I got one of those blinking red lights as a gift when I subscribed to Ride magazine. I don't want to attach it to my carbon seat stays, and my seat post is not available as my bag is there, so I guess my only option is to use the elastic and put it on my arm.

How big of a dork will that look like? Out of all the riders I have seen, only one or two have had blinking red lights. I must admit, they were very noticeable to me, but, then, I am attuned to noticing cyclists. Can you attach the light to the seat bag? You may have to poke a hole in the bag, and run a screw through it (reinforce it so the hole doesn't expand). Or maybe there's a way you could attach it to your helmet. As for the dork factor, fuggeddaboudit. Cyclists here run the gamut wrt. visibility, responsibility, etc. I have noticed, however, that even people without helmets or headlights will often have red rear blinkies. They're not exactly ubiquitous, but of all safety equipment, it's about the most common.

In the day I wear shirts with "Colors" associated with "Caution and Warning" signs. Yellow, Orange or sometimes white. I work nights so I dont ride at night. :(

Can you attach the light to the seat bag? You may have to poke a hole in the bag, and run a screw through it (reinforce it so the hole doesn't expand). Or maybe there's a way you could attach it to your helmet. As for the dork factor, fuggeddaboudit. Cyclists here run the gamut wrt. visibility, responsibility, etc. I have noticed, however, that even people without helmets or headlights will often have red rear blinkies. They're not exactly ubiquitous, but of all safety equipment, it's about the most common.

Ubiquitous? Is that near Madison? :D

I never thought about attaching it to the seat bag. Great idea, thanks!

>How big of a dork will that look like?
Perhaps another solution might work better? I don't know but here's my experience so far.

I've had my new bike out twice before installing the red blinky. Nearly hit a couple of times (EACH way). So a total of 4 close calls. Now for the past 2 commutes the blinky was on the whole time. NO close calls. i.e., cars give plenty of room while passing and NO body pulling out front.

Close call = I can kick the car as he's passing or I have to break hard to NOT hit the car.

Ubiquitous? Is that near Madison? :D I think it's somewhere between communicado and cognito.

Oh, as a last resort, if I'm on a bike without a blinky, I'll clip on a clip-on blinky to the back of my clothes somewhere.

I like the tail light high and fimly attached. The back of the luggage rack is good. Right now I'm not using a rack so it's attached to the seat tube with an extension so it's aft of the seat stays and slightly under the seat bag.

Al

In the day I wear shirts with "Colors" associated with "Caution and Warning" signs. Yellow, Orange or sometimes white. I work nights so I dont ride at night. :(

Where do you get such a shirt? And are they cool-max also?

I had a car almost brush me today, I was doing 12 mph uphill, they skimmed past at about 70. It was fullest late morning daylight, and I had a solid red led on my seat stay. I fear it's not as much about visibility as it is about the driver...

Where do you get such a shirt? And are they cool-max also?

I got some bright neon orange and neon yellow jerseys from performance a while back. They were onsale for $20 I think. They do work great - cars don't seem to pull out in front of me near as much anymore.

LSS Safety supply corp has some annoyingly bright t-shirts. Don't forget the hi-viz pants too!
http://www.labsafety.com/store/dept.asp?dept_id=609

LSS Safety supply corp has some annoyingly bright t-shirts. Don't forget the hi-viz pants too!
http://www.labsafety.com/store/dept.asp?dept_id=609

>Comes in L, XL, XXL, XXXL
Gads ... Only big dogs need hi viz? :o I can re-size a Men's small to fit but nada on the L. I'll keep look'n

I had a car almost brush me today, I was doing 12 mph uphill, they skimmed past at about 70. It was fullest late morning daylight, and I had a solid red led on my seat stay. I fear it's not as much about visibility as it is about the driver...

While I was bikeless, I watched other cyclists. Seems when we wear a hi viz shirt, all I see is the shirt and not the bike esp from the front. When we have a blinky and the hi viz, from the back, I see a post shape, not much depth or width.

Fellow-Geeks take heart! :D
Seems like the bikes I saw the best were ones that showed the whole profile of the bike. So a guy with viz on the legs, wheels, headlight, hi viz shirt, and blinky showed up best to me (from my car or truck). Maybe other drivers have additional insight.

LSS Safety supply corp has some annoyingly bright t-shirts. Don't forget the hi-viz pants too!
http://www.labsafety.com/store/dept.asp?dept_id=609

I ordered a lime and an orange T-shirt ($8 ea. - $12 ea. inc./S&H) from this vendor earlier this week:
http://www.alertshirt.com/higvisshirfo.html

Not sure yet if they will be comfortable for me, but I found this vendor from some cycling discussion on the net.

Al

LSS Safety supply corp has some annoyingly bright t-shirts. Don't forget the hi-viz pants too!
http://www.labsafety.com/store/dept.asp?dept_id=609

The Green might be more noticeable in an urban environment because the eye is much more sensitive to green than to red (depending on the color of the sunglass lens), and it looks more reflective or brighter in the picture. The red looks dull, but might be better in a sunny rural environment as the green might not have enough contrast against the grasses and the trees.

If you want to stand out, I'd go with international orange which stands out against almost any background and is highly reflective. However, if it doesn't cool like a true bike jersey, you might be endangering oneself due reduced mental acuity because of increased fatigue caused by being hotter. Then too, how dark and of what color are the driver's sunglasses? That could negate the gain in contrast/visibility.

I've been unable to find a jersey that provides exceptionally good cooling, like some of the better Canondales, that are also highly visible. That's one of the reasons I rely on powerful "dawn to dusk" lights. So I wear Canondales (I don't even own a Canondale bike) and take advantage of the new LED technology to be both visible and cool.

However, in bright sunlight nothing beats an international orange flag on a 6+ foot pole mounted on the left chainstay and tilted slightly into the lane. It's so visible, irrespective of the sunglasses, in part because it constantly moves back and forth across the approaching driver's field of view and it can more often than not be seen by drivers that are behind the one that is just overtaking the biker. Used one for years, but now I'm too interested in drag reduction to use one. Could be a mistake, especially in bright sunlight.

Al

Try http://www.safetyline.com and go to the "coveralls" section - they have yellow and orange polyester t-shirts that are very visible and do a good job of keeping you cool, too. They have both long and short sleeved T's and the prices are more reasonable than most "bike suppliers."

John

How big of a dork will that look like? Out of all the riders I have seen, only one or two have had blinking red lights. I must admit, they were very noticeable to me, but, then, I am attuned to noticing cyclists.

A live one?

I talking plain white,yellow t shirts from your favorite clothing store. :D

>Comes in L, XL, XXL, XXXL
Gads ... Only big dogs need hi viz? :o I can re-size a Men's small to fit but nada on the L. I'll keep look'n

The one noise beam posted comes in medium too hehe.

The Green might be more noticeable in an urban environment because the eye is much more sensitive to green than to red

Neon lime green was actually cited as being something like 30% more visible than red in a study where they compared the accident rates for several thousand runs of fire trucks from a dept painted red or green where the cars that hit it claimed they didn't see the truck. Plus it does look more noticeable.