On Mar 26, 7:30 am, "pdamm" wrote:
On Mar 26, 12:58 am, wrote:

wondering about the wisdom of using rear view mirrors,
especially in city traffic.
I visited a couple of bike shops here in Adelaide and the sales staff
there didn't have too much positive to say about them, although they
stocked the type that attaches to the handle bar. One shop had
stocked
the helmet type several years ago, but had discontinued them
primarily
because they shook too much to be of any use.
Rec.Bicycles has a thread dealing specifically with the helmet types
and
opinion seems to be that they are an asset.
Asset or not, I rarely see rear view mirrors on bikes here in
Adelaide.

Thanks in advance.

I have the type that clips on to a pair of glasses (the brand is "Take
a Look"). I think they are great. I have tried the ones that attach
to a helmet and these ones don't bounce around anywhere near as much,
hardly at all in fact. Compared with a handlebar mounted one, having
the mirror closer to my eye means that it appears bigger so it covers
more area behind me. Also it only takes a small, quick movement of my
head to scan a wide angle behind me - you can't do that with the
mirror on the handle bar.

I mostly commute and tour on my bike and try hard to stay away from
busy roads. It is rare that a vehicle passes me without me first
seeing it and knowing how much room I will get when it passes. On a
couple of occasions I have decided to dive off onto the shoulder
because I didn't trust the room I was about to be given. In heavy
city traffic I find I can't watch all the cars coming from behind
since I have to watch where I am going but it certainly tells me a lot
about what is happening on the road and it is a lot easier than
turning my head right around. Personally I wouldn't ride without one.

Peter Damm

I've also got the take a look mirror (from the US) and it is the best
I've tried. Everything that Peter said is right, but he left out the
most important bit, if I'm on a training ride and I see another bike
coming from behind who is obviously a much quicker rider, I can pull
up and pretend there is something wrong with my bike. This can happen
quite a lot.