Rear-View Mirrors

Well, after five months of virtually no riding after my serious
accident, I finally found weather, my busted bones, and need in synch,
and I went out and rode today! (It's like riding a bicycle, once you
learn, you never -- wait a minute...) Being me, I was loathe to start
easy, so I biked/bused clear across town to an appointment, around ten
miles total of riding. Four hours post-ride, my elbow is complaining
rather loudly, but the shoulder, the leg muscles, and the saddle-butt
interface area don't seem to have minded too much.
New to my equippage this ride were a helmet to replace the one that
saved my skull in September, and a rear-view mirror mounted to same.
But hmmm, maybe it's where I mounted it, or the angle, or something, but
I found the new dingus kind of difficult to use. (I wear glasses, and
maybe it was because the mirror was right at the edge of the lens.)
So, question for others who have used helmet-mounted mirrors. Do
they take a while to get used to? Does anyone have any suggestions
about positioning? Any other sage advice for a mirror neophyte?


Thanks,
Bill

__o | Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.
_`\(,_ |
(_)/ (_) | -- Mark Twain

A mirror mounted on your glasses will likely be more stable than one
on your helmet. I've used such a mirror for years and it's saved my
ass a few times; I feel naked riding without it.

In article ,
writes:

Any other sage advice for a mirror neophyte?

Learn to not use one before you do. And never
trust a mirror to give you the full picture.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

(Tom Keats) wrote in
:

In article ,
writes:

Any other sage advice for a mirror neophyte?

Learn to not use one before you do. And never
trust a mirror to give you the full picture.


cheers,
Tom


Do you, would you, drive a car without mirrors? I'd argue that car mirrors
are less important than bike mirrors. Most likely, no cars are going to
pass you. On a bike, "every" car from behind is going to pass you. I want
to know, just what level of effort the car behind me is doing to account
for me.

For someone who didn't learn how to use one, no wonder you didn't learn to
trust the device. If the helmet-mounted mirror is mounted correctly, then
I have a full wide-screen view of the road behind me. Essentially, a much
wider field of view than car mirrors. The trick .. is to put that mirror
as close to your eye as possible.

On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:53:33 -0600, blanny wrote:

(Tom Keats) wrote in
:

In article ,
writes:

Any other sage advice for a mirror neophyte?

Learn to not use one before you do. And never trust a mirror to give
you the full picture.


cheers,
Tom


Do you, would you, drive a car without mirrors?

Do you wear a metal cage with blind spots around your scalp?

I'd argue that car
mirrors are less important than bike mirrors.

That's the argument of a moron. Sure you wanna commit?

Most likely, no cars are
going to pass you. On a bike, "every" car from behind is going to pass
you. I want to know, just what level of effort the car behind me is
doing to account for me.

Don't you have ears? Use 'em. Experienced cyclists can tell what cars are
doing behind them by listening.

"landotter" wrote in message news:gm1pt7
Don't you have ears? Use 'em. Experienced cyclists can tell what cars are
doing behind them by listening.


Nonsense. I have been in plenty of situations where I could not even hear a
car coming up behind me.

It's amazing what crap people write in the internet when they don't have to
be accountable for any of it.

On Feb 2, 10:43*am, "Roger Zoul" wrote:
"landotter" wrote in message news:gm1pt7
Don't you have ears? Use 'em. Experienced cyclists can tell what cars are
doing behind them by listening.

Nonsense. *I have been in plenty of situations where I could not even hear a
car coming up behind me.

I
How stoned were you? I only worked a short time as a bike messenger,
but it learned me many things. You can feel traffic via sight, sound,
and even good ole vibration. If a car was too close to me on Michigan,
I could feel it in my toes.

Roger Zoul wrote:
"landotter" wrote in message news:gm1pt7
Don't you have ears? Use 'em. Experienced cyclists can tell what cars are
doing behind them by listening.


Nonsense. I have been in plenty of situations where I could not even hear a
car coming up behind me.

