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Slavvy
Dec 11, 2012

Chris Knight posted:

What else do you need to know other than "is something big and moving coming near me?" :)

I want to know right now rather than after my monkey brain has finished figuring out if it's an actual object in the mirror and not a shadow or other random trick of the light. I'm not advocating against them, it just seems like another pointless thing people stick on their bikes. It is literally just turning your head, you don't need a labour saving device for that. But I also seem to be in the minority for wanting a bike that has less features instead of ever-more.

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Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe
Yeah I hear ya. Thing I hate most about driving is all the pillars in the way when I do shoulder checks. Got so used to an unimpeded view on the biek very quickly.

Lynza
Jun 1, 2000

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
- Robert A. Heinlein
I got a couple of those little convex mirrors and put them on my mostly useless mirrors. It helps quite a bit, especially on the highway. I can at least tell that something's there, and then I can shoulder check to see where they are.

I've gotten the mirrors adjusted as much as they can be, so I don't have much of a blind spot, and I always shoulder check because only chumps don't. That's right, I said it. Winners don't not use shoulder checks.

kuffs
Mar 29, 2007

Projectile Dysfunction
Hell, I find that shoulder checks make nearby drivers far more aware of my intent than the piddly turn signals on my bike

Slavvy
Dec 11, 2012

kuffs posted:

Hell, I find that shoulder checks make nearby drivers far more aware of my intent than the piddly turn signals on my bike

I've noticed this too.

Chichevache
Feb 17, 2010

One of the funniest posters in GIP.

Just not intentionally.
I find it best to just go so fecklessly quick that I never have to worry about someone creepin on me! :haw:

nsaP
May 4, 2004

alright?
They mostly notice me when I kick their fender and flip them the finger

karms
Jan 22, 2006

by Nyc_Tattoo
Yam Slacker

Yeah, that's the one. Should work okay with keeping tabs on traffic that's doing about the same speed as you but like to hang out back there. Mostly I don't like how shoulder checks keeps me from seeing what's going down up ahead. I won't stop doing the checks, but it's just nice to have a running 'something is there probably' viewfinder that can work in conjunction with my constant shoulder checking and sixth sense tingling.

Or maybe I need to slow down a bit and stop overtaking so much. Ha, nah.

RadioPassive
Feb 26, 2012

KARMA! posted:

it's just nice to have a running 'something is there probably' viewfinder that can work in conjunction with my constant shoulder checking and sixth sense tingling.

This. Especially when cruising on the highway in traffic. This lets you keep an idea of what's around you without having to take your eyes off what's in front of you. I don't want to have to make constant shoulder checks in highway traffic just to keep tabs on where my emergency exits are and what my neighboring lanes are doing, but I do want to know what's going on around me.

This doesn't replace a shoulder check at all, but it helps overall awareness in traffic.

Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe

RadioPassive posted:

This doesn't replace a shoulder check at all, but it helps overall awareness in traffic.

Yep that's pretty much why I would get one.

Sagebrush
Feb 26, 2012

I tend to just use my mirrors as a "spot the difference" kind of thing. An open lane looks pretty much the same everywhere, so you get used to that as the default appearance. Just using your eyes, glance down and quickly back up -- did the mirror look "normal", showing an open lane? OK, no problem. Total time looking away from what's ahead ~200ms. If I noticed the mirror showing anything that wasn't just empty road, look back down and evaluate for a second, or do a shoulder check.

I nearly failed my driving exam for doing it this way, though ("insufficient mirror checks" -- they wanted me to really obviously study each of the mirrors every 10 seconds, the examiner told me afterwards) so take it with a grain of salt.

kuffs posted:

Hell, I find that shoulder checks make nearby drivers far more aware of my intent than the piddly turn signals on my bike

Me too. I make a point to be really obvious about it, particularly in highway traffic, so that my intentions are crystal clear.

Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Dec 25, 2015

Renaissance Robot
Oct 10, 2010

Bite my furry metal ass

Sagebrush posted:

I nearly failed my driving exam for doing it this way, though ("insufficient mirror checks" -- they wanted me to really obviously study each of the mirrors every 10 seconds, the examiner told me afterwards) so take it with a grain of salt.

Not really that so much as if you just look they can't always tell, especially if they're following you in a car; it's for that reason my instructor told me to be exaggeratedly obvious with my mirror checks on the test by moving my whole head, even if it's only quick.

