Concept: 3 out of 5
Execution: 5 out of 5
Yeah, but: Seriously, how do you spell that?
The Long Version: I've had many bikes, and each of them has had a mirror on it. It's not so much a matter of vanity as self-preservation - I'm always in traffic. The past three mirrors that I've bought have been from Cateye, and they're decent. Not great, but decent. I was planning on buying another one for my new Swift, and it was only because I spent some idle time on MEC's website that I didn't. The Mirrycle Mountain Mirror is more expensive than the other mirrors, but as soon as I saw it, I knew it was for me. I'm a sucker for creative typography, and the packaging crops off the end of the line "wide field of view". Clever.
When the Cateye mirror barely breaks the $5 mark, it's not a huge financial catastrophe that the Mirrycle mirror costs almost three times as much. On the other hand, they've clearly put the added resources to good use. It's very solidly made, secured with some of the longest hex bolts that I've seen in ages, and the reflector is convex and very effective. To assemble it, I genuinely needed the instructions. And like flat-pack furniture, it comes with its own 3mm hex wrench, just in case your bike tool kit doesn't already include one. (It probably does, but it's still a nice touch.)
The Mirrycle mirror mounting system gives it a lot of flexibility in its positioning. Any bar-end mirror will be low, probably too low to be in the rider's normal line of sight, but the curved reflector has such a great field of view that it's easy to forgive. I like to have it set up so that I can just see myself in it, and I can still see the curb behind me and across several lanes of traffic. The solid construction means that it stays put and doesn't shake and vibrate when I'm moving, like some of the others that I've used would do. About the only actual downside of having the mirror installed is that it makes the bike harder to get through doors. I've found one other person with this mirror, and we both agree that we wouldn't want to ride our bikes without them.
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When I jump on my bicycle after being out on my motorcycle, there's a moment of panic when I go to check the mirrors and they're not there!
ReplyDeleteNot sure that this model would work on my drop-handled road bike, but I know I've seen others with them...
I think this could probably be put on a road bike - it would just stick down and out instead of sideways and up - but they also make one that attaches to an STI shifter. It sticks sideways and up, too.
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