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Visibility when cycling at night
As I have a young child, I tend to do a lot of my riding at night in low visibility conditions. While this is ok on well lit roads, I am conscious that on roads without adequate street lighting I may not be visible to drivers.
I have front and rear lights on my bike, as well as wearing clothing with reflective sections. However, I wondered if anyone can recommend any good performance fit clothing that is hi-viz/reflective whilst still maintaining a close fit for fast riding? For example, I came across the Proviz jackets/gilets which offer fantastic reflectiveness, but they look to be very loose fitness.
Or, indeed, if there is anything else I could do to increase my visibility during low light rides?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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38 comments
Sure but when there is a height difference, then your lights will stick out before the headlights can hit anything reflective.
I've got some ankle bands which work well.
Not sure there is anything particularly tight fitting. You could try altura, but it depends on your shape and also I suspect the jackets are mostly aimed at commuter needs.
Clearly you've never driven in Bradford!
Unfortunately, despite vehicles having headlights (and the majority of drivers remembering to turn them on when it gets dark), I have had experiences of close passes and don't wish to give drivers the excuse of "I didn't see you" should the worse happen.
So, like helmets, bike-mounted lights become another thing you use mainly to avoid "victim blame" in the case of your being knocked off...
But if they don't see you early enough your safety is compromised...
Small bits of reflective on the wheel rims, maybe 3 or 4 spaced around each rim. Madison used to make them (called Hi Light or some such). I had silver ones on silver rims on m old bike, so hardly visible during the day. Other riders when in a group commented on how visible they were from behind, a friend in his car agreed (we did some testing!).
Gives an effect of spinning lights when viewed from behind, as opposed to reflective sidewalls which are more visible from the side.
At present I have reflective tape attached to my pedals, silver to the front and red to the rear (They are Shimano single-sided SDP's so are always the same way around). And a bit of red reflective on the rear mudflap. (BTW I also have this on car door edges and around the boot lid, visible when its open).
You can get black reflective tape which wouldn't show up on black wheelrims in the day, you 'd have to get some and see how reflective it really is.
Plus bits of this stuff on your helmet if you wear one might be useful if you have an off!
The best thing about reflectives is that you don't have to worry about batteries going flat!
I have some Altura Reflective overshoes, which as your feet are generally always moving, they seem to catch drivers eyes well. That coupled with an Seesence ace rear light and flashing front led & Lezyne powerdrive front ive never had issues.
One flashing and one solid red light to the rear. Strong but well angled white light on the front. Hi-viz doesn't work at night. 3M or equivalent reflective material works, but has to have a light shone onto it to reflect it back. Low headlight beams won't do this until quite close. Hi beams will.
Movement is what catches the eye (goes back to our hunter instincts). The human eye is very good at spotting movement in peripheral vision. A flashing light attracts the attention better than a steady light, but make sure the flashing light is not drowned out by the steady. I keep them separated to achieve this. The steady light is easier to judge distance to from behind, a flashing light is much harder.
The key though is attracting a driver's attention to your presence before you have to rely on reflective materials to bounce light back. And of course you see numerous vehicles driving around in the dark with a headlight not working - so don't rely on them to spot you in their headlights!
If you want to be effectively seen through the use of reflectives, they should be on the bits that are moving - your legs, but preferably you lower legs/ feet. Grabs the attention much better than a sash on a jacket etc, once again because of that movement.
Primarily though I think effective lighting is much better than reflective material as many can be seen a kilometer or so away, especially flashing, which you can never achieve with a reflective. Bright coloured clothing doesn't make any difference in the dark so I've stopped worrying about that!
I have put retro-reflective tape down my mudguard and rear seat stays on my winter bike, just because you can't really even see it (it's black tape on a black bike) and thought it does no harm as, like most, I removed the nasty little plastic rear reflector that came with the bike!
PP
Read the thread with interest and as discussed elsewhere the answers are always pretty much the same. My own experience is that 2 lights front and back solid and flashing along with helmet mounted lights work. I also have reflective detail on most of my commute clothing all of which is close fit stuff. Most effective things on me and my bike according to colleague's who pass me on my commute is the small LED flashing on the back of my helmet moving as I move and the spoke reflector straws or spokey,s as some call them on my wheels. I have 4 or 5 on each wheel and when turning they light up the whole wheel when caught in the light. Still get th occasional poor pass, normally by impatient people who can't wait to pass until it's safe.
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