, and the Rene Herse 
one. The Rene Herse one is a bit fiddly to set up and is small, but once 
it's set, it works fine. Has the advantage of going into the bar end and 
not under the bar tape. The Italian Road Bike Mirror, once set up, has a 
larger viewing area than the Herse, and I like it a lot. The rub is that it 
either goes under the bar tape, in which case it can shift when you're 
wrapping the tape, or it goes on top, and you have to use electrical or 
extra bar tape to secure it in place. The German mirror has the largest 
viewing area. It's not as elegant as the Herse or Italian.
Tom Milani
Alexandria, VA

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 7:43:04 PM UTC-4, Joe Bernard wrote:
>
> I use bar mirrors religiously and refuse to ride the road without them. 
> For Bullmoose and other flattish bars I recommend the Mirrycle MTB bar-end 
> mirror, it's fantastic. 
>
> On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 9:21:36 AM UTC-7 Matthew Williams wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
>> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
>> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
>> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>>
>> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
>> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
>> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>>
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Joe Bernard]

I use bar mirrors religiously and refuse to ride the road without them. For 
Bullmoose and other flattish bars I recommend the Mirrycle MTB bar-end 
mirror, it's fantastic. 

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 9:21:36 AM UTC-7 Matthew Williams wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>
> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Rick Thompson]

I put one of these Hafney bar end mirrors on a bike several years ago: 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AVHQB22/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8=1
It has a good field of view, is sturdy and not expensive compared to some 
like the Berthoud (which does look more elegant). I was not normally a 
mirror user, since trying several glasses or helmet mounted ones and not 
liking them, but now I do use this one and have the same on 6 bikes with 
both flat and drop bars. General situational awareness is good, and a 
mirror just adds to that. If a car is approaching from behind I cannot tell 
from the sound if it's giving a wide clearance or plans to cut it close. I 
can also see cars approaching from far back on country roads and do some 
safety swerves as they approach.

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 9:21:36 AM UTC-7, Matthew Williams wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>
> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Paul Brodek]

Pardon the self-reply, but maybe my cheapo mirror offer was on ibob, not 
here? If so, apologies for my grumpiness. Too many forums..

And while I'm typing, I did use eyeglass mirrors, and helmet mirrors, back 
in the day. The eyeglass ones became inconvenient as my eyewear collection 
grew, and as sunglasses started getting weird-shaped frames. And I found 
the helmet ones were always in danger of damage when my helmet was off, 
often needed a bunch of fiddling/adjusting, had a very small viewing image 
that was also way too far away from my skull, and I always had to 
adjust/crane my neck to get the view I wanted.

I find the bar-end position much, much better, and the Sprintechs hold 
their position well while still being easy to adjust. 

Paul Brodek
Hillsdale, NJ USA

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 2:52:14 PM UTC-4, Paul Brodek wrote:
>
> I'm primarily a drop-bar rider, and my fave is the Spintech bar-end 
> mirror. Have 'em on everything that doesn't have bar-cons, on the left side 
> only. Pretty indispensable for me once I got used to them. On the few 2x/3x 
> vintage bar-con builds I have, I'm constantly looking down for feedback, 
> and seeing only air.
>
> There is an Italian bar-end mirror, evidently named the IRBM, that's more 
> compact and sleeker, which I haven't tried. Looking at it I'd assume 
> there'd be more body blockage, since it has both less viewing area than the 
> Sprintech, and isn't articulated. But since I haven't use one, I don't know 
> that for sure.
>
> There's also a Berthoud bar-end mirror that looks gorgeous, which Rene 
> Herse carries. It also has less viewing area than the Sprintech, but looks 
> like maybe less body blockage than the Italian one?
>
> I've used a whole bunch of cheaper-but-similar-looking mirrors to the 
> Sprintech, including CycleAware, and they all unfailingly break. The mirror 
> stem is too thin, or the material's too cheap, or too rigid, or all of the 
> above. Anyhow, they always break. 
>
> We had this discussion a while back, when I still had a pile of the cheapo 
> mirrors that I replaced before failure, and I offered them here for folks 
> to try at $5/pr, just to cover shipping. Nobody took me up on the offer, so 
> I threw them all out. So now if you want to try the cheapos to see if 
> they'll hold up for you, you'll have to pay retail.
>
> Harumph.
>
> Forgive me, evidently I'm a little hangry.
>
> Some overviews here:
> https://www.thegeekycyclist.com/best-things/bike-mirrors/
>
> Paul Brodek
> Hillsdale, NJ USA
>
> On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 12:21:36 PM UTC-4, Matthew Williams wrote:
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
>> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
>> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
>> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>>
>> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
>> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
>> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>>
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Paul Brodek]

