The Italian Bike mirror review

The Italian Cycling Mirror is an oval shaped mirror with a convex lens that attaches to the bottom of your “drops” (road cycling handle bars)

It is adjusted into place then taped with electrical tape to hold it in position, and then it is covered with your normal bar tape.

Once you know it is there, it is obviously a bit bigger than the bar, but not big enough to be an eye-sore and made out of rubber it is extremely light, so the extra gram or two shouldnt upset the weight conscious.

It is quite small and took a couple of attempts to get it set up so I had the best view. It is probably a bit to the left (ie pointing at my right knee) but it seems about right to me and I cant be bothered re-doing it.

The shape of the lens is great, I can see cars coming from quite far off, and when they fill up the whole mirror the car is right behind my rear wheel on my shoulder and passing me, so I get quite a clear sense of where the traffic is.

You do have to look down to see it, which is the only downside, as we should always be looking ahead, but the ability to be able to glance and see what is coming behind me is worth it, as long as you do it judiciously.

I recorded a bit of video on my phone cam as I was riding to give you an idea what you see:

I highly recommend this mirror, and I think it might even be suitable for racing (even though I dont). Down on your drops and watching the white line, it’s only a slight downwards glance to the mirror.

I have a problem with wind noise drowning out everything (cars, phones, trucks, you name it), so I find this invaluable.

The mirror is made by Brevetto (I think), and available from Aspire Velotech. I am hoping it will be available in shops in NZ, because it is great.