mcours2006

I have tried various contraptions, including velcro strips, old iPod arm strap, clipping onto neoprene shoe covers, and currently, shoe laces wound onto a rear light. That seems to be a good enough and simple idea for the ankle light.

I am curious why you use a white light for the rear. Do you think that works better than a solid red one? And is a white light for the rear even legal?

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcours2006

I have tried various contraptions, including velcro strips, old iPod arm strap, clipping onto neoprene shoe covers, and currently, shoe laces wound onto a rear light. That seems to be a good enough and simple idea for the ankle light.

I am curious why you use a white light for the rear. Do you think that works better than a solid red one? And is a white light for the rear even legal?

At that time, I already had the two small clip-on lights. I used the red light as a proper, rotating taillight on the left that would be seen by the following motorist. I didn’t think about the color white, but I was using it on the right more for side visualization for cross street traffic intersecting my routeBTW, I routinely use two red taillights, one flashing on my helmet, the other steady on my rear bag in case one goes out. So two rotating taillights on my ankles is also redundant.

I secure those two stationary taillights with a rubber band wrapped around the end of the clip below the loop on the gear to which the light is clipped.

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard

That's a great post. Of course there are bicycling safety books, but you are right, there's not very much in the form of widely accepted and taught bicycling safety doctrine. You have an incredible amount of experience, and I wouldn't expect the forum to influence your behavior much. …

There are also folks who may have a lot of experience in one kind of riding, but not another. I am one of those.

I have logged quite a few miles on rural backroads and can probably provide some words of wisdom for those that haven't. I have never commuted in heavy traffic, so if I decided to do it, I'd consider myself a beginner and happily tap into the knowledge of others here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard

We are on the same wavelength. I will rarely ever give advice as it relates to bicycling safety.

I do unhesitatingly encourage people who are new to riding on the road to read this: https://hooleking.com/practice-areas...-while-biking/ and for those who may want a bit more in depth reading, this: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Urban-Cyc.../dp/0762727837

Beyond that I will share my thoughts and experiences an if someone wants to borrow from them, they can. And that is where forums can have great instructional value...

Not to glom on to this Mutual Admiration Society, but I have posted about giving advice, above:and previously, on a now closed thread:

Chris0516

It further reminds me. Be a 'pain in the caboose'. So traffic see's me.

CB HI

Paul - on a side note, one thing to remember is that your classes will not be attended by disciplined Coast Guard personnel or fisherman attending because they need to for retaining their jobs. As such, the civilians attending your boating safety class will almost always have one person looking to prove they are the smartest person in the room or one who would rather lead the class offtrack because they really have little interest in learning. Be careful not to let them ruin the class for the people there that really want to learn.

It is very much like the folks in BFs and this thread. most are here to learn something new, but there are a few here to prove they are the smartest person in BFs or one who would rather lead the thread offtrack because they really have little interest in learning.

TricycleTom

What is A & S?? I am shopping for a bright yellow windbreaker. I have a fluorescent vest that I wear if I will be hard to see, but one day, a trucker stopped to offer me one on a fine day. He'd obviously seen me from far off. In general, I use my mirror and assume I am invisible. 100,000 km unhit so far.

indyfabz

As someone who lives in a highly populated city with lots of street lights and lots of night riders, I can confirm this difference.

Maelochs

Whatever. I don't even wear hi-vis except when it rains or is very cold ... So whatever someone else said ... great.

A guy I sometimes ride with passed me while he was driving home and said my vest was bright. Anyone care to argue ... too bad. I was there, it happened.

JoeyBike

Bright lights day and night. Preferably flashing. Everything else is extra.

You can't be TOO SEEN.

Cops, ambulances, fire trucks, tow trucks, power company trucks, dog catchers, all use flashing lights of various colors. For a reason. They also wear day-glow vests/suits with reflective bits. Yet, somehow, they still get clobbered occasionally. It's the best we can do. Even hunters who prefer to not be shot by other hunters wear bright colors with contrast to their environment.

Playing in traffic without a care in the world for being seen by traffic seems self-defeating to me.

Miele Man

An interesting thing about bicycles and mirrors is that a bicycle is the ONLY vehicle allowed without having a mirror, on the road. Mirrors are a large part of what makes a motorcycle road legal here.

What I like about a helmet or eyeglass mounted mirror isthat you can see what's behind you as well as what's in front of you because you don't have to take your eye off the road to look into the mirror. I tried bar end mirrors on my road bike but found that most of the time my forearm blocked the mirror from my sight. Another advantage of a helmet or eyeglass mounted mirror is that you can scan with it by moving your head a bit. That comes in handing on long turns where a handelbar mirror gives a nice view of the fields or whatever to the side but little of what's actually right behind you.

CHeers

Miele Man

I've watched a lot of bicyclists at night and one thing I've noticed with nearly every single red flashing rear light I've see is t hat when stopped in a line of traffic the light is INVISIBLE swallowed up by the other brighter red car lights. Bright clothing seems to help be visible; I know I see a person sooner who is wearing bright clothing than I do someone wearing black or very dark clothing.

