High Vis at Night - Next Step?
 

I'm very pleased with the lights on my bike as well as my cycling clothing in terms of visibility.

I wear Nathan reflective ankle bands when I ride at night and believe that they make a difference.

Bikes are standard road bikes. Riding is mostly suburban to rural, sunset to about 10 PM.

What is the next step with regard to visibility at night? Would love to hear your reasonable suggestions.


-Tim-

You only mention ankle bands. I wear an ANSI yellow and reflective vest. They're very bright and effective.

If you have the choice, reflective sidewalls on tires are pretty effective.

I slap DOT reflective tape, at least 20 or so square inches of it, around my frame.

I have been doing a lot of messing around with taillights for years now. My current opinions:

- 2 rear lights is a MINIMUM. I think 2 lights is much more visible than one, and also you can have a taillight fail and you will never know.

- physically larger lights are more visible than point sources. I will take a larger light over a brighter one (once you're up to a minimum 50 lumens or so). The new lights using COB LEDs (such as the Blitzu 168T) are very visible and very affordable.

- Having lights spread over a distance, like one low on the bike and one on the helmet, is much more attention getting. A single light, or two lights very close together, a distracted motorist might think is just a roadside reflector or a car or motorcycle, and not expect to be closing on it fast and look back at his distraction. If you have two separated lights, especially if one is on your helmet, they'll be moving about in a weird way and the driver will say "what the hell is that?" Attention is what you want.

- your high position light should be up high enough that the guy two cars behind you can see it through the windows of the intervening car. This helps with the situation where in high speed traffic, someone approaching at speed will come up close behind you, then suddenly move left to pass and the guy moving at speed behind him, who did not previously know you were there, is now approaching your rear wheel at speed and only 50 feet away before he sees you.

- At least one steady, at least one blinking. You need to draw attention (thus the blink) but blinking lights are very difficult to judge distance and speed of. The steady light makes it easier for the motorist to tell where you are and how fast they're closing on you.

Up front, I run steady at night, blinking in the daytime, 800 lumens most of the time.

Helmet light, front and rear, plus a steady and blinking on the bar. Wheel lights are every effective to depict, ( wait for it) a wheel. I use cat eye orbit but would like something else. The spinning motion is very helpful for side visibility, something lacking for most cyclists.

ItsJustMe did a nice write up... I really tend to agree with the two lights facing rearward... high blinky with low bright steady light.

Beyond that, the strangest (thus most eye catching) setup I ever saw was a cyclist with a bright white light at the end of a rear rack with the light pointing at their back. There was no mistaking that it was a cyclist.

All good points above. Anything to be more visible.

Every vest I looked at hindered access to my back jersey pockets, so I sewed myself a reflective harness.

Active lights Powered By a Hub dynamo, Or at least Batteries .

I like Lightweights

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Look behind you and listen.

I'm not knocking all these measures, but is there a point where it just becomes overkill? Is more always better?

Sure there's overkill. At some point, if a driver still doesn't see you, doubling the amount of visibility still won't make them see you.

However, that point is far above what most people ride with. A hi viz, reflective vest and two good, bright, well positioned lights front and back is IMO minimal safety gear and certainly is not overkill.

to quote another poster...

Try to imagine how you look on a 45MPH multi lane arterial road, riding past some well lit strip mall that has lots of point sources of light... do you stand out against all that light pollution? Enough to be seen by a driver planning to make a hasty left turn across your path?

That was the sort of question I asked, as my commute took me past a major intersection loaded with shops filled with light... all those store lights were a distraction... and didn't add to my visibility. I had to stand out against that background of lights, somehow. Geography dictated this path as there were no other roads except freeways going the direction I needed to go... through that light jungle.

Now your mileage may vary, depending on where you commute. At one time in my life, I commuted down quiet, dark residential streets... I didn't need much to stand out there. In fact the light of an oncoming car, and the noise of said car in that environment were enough to alert me to any potential hazards... so much so that I could be dressed in black and riding ninja style and easily avoid any other traffic.

So the real question is where are you riding and what do you have to stand out from, to be visible?

There is no such thing as overkill.

The human eye will literally not see things it doesn’t expect to see, unless it stands out.

I had all kinds of stuff on my bike, and then had a colleague tell me that my bike was almost invisible from the side (when crossing a street).

