mechBgon

~~~ Update ~~~

I went out on the highway and stuck my camera on a fiberglass highway marker, and shot a video of these self-illuminating goodies. Here are a couple pieces of it:

Me riding away from camera
Me riding back to camera

A couple hints:

1) if you press ALT + 3, Windows Media Player goes to double-size mode (recommended)

2) if you have a slow connection, right-click the links above and use the Save Target As option, then play the videos after downloading them.

And here are some low-quality screen captures from those:








Now, if the camera had a headlight, the reflective materials would reflect yellow, so keep in mind this is mainly the effect that will be seen when headlights aren't hitting me. A person about to pull out of a side street into my path comes to mind as an example.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I just got these (PolyBrite "poncho-style" vest and PolyBrite belt):


The reflective tape is wider than on my other vest and it goes further down both the front and back. Below the black strap across the chest, you can see the vinyl battery pouch through the mesh.



Here's the battery case. It's got a gasket and is held shut with a couple of small Phillips screws.



Cameras can be made to do all sorts of stuff, but I tried different exposure levels until I got one that looked like what my eyes see. Monitors vary too, this will look much darker on my old crummy monitor at home, so that's just a best-effort shot.




Here's the belt. It feels pretty sturdy. Same battery case and stuff.



The belt has LEDs in four places around the perimeter. Again, this is my best effort at making the camera show what my eyes saw.

jyossarian

While this stuff is made for keeping you safe and visible, I really wish sometimes that instead of stripes, they'd put an illuminated skull and cross bones on the vest. That'd be cool.

BTW, can you get just the stripes w/ the LEDs and battery pack? I wear a backpack so I'd be interested in lighting that up instead by maybe velcroing the stripes all over the pack and it's sides and putting the battery pack in the bag or in the side mesh pocket. And maybe add a flaming skull.

mechBgon

A flaming skull, YES! LOL, people would probably keep asking you where to get one though

If you have a local store that sells hunting stuff, see if they have a cheap US$5 reflective vest like in my pic below, you could harvest the tape off of it and you got at least 2 meters of tape for $5 that way:

https://www.mechbgon.com/visibility/light.jpg

2manybikes

Your project is never going to be over....

mechBgon

The first post is updated, with movies and pics of the items in outdoor use (in a snowstorm ).

jyossarian

Dude, where do I get those skull blinkies? I NEED those!

As for hunting stuff in NYC, it's a little rare, but I will try some of the fabric stores around here. They might sell reflective tape than I can ugly up my bag with.

mechBgon

If you PM me your mailing address, I'll mail you the tape off my old reflective vest, no charge It's not as if I can use two at once

Big Gay Bob

Those vests remind me of the one my mentally challenged cousin had to wear to school.

SpiderMike

Could always put either the wristbands or the tags on the backpack. https://www.polybrite.com/rcs.htm

Wish I could find a fabric store that sales the sheets of reflective material. Then the reflective skull/cross bones could be a reality. Muwahahahahaha

2manybikes

They are all over the internet. There are a few on Ebay.

Get the cheap vest with reflective tape and just put it over your back pack. Then you get the orange for the day and the reflective tape for the dark. It's cheap and easy.

timmhaan

the top light on your seatpost (closest to the saddle) really catches my eye. Do you know what light that is?

mechBgon

That's a Cateye LD1000 running in its steady mode (it can also run flashing, of course). They're very focused, so aim can be important. Nashbar has a sale on them, if you're planning a Nashbar order I bought mine locally at Wheelsport.

timmhaan

i might look into it. thanks. it's definitely very visible. would i need another light with it - for side visibilty? i'd probably use a couple anyway...

mechBgon

Here's a video clip of me walking around the bike, including side views.

https://www.omnicast.net/~tmcfadden/b...walkaround.wmv

The LD1000 is on the top there, and the one on the bottom is the NiteRider taillight. I agree about having a backup blinkie, and there are lots of affordable ones to chose from... a Cateye LD500 with the clear body might be a candidate, with its claim to fame being that it's a full-on CPSC-approved red reflector as well as a blinkie.

jyossarian

Send my address to a complete stranger on the internet for some free reflective tape? OK! You've got a PM from me. Thanks mech!

mechBgon

No problem, and may I suggest you pick up reflective legbands if you don't have some The motion of them, combined with them being low enough to catch the "hot spot" of low-beam headlights at closer ranges, makes them a great way to spend $10 IMHO. The ones with glossy tape are preferable over the ones with satin-finish tape, I believe, because the glossy stuff stays reflective when wet.

Your vest will go out in the mail today

jyossarian

Great, thanks mech! BTW, I'm using the older type geek straps on my pants and have been contemplating upgrading to the newer, more yellow geek straps. I wonder if there's enough tape for me to spell out "Don't hit me!" on my bag...

ghettocruiser

Extra style and accuracy points for actually going out on a snowy highway for the pics rather than just turning off the lights in the room.

I've been meaning to shoot a video drive-by of me in a car to see what stands out and what doesn't. (as opposed to an actual drive-by)

Karst

I assume this is the same light belt:


https://www.uflash.com/sportvest.html

mechBgon

It looks like the same one. I got mine from https://www.hivis.biz for a little less money. They even sent me a bag of Famous Amos cookies!