Completely agree to that-this morning when I was on my way to office at around 85-90kmph (streets were empty due to holiday), a cyclist suddenly cuts across from the left extreme of the road to the right! Bless the R15's braking&also my decision of getting the front brake pads changed on last Saturday, that I could avoid him!
I did give him a mouthful, to which he replied that he doesn't have RVMs!
But then that doesn't stop him from looking behind either, given that the cycle doesn't really go that fast!
Agree completely to what JD says, the worst of accidents happen due to small oversights/overconfidence.
In a country like India where overpopulation tends to negate rules&brings in natural aggressive survival of the fittest tactics even on the road, the minimum we can do is to ride responsibly enough to anticipate danger to us due to other foolish riders/drivers mistakes!

LOL

You said very well here

and you're contradicting yourself here; it may not mean stupidity because by fitting the RVM's does not necessarily mean that they're used. I'm glad you're safe by not using the RVM's, hope you haven't caused troubles to others; IMO, ppl who don't use RVM (let me say this because, fitting RVMS & using RVMS are 2 different things) cause more problems to others, as others, have to keep a watch for such people.

In a way I can understand Bluethunder because, several years back, say during late 90's & early 2000, I used to ride my Rx without RVM & never felt the necessity; I simply ride at the speed of 70 min & rev where ever possible & touch the max speed, cut through traffic & believe me, atleast once, someone used to curse me on the road. Like you said, I didn't feel the necessity & thought RVMS are meant for cars. I learned my lesson hard way, thank God, not by accident & ever since then I USE RVMS.

Me too; I feel guilty to ride without cleaning them or my motorcycle. I do this conciously for last 13 years ; sometimes I do wonder if its worth at all to wipe the motorcycle & take a ride & that too everyday & waste 5 minutes everyday? But then I ask myself, is it worth to brush my tooth for 2 minutes everyday?

Off Topic - Lately I've been observing some morons who deliberately search for motorcycles with clean RVMs to comb their hair; this could also be tolerated, what I cannot tolerate is adjusting the RVMs to their convenience & causing troublesome to keep adjusting the mirrors every now & then

@All : I knew i will receive these much Appreciations from all you Guys....

But the fact is fact .... One doesnt need a Pair of Eyes to know whats the traffic behind you - But one can atleast concentrate a Piece of Brain in Concentrating on the Road.... I have been travalling 30KM a day for more than three years in Chennai's Busy Roads and never even thought that i need RVM's in City Traffic....

Everyone has thier own ways of Riding style.....
I do not wanna change my Riding style....May be its unique than the other Bikers here...

@Sarvajit : Tell the cyclist not the RVM....

When you have Turn Indicators and brake lights and little bit of Commonsense on the Road....There is no need for RVM's....

Thanks for all your advices....

actually when i upgraded from a bicycle i use to see back when i use to turn,or whether i wanted to see someone behind,that resulted into many minor accidents, but now i can't ride without a rvm

they wont be using it at all or they must be riding cycles earlier thats why i guess they remove it

Chill brother. My comments about eyes at back is just pun intended. Not serious. I agree with you, one can ride without them too, but need to be extra careful. But, still having RVMs will avoid any unwanted situation completely.

Take all the appreciations here positively. For example, some people feel one shoudl wear helmet all the time, but I never like to wear the helmet when roam around my colony. I wear helment only when go beyond my home surroundings. Some of our members dont like me roaming around without helmet. But, that is my habit.

in my place, RVMs are for people to straighten up their hairstyle, I mean the common ppl on road, they twist and turn the RVMs from the set position......

Also I had to replace them twice because of the poor parking sense of the ppl around my work place......I also cannot drive without RVMs

Now that's indeed another thing. People who mess around with other peoples property. Makes me want to put 220V on the bike while I'm not near it.

Strange that some people dont want RVMs in India.
All over the world in rider safety courses they advise that atleast about 30-40% of your riding time you are supposed to glance (not stare) into your RVM for any unexpected stuff getting too close to you. Also I just cant imagine how you could take a right turn(in India) or left turn in countries that drive on the right side of the road, without glancing into the mirror. Sure, your indicators make your intention clear to the vehicle behind you, but just in case that driver is on the cell phone talking to his stock broker about his shares tumbling in the stock market and does not see your turn intication or if he is coming at high speed and is unable to brake in time for you to move over, then I guess there would be a lot of time for you to later think from the hospital bed about making a decision on what mirrors to use on your bike once you are back from the hospital.
To me riding without RVMs is basically like playing Russian Roulette.

I see a lot of such stupid activity mainly on commuter bikes in India including not using indicators etc as many of these guys have moved to a motorbike from cycles (that dont use RVMs or indicators) or they start using public roads only after they have bought a bike. So I guess their logic is - what difference is there between walking on the road and riding a bike? Anyway when I walked I never used RVMs nor did I use indicators, so then why use them on a stupid bike?
Ride sensibly or stay home.

Riding without RVMs is very difficult for me. I am so used to ride with feedback from RVMs now, heck I miss them even while walking on road and some other person rushes by

Ha ha ha, many time I felt the same.

as per me if one is using helmet one req rvm AS TURNING ONES HEAD WEARING A HELMET IS SLIGHTLY DIFFUCULT IN TRAFFIC IN MUMBAI.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!
Why remove it when it came prefitted . and if one cannot afford RVM and turning lamps consider getting flexible ones.


Flexible RVM hmm will have to write a mail to bajaj for this innovative idea :P

If you plan to come to mumbai ever....plz do come with RVMs on your bike for your own good, else you'll be caught by the pandus...

LOL so true....i many a times realize it late that i am walking and i dont have RVMs.

I need & use both my RVM all the time.

I even do not use RVM because once my RVM got messed up with a lady bag and I met with an accident after that I never used RVM... and never felt the need for it because if someone is speeding my ears can sense it and for others I have indicators.. thats my opinion about rear view mirror..

Personal opinions aside, RVMs are extremely important while riding/driving, and offer lot of help. If some of you believe that your common sense is good enough to not get you or others into trouble, then great!! Otherwise, most of the people among non RVM users are idiots on the road and change directions without even knowing if something is coming from behind. It's an extremely dangerous situation, and can result in an accident. These kind of situations can be avoided by using RVMs.

However, as I have said, if you are good enough without them, great!! But RVMs are always helpful for everyone, whether you like to use them or not!!

@krates: dude, you were just unlucky there

I alway's use RVM's without them the road feels much more unsafe .
I have a friend who has removed the RVM's from his bike because he thinks it gives a cleaner look to the head and visor of his bike . I have told him a number of times to put them back but he just won't listen .