My Dad and a few of his riding buddies use mirrors that stick into the bar end. The only thing it's good for is to see whether or not you are dropping the guy behind you or not. Using it for traffic was useless ime. Some use them attached to the helmet which seems to be a little better.
I ride urban and suburb type roads with tons of cars and debris on the road. I don't ride on roads w/o a lane and have found the most dangerous facet to my type of terrain is parked cars, cars blind spots and debris. Too long to explain but looking ahead and anticipating traffic is really important. I believe seeing a car in a mirror does nothing to help safety im my situation as well as my Dad's. I really have no idea why they use them as the majority of incidents they encounter are self made like overcorrecting for a twig and swerving needlessly into traffic or causing a buddy to swerve. Not looking where they are going and hitting a pot hole. Not making small line corrections soon enough for gravel/sand avoidance. Assuming cars see them. Assuming a stopped car will stay stopped. Not being able to properly use their equipement like clipping into a pedal at a stop light and holding up traffic needlessly. On and on. It would be comical but many of the mistakes they make are dangerous. For these riders and many more I suspect mirrors are a distraction. In general they ride with the mindset like they are a car and are unable to understand there are times when it's safest to ride offensively and others very defensively.
Just my opinion. Be careful out there!
I ride urban and suburb type roads with tons of cars and debris on the road. I don't ride on roads w/o a lane and have found the most dangerous facet to my type of terrain is parked cars, cars blind spots and debris. Too long to explain but looking ahead and anticipating traffic is really important. I believe seeing a car in a mirror does nothing to help safety im my situation as well as my Dad's. I really have no idea why they use them as the majority of incidents they encounter are self made like overcorrecting for a twig and swerving needlessly into traffic or causing a buddy to swerve. Not looking where they are going and hitting a pot hole. Not making small line corrections soon enough for gravel/sand avoidance. Assuming cars see them. Assuming a stopped car will stay stopped. Not being able to properly use their equipement like clipping into a pedal at a stop light and holding up traffic needlessly. On and on. It would be comical but many of the mistakes they make are dangerous. For these riders and many more I suspect mirrors are a distraction. In general they ride with the mindset like they are a car and are unable to understand there are times when it's safest to ride offensively and others very defensively.
Just my opinion. Be careful out there!
