Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hello

What are the best mirrors for bent trikes with bar end shifters?

cheers
Craig

I don't have a trike however I have used and currently use a couple of types of mirrors. On my LoGo P-38 I have now gone with Busch & Muller CycleStar 50 mm mirrors as per the photo. The Busch & Muller provides more flexible mounting options than the Zefal Spy mirror but you will most likely need to purchase it from France or Germany to get a reasonable price.



The other type I have used on my bikes and still use on my Surly Long Haul Trucker are Zefal Spy mirrors. Cheaper and easier to get locally if you are in a hurry.





There is also a good discussion going at the moment at BentRider on mirrors. Might give you some other ideas.

Regards
Andrew

Cheers Andrew, thanks for that.

The better mirror for trikes is the Mirrycle and generally their Mountain model. However you have bar end shifters and no mirror mount tubes off the front steering (as used with Greenspeeds) so I don't see that this mirror would fit - although someone with your trike might have solved this? IMO the better mirror as it has a good size for the mirror, can be extended, easily adjustable and can be locked down solid. Plus there are lots of clones around so spare parts can be found cheaply (Rose Versand and JensonUSA for starters). The B&M Cyclestar suffers bumps and jolts. If you can only clamp on get the B&M, if you can bolt into a tube or handlebar get the Mirrycle.

just4tehhalibut wrote:The B&M Cyclestar suffers bumps and jolts.

Is that a trike thing? I haven't experienced that on my LoGo P-38 or on the Bacchetta Giro ATT 20 nor heard of others reporting this on diamond frames. Are trikes are much harsher ride?

Andrew

My personal opinion....

I gave up on all "trike mounted" mirrors, bar end or frame mounted, as I found there was way too much road vibration transferred to the mirrors for any sort of "clear" rear vision.

I opted for a helmet mounted mirror instead.... this gives me a better rear view, with little to no vibration, and with a subtle movement of your head you get a much wider field of view.

On my LogoTrike I have a barend (Think that's the term) mounted on each "headtube"/kingpin.
There is a Mirricycle mirror in each.
My wife's Logo has cut down barends mounted below the brake levers on the steerer and likewise mirricycle mirrors.
I also use a helmet mounted mirror.

I notice your steerer has apparently no grips and is just bare metal. On our trikes we use a foam grip that is fitted over
the top of the cables coming down from the barend shifters. They are pretty easy to fit without having to remove the shifters.

John

Always willing to change my personal opinion, so has anyone tried the Ergotec M-88 or M-98 mirrors?

Aushiker wrote:

just4tehhalibut wrote:The B&M Cyclestar suffers bumps and jolts.

Is that a trike thing? I haven't experienced that on my LoGo P-38 or on the Bacchetta Giro ATT 20 nor heard of others reporting this on diamond frames. Are trikes are much harsher ride?

Andrew

It's not that the ride more harsh it's were the mirror mounts. On most trikes it will be mounted off the wheel/ king pin along with the mud guard. This means there is nothing to absorb the vibration coming directly from the road. On your bikes and diamond frames the frame and fork will absorb a lot of this before it reaches the mirror.
Now having said that I have no problem with mirror stability on the GT5 and have taken photos of other riders in the mirror while riding.

helmet mirror. see around corners. works on all the future bikes too.

Mbike23 wrote:On most trikes it will be mounted off the wheel/ king pin along with the mud guard. This means there is nothing to absorb the vibration coming directly from the road. On your bikes and diamond frames the frame and fork will absorb a lot of this before it reaches the mirror.

Ahh okay. Thanks for the explanation.

Andrew

I bought a couple of these that are actually motor cycle mirrors and are very good quality. I needed to use some expertise to mount the thing and used an old bracket I had in the shed.Only about $17-00 delivered and seem easy to find well on quite a few sites.

The only drawback is the Mirror face curve makes things look a bit far back into the distance.
With the fast closing speed of cars it takes a fair bit of getting used to. I really want a bit less convex in design.

Are you riders happy with the image you are getting?

Most of the cycling mirrors are convex and have the problem of making things appear further away.
I used to tell my wife that if she could see a car in the mirror as looking big as a blowfly then it
was probably pretty close. You do get used to it though.
That is one advantage of the helmet mirror or at least the one I have.
Its flat and doest distort the size.

John

Not sure if this has been tried before... My dad just had the idea of putting some mtb bar extenders (like little cow horns) on the handle bar... Then stuff the bar end mirror into the end of that... The adjustment options are through the roof, I'm waiting on some mirror cycle mtb mirrors... I hear they are the best... But excited that this might work.( Using a helmet mounted mirror atm.... Grrrr wobble wobble

I mounted my mirrors on the front mudguard mounts. Works pretty well except on very rough surfaces, in which case the trike is rattling my eyeballs so much I can't see much anyway. [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]
Sent from my GT-I8750 using Tapatalk

Arakasy wrote:Not sure if this has been tried before... My dad just had the idea of putting some mtb bar extenders (like little cow horns) on the handle bar... Then stuff the bar end mirror into the end of that... The adjustment options are through the roof, I'm waiting on some mirror cycle mtb mirrors... I hear they are the best... But excited that this might work.( Using a helmet mounted mirror atm.... Grrrr wobble wobble

That is pretty much what we have and it works well. My wife's is on the steerer bar but I have mine mounted on the stem tube that holds the extension for the mudguard to get it further away.
We have one mounted each side.
The Mirricycle mirrors cause things to look further away than they are. This has got my wife in trouble a few times as she looks and thinks "Plenty of room", when there isn't.

Being a belt and braces type I also use a helmet mirror and it is a lot steadier on a rough road.

I'd like to try one of those Take a Look mirrors that mount on your glasses.

John