Sunday 2 October 2011

Riderscan

Saw this mentioned on a forum and thought it looked quite interesting: The Riderscan is a curved mirror that you fit above your handlebars and gives you a very wide field of view, hopefully eliminating some of the blind spots of your existing mirrors. It was featured on the STV Scottish News:


When I saw this it reminded me of those little, wide angle, 'overtaking mirrors' I used to fit to my cars (before car manufacturers added a 'wide' portion to the edge of the door mirrors). I always liked them as they give you an extra field of view.
After watching this bit of video I wondered whether it would work on a bike with a more 'sporty' riding position like a Skorpion, rather than being more upright on a custom. There's another bit of video of a Riderscan fitted to a sportsbike:


So it seems to work on one of these as well.
You don't seem to be able to buy these yet (the 'buy' function on the website doesn't seem to work), but when you can, I might try one. Anyone got any thoughts on this?
In the STV video you can see the rider has stuck a pair of 'mooneyes' on his screen to hide the mounting pads. I remember these being popular when I was a kid after being used by bike racer John Cooper:






Whilst I was trying to remember the his name, I mixed him up with John Cooper Clarke, the poet.
I've never seen John Cooper, but I have seen John Cooper Clarke, back in the days when Punk and New Wave bands used to have poets as support acts as they were cheap. Most of these poets were rubbish and were mercilessly heckled and booed by fans of the bands who didn't want to listen to some guy reciting pretentious claptrap, but John Cooper Clarke and Phill Jupitus (in his guise of 'Porky the Poet') were amongst the better ones.
Once he became more successful, John Cooper Clarke toured with a backing band, and here's a classic performance from The Old Grey Whistle Test. Note for our younger and overseas viewers, this was during the Thatcher era, when the Government kept broadcasters on a short rein, and the name of Keith Joseph (Health Minister at the time) was edited (censored?) out:





Couldn't imagine someone like this on 'The X Factor'!!

There we go - wide angled mirrors to performance poets in the one post! Can't say you don't get variety on this blog!

4 comments:

  1. Wide angle mirrors for bikes, probably not a bad idea. I just saw one on an old ski boat that was donated to a school shop program a friend of mine teaches at. I asked him if I could have it (all they are using is the trailer for building a portable barbie) but one of the kids got it first. Now I know what I could have used it for. Can't help but thinking that someone will adapt a rearward looking camera system from a high-end car to a bike next, which would eliminate the problem of the riders body blocking part of the view...but then you couldn't admire yourself as easily while stopped...

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  2. "For your American readers..." I've seen a few Youtubes from "The Old Grey Whistle Test". What is that a reference to or about? I picture an old grey locomotive in the roundhouse huffing and puffing and getting ready to blast it's steam whistle. Or maybe a battered aluminum teapot, getting ready to signal waters hot and ready...somewhere down by Beasley Street.

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  3. 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' was a television show featuring interesting bands of the time and was essential viewing for anyone who was a teenager in the 70s. The name (allegedly) came from an earlier period (50s?) when record companies would play new songs to the janitors of their building and see if they could whistle the melody back to them. The janitors being the 'old greys' (not sure if this refers to their hair or clothes). Don't believe it myself, but the show started in 1971 when such groovy and nonsensical names were fashionable.
    As for the mirror, seems like a good idea to me. The address given on the website is only about 20 miles away from me, so I might visit if I'm passing, but It'll probably just be the inventor's house.
    A rear view camera wouldn't be a bad idea, nor particularly expensive, perhaps that's what an electronical guy like me should be looking at! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reversing-SYSTEM-Camera-Kit-CAM-7-REAR-VIEW-CAR-IR-LCD-/310312091079?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item48400abdc7

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  4. I am pleased to say we are now selling, hey yeah its took a long time and a lot of stress but finally RiderScans are now being used all around the world and that makes me very proud, thanks guys and Ride Safe.
    Stehen

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