I now wear a mirror when riding

[Catrin]

I love my bar-end mirror on my flat bars - won't leave home without it. I have this one. Granted, most of my riding is in the country, but it really helps me to keep an eye on what might be coming from behind. I don't stare into it, just quick glances are enough.

[featuretile]

When I had a flat bar bike, I used a handlebar mirror. It was nice and big and felt like a car mirror and I loved it. Then I got a road bike and it would not fit. I had tried a helmet mirror and it made me nauseous. It moved around and I could not be sure what I saw, so probably was more unsafe than nothing. Then I got a Take-a -Look glasses mirror. It took a few days to get used to, but now I really like it - would not ride without it.

What really surprises me is that my left eye is weak and needs glasses for distance. But my prescription glasses have too thin a frame to support the mirror. Since my right eye is really strong, I really don't need to wear prescription glasses anyway and just use wrap around cycling glasses. What I do not understand is why I can see pretty well in the glasses mirror with my left eye. It's like doing eye exercises and I think it is actually helping my vision in that eye. I can see cars and my riding partner. Most of the time I am just using it to see if the person I am riding with is still there without having to turn my head and to know when to wait up.

[Leazerbeam]

I must confess - I purchased the Take a Look mirror and couldn't for the life of me figure out how to attach it to anything!
Help!

[emily_in_nc]

I must confess - I purchased the Take a Look mirror and couldn't for the life of me figure out how to attach it to anything!
Help!

This is really hard to explain without photos, and I'm about to head to bed so don't have time to take and upload a photo, but maybe this will help a little:

There are three little padded pieces on the end of the mirror, joined by the wire. The trick is to bend the wire slightly so that the outer two padded pieces go on the outside of the left "arm" of your sunglasses frame, while the middle padded piece goes on the inside of the "arm" of your sunglasses frame. You'll basically bend the wire slightly so it starts to form a "V", then slide it over the arm of your glasses frame. (Sorry if it isn't called an "arm"; I'm not sure what it's called, actually!)

I have two different pairs of sunglasses I wear with the Take-a-look; one has much wider "arms" than the other, so I have to adjust the wire a bit each time I move it from one pair of glasses to another. It's really quite simple once you get the hang of it.

Maybe some kind person will post a photo since this is really hard to explain!

[Leazerbeam]

Good Morning -
Thanks Emily, hope you had a good night's sleep!
Your explanation makes sense. Most likely I was trying to be too gentle when working with the arm of the mirror. I'll try again.

[emily_in_nc]

Good Morning -
Thanks Emily, hope you had a good night's sleep!
Your explanation makes sense. Most likely I was trying to be too gentle when working with the arm of the mirror. I'll try again.

Yes, the Take-a-Look is quite sturdy; that wire can take a lot of bending. I constantly have to bend it more or less to change back and forth between my two pairs of sunglasses, and it's held up for years. Good luck!

[maryellen]

I really liked my Take a Look mirror. Recently though as my eyesight has gotten worse I've found that I can't see the reflected image without reading glasses so I'm going to add a bar end mirror to the bike I use most. I already have one on my other bike and although the bar end mirror does need to be adjusted from time to time (especially on bumpy roads), I find the adjustments easy to make on the go--unlike adjustments of the Take a Look mirror, which I didn't seem to be able to adjust without stopping.

[Melalvai]

The mirrors arrived while we were on vacation! We got back last night and I went for an 18 mile bike ride today and used the mirror.

You are right, it takes some getting used to. I found that I have to squint my right eye closed to look in it. That's a little awkward at first. But I soon got the hang of it.

I didn't trust it at first and I kept scanning first and then looking in the mirror to see if I could see there what I'd just seen by scanning. Then I started checking the mirror and confirming by scanning what I saw in the mirror. By the end of the ride I was comfortably using both scanning and the mirror.

After 1 1/2 hours with the mirror, my opinion is that it's going to be great for rural roads, but I don't think I'll use it much in town. So for my situation right now, which is that I live on a rural road just outside of town, this is perfect.

I did one thing that was really funny. We stopped to drink water (I'm not a big fan of drinking on my bike, though I can do it, I prefer to stop.) I was startled because I thought there was someone behind us and I spun around--it was our own shadows behind us that I'd glimpsed in the mirror!

[ShubieGA]

I have been struggling the last year, with some eye surguries that have deminished my left eye vision. I need to put that mirror on my Christmas wish list!

[Melalvai]

My lbs was out of stock so I ordered it. It was $15 through TE: http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodPP_100TAL.html