Chuck Harris | 1935-2012: Gambier cycling enthusiast was always looking behind
Sep 1, 2017He was a colorful fixture at bike tours in Ohio, where "the Mirror Man" would show up with his brown VW bus and handmade grinding machine mounted on a bicycle frame. Jim Woods, The Columbus Dispatch Chuck Harris was known nationally and among Ohio bicycle enthusiasts for his innovations in making customized rearview mirrors for helmets.He was a colorful fixture at bike tours in Ohio, where �the Mirror Man� would show up with his brown VW bus and handmade grinding machine mounted on a bicycle frame.Harris, 76, who had his own shop for bicyclists for years in Gambier in Knox County, died on Saturday at the Knox Community Hospital in Mount Vernon. He had been in failing health after suffering a stroke in April, said his daughter, Bonnie Coleman of Columbus� North Side.When bicycling became a popular pastime during the 1970s, Harris was one of its innovators.Coleman said that her father � a bicyclist himself � got the idea of putting clips on mirrors after seeing a bicyclist with a dental mirror taped to his helmet.As the years went by, Harris perfected a custom-designed mirror that could hook to a bicycle helmet. It was hailed for its quality, and Coleman said her father had customers worldwide.But what distinguished Harris was how he used recycled materials to make equipment, said Chuck Perry, a longtime member of the Westerville Bicycle Club.For instance, Harris would turn discarded plastic beverage bottles into helmet visors. Harris won a number of awards for his innovative recycling efforts, Perry said. The rack in front of Harris� store in Gambier was made of old bicycle rims.�He was a gentle, kind soul,� Perry said. �He led a simple life and was content to find uses for other things that people threw away.�Harris, his wife and two daughters moved from New Hampshire to Brinkhaven, Ohio, in 1973. They then moved in 1975 to Gambier, where he opened the shop because there was a market... (Columbus Dispatch)
