Ultimate rear view and helmet safety discussion! ;-)

[AZguy]

I do the same on my bike with the wide bars but on my bike with the narrower bars I leave the horizontal to get it further out to see what's behind better (instead of looking more at the side of my body)

[Retrorockit]

I leave the horizontal bar off of mine for a narrower "lollipop" mounting. I find the vertical adjustment inside the handlebars doesn't need to be used very often and works just fine. Twisting the mirror on the stalk works for horizontal.

[JPLabs]

I use the same one. I like that it can be bent to position perfectly. I place mine unusually low, so it is below my normal field of view. I don't have any vibtatiin issues. I also have tape, but only where it clips on. Have a bar end mirror on one of my motorcycles, and this is better. It's great for situational awareness behind me. Overtaking cars are easier to miss with the bar end mirror. I have to move, aim, look. Helmet mirror is more reliable for me.

[MoneyPit]

Right on! Glad you got it to work as desired. Now just don't ever need it :-)

[calfee20]

I am not fond of handlebar-based mirrors. I prefer to be able to see directly behind me while looking forward. Only way to do that is with a helmet mounted mirror. A full view behind yuou is just an eyeball flick away.

But there's a right and a wrong way to do a helmet mirror. Most of the products out there are all wrong. Primarily because the mirror is subject to vibration which ruins the rear view. The Sehen kickstarter mirror addresses the issue and shows the problem in this vid (vibration). I bought one of these Sehens and they do work, but you can achieve the same benefit with a couple strips of tape. Only the first 15 seconds of the vid illustrate the problem and value of the solution perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ4MSqKNBYc

Now, for the mirror that I use: $15. http://a.co/dU6AIiT

I hook it to the visor of my helmet. From there, two cents worth of gorilla tape fastens a bit of the boom of the mirror to my helmet and totally eliminates all vibration. In the pic below, I obviously wasn't trying to be neat. Since then I have prettied it up. Once on it never needs re-taping.

I focus the mirror just like a car mirror: I make the edge of my helmet visible for a reference point and from there I can look back and see 2+ lanes of traffic without moving my head at all. I have a stable wide screen TV view behind me.

I use the Sehen for the rare short trip where I am not wearing my regular helmet. I have gotten so used to just looking forward and being able to instantly see behind me I really don't feel safe otherwise.

I want to thank you for turning me on to that helmet and mirror. I had to fuss with the mirror a bit but when I moved it closer to my eye and spaced it to the left with alittle foam block everything fell into place. You were also spot on about the cheek piece foam.

[Tommycat]

Received my Mirrycle Mirror in the mail and the first thing I think is I must have ordered just the replacement mirror as the package looked too small....?

But on inspection of the boxes contents… all is well. Some assembly is required.





Assembled...





In the assembly instructions it stresses that the bolts WILL be tight! ;-) And this is correct!

Tried a couple of mounting positions. Out and up.





Pro's: Excellent full view to the entire road behind you. Magically looks around your back to see all the way to the right curb.

Con's: Sticks out a bit far for comfort. Hits your arm while turning sharply left. No view of your body for reference.


Down and In.





Pro's: Good view behind you. Good reference to body position Out of the way of your arm on sharp turns. Maximum clearance.(tucked in).

Con's: May hit your knee on a sharp left turn.

So for now I'm going with the down and in position...


Grip modification for installation...Shortened for shifter on the left.





Cutting hole for mount insertion with an exacto knife. Same type of material like a thick inner tube...





Final positioning and handle bar look...





As mentioned it gives a solid, shake free, wide angled view (objects are closer than they appear...) of everything behind you. I am glad I listened to this forums excellent advice.

That said, when turning you lose sight of things behind. :-0 I just can't let the rear view camera idea go! LOL



Cheers everyone, thanks for the help!
T.C.

[max_volt]

I have never seen anyone wear anything like that around here.
I figured out many years ago the Bell doesn't contour my head properly. The Giro is the one that fits like a glove.

[MoneyPit]

oh and one more thing... see the cheek pads in the pic above? They come with thick foam padding. Root around a little and you will discover that each pad can be opened up and you can remove a thick open cell pad, leaving a very thin closed cell one. Much better suited to my fat face. YMMV.

[MoneyPit]

The replacement helmet I got was a 2017 closeout also at Jenson USA for $160.99 so we both got essentially the same deal. The chin guard does not add any warmth. in fact... look up at the last pic. See the blue tape? It was December. I closed up the holes to try and keep warm :-). I originally went to a plain Super 3 from a Bell Urban because of the increased ventilation. It gets to 110 here in Fresno and this helmet was a godsend in terms of increased ventilation. So much so in winter I need a beanie underneath.

Only thing I need this year is some kind of needle moutrhpiece so I can run a water bladder hose in thru one of the holes. You can drink from a bottle if you hold the chin guard down. Its not a 'face guard' in that is is down low enough so you can in fact drink, if you work at it just a tad. I am thinking the kind of receptacle like on an old-school squeeze bottle would be ideal but haven't found anything yet.

[calfee20]

I got that mirror you use and installed it on my regular bicycle helmet. I haven't tested it yet, maybe tomorrow.

I went searching around for Bell helmets and found a 2017 closeout of your style at Universal cycles for $160. I should have it in a couple of days. I just hope it isn't to warm with the chin guard.

This is a good thread. I have been thinking of a good helmet since I got the BBSHD but I have been procrastinating about the mirror issue also. Now I have taken care of

both issues

.

[MoneyPit]

max_volt I've heard of the full face issue before although it was in the context of racing autos on track. In that environment, the risk exists but the damage to your face from a frontal impact far exceeds the lesser risk of the helmet putting your neck in a bad position... and I know how that sounds. We are talking relative levels of bad. Full face is the way to go.

Insofar as bikes are concerned, MIPS is specifically designed to deal with what you are talking about. Your head rotates inside the helmet depending on your direction of travel. But it also remains protected. Look at what happened to the helmet. My head stayed protected. Now... my back was screwed up royally but my neck was actually in pretty good shape. I was out of the horse collar before I left the emergency room.

On that bottom photo... the face shield kept that brush of my eyeglass lens from being my face. Says better than I ever could what a 'chin bar' does for you. And finally an on-topic comment: You can see the mirror in the second picture. It just needed to be re-positioned and its fine.

[commuter ebikes]

I want to take this opportunity to be a safety nag http://www.williambenedict.com/bikes/safety.html

There really is a lot of new info for everybody on that page, including a link to a whole page entitled "How to not get hit by cars".

Ride safe, friends.

[max_volt]

I commend you for getting 'back on the horse' after something like that and yeah for snowmobiling the full-face is hard to beat. You can even get heated shields.

[calfee20]

That could be true but in my case when I slid down the road I had 3 contact points. Right shoulder, right knee and high on the right temple. I was leading with my head and had to use all of strength I had in my neck to keep the helmet and street in contact and not let the friction twist my face into the tar. I would not ride a motor cycle after that without a full face helmet.

I still use my full face helmet in the winter time when I need to keep my head warm.

[max_volt]

I was under the impression that full-face exerts too much pressure on the neck if you land wrong.