Day Man
Jul 30, 2007

Champion of the Sun!

Master of karate and friendship...
for everyone!


You know, having a mirror to glance at while keeping an eye on traffic in front of you doesn't mean you need to eliminate head checks before changing lanes. Seems to me this would just allow you to maintain awareness while riding. It's not like I'm doing head checks every ten seconds while riding. That's when the mirror would help.

Infinotize
Sep 5, 2003

Ya, mirrors are great, I love bikes with huge ugly wide mirrors, it lets you keep a constant 360 awareness. Well not completely 360, and you always do head checks anyway. The times I bought a bike off someone and it had those crappy silver-dollar size bar end mirrors I feel like there could be a row of cars 3" off my rear wheel and I wouldn't know it.

Mister Duck
Oct 10, 2006
Fuck the goose
For me bar end mirrors are essential for any road bike. A nice pair of convex ones give you really easy views almost completely 180 behind you. Easy to check at stop lights, very easy for lane changes and quick cop spotting on longer trips. Obviously no replacement for a head check, but I can't ride with normal mirrors anymore, they just don't impart the same confidence in my situational awareness.

Shimrod
Apr 15, 2007

race tires on road are a great idea, ask me!

Mister Duck posted:

For me bar end mirrors are essential for any road bike. A nice pair of convex ones give you really easy views almost completely 180 behind you. Easy to check at stop lights, very easy for lane changes and quick cop spotting on longer trips. Obviously no replacement for a head check, but I can't ride with normal mirrors anymore, they just don't impart the same confidence in my situational awareness.

See, I'm the opposite. I absolutely loathe bar end mirrors because they're (for me) completely useless pieces of crap. I have to move my entire head completely to even quickly glance at them, with normal mirrors I can just flick my eyes quickly.

Plus Bar ends are annoying when filtering.

nsaP
May 4, 2004

alright?
1 mirror crew sound off

M42
Nov 12, 2012


nsaP posted:

1 mirror crew sound off

Yo (the other one broke and I'm cheap/lazy)

Mister Duck
Oct 10, 2006
Fuck the goose

Shimrod posted:

See, I'm the opposite. I absolutely loathe bar end mirrors because they're (for me) completely useless pieces of crap. I have to move my entire head completely to even quickly glance at them, with normal mirrors I can just flick my eyes quickly.

Plus Bar ends are annoying when filtering.

Well filtering isn't an issue with something like CRG lanesplitters (since they fold in very easily). I get what you are saying about moving your head, I guess it also depends on the bike and how the mirrors sit in relation to the riding position. I've had them on my last three (ER6N, Street Triple, and now a V-Strom 1K) and I've been happy on all of them. I don't actually like having mirrors directly in my view all the time. When I need to check them, I check them, otherwise I want a full view of what is in front.

But yeah, I can see where it might not be that desirable to some people. Also probably not great on something you are actually going to go offroad on. Mine held up to a couple of low speed drops but I doubt you'd want to be bashing them all day.

Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe

nsaP posted:

1 mirror crew sound off

Lol

Slavvy
Dec 11, 2012

M42 posted:

Yo (the other one broke and I'm cheap/lazy)

This was me on the hornet until I paid thirty bucks for a pair of ridiculous mickey mouse ear scooter mirrors. It's always the right hand one that's getting knocked off unfortunately.

BlackMK4
Aug 23, 2006

wat.
Megamarm

nsaP posted:

1 mirror crew sound off

AYYYYYOOOOOOO

karms
Jan 22, 2006

by Nyc_Tattoo
Yam Slacker

Mister Duck posted:

When I need to check them, I check them, otherwise I want a full view of what is in front.

Haha. Those pesky oversized motorycle mirrors always getting in the way of my freedom view!

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester
Oct 3, 2000
I roll 2 mirrors on all my bikes, even the ones that had 0 mirrors from the factory. Y'all are plebs, can't afford no glass. Go big or go home.

Gingerbread House Music
Dec 1, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
Lipstick Apathy
Two mirrors here, but i'm too fat to see behind with them anyway.

its all nice on rice
Nov 12, 2006

Sweet, Salty Goodness.



Buglord

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:

I roll 2 mirrors on all my bikes, even the ones that had 0 mirrors from the factory. Y'all are plebs, can't afford no glass. Go big or go home.

