Bikey Mikey

I also meant to mention that in the dark/dusk, I wear a blinky on the back, middle pocket of my jersey. "Three lights?" I wear the one on my Jersey so that if I'm off the bike, I can be noticed. In the winter or when cold enough where I'm wearing my softshell jacket, I clip it onto the back of my collar since the pockets are zipped up.

Cougrrcj

On my rides, I wear a mesh orange safety vest with reflective wide lime/yellow strips - AND I use a Xenon strobe facing the rear. My commute was on a moderately-heavy busy state highway with 55 and 45 mph zones and debris-filled shoulders- so I ride within inches of the white fog line. No other routes available. Most of the other country roads out here in the boonies have little- to no shoulder.

'Fashion Police' be damned! I'll take increased visibility any time!

jim p

The more that you can do to be visible the better. I don't like lights because they need batteries. I would like to have some fluorescent yellow socks with reflective material. I think that visible motion gets attention quicker than just color.

I really like seeing the bikes and riders all rigged up for night riding with tube lighting wrapped all over the bikes and themselves. It may look ridiculous but if I was riding at night I would love to have it.

One other thing to think about. In most states it is legal to drive with 20/40 vision. If you have 20/20 vision you may not realize what 20/40 vision is all about. It is almost like taking low power reading glasses and then going for a drive. This fact alone can put a new take on why accidents happen because someone was not seen.

Ali_Pine

--Why didn't you see him?

WC89

I try to be visible. Can't say that I do 100% of the time, though. I do have hi-viz yellow/green jerseys (winter and summer) that are definitely in my jersey rotation. Most other jerseys are bright colors (red, orange, white, green, yellow) except for one (actually my favorite jersey/bibs set), which is predominantly black, but with bright red accents down the center of the back and on the sleeves. I try to only wear it when riding with a group, or solo on a bright sunny day.

I will say that when very dreary out, or foggy, or rainy, and riding solo, I make a point to wear hi-viz jerseys.

rumrunn6

op - I hear ya! I too pride myself on being observant for cyclists and courteous. this weekend on a typical NE tree lined road way, 1 lane in ea direction, speed limit about 35 and many people go 40 or a touch over. being 2 lanes there isn't much extra room for bikes. I see a knucklehead riding the wrong way (my side) on the sidewalk, on a mountain bike without a helmet. so he's got my attention ... I like to give a little extra room "just in case" so as I'm thinking of staying a touch further away from my right shoulder I notice on coming traffic so I know I have to stay in my lane. but then what do I see? riding in the opposite lane, also coming toward me (but going the correct direction and correctly in the roadway) is a recumbant, but he's barely visivle because he is in deep shade and wearing black. must be on suicide mission on a recumbent wearing black. he's got 1 small red flag which does nothing - I saw his black mass before the flag. but as I'm driving I have to calculate both oncoming bikes plus on coming traffic. I know the oncoming traffic is going to have to go around the recumbent at the last second when they finally see him and they are not slowing so I have to slow and move right hoping the MTB knucklehead stay put on the sidewalk. what if I was a teen texting and swerving? bad bad recipe. so many people dress in black thinking everyone will be looking out for them and will have time and room to be courteous. they are so wrong.

berner

I do everything I can think off to improve my safety on the bike because my ability to recover from the consequences of a bike/motor vehicle collision are either nil or poor. Color wise, Rowan raises a good point in that yellow/green, or what advertising people call screaming yellow, is the most visible. I have noticed that this color is still visible as a cyclist goes from bright sun into shade. I no longer wear any other color jersey.

rumrunn6

yup ... & the new safety color that cops wear, day-glo lime green/yellow can be seen by color blind motorists. it's ugly as sin but it can be spotted very far away and is immediately recognizable as a person and to use caution approaching. they key is not are you seen, but when are you seen. sure a driver can see you bounce off their windshield but ideally they see us well in advance so that they can make any lane or speed corrections early, or plan them early

Dudelsack 

I saw bow-coo cyclists on my ride yesterday and the majority of them were wearing hi-vis.

Someone needs to design a hi-vis jersey that isn't butt ugly.

jyl

I'd like a larger selection of high-viz helmets. Every now and again I'll see a motorcyclist with a high-viz helmet and it stands out like a beacon.

Anyone have experience spray painting a bicycle helmet in a high-viz color of choice?

I've read warnings that painting a helmet could damage the material. Is that overly cautious? Does acrylic paint damage plastic? Could you apply clear tape to the helmet, then spray onto that tape? And isn't the structural part of the helmet is the hard foam interior, not so much the thin plastic cover?

stapfam

Probably the Same reason as My mate got knocked off his bike the other week by a car. He blended into the background with the speed limit signs- the direction signs- the traffic lights up ahead and the many other things the driver was looking out for. It also did not help in that the rider was not wearing bright clothes.