There's a very good reason why RED is NOT recommended for hunting clothing. In certain lighting red will look like a deep brown. I saw that years ago on a home built kayak I made and covered with red canvas painted red. I took an image of it from the bow and then walked around it and took another image from the stern - maybe 30 seconds between the two images. The bow image was a nice red and the image from the stern was a wonderful deep dark brown.

When I ride at night and when I start off from an intersection I switch my main front light to flash so that the flashing will catch drivers' eyes. I do NOT rely on drivers seeing me o my lights; I watch the front wheels of the car or truck. I read years ago in a bicycling book to watch the wheels not to rely on eye contact. that's because if a person isn't looking for something they may simply not see it because it just doesn't register on their consciousness.

I like a helmet mounted mirror or an eyeglass mirror. I also love a rear AMBER flashing light because that's an internationally recognized item to designate something that's a hazard to other vehicles. I loved the old Belt Beacon for that very purpose.

The thing with bicycling these days is that the bicyclist has to be alert to everything around them whilst navigating the roads. Sometimes that means slowing down or yielding the right of way.

Cheers

JoeyBike

Yeah, amber is great but so few good amber bike lights out there. Amber is, as you stated, signals something to be avoided - like a pothole or construction site. Solid red is something to FOLLOW, especially for drunks. A whimpy solid red light could appear to be a car tail light a mile up the road when actually it is a cyclist on the hood. I believe that the flashing red light however does communicate "cyclist" these days due to years of application.

There must be some good reason why red was chosen and not amber for cyclists rear lights?

SHBR

Isn't amber used for turn signals?

That could confuse some road users.

There seems to be an uptick in confusion on the roads thanks to all of the electronic gadgets that are in use by almost everyone on or near the roadway.

That I learned from real world experience, and its also been confirmed by many users on this board.

Confirmation bias eh?

MoAlpha

I would really like a 360º amber flasher for the top of my helmet. Can't find one compact and light enough.

JoeyBike

Many casual "cyclists" in my community decorate their bikes with all sorts of string lights, every color imaginable. You can see them from space. Often they ride together during organized social rides which looks really cool. They ONLY ride at night because the lights are kinda the whole point of the event. I never hear of any of them getting hit.

mr_bill

Carnival Ride in Santa Cruz
(Why they hold it in December I don't know....)

-mr. bill

Daniel4

Has the A& S forums changed my behaviour?

Probably not because if one were to ask a question, 50 people responding would probably give out 30 different answers. So likely, one would either confirm his current opinion or get even more confused.

Hell, we can't even agree on stopping at red lights and stop signs.

Case in point:

Having said that, these threads did make me take the lane as well as lane position during red lights when the curb lane is both a right turn and a straight through lane.

JoeyBike

"We" the human race, or "We" the cycling community?

Last time I checked (my bike commute this morning) "WE" the human race decided to agree that WE do whatever we want to. Cars, trucks, buses, bikes, pedestrians - I saw at least one of each breaking the law during my 20-minute bike commute.

Rollfast

Welcome to Arguments & Stuff.

Gresp15C

I've stopped "taking the lane" for the most part. Don't know if this was due to reading A&S, or just the additional cycling experience over the past few years.

Bmach

Maelochs

Emphasis added.

guythatbrews

Being new to the forum the A&S section hasn't had a chance to change my outlook. Except to reinforce my distaste to the personal rancor some seem proud to exhibit and unable to control. Unfortunately behaviour like this discourages people and eventually they stop visiting. I have done this with other forums due to a few with exceedingly boorish and predictable behaviour.

But I also see a lot of open-minded discourse here, and that is a good thing.

What works for some may not work for all. Many examples of that here.

A&S was my next stop at the forum after lurking in the tandem section. So I guess really A&S changed my behaviour by just existing. I think about avoiding car trouble a lot after a good friend was killed by a car heading into the sunrise ran him over. The driver said he didn't see him until to late. I now have a flashing light front and rear even in bright sunshine.

Back to the A&S forum now to learn more about riding in traffic!

Paul Barnard

Welcome to the forum/fracas. I think this really is a good forum despite the posters who seem to find joy in being adversarial for the sake of being adversarial. I am on a number of forums, and this is the first one I have ever found posters so insufferable that I used the ignore function. It has proven to be a useful feature, and I expect I'll be adding a few more to the list.

I would encourage you to read The Art of Cycling. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Cycling-B.../dp/0762743166 The author, Robert Hurst, used to be a member and occasional poster here. I like his approach to cycling and safety. He is far from militant, but will take the lane when he thinks it's necessary. He has a very cooperative disposition when he is on the road with motorists but never assumes an unsafe position for the sake of being accommodating. It has been a while since I read the book, but if I recall correctly he was an advocate for always obeying the law. He and I depart from agreement on that topic.

TakingMyTime

I'm not sure if the A&S forum has made me a safer rider, but I do know that age has.

I think the best way to advocate safe riding practices is to "walk the talk". Let your children and friends see you wearing a helmet, let them see you obeying the law and not taking unnecessary risks.. Wear appropriate safety gear whenever possible. Remind them to respect other riders and drivers.