It's amazing what crap people write in the internet when they don't have to
be accountable for any of it.

It's not just that, it's what they write when they have no idea of what
they're talking about! The attitude about mirrors seems to be a
knee-jerk reaction against them, even when they've never used them. The
classic response in this thread was from someone who wrote about how
distracting they were and how they blocked your field of view and how he
hated them, but preceded those pearls of wisdom with a statement of how
he had never used one.

Personally I think they should be required equipment, as they greatly
increase safety. I read that bicyclists with mirrors are 60% less likely
to be in an accident. Mirrors should be considered as important as
lights at night.

The Portland (OR) Department of Transportation has a publication on
bicycle safety and writes:

Equipment solutions to improve bicycle safety:

The toolbox of solutions to improve bicycle safety includes equipment
measures, such as the following:
- Mirrors on vehicles, including bicycles, to improve visibility and
reduce or eliminate blind spots
-Metal plates and guide bars to prevent people from going under vehicles
-Reflective signs warning people not to scoot up alongside the vehicle
-Proximity sensors that sound a buzzer in the cab when an object is next
to the truck
- Audible warning devices that sound when the right turn signal is on
- Cameras to provide video feed into the vehicle of a wide angle view of
the outside environment
- Noisemakers, bells, and whistles for bicycles and cyclists



Women cyclists might want to have a mirror to help them put on their
make-up while riding.

landotter wrote:
::
:: Don't you have ears? Use 'em. Experienced cyclists can tell what
:: cars are doing behind them by listening.

I guess you have never ridden your bike on a windy day.

Pat in TX

In article ,
blanny writes:
(Tom Keats) wrote in
:

In article ,
writes:

Any other sage advice for a mirror neophyte?

Learn to not use one before you do. And never
trust a mirror to give you the full picture.


cheers,
Tom


Do you, would you, drive a car without mirrors? I'd argue that car mirrors
are less important than bike mirrors. Most likely, no cars are going to
pass you. On a bike, "every" car from behind is going to pass you. I want
to know, just what level of effort the car behind me is doing to account
for me.

For someone who didn't learn how to use one, no wonder you didn't learn to
trust the device. If the helmet-mounted mirror is mounted correctly, then
I have a full wide-screen view of the road behind me. Essentially, a much
wider field of view than car mirrors. The trick .. is to put that mirror
as close to your eye as possible.

I don't need some ~thing~ occluding my forward field of vision.

I don't drive a car, but of the drivers I know, many
shoulder check despite having rv and wing mirrors
at their avail.

Shoulder checking both to the left and right without
swerving is an easily-enough acquired bicycle riding
basic skill (with practice.) Once one has the skill,
one doesn't really need to rely upon redundant
accoutrements along with their limitations, in order
to lazily avoid a little initial effort and practice.
And it seems to me, the more skills a rider acquires,
the more empowered he or she becomes.

Looking at the thing itself instead of its reflection
gives the advantage of depth perception, and avoids
certain optical effects impinged by mirrors, such as
image darkening, washing-out of certain colours, and
distorted image sizes ("objects in mirror are closer
than they appear.")

Shoulder checking also enables a rider to make
eye-contact communication with fellow road/street
users behind, and signals that the shoulder checking
rider is about to change his vector -- perhaps for
a lane change, perhaps for a turn. /That's/ what
looking rearward is for, not for seeing if some
intangible threat is there, like the Boogie Man
hiding under one's bed.

I confess to having a handlebar mirror on my main bike.
It's convenient for quick, half-the-story glances.
Sometimes it reassures me that the top of my cargo trailer
is still on, and my laundry isn't flying out all over the
street, while I still keep an eye on what's up ahead.

Non-cycling drivers see my mirror (along with my lights)
and feel reassured that I'm some sort of safe rider.

My mirror is sort of like an amulet, like a rabbit's
foot. I don't really believe in magic, but what the heck.
Maybe I should kick the thing off. It'll eventually get
bashed off anyway, like all the others.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca