Clothes for Night Riding
 

Twenty five to thirty years ago Ed Kearney of Bicycle Lighting Systems in Fallbrook, VA stated that white clothing made the best sense at night. Ed suggested getting a set of the white trousers that hospital staff and Good Humor drivers wear. Barring totally reflective clothing coated with 3M type bright silver reflective cloth tape he made sense. I would like a feeling for what some of you out there are using. Not the lights and blinkies and strobes and reflective vests, just the cloths and nothing but the cloths. I confess that in the predawn dim light this AM I had a black coat and black tights on.

Illumilite has a whole series of clothing that looks 'normal' daytime but is highly reflective at night. Pricey . . .

I know this Illuminite you speak of. After a few dozen launderings the reflectiveness was almost gone. I use plastic reflective tape now, sewing extra pieces onto my vest when I get them for free. What I am trying for here is to get a feel for what color cloth people use or would like to use. Counting white as a color.

I wear all black. It works well to blend into your natural environment.

Blending in is important. No sense in standing out in a crowd, you might just be a better target.

Fluorescent yellow here, but I think multiple reflectors is more important.

I think there should be a cycling institute that has among it's divisions...a commuting saftey section. Some of you would be uniquely qualified to test and evaluate various products designed to make cycling safer. Think of it as a cycling think tank. If I win the lottery I will start one and begin taking applications. In the meantime..there's always BF

What's a "Good Humor" driver? If you ask me, they all are pretty cranky. Oh sure, some are laughing as they try to run you down. But that's not good humor, it's maniacal laughter.

Well... you know, some people here might not know what a "Good Humor" man is. Uhm... was. But then, they probably never heard of chasing down the milkman for handfulls of ice either. Jeeze, what planet am I from?

Okay, I try to wear an outer layer of high viz lime. Stays bright at twilight. Probably not so good at night. A white t-shirt is probably good enough, pants being overkill. Anyway, I was thinking today that I should cut the fingers of some cheap white work gloves that I have, and wear them over my bike gloves for hand signals.

All clothes are the same color in the absence of light - black. Get reflectors and lights if you want to be seen by motorists in the dark.

I'm with I-Like-to-Bike. I let my lights announce my presence. In colder weather, I have a green windbreaker with reflective strips and black bib tights which also have reflective strips. When it's warmer, I just go wtih a jersey and shorts, nothing reflective. The lights are the first thing other people see. So long as I am seated between the lights, I don't see a need to alter my wardrobe.
Plus, I've found that non-black shorts/tights cost more.

I gave up on trying to A) find normal clothing of a lighter color and B) cycling specific clothing in colors I would wear:rolleyes: I just wear whatever I want and put a ANSI reflective vest on over whatever I happen to have on, as well as using lights and blinkies on the bike. At the height of my commuting days I was wearing whatever uniform was given me and considering the fact I was in maintenance most of the time they were either dark brown or dark blue. When bar tending, black pants were the uniform of the day...and our hospital scrubs were the ubiquitous surgical green, not a particularly vibrant color.:p Besides the vest can be stashed in the saddle bag for instant use.

Aaron:)

No it's not. It's slightly reflective when new. Nothing like reflectrive tape or a reflector. Don't bother with it unless you need the clothing anyway.

Along with a multitude of lights I also wear an ANSI class II reflective vest. It's much, much brighter than any of the illuminite stuff. In the picture below you can see a bit of the illuminite vest (upper chest/neck area) I'm wearing under the ANSI vest. It's not the greatest comparison picture, but it gives you an idea how much brighter the ANSI vest is.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...6/IMG_0234.jpg

In addition to my lighting. . . I always wear my safety vest but if I know I will be riding at night I put on a white "underarmor" type shirt in lieu of a jersey. With white arms in conjunction with the reflective patches on the gloves I feel like it helps vis when signaling. That being said-they probably don't see me anyway

I usually wear black clothes, too. I use lights, reflectors, a reflective jacket, reflective pants retainers, and reflective patches on my shoes and shoe covers as well, but as far as clothing, it's always black shorts or pants, and a black or dark top. Hadn't given much thought to the color of my clothes before--thanks for the thread.

I go with hi-vis lime, orange or yellow. And lights.

White is great for night but most often my commute is twilight. I find that to my eyes lime stands out better in low-light than white does. Plus white is color of the line down the side of the road near where I'm riding. I don't want to be mistaken.

:roflmao:

GD

Thanks for the responses all. Some good stuff there. I found an all-white long sleeved jersey one page 30 of the catalog I got from www.velowear.com . I'll get one if I get put on swing shift. Will consider getting a set of white tights from Foxwear if my temp job goes Perm. We all have our little fantasies and one of mine is to have a rain-wind suit made entirely of reflective cloth tape. Start a few UFO stories with that one :D .

Those construction worker ANSI 2 reflective vests are the best bang-for-buck be-seen piece of equipment a cyclist can buy.

Oh, I don't know - this little gem is awfully cheap and provides active lighting... http://www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm...96%26start%3D1 and the sheer hideousness of the thing pushes cars over into the next lane. I think it uses some secret East-German force-field-of-ugliness technology. ;)

I usually stick with some kind of reflective vest and whatever happens to work for the weather. I cant justify going out and spending a ton on clothes just to be visible at night especially when my riding at night only adds up to about 1 hour worth a week.

Just the clothes? I just wear whatever, most of it pretty dark colors or varying shades of gray.

The color of the clothes is immaterial when you're outfitted like Here and There, with active lights, redundant active lights, and reflective material.

Oh,yeah. Something I forgot to add: Clothes can make a big difference during daylight, when lights don't stand out so well. Then I go with bright, solid colors, or a ANSI II vest.

It's not the planet, its the century. That being said, I just ordered some IllumiNITE stuff, jacket and pants, mostly because I needed to replace the stuff I had and Performance was having a sale. I really believe there is no substitute for good, high quality and quantity lighting though, My night commutes will be running 4 headlights and 5 rear blinkies, including one of each on my helmet, two headlights on the lower part of my fork and blinkies under the seat, on each seat stay and on the rack. Let the UFO sightings begin.

+1 on the reflective construction vest. I notice that drivers give me more space when I am wearing the vest, day or night. I have a blinky (rear) and a Mini-Maglite LED light (front) on my helmet, a taillight, and a dynamo-powered headlight. Light colored clothing does help if you are not wearing a vest. The DUI bikers around here almost always have dark clothes and no lights. They are almost invisible when I pass them. Car headlights pick them up to a degree, but they are risking their lives through ignorance and denial. Of course, that also explains the DUI that put them on a bicycle.