I’m looking for a possibility to check more often what’s going on behind me and thought about adding a small mirror to my wrist guard.
But I found this one and maybe someone also using it for unicycling, can share experiences or have ideas for better alternatives
I bought a mirror to fix to my glasses … but lost it somewhere
My experience with mirrors was/is for town riding with a uni that had no handlebar (so not eg long distance big wheel riding in a fairly static position using a bar).
I found that a wrist mirror involves moving your arm to get the mirror into the right position to look at it, and that can affect balance, so it was hard to do if not moving smoothly, and doing it sometimes stopped me from moving smoothly! Also I realised that a cyclist moving their arm about is normally interpreted by car drivers around as trying to signal a manoeuvre, which I normally wasn’t doing, so caused some confusion. So my wrist mirror sits unused now.
I wear glasses, and @johnfoss put me onto lightweight mirrors that attach to the glasses frame, and I’ve been using that with more success ever since (from Amazon for around £10). I can get an impression as to whether there’s stuff happening behind me without really focusing on it, then if I do need to look in a more focused way it’s easier to close the eye opposite the mirror to get a single image. It’s easy to adjust the way it faces, even on the move, eg between leaning forwards stretches and sitting up straight stretches, but I normally just tip my head a bit to get the right line of sight. I’m sometimes aware that people ahead of me might think I’m glaring at them (or even winking at them!) when I’m just focusing backwards through a tiny mirror.
At the same time I got the glasses mirror I also got a helmet mirror, a bit more substantial, and suitable for non-glasses wearers. Mine is still unused, waiting for the time when I smash up the glasses mirror beyond use, but I’m sure it will work well too, and can be unclipped off the helmet fixing if not wanted.
Pics of the glasses mirror and a similar helmet mirror to mine from Amazon…
Thanks so much for sharing these alternative options and your experiences, very helpful. It’s all not expensive, so I’ll also try 1-2 options.
I’ve used this for several years. It works great and is very inexpensive with the mirror available on ebay for less then $2.
Looks like a good idea
Putting a long spike near your eye is a foolish decision.
I bought one that looked very similar. The soft plastic of the main body crumbled before it was terribly old.
Some would say just trying to balance on one wheel is a foolish decision! The metal is hardly a spike, and I suspect no more dangerous than the glasses I have to wear anyway. For me having the mirror there is a whole lot safer than trying to turn my head to look behind
A thinner plastic rod that is attached to the outside of the helmet to me seems a saver way to attach a mirror. But I‘m 100% with you regarding some people‘s opinion that unicycling is a rather foolish thing to do.
I decided to start with this one. Ordered it and will try the mirror soon.
I’m already wearing an Herbie helmet, adding antennas or mirrors to it could look a bit too foolish (maybe, I should stop thinking about it… ).
Next option would be the glasses mirror.
Holyroller’s mirror appears to be very light and good looking! I’ll put in the info for the mirror I use: It’s called the Take A Look mirror:
It’s very sturdy, and stays on glasses (with thin enough arms) really well, long as you don’t lose the little rubber thingies that give it the grip. Mine dates from some time before Ride The Lobster (2008). About five years ago I ordered a new one, in case mine broke. I’m still riding with the original.
They also make a helmet mount accessory for their mirrors, but I haven’t tried so don’t have an opinion on that. I always figured a helmet with a mirror sticking out of it would be a gonner before and after the ride, unless you can take the mirror off. You probably can; I just never tried it.
To skip the hassle of putting the thing on and off the glasses, I used a dedicated pair of sunglasses that are just for cycling, so they’re always on there. The only drawback of that for me is that I can no longer read my phone (and barely make out Strava on my watch) without my prescription glasses, so that method may have to be updated someday…