If hindsight is important in life, then it’s even more important on an electric bicycle.
As we talked about in the article on ebike safety tips, statistically speaking you aren’t very likely to get hit by a motorist just happening upon you from behind, though you are much more likely to be hit from behind if you suddenly swerve out into the lane to avoid something in the road. This situation happens a lot more often than many people would imagine, and all it takes to avoid it is a good mirror.
There are a number of different styles of bicycle mirrors out there. Each has its own pro’s and con’s, but what I love about the Mirrycle bar end mirror is that unlike most other bicycle mirrors, the Mirrycle mirror’s pro’s list is much longer than its con’s.
The problem with most handlebar mounted mirrors is that they tend to flex and vibrate as you ride. This makes seeing anything in the mirror virtually impossible due to all the shaking. The longer the post on the mirror is, the more likely you are to get vibrations that turn the image in your mirror into an impressionist painting.
The Mirrycle bar end mirror, on the other hand, has a firm and rigid connection with a short arm that greatly reduces vibration. The Mirrycle bar end mirror uses metal construction in all the right places to strengthen the design and hold the mirror steady as a rock.
Another problem with most handlebar mounted mirrors is that they take up valuable real estate on your handlebars that could be used for mounting lights, GPS, a horn, a cell phone mount, etc. The Mirrycle bar end mirror leaves your handlebars nice and empty by mounting inside the end of the bar. It’s got a clever tapered design that expands to fit nearly any handlebar size. It even includes the appropriate allen wrench to make installation a snap!
I’ve tried using helmet mounted mirrors before but I’m just not a big fan of them. The tiny surface means less visibility. It also bothers me that you have to turn your head to adjust where you’re looking because the mirror is mounted rigidly to the helmet. What am I, an owl? I don’t want to move my head to look around, I want to move my eyes. A handlebar mirror means I can glance at my mirror and see everything behind me without moving my head.
The Mirrycle bar end mirror also has a nice compromise when it comes to its convex shape. Sometimes mirrors go overboard and end up with those funhouse style effects where everything is ridiculously distorted. The Mirrycle mirror does a good job of providing enough of a wide angle effect on its large 3″ diameter mirror to give you optimal visibility without adding very much distortion to the image. You can’t go wide angle with a mirror and remain completely distortion free, but the compromise here is a good one.
One common criticism of bar end mirrors is that they add extra width to the bike, and this is a valid argument. The important question though is how important this issue is to your own needs. Most people aren’t riding in situations where an extra 3 or 4 inches are going to make or break it. For me, I do a lot of city riding and end up lane splitting at traffic lights. Weaving in between cars in gridlock traffic is one of my favorite advantages of electric bicycles, and I haven’t found the extra width of a bar end mirror to limit me much in that way. I have to keep it in mind when I’m deciding if I can fit between two cars, but it’s rarely such a close call that this small difference will be the deciding factor.
You can even mount the mirror upside or flipped in. This keeps the mirror from increasing the width of the bike more than an inch or so, if that’s important to you. Keep in mind that using the mirror in this flipped in orientation will reduce your visibility compared to the normal flipped out setup.
Conclusions on the Mirrycle bar end mirror
All in all I give this mirror a 9 out of 10 rating. It’s got solid construction, a large mirror surface, minimal distortion, negligible vibration and has lasted well over a year of testing on my bike without the slightest indication of wear. If that doesn’t seal the deal for you, then consider the price. At the time of writing it’s just $12 with free shipping on Amazon! It’s hard to find quality construction and performance for such a good deal these days. I recommend the Mirrycle bar end mirror to every ebike rider as an important piece of safety equipment that will likely outlast many of your ebike components.