Zinger

OK I just ordered a Nashbar tall man's "Errol" jersey in bright blue. It's bright. It's tall. It's cheap. And I'll probably wear my tall man's red Aerotech mostly on the bike trail......matches my bar tape....

bruce19

I don't want a Neon even if it is yellow.

stapfam

Just posted a video of a ride and some of the colours stand out and some don't. My mate Mick rides in a Team Sky jersey that is Black--With a light blue stripe down the back.He stands out a mile from the back but from the front he could blend into the background- Except for the Sickly yellow arm warmers he uses most of the time. He also has front and rear blinkies that flash. I normally wear a yellow windproof but IF warm enough it will be just be the 50+jersey or several others that have contrasting colours. The plain grey- white and purple jerseys are used in winter when they will be covered by the bright coloured top coats.

rumrunn6

https://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/want-...g-on-high-vis/

Mountain Mitch

I don't want to win an argument about why I should have been seen after I'm flattened by a car - I just want to do everything I reasonably can to make sure I am seen and the driver, however old, tired, inexperienced or distracted, has every chance of not hitting me. Saying "you should have seen me" is cold comfort! This isn't an academic debate about who's right or wrong. This is a matter of survival.

I was out after 6 PM last night and there were some long shadows across the highway. My riding partner pointed out to me that the jersey I had unthinkingly put on (a stylish asphalt grey) blended perfectly into the background; and I was nearly invisible, especially in the heavy shadows. That jersey is being transferred permanently to the mountain biking drawer!

As far as 'cell-phone coverage' is concerned, many of the areas I ride have little or no coverage. I purchased a SPOT satellite device for emergency use. They are definitely worth looking into if you ride 'off the grid' a lot.

Thanks for the reminder.

ModeratedUser150120149

By coincidence today I received the periodic publication from my insurance company. It's emphasis is on all the new safety things being built into new cars, or coming in the future. Anti-collision radar, electronic intersection connection between cars and traffic control devices,and so forth. All this should help vehicles but how about cyclists?

Will drivers be so busy monitoring all that gee whiz stuff they won't have time to see us, no matter what we wear? Better budget for a radar transponder I guess.

zonatandem

In our 40 years of cycling have been hit hard 3 times.
Each time the same excuse: "I didn't see you" . . .we wear bright yellow and also bright orange. All 3 hits were in daylight.
Two of them at around 50+ mph (pickup trucks) and one slo-motion at a 4 way stop sign by a youngster who just got his driver's license and stopped, looked both ways stepped on the gas and hit us as we were midway of our turn on our tandem.
Inattentive/inexperienced . . .

volosong

Don't have the slightest idea how 'up-to-date' on the tech stuff you are, Jim, but I understand your reluctance to use lights with disposable batteries. AA powered lights aren't all that bright anyway. The latest generation of lights have built-in batteries that recharge via a USB port. You can recharge them either on your computer, (assuming it has USB ports), or an inexpensive AC/USB converter.

Whenever I get back from a ride, I put the front strobe and rear strobe on recharge so that they are ready to go for the next ride. It really is not an inconvenience. For nighttime riding, I do use a light with an external battery. It has a cradle to recharge via A/C. More than once, I've had oncoming cars flash their high beams at me because my light is so bright. It is 3,600 lumen! But, I usually use it on half power to get more hours out of a ride. At night, I keep the front and rear strobes also. It is too easy for a static light to get lost in the noise, not so much a flashing light.

Rowan

The discussion is good, but I have to wonder how many posters here encounter cyclists on the road when driving. I see quite a few, and I often take note of the circumstances, what the riders are doing and what they are wearing. I then try to apply what I learn to what I do when out riding myself.

I've got black or grey or red or blue jerseys that I wear. But I know that in harsh sunlight that causes strong shadows from overhanging trees (and we get a lot of those) fluoro colours are required. I am also seriously considering a strong flashing "strobe" light for the front of the bikes.

I discovered how effective fluoro yellow as about 12 years ago, when I sat with a coffee one side of a causeway, and watched a fellow rider from at least two miles away as he rode across the bridge and causeway. There were others he was riding with, but you wouldn't have known until they were a couple of hundred yards away.

John E

Except in warm or hot weather, I wear a "screaming yellow" Pearl Izumi windbreaker, but I always hated covering it up with a dull colored backpack. Son #1 took care of that with last year's Fathers' Day present -- a bright yellow Camelbak. (He bought it for our family reunion hikes in southern Utah's Zion and Bryce, but held out for that color so that I could use it for bicycling, as well.) I completed the ensemble this winter with bright yellow full finger gloves, which I wear even in warm weather.

CB HI

How many motorist deaths are there each year?

missjean

It's not just cyclists than should remember this, runners & walkers should too. Last week, driving home at dusk, I saw, a little later than I was comfortable with, a runner wearing navy blue shorts and a navy blue shirt - he blended right in.

esther-L

I received a hi-viz yellow/green helmet cover for Christmas. I notice motor vehicles responding when I wear that and changing lanes to go around me sooner.

Unfortunately, cannot wear that in hot weather. I may need to spend some time in a craft store looking at bright color yet breathable fabric.

I am looking for cyclists so much when driving a car that sometimes the 'cyclist' turns out to be a mailbox in shadow when I get closer!

Kactus

For those that think certain colors are "bright" and "stand out", remember that just because they are to you they may not be to others. Approximately 10% of the general population, including myself, see them differently.



In this example, for me the top two and the lower left photos look virtually identical except for the cup at the right edge.

Another example, and maybe a better example for me, is this one; the apples on the right are identical and on the left are almost the same.