gn2 wrote:What''s behind is only important when changing lane.

dangerous advice. I'm not getting drawn in

Sylar, Any extra situational information sounds good to me. I'd be interested to hear if this becomes part of your peripheral vision over time, or part of a scan or ignored.
I worry about leaving shiny things on parked bikes.

/openspandorasbox

Car drivers have radio, satnav, passengers, smoking, eating, doing nails, reading a newspaper, etc to lose focus on, an extra mirror for a biker is practical in comparison

I don't understand where your coming from gn2

/runsforcover

gn2 wrote:I take the view that anyone who can't turn their head enough to see behind them over either shoulder should not hold a licence to ride/drive on public roads.

You don't appear to consider people of limited physical ability, what if they've had their neck vertebrae fused because of injury?

It's perfectly possible to see what's behind by just shifting your position, lean forward or sideways changes your angle of view as good as any blind spot mirrors.

gn2 wrote:What''s behind is only important when changing lane.
Any device which distracts attention from looking in front is a bad thing imo.

..as is having to look over your shoulder! In principle these things should be useful - the little overtaker mirror attachments can be great as they can give you a much wider view

slipperyeel wrote:S anyone seen those new helmets with a built-in rear view mirror, I mean really built into te shell of the helmet and a tri 'rear' view. At first I thought what's that all about but I have seen more detail and I have been trying to imagine how it would be to have one of these whilst I have been riding.

I did try one once - they are quite odd and you need to get the hang of them. The principle is that you don't look into the internal mirror, but its there on your peripheral vision, so you can be aware of things behind without looking!. I found it quite hard to get the hang of, and may not really help with wide angle vision. And anyway, for some reason no size of the actual helmet fitted me anything like properly, and was very uncomfortable

Bluebottle wrote: dangerous advice.

It's not advice, it's my opinion.

Bluebottle wrote:

gn2 wrote:What''s behind is only important when changing lane.

dangerous opinion

Fixed

gn2 wrote:What''s behind is only important when changing lane.
Any device which distracts attention from looking in front is a bad thing imo.

While I agree with your statement about distractions (although if you only look in front and not to the sides of the road, you are heading for trouble), what's behind is very important not just for changing lanes but when a vehicle is tailgating - will require you to adust your distance to the vehicle in front or be aware that you may get cut up on a dodgy overtake. Also if there is a big difference between your speed and the permitted speed (being on the motorway at the back of a queue for example), vehicles approaching quickly from behind are a big potential hazard.

This device does look a bit shit though, I could see it on Dragons Den getting slated!

The list goes on forever:

is somebody filtering?
do I need to brake early/flash brakes or is following driver paying attention?
anybody accelerating along that slip road after I passed?

I don't get the distraction thing, except for budgies maybe.
I'm not distracted by my existing 2 mirrors, most cars have 3. I've coped with 7 on bigger stuff, extra ones that only show your wheels or underneath, strongly concave/convex ones on aircraft - all without being distracted. Is there any difference?

rtfm wrote:when a vehicle is tailgating - will require you to adust your distance to the vehicle in front or be aware that you may get cut up on a dodgy overtake.

Proximity of a vehicle behind should not require a variation in distance to the vehicle in front.
If you get cut up it's not by something behind, it's something which is now in front.

rtfm wrote:Also if there is a big difference between your speed and the permitted speed (being on the motorway at the back of a queue for example), vehicles approaching quickly from behind are a big potential hazard.

So don't sit behind the queue, have a look in front for some gaps and get filtering.

rtfm wrote:This device does look a bit shit though, I could see it on Dragons Den getting slated!

Very shit and a whole roof full of slates.