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(More customer reviews)I have now used 3 types of mirrors for my road bike for both commutes and long tours: Take A Look mirror, the Mirrycycle round "mountain bike" mirror on the bar end, and the Sprintech bar end mirror for drop handlebars (left only).
Short review: I like Mirrycycle the best.
I bought the Take a Look mirror based on the strength of reviews from Amazon and I was a little disappointed.
One strength I was expecting from the other reviews was being able to always see behind me no matter which position I used on the handlebars and without having to move my head like when you look down at the bar end mirror. This was kind of true, but you had to get your head to the same angle. I found the angle for the top of the bar to be very unnatural in the lower grips. It was impossible to tilt my head up that far on my bike with aero bars. In order to see back and to the left while on the brake hoods I usually had to tilt up and twist my head and when down on the lower grips I had to tilt WAY up and twist. You can't check behind you without moving your head because you have to do a lot of sweeping motions to see all around behind you and those are more uncomfortable in the lower positions.
I used Take A Look for a couple weeks commuting every day and doing long rides on the weekend and I sort of got used to sweeping my head around to check behind me, but the deal breaker for me was that most of what I saw while commuting was my backpack. When you have a backpack full of clothes and in a pretty leaned forward road bike position what the mirror sees looking back past your ear is back pack, even when on the top of the handlebars. If you are riding a more upright bike (hybrid, mountain bike, or others) it probably wouldn't be a problem. It also wouldn't be a problem if you had panniers (won't work for me because I have a large laptop that would make panniers severly unbalanced). It was fine on the weekend rides without a backpack.
I found either of the bar end mirrors (Mirrycycle or Sprintech) to be better than the Take A Look. The Sprintech is nice because it is convex and shows a wide area. Some people see that as a minus because it is hard to judge distance, but you shouldn't use the mirror as a substitute for looking behind you, just as a way to alert you that a car is back there somewhere and may warrant a head turn look behind. You can also get good coverage from the mirror from all handle bar positions, but the mirror is a tad small. It doesn't stick out far from the bike so it doesn't get bonked around storing the bike, but your knee can be in the way sometimes depending on how far out your knees are when you ride (It's real easy to move your knee to the inside an inch when you are looking in the mirror). Go with this one if you want something sleek and unobtrusive looking (compared to the Mirrycycle), but you pay a slight functional performance (knee obstruction).
The Mirrycycle "mountain bike" bar end mirror is the best in my opinion. It goes fine on road bike handlebars. Since it's flat you have to compromise a little bit on the position or move your head a little to see behind you from the different grips, but there is no distortion like a convex mirror. It sticks out from the bike so you can see behind you without obstuction at all times. The downside to sticking out is that when you are entering or leaving the lower grips on the drop handle bars it is a little in the way of your left hand. It's not a big deal. Also when you want to lean the bike on anything the mirror is in the way. It's an annnoyance I don't mind putting up with to have the best view when I ride. It's big so you get a good viewing area. I guess it's not very aero dynamic, but lose some weight and gain some muscle and you can overcome that.
All three mirrors have to be adjusted everytime you ride. There is no set and forget mirror. The Take A Look itself holds position well on the ride, but your glasses never seem to fit exactly the same everytime you put them on and pretty much anything you do with them once you take them off will change the adjustment. This is even worse if you want to take the mirror off and use the glasses between rides (without looking like a dork). Take a Look also takes lots of little adjustments to get right. Sprintech mirror is flimsy and loses adjustment easily, but is also the easiest to adjust by a long shot. You just slide your hand down to the end of the bar and adjust it with your pinky as you ride, takes 2 seconds at most. It's convex and covers a wide area and the mirror doesn't move very far so it's never very far off from a good adjustment. The Mirrycycle mirror is stiff and holds position really well once you set it, but since it sticks out from the side just about anything you do to move or store the bike readjusts it. It takes a little more fine tuning than the Sprintech, but less than the Take A Look.
Of the three I prefer the Mirrycycle mirror.
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Sprintech Road Bicycle Drop Bar MirrorRetrobike Sprintech Road Bar End Mirrors are designed for road bikes, for professionals as well as for amateurs, adults, young people and children. This product was conceived with the idea of increasing the cyclists safety. With a greatly expanded visual field constantly at the riders disposal, the cyclist no longer has to look back over his shoulder in order to perform certain maneuversa definite advantage which alleviates the need for the rider to alter his balance and compromise his safety, especially in a dense urban environment. The Sprintech rear-view mirrors originality and universality of design makes for an attractive product, fitting easily onto any model of road bike. Practical, light and effective, Sprintech is very discreet and does not in any way hinder the movements of the cyclist. ASSEMBLY Placed on both sides of the handlebars, the Sprintech rear-view mirror is easy to install. One merely removes the caps from the ends of each of the handlebars, inserts a connector, and attaches the Sprintech rear-view mirror. Once installed, the adjustment of the mirror is easily accomplished thanks to a patented joint system.
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