asmac

It's in Spanish but you'll get the idea:
Seņalizador de la distancia de seguridad para bicicletas Bicyline


Edit: or in English... I missed that:
https://distanciador.com/epages/f8224...ue_es_Bicyline

AlmostTrick

Seems like unless the rider stayed in or near the gutter they'd be blocking much of the road. The rider in the picture is about to curb crunch his pedal. No thanks.

I'd rather just move out from the curb/gutter/edge a few feet. I would like to hear reports from riders who have actually used these "warning wands".

Buffalo Buff

If you are riding where you describe, are you ok with cars passing you within arms distance? I don't ride next to the curb either, but I'm not comfortable with a car passing me any closer than this tool would try to prevent.

Is there somewhere I could order one of these?

Shimagnolo

Click on "Comprar" to bring up the order page.
19.95 Euros plus 7.99 for worldwide shipping.

gregf83 

Looks a little dorky. Wouldn't work for me as I have to ride on bridge sidewalks that don't have anything close to 3' of clearance.

Ironically, Spain had the most respectful drivers I've ever encountered.

Shimagnolo

Watch the video. It can be easily retracted/extended while riding.

kickstart

Under no circumstance would I use such a device. If my skills and confidence ever slip that far, I no longer belong on the road.

From a practical standpoint it simply wouldn't work for how and where I ride. It would constantly be hitting objects, people, and vehicles. Endlessly worrying about extending, and retracting it would be a distraction far more hazardous than the issue it supposedly addresses.

Busch & Muller has long offered a much more reasonable version for timid, and unskilled cyclists that isn't a menace to the user and others.
https://www.internet-bikes.com/en/94...-32-cm-orange/

asmac

Here you go: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/foru...&nested=0&v=1V

Aubergine 

I want to make something like that, but strong enough to hold a flashing rear light on the outside. The specific purpose I have in mind is for winding roads that do not have shoulders, such as much of the Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon. When cars come around a blind right turn, they would see the flasher and be ready to react a bit sooner.

genec

Well it is rather interesting... it is quite flexible, so it will "give way" if hit... it is reflective, thus it shows the needed distance at night, and due to the way it is mounted, it is easily retractable while riding. My biggest fear about this particular device is that it looks so robust, that I would wonder what might happen if some motorist DID hit it, and that "warning end piece" got lodged into the car grill or any other crack/crevice on a car... you might just get tugged along.

kickstart

Chicken stick on a bicycle, pedestrian with retractable dog leash, motor vehicles with excessive appendages, some things are just bad ideas.

79pmooney

This is a variation of something we talked about 40 years ago but that I am not sure anyone actually did. Mount a wire of say spoke gauge that stuck out say a foot past your body. It would scrape the paint of anyone passing that close. (I think it should have a small "claw" that would gather a paint sample.)

I have had enough close calls that were completely intentional recently that I have seriously considered doing that. (Maybe the marker outt here, set up so it would just slide off if hit, would be good. Keep the paint scrape feature. WIth the reflectopr you have a strong case that your implement that could damage a car was well marked and you have proof that the car passed at a very unsafe distance. (Oregon isn't 3'. Safe distance until 35 mph then room to allow a cyclist to crash to the roadside out of the blue. Even at less than 35 mph, I suspect a jury that was asked to consider their own son, daughter or spouse would agree that 12" isn't save.)

Ben

79pmooney

That's my concern. Had a pickup pass missing by inches with his mirror and a farm truck with a flatbed trailer pass me to set up the left turn into his farm giving me 8' total clearance. Had that device altered my course at all and I couldn't have made it when that trailer passed. Neither of these were accidental. The pickup promptly served back to center of the lane after he passed me and hit the gas. Driver was a known screwup. I didn't see his face so couldn't establish the driver. (The truck was owned by his girlfriend. He had a restraining order against him, blocking him from driving that truck. Deputy said they couldn't take action but that he would get a visit and be told they knew of his passing me.) Maybe those drivers would have seen the reflector and decided not tho hit it, but I am not sure I would want to bet my welfare on that.

Ben

Shimagnolo

Ive had several intentional close calls this year, and one that may have been due to mental/visual impairment, (I caught him at a light to give him a piece of my mind and the old geezers last words as I left were "I didn't know where the road was").

I was considering a thin flexible whip much like the Spanish site is selling, but with a replaceable paintball round on the end to mark a car that hit it. (Of course this could be washed off.)

In the meantime, I'm wearing a camera.

catgita

California law would require passing no closer than 3 feet from the end of that device.
But I think one loop around the block would shread the thing.

Dave Cutter

+1 On the streets I travel.... riding in the gutter is pretty hard on tubes and tires. Too much debris and general crap that close to the curb.

I think many of the marketed cycling gadgets aren't invented by cyclists.

genec

LOL... no doubt by one of the many visitors to this site that are trying to "invent" something for a college paper...

CrippledKonaBoy

I like the theory behind it, but the possibility of "catching" on something isn't addressed.

Some people here, who think a 12" pass is safe, obviously have little to live for. I am not so philosophical as to say, "Well, a miss is as good as a mile" when it comes to my travels on a bike.

Sorry, but if we have "all the rights and duties" of motor vehicle driver, as all 50 assert, then cars can just damned well CHANGE LANES TO PASS.

AlmostTrick

In the video it shows how the rod slides in a tube mounted to the top tube of the bike. In the Crazyguy on a bike review posted by asmac above, someone in the comments addressed your concern by saying it would simply be pulled out of the tube, which after seeing how it operates in the sellers video, made sense to me. I wouldn't be afraid of being tugged by a vehicle with this thing, but I still have no interest in using one.

Someone in the crazy guy comments also posted this interesting version:

digger

Does it come in carbon fibre?

GravelMN

That's what I want . . . someone clipping that at 55mph.

Chris0516

Hmmmm....I will stick with 'taking the lane'.

AlmostTrick

Thanks... I don't think anyone here questioned that.

For riders who glue themselves to the edge of the road, (which is most of them around here) I think this gadget would help, or at least not hurt. I wouldn't stick it out 3 feet though, maybe 2. Drivers will still try to avoid it by a couple feet, which will be plenty.

In my regular position almost all motorists will give me more than an arms distance. I could never touch them. If I start getting many close passes, I move left.

kickstart

The most aggressive and reckless pass I've experienced in the past couple of years was when I was riding within 12" of the DY on a 2 lane road, signaling a left turn. If I didn't pull in my arm they would have hit it.

Those few drivers who are actually a threat are going to respect a stick when they don't respect a cyclists arm? I don't think so.

Chris0516

I took a look at it. Entertaining the thought of possibly using it. But I was not impressed by what I saw.