I'm going to give a reflective vest...
 

... to a guy who commutes regularly at night. We cross paths frequently (I take the car in the evenings to pick up my mom from a nursing home), and this winter it freaked me out to see him on the road only until I was about 10 meters behind him. Old, beat-up bike, no reflectors, regular/dark-ish clothing.

I know a reflective vest is probably not enough (but it has LEDs!), but I hope this keeps the guy from getting killed.

Good on yer.

I used to try and hand out cheap blinkys to folks I saw rolling ninja. But most of them didn't want them. One woman even said,"well,you saw me didn't you?". I still try to carry an extra with me,just in case.

Reflective vests are good! I don't use one consistently, but I use headlight and tail light consistently.

Good idea...

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=363051

You can offer it to him, but there is no guarantee that he would take it. Not everyone likes to draw attention to themselves with their clothing. He might be more receptive to reflectors or reflective tape on the bike.

good luck with your plan

hey 10-wheels - how you doin?

very nice. hope he uses it , I would if I did not already have one

I've been tempted to do the same thing. Let us know how it goes.

+1. I've befriended a guy on the bus that like me, puts his bike on the bus and I have been trying to think of the best way to approach him, because he has no reflective clothing or lights. I don't think he even has gloves in this freezing weather and he rides his bike to the bus regardless of the conditions.

If you already wear a vest, you could upgrade yours and ask if wants the old one. Or you could say you got a buy one get one free. Or you could just tell him the truth (I couldn't see you at all this morning).

I recommend that people in cold weather carry plastic bags as an emergency way to block freezing rain. Looks quite silly, but that ain't the point...

Good ideas. The wrong approach might put him off.

I'm thinking: What the heck are you going to do with those little plastic bags you get grocery shopping? Until I realized you meant garbage bags :)

The shopping bags work well for hands or feet in emergencies... Hefty bags make great rain jackets in a pinch.

I wish more joggers and walkers would use reflectives . . .

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=363698 Here's mine! I found this hunting vest for about 4 dollars on clearance at a local sporting goods store. I made some improvements sewing in clips inside the pockets to hold keys and stuff and ironed on patches on front and reflective patches on the back.

I've been meaning to catch the guy I have in mind, as I frequently run into him at night, but last week that didn't happen.

But on Friday, while driving back home on the highway, a ninja was biking on the shoulder, evidently back from work at one of the highway-side suburbs - it was dark, foggy, and he had no reflectants or lights at all. I pulled over, gave him the vest, and he seemed thankful. He put it on immediately.

These vests are cheap, so I think I'll carry one or two and give them away as appropriate. Haven't really researched cheap lights to give away.

That is a great story, glad that they guy you have the vest to put it on and I hope it keeps him safer.

I have often thought about buying a bunch of cheap little LED lights and give them away to the ninja's I encounter. I have seen some for under $2 on Amazon. Not sure how good they are, but better then nothing for some people. I have often wondered how many people would want take them and how many people want to be a ninja.

Put them around your hands and feet.

Did he seem freaked out as you stopped? I'm not sure how I would react if I saw someone trying to pull over and/or stop near where I was riding.

I ordered a Knog Beetle 2-LED Bicycle Light on Amazon tonight for $7. It should arrive on Wednesday, so hopefully I can give it to "CJ" on Thursday or Friday. I did introduce myself a couple of weeks ago and I asked him his name. I see him on a regular basis on the bus (it's been too cold for me to do my full commute), so I am not a complete stranger. I'll try to post an update before the weekend.

I passed the guy, and made my turn about 800 meters after I passed him, from the highway onto a side road that leads to the place I was going. I parked the car and waited for the cyclist. The highway is uphill in that direction, so he was going slowly, and I just said hi and explained how hard it was to see him.

But you raise a good point! Just stopping the car and getting out to talk to a cyclist could be freaky. I'll keep that in mind :)

I actually have two vests. One is a blaze red hunters vest which I use if visibility is reduced, or if I have to ride in heavy (but slow moving) traffic, which I haven't had to do since I lived in N. Van. I also have a fluorescent yellow vest with reflective strips for night riding.

I never understand the idea of riding ninja...and yup I even leave the reflectors on my wheels(as well as having reflective tires).

There is a substantial number of working-class people here (I hate the term, but you know what I mean) that use bikes to get to work. Gardeners, builders, that sort of job. Most grab the handiest bike they can; they are often old beaters, with no reflectors or lights or anything. These people can't afford bicycles with all the fittings.

Federico, you could be describing a great many areas in the US.

Gave this to CJ this morning. Hopefully he will use it.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=364298

we have a lot of ninja riders here, but they are usually out selling dope and are trying to be invisible to the police, they will paint their bikes flat black, and wear dark clothes, then weave in and out of traffic on the wrong side of the roads. quick getaway if they see a cop, they ride off, ditch the bike and vanish in the woods, cops dont even bother to look for them

Good luck. There are a lot of people who are more hung up on their appearance than safety.
If somebody handed me a reflective vest before I was 21 it would go straight into the nearest trash can. I was way too worried about what my friends would think and that they might laugh at me. Most of that silliness went away when I turned 50. :)

There are still plenty of folks who simply don't realize how hard they are to see on a bike. I rode 50 feet behind a friend wearing black tights and a dark gray jersey on an slightly-foggy overcast day. She blended right into the pavement and the only reason I saw her was because I knew to look for her. A car traveling at the speed limit on that road would not be able to slow in time to avoid rear-ending her. Happily she went shopping and has a few hot pink jerseys that she wears often; and she is upgrading her lights.

Some other friends who are very experienced cyclists don't believe it when I tell them how hard they are to see when they wear their dark non-reflective gear/clothes at night and have a cheap blinkie with a next-to-dead battery. At least I tried.

I'm going to give a reflective vest...
 

The new girlfriend is going to start riding her
12 mile r/t commute this spring. She is not an experienced city rider as she grew up in the country.

Her bike needed fixing up.
I offered to do so IF she promised to wear a reflective vest.

She gave me a nasty look, but agreed...

Oh, yes! Chalk one up for me! ... It'll probably be all downhill from here :/ ;)

Better your ex-girlfriend than the one you visit yearly in the cemetery. (You can tell her that comment was made - that ought to help the nasty look...)

It continually amazes me, that people don't walk away from their bike in the dark, from the front, and the rear, to see how visible the bike is after dark. Any changes I make, I always check from all directions. I walk to where a car might be and sometimes crouch a little to where a drivers point of view could be. I'll bring a light to test new reflective things. I also walk to the rear right and left sides of the bike, to test the view from an angle.
When I get to know new riders I often show this to them and we make changes with lights or reflective material to their bike. Just a few days ago I showed a rider who had his tail light on the seat post, and totally blocked by his rear rack, what it looked like from the rear. This guy lives in a city and finishes almost all his rides by going home in the dark. I moved his tail light. I also explained why we took his rear facing white reflector off and changed it to red.