I have lots of reflective tape on my bike (matching the bikes color, it is invisible in the daylight). But even at dusk or at night, it doesn’t do much unless a light is shining directly on it from the same line of sight as the viewer. Go figure.
Lights or Strobes front and back are a minimum, but the bike still isn’t visible from the side.

My most creative solution: Put a flashing LED inside a water bottle. Works pretty good!!!

OP here.

I'm not trying to be contentious and appreciate all the responses re lights. My original post however, clearly said that I'm happy with my lights. I already have L&M Vis360+ on my helmet, L&M Urban 800 on the bar and two rear lights including a Blitzu. Lights are not an issue.

Very adverse to putting stickers on my bike although @hypnotoad has me rethinking this. That Z85 is nicely done. I'd love to see a close up picture of one of the spokes.

@MMACH_5, what material did you use to create the harness? That gives me some interesting ideas.

@chas58, visibility from the side is one of the things I'm concerned about. Thanks for the suggestions. What reflective tape do you use?


-Tim-

That's cool, I would never wear a vest, but I might wear that. You should set up an etsy page and sell them for like twenty bucks or something. (I'll take your first one free for giving you a free business model!)

I went to "Five Below" and got a $4 reflective vest. It is short and works well on a bike (REI has some Nathan bike vests too).
Right now, the vest hangs over my messenger bag when I ride. IN cool weather, I wear a fluorescent yellow bike vest (by some top bike manufacturer), and in warm weather a fluorescent yellow jersey. It makes a big difference.

@TimothyH

I use 3M reflective tape.
It is easy to find at any auto parts store in Red or red-white. The red matches my red bike perfectly, and the "white" matches my brushed aluminum bike well. This is USDOT approved tape, the same stuff you can see on most commercial truck trailers.

Alternatively if you like colors, you can order "samples" here in a whole range of colors:
This is my favorite: https://www.identi-tape.com/hi-intensity2.htm Lots of colors
The SOLAS tapes are great, but a little over kill. https://www.identi-tape.com/solas.html

I do like those, but made my own by taking the tape mentioned above and wrapping it around straws.

But then again, it is easier to take that 3M tape and just stick a stripe on my wheel. Works great on deep V wheels.

I just got a little pissed off at the thought of spending $15 for some little stickers, when I can buy a 15 foot long roll of tape (in any color I want, including black!) for $15.

I'll get some close up pictures later today and post them.

I wasn't sure if I'd like them, buying them for the Kona (commuter). But found I really like them and have added them to most of my bikes - they are very subtle yet effective.

+1 for reflective tape. I remember that being a tough item to search for. I remember special ordering "coast guard approved" tape somewhere

aside from adding it to the bike & my jacket incl sleeves I also added it to my gloves so ppl could see my hand signals

LOL - I've sold about a dozen of them. I charge $25 each or $40 for folks who want a pair. I even developed a logo. I've been planning to market them someday. Everyday life keeps getting in the way.

That's a really sweet logo. Are you a graphic designer? Looks like an overhead shot of somebody riding a bike in Superman position

(Look how fit Rachael Ray got riding a "Bird of Prey" http://birdofpreybicycles.ning.com/)

http://www.roadbikereview.com/review...nt-Profile.jpg

Looking forward to the pics but do not rush or have any anxiety over this.

When convenient, that's all.

Really appreciate it.


-Tim-

In both of your dreams...

I put scotchlite reflective tape on my rear fender, and in various places on my bike - crank arms, wheel rims, etc. My rear blinkies do have some side visibility. I turn my head a lot, so the helmet-mounted headlight provides some side visibility.

I don't know how visible it is, but I have a light-up bracelet (sold in halloween trick or treating stuff) that I wear on left wrist. My goal is to make my arm signals more visible. A co-worker suggested I try the lights they make for attaching to dog collars after the non-replaceable bracelet battery expires.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here we are, picture close up and with daylight to see that these are very discrete.

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Additionally, the Kona (pic I posted early) rides in all conditions (including rains, snow, temps down to 0F); the only reason I've had to replace the reflective tape is broken spokes or replaced the wheel. The stuff is very durable.

Thanks and yes, I am a graphic artist for a marketing agency. Which sounds like I get to draw stuff all day for a living. Unfortunately, the biggest part of my days are spent making sure our ads have enough room for legal disclaimers. (That's a bit of an exageration. But only a little bit.)