Pff, two? Pathetic. You need two on the fairings, two on the handlebars, and two on the bar ends. I can see for miles and miillleessssss


Bring this over from the gear thread:

KARMA! posted:

*points* I had one of those when I was younger! *looks wistfully at the word SUZUKI painted on the side* Hey, I got in so much trouble! Now they're just too dangerous for me, I will kill myself immediately! *nervous chuckle* *keeps staring at you until you disappear over the horizon*

What do you ride?
"A Yamaha 600"
Is that one of them crotch rockets or like a Harley?
"uh, neither? It's got a sport bike engine, but the riding position is pretty neutral."
:geno:
"I ride a crotch rocket."
Those things are dangerous! I knew a guy that had a friend who's uncle saw a co-worker crash once!

its all nice on rice fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Dec 26, 2015

karms
Jan 22, 2006

by Nyc_Tattoo
Yam Slacker

Ozmiander posted:

Two mirrors here, but i'm too fat to see behind with them anyway.

Objects in the mirror are closerbigger than they appear :smith:

Mister Duck
Oct 10, 2006
Fuck the goose

KARMA! posted:

Haha. Those pesky oversized motorycle mirrors always getting in the way of my freedom view!

Have you seen the stock mirrors on a 2014+ V-Strom? They must have taken them from a car, they are seriously annoying.

Slavvy
Dec 11, 2012

Those just look super-useful to me, almost every bike I've ridden (even the 'practical' ones) has had crap mirrors that have half their surface showing your elbow/shoulder regardless of how you adjust the things.

Mister Duck
Oct 10, 2006
Fuck the goose

Slavvy posted:

Those just look super-useful to me, almost every bike I've ridden (even the 'practical' ones) has had crap mirrors that have half their surface showing your elbow/shoulder regardless of how you adjust the things.

They just showed me larger versions of my shoulders and elbows all the time since they are right in front of my face. Maybe it's just me, but they were awful to use and I had to angle myself constantly to see anything useful.

I've had this issue on every bike I've been on so far (that had stock mirrors), so I might just be biased against them in general.

Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


I always had one mirror adjusted for upright riding /merging /filtering and the other adjusted to see far behind in full tuck. Seemed to work out well.

Renaissance Robot
Oct 10, 2010

Bite my furry metal ass

Slavvy posted:

Those just look super-useful to me, almost every bike I've ridden (even the 'practical' ones) has had crap mirrors that have half their surface showing your elbow/shoulder regardless of how you adjust the things.

That's about how wide they're set, not the size. To omit your elbows and still give a useful rearward view the mirrors need to be located further out than where your elbows sit.

Pope Mobile posted:

Pff, two? Pathetic. You need two on the fairings, two on the handlebars, and two on the bar ends. I can see for miles and miillleessssss

That song wasn't in that film!

Retarted Pimple
Jun 2, 2002

Mirror extenders make them much more useable.

Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe
I have extenders on the Bandit & they're great.

goddamnedtwisto
Dec 31, 2004

If you ask me about the mole people in the London Underground, I WILL be forced to kill you
Fun Shoe
I always adjust my mirrors so I can see my elbows - I find it really disorienting and difficult to work out where stuff is in relation to me without that fixed reference.

Aprilia mirrors were the perfect shape for that - the only thing that could have made them better is if the far corner, which was pretty useless, was curved slightly to cover the blind spots.

CovfefeCatCafe
Apr 11, 2006

A fresh attitude
brewed daily!
If you have mirrors, be sure to at least loving use them, even if you can't be arsed to do head checks. Nothing like the deer-in-the-headlights look of fear and surprise I got when some dipshit on a scooter decided to make a right turn from the middle of a 2-lane wide feeder road in front of me on my Yamaha after just leaving Costco.

nsaP
May 4, 2004

alright?
Get used to it and make it your responsibility to see them coming.

Chichevache
Feb 17, 2010

One of the funniest posters in GIP.

Just not intentionally.
Go fast enough that what's behind you stays in the past. :rice:

Digital_Jesus
Feb 10, 2011

That'd work if your bikes ran longer than 3 days before you need to have them stolen for insurance purposes.

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Marxalot
Dec 24, 2008

Appropriator of
Dan Crenshaw's Eyepatch

Chichevache posted:

Go fast enough that what's behind you stays in the past. :rice:

This works pretty good vs highway drunks at 1AM.


Also what Digital underscore Jesus said.

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