Properly setting up your motorcycle side mirrors is crucial for safe riding, allowing you to effectively monitor traffic and blind spots.
Importance of Correct Mirror Adjustment
Your motorcycle mirrors are essential safety tools that provide crucial situational awareness. Incorrect adjustment can significantly increase blind spots, hindering your ability to perceive surrounding traffic and react to changing road conditions.
Step-by-Step Guide to Motorcycle Side Mirror Setup
The primary goal when setting up your motorcycle side mirrors is to maximize your field of view to the rear and sides, ensuring minimal blind spots.
1. Assume Your Natural Riding Position
Before making any mirror adjustments, sit on your motorcycle in your typical riding posture. This includes your normal seating position, hand placement on the handlebars, and the angle of your body. This foundational step is vital because your body position directly influences what you see in the mirrors.
2. Adjust for Elbow Visibility
According to motorcycle safety advice, you want to adjust the mirror out enough so that your elbows are showing on that inner portion (the inside portion) of the mirror.
- Left Mirror Adjustment: While maintaining your normal riding position, extend your left mirror outwards. Continue adjusting until you can just see the inner edge of your left elbow in the innermost part of the mirror's reflection. This specific positioning helps ensure the mirror's view extends beyond your body, capturing the adjacent lane.
- Right Mirror Adjustment: Apply the exact same principle to your right mirror. Adjust it outwards until the inner edge of your right elbow becomes visible in the innermost section of the mirror's reflection.
3. Avoid Over-Inward Adjustment
A common mistake is to angle the mirrors in too much. If your mirrors are turned excessively inwards, they will show too much of your own motorcycle or body. This effectively creates significant blind spots directly beside and behind you, where other vehicles could easily be concealed. The goal is to see traffic, not your own reflection primarily.
4. Fine-Tune and Perform Blind Spot Checks
After the initial "elbow method" adjustment, further refinement is recommended:
- Road Test: Take your motorcycle for a short, safe ride to evaluate the effectiveness of your mirror settings under real-world conditions. Observe how well you can track vehicles in adjacent lanes.
- Head Checks: Even with perfectly adjusted mirrors, always perform a quick head check (also known as a shoulder check) before changing lanes or merging. This ensures that no vehicles are hidden in the remaining blind spots.
- Peripheral Vision Integration: Ensure your mirrors provide a natural extension of your peripheral vision, allowing you to scan the road behind and to the sides with minimal head movement, enhancing overall situational awareness.
Quick Reference Table: Key Mirror Adjustment Points
| Aspect | Ideal Adjustment | Less Effective Adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| Riding Position | Always adjust while seated in your natural riding posture. | Adjusting while standing or in an unnatural position. |
| Elbow Visibility | Elbows are just visible on the inner portion of the mirror. | Too much of your body/motorcycle visible, or elbows not visible at all. |
| Field of View | Wide view of adjacent lanes and traffic behind, minimizing blind spots. | Narrow view, primarily showing your own bike or only empty road directly behind. |
Proper mirror setup is crucial for motorcycle safety. Regularly re-check your mirror adjustments, especially if you modify your riding gear or make any changes to your motorcycle.
