My wife says my hi-vis jerseys are like an aol.com email address
 

Without TimH's impeccable fashion sense, I am lost in a sea of screaming yellow high-vis jerseys. I would have thought being visible would be a good thing, but the old bag probably wants to collect on my life insurance policy before it is too late.

I've always considered high vis and blinkey lights mandatory for riding in the redwood canopy, but now that it has for the most part been incinerated, maybe my priorities should change? Also, there is an inherent limit to how non-geeky one can look on a bike, especially at my age, so why try to do anything other than distinguish myself from the background noise?

Anyway, is there any reasonable alternative between screaming acid-yellow and black Rapha with a median stripe painted on the back?

If she suggests any camo printed kit, you might want to mod the beneficiary on the life insurance...

Some ideas for you.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4c968a13ec.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4cefb7a344.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3ffbe1c36b.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d5185dc013.jpg

I went with several of these: https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/dare2b-...te/137467049/p

Not too tacky and the best part for me, cheap. Liking them so far.

And ye old ball and chain upped my insurance

i CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF THAT JERSEY YOU ARE WEARING

Another for ya -

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...546b3e909d.jpg

She's right, but maybe wear them anyway. After a broad daylight hit and run from behind, I got a geeky yellow vest for cool weather commuting. I feel a little safer in it and my wife was pleased.

Of course, I put in thousands of miles a year in black club kit, but at least it has big yellow, white, and red printing. I use a blinkie too.

I'd say if you are riding alone, keep the hi viz and heck with fashion. If in a group, safety in numbers etc. Then you can safely be more cool. Ultimately we all look ridiculous to 99% of adults, children and domestic animals.

I tend to favor solid (more or less) red, which is pretty visible but not extreme.

The term for your SO seems equally risky to wearing black on the bike..

(digression) Last night, I ended up spending hours on an extreme sudoku puzzle after watching it being done on Youtube.
One of the comments: "Wife: what are you doing still looking at your phone at 2 AM? Me: looking for naked singles in this area." (this is a sudoku term)
This comment generated 80 comments of it's own including plays on timing of funeral services for husband.

Wear anything that you'd like. The true benefits for bright cycling clothing are likely overstated. When it's your time, it's your time.

The most Common Phrase from Drivers that HIT a Bike or Trike IS: "I didn't See It"
Cell Phone use has added much to that.

I use BRIGHT Strobe Lights Front and Rear. Hope that they may see me.

Suggest getting a bright orange (not yellow green) freeway barrel and cutting a couple of arm holes and head hole in it. Love the jerseys above.

Suffer with high-vis in the dark months and go back to your camo and darker colors in Spring.

IMO, the quality of novelty kits is just not there, from the cut/fit, material and chamois. I would be careful buying sight unseen from unknown brands.

I am thinking of designing an outfit that looks like an enormous anthropomorphic cell phone. Essentially a cell phone with arms and legs and a head.

Now there is a name I haven't heard in a while. What ever happened to him?

Aren't you glad to be back to worrying about stuff like this?

IIRC he left voluntarily due to a disagreement. He did have an enthusiasm for fashion!

Don't know what kind of weather you are having, but consider a jersey from Rapha's Brevet collection. Some of them are quite eye-catching while still managing to look a bit classy.

https://www.rapha.cc/us/en_US/collec...ategory/brevet

He took his ball and went home after going on a seemingly unprovoked rant about board discourse and there being some deleted posts. Sui blu made their typical comments to fuel the fire and Timmy hasn't been back since.
That whole thread is a filled with the absurd, actually.
https://www.bikeforums.net/cyclocros...l-bikes-3.html

Does your wife want to receive a call saying you have been hit by a car. Never where stuff the blends in with the road or can make you invisible to a driver. It’s bad enough that many bikes now days use black hardware and dark colors. If you add dark Kit on to it you are just asking to be hit.

I like Tim, but having been on the other end of a completely irrational rant from him, I think it probably was just a matter of time before he was going to get himself banned. His tirade at me was so weird and full of painful personal stuff from his past that I actually felt bad for him, and it really had nothing to do with anything I had actually posted. I wasn't even mad, just completely confused.

You and I argue, but at least we can tell what the topic is.

I got hit with one of his rants and it was the same thing- he brought up stuff that had nothing to do with cycling,, much less the discussion. It was confusing to try to unpack what was posted.
I actually read thru the thread because I thought he may have mistakenly quoted me and intended to respond to someone else thats how little it had to do with my comments.

I did like seeing his transformation into bikepacking. It was neat to read about his successes, failures, and ways to adjust for future trips.

I think this is a great point: the novelty jerseys, and also many of the consciously hi-vis jerseys, are cheap and nasty.

OP: You could just buy a couple bright blinky lights - run one on flashing, one steady, and then it won't matter what kind of jersey you are wearing.

Here's the thing with jerseys. Big color patterns are good for visibility. All dark/black is bad. Busy patterns are bad, they break up your silhouette. Most camoflage works by breaking up edges and borders that people associate with an object. I suspect there's very little value in a flouro yellow jersey vs a reasonable color and pattern. A rear blinky light helps.

Riding in the mottled trees in N. CA is basically hell for visibility. A red blinky is basically the best hope, because the light is so broken by the canopy. I like those Rapha jerseys, but there's plenty of reasonable options. Personally, I prefer lighter jerseys because they're cooler.