I'm primarily a drop-bar rider, and my fave is the Spintech bar-end mirror. 
Have 'em on everything that doesn't have bar-cons, on the left side only. 
Pretty indispensable for me once I got used to them. On the few 2x/3x 
vintage bar-con builds I have, I'm constantly looking down for feedback, 
and seeing only air.

There is an Italian bar-end mirror, evidently named the IRBM, that's more 
compact and sleeker, which I haven't tried. Looking at it I'd assume 
there'd be more body blockage, since it has both less viewing area than the 
Sprintech, and isn't articulated. But since I haven't use one, I don't know 
that for sure.

There's also a Berthoud bar-end mirror that looks gorgeous, which Rene 
Herse carries. It also has less viewing area than the Sprintech, but looks 
like maybe less body blockage than the Italian one?

I've used a whole bunch of cheaper-but-similar-looking mirrors to the 
Sprintech, including CycleAware, and they all unfailingly break. The mirror 
stem is too thin, or the material's too cheap, or too rigid, or all of the 
above. Anyhow, they always break. 

We had this discussion a while back, when I still had a pile of the cheapo 
mirrors that I replaced before failure, and I offered them here for folks 
to try at $5/pr, just to cover shipping. Nobody took me up on the offer, so 
I threw them all out. So now if you want to try the cheapos to see if 
they'll hold up for you, you'll have to pay retail.

Harumph.

Forgive me, evidently I'm a little hangry.

Some overviews here:
https://www.thegeekycyclist.com/best-things/bike-mirrors/

Paul Brodek
Hillsdale, NJ USA

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 12:21:36 PM UTC-4, Matthew Williams wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>
> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Matthew Williams]

Shucks, I searched for a thread on this subject! Where's the earlier 
discussion?

I have the non-brazed 22.2mm B901 Bullmoose bars. I don't know the internal 
diameter.

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 9:28:11 AM UTC-7 Steve Cole wrote:

> Matthew,
>
> I started a thread a few months ago on this.  It's my view that mirrors 
> dramatically improve ones safety, especially when negotiating urban 
> traffic.  I may have a recommendation, but before offering it, would you 
> tell us what kind of handlebars you have.  That would limit the possible 
> solutions.
>
> Steve Cole
> Arlington, VA
>
> On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 12:21:36 PM UTC-4, Matthew Williams wrote:
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
>> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
>> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
>> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>>
>> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
>> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
>> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>>
>

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[RBW] Re: Rearview mirrors: necessary, effective, recommendations?

[Steve Cole]

Matthew,

I started a thread a few months ago on this.  It's my view that mirrors 
dramatically improve ones safety, especially when negotiating urban 
traffic.  I may have a recommendation, but before offering it, would you 
tell us what kind of handlebars you have.  That would limit the possible 
solutions.

Steve Cole
Arlington, VA

On Friday, August 28, 2020 at 12:21:36 PM UTC-4, Matthew Williams wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm thinking about getting a small, bar-mounted rearview mirror. For the 
> past forty-five years I've ridden without one and I'm in the habit of 
> constantly checking my surroundings, but after riding in traffic for 
> several months I'm thinking a mirror might be a good idea.
>
> Do you use a mirror, or is it unnecessary? Does it help, or is it just a 
> gadget that isn't a substitute for turning your head? What are your 
> recommendations for rearview mirrors? 
>

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