Another brush with an old F&£&, protection needed o

jeremyrundle

Ok that is the second time some old F%^T woman driver 70+ has had me off my bike, at 50+ I am no teenager, so, advice please.

Other than impractical extremes, are there any knee type pads suitable for under jogging bottom wear that I could use, I don't ride fast enougyh to warrant anything more.

I know there are many types on the internet, but personal experience from cyclist commuters is worth much more than an advert.

Thank you

Mr Sworld

You could try some caving kneepads?

http://www.divelife.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4239

walkingbootweather

Volleyball pads are more flexible and comfortable than hard shells, but won't offer the same levels of protection.

Is it your knees that need most protection? When I have taken a tumble it is my head, hands/wrists, elbows, hips and ahem, 'gentleman's area' that have suffered (fortunately nothing major)..

Not sure it is practical to dress as the Michelin man and try and protect everything though...

notsoblue

This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WWiPiks1sU

tailwindhome

I would be astounded if anyone on here is wearing knee pads for cycle commuting.

frankieh

I've got some d30 661 knee pads for mountain biking, they are quite thin and comfortable.

kelsen

Why not learn to ride defensively instead of kitting yourself up with body armour?

ride_whenever

kelsen wrote:

Why not learn to ride defensively instead of kitting yourself up with body armour?

This and spend the money on brighter lights.

UndercoverElephant

ride_whenever wrote:

kelsen wrote:

Why not learn to ride defensively instead of kitting yourself up with body armour?

This and spend the money on brighter lights.

Yes, yes, yes!! Lights brighter than the sun!

Edit: And, Jeremy, how visible are you from the side? Any reflectives/lights for cars pulling out?

bails87

Jeremy: Have you read cyclecraft?
How did the accident happen?
As others have said, how visible are you?

Knee pads are all well and good if all you do is graze your knee. But if your head/leg/arm/body goes under a wheel you'll start to wish you'd avoided the accident altogether rather than put on body armour.

P.S. Glad that you're okay

jeremyrundle

UndercoverElephant wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

kelsen wrote:

Why not learn to ride defensively instead of kitting yourself up with body armour?

This and spend the money on brighter lights.

Yes, yes, yes!! Lights brighter than the sun!

Edit: And, Jeremy, how visible are you from the side? Any reflectives/lights for cars pulling out?

Actually SIX front, FIVE rear and good idea NO reflectives on the sides

jeremyrundle

bails87 wrote:

Jeremy: Have you read cyclecraft?
How did the accident happen?
As others have said, how visible are you?

Knee pads are all well and good if all you do is graze your knee. But if your head/leg/arm/body goes under a wheel you'll start to wish you'd avoided the accident altogether rather than put on body armour.

P.S. Glad that you're okay

I will work on visibility

cougie

Seriously - you have six lights on the front ?

Can you show us a photo of this wondrous beast ?

Specialized Needs

JR, did you capture this on video? If I recall correctly, you have several MD80s or similar? It may be that you need to improve side visibility, but it may not. There might be other issues, or it may be that nothing would have prevented this (other than walking, pushing the bike on the pavement).

Initialised

TailWindHome wrote:

I would be astounded if anyone on here is wearing knee pads for cycle commuting.

I almost bought some for the ice. Can't see needing them in general, would have thought elbows would be more vulnerable. Snapping of one's funny bone isn't.

I too fell pray to an octogenarian, he was staring straight at me, how did he not see me! Fortunately it was barely a collision, more of a bumper caress.

EKE_38BPM

11 front & rear lights and no side reflectives?!?

Get yourself down to Halfrauds and spend £8 on some Wowow spoke reflectors.
I see you go a bit overboard on lights (11 FFS) so I imagine the 36 that come in the pack won't be enough for you. I imagine you with 3 reflectors per spoke on each wheel, rather than the 18 per wheel of most people.

Also, Tesco do reflective stickers. I've got some on my helmet and I'm about to go outside now to add some to my cranks.

What about reflectives on your clothing. My gloves have reflective piping and a reflective chevron on the palm and back, so when you indicate drivers see a big glowing arrow. My softshell has reflective piping on it too. My 3/4 tights did have a reflective logo, but that has gradually peeled off. I keep noticing little bits of reflective logo all over the house!

Initialised

Reflective gloves don't work in broad daylight.

Specialized Needs

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Get yourself down to Halfrauds and spend £8 on some Wowow spoke reflectors.
I see you go a bit overboard on lights (11 FFS) so I imagine the 36 that come in the pack won't be enough for you. I imagine you with 3 reflectors per spoke on each wheel, rather than the 18 per wheel of most people.

In seriousness, it may be better to put the reflectors on alternating close to rim then close to hub in either a half or quarter wheel pattern. That may create more of a 'flashing' effect in the dark. Reflectors in the same relative position on very spoke might just look like a solid hoop or disc and not attract the viewer's eye quite so reliably.

dilemna

jeremyrundle wrote:

Ok that is the second time some old F%^T woman driver 70+ has had me off my bike, at 50+ I am no teenager, so, advice please.

Other than impractical extremes, are there any knee type pads suitable for under jogging bottom wear that I could use, I don't ride fast enougyh to warrant anything more.

I know there are many types on the internet, but personal experience from cyclist commuters is worth much more than an advert.

Thank you

Stop riding past the old folks home?

Is it the same woman? A stalker even or maybe she wants a toyboy? It's her way of letting you know she's interested in you .......... a cougar.



As some of the others have suggested more reflectives/Scotchlite. Having said this there are none more dangerous than those who can see but refuse to notice.

EKE_38BPM

Specialized Needs wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Get yourself down to Halfrauds and spend £8 on some Wowow spoke reflectors.
I see you go a bit overboard on lights (11 FFS) so I imagine the 36 that come in the pack won't be enough for you. I imagine you with 3 reflectors per spoke on each wheel, rather than the 18 per wheel of most people.

In seriousness, it may be better to put the reflectors on alternating close to rim then close to hub in either a half or quarter wheel pattern. That may create more of a 'flashing' effect in the dark. Reflectors in the same relative position on very spoke might just look like a solid hoop or disc and not attract the viewer's eye quite so reliably.

I have 18 straws on each wheel. 9 near the hub (where the spokes cross) and 9 near the rim on alternating spokes. What you say makes sense and I may experiment with my placement.

I've just posted in the Fettling thread that this site looks interesting. Black reflective tape (I have a black frame) that reflects white and iron-on reflectives for clothing.

rolf_f

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I have 18 straws on each wheel. 9 near the hub (where the spokes cross) and 9 near the rim on alternating spokes. What you say makes sense and I may experiment with my placement.

You might find (difficult to know when you are pedalling though!) that the eye just joins the inners and the outers and makes a single disc. What I suspect would be more guaranteed to work would be to spiral them in from outer to centre. Aside from the step at the end causing an obvious jump in the reflectivity, it would probably make anyone looking at the bike from the side feel slightly queasy!

EKE_38BPM

The current pattern looks like two rings. One at the rim and one at the hub. I may have to rejig my pattern.

Is a solid disc of reflected brightness (or two rings of reflected brightness) a bad thing?

jeremyrundle

Actually the above comments are right, I have just bought one of those yellow jacket things, VERY impressive.

Thanks

Kieran_Burns

Passed a guy on the A60 this morning (me driving) with flourescent yellow rims. By 'eck you couldn't miss seeing him if you tried.

TBH it has made me think about the spoke reflectors now; from the side, the rims were very striking

UndercoverElephant

jeremyrundle wrote:

Actually the above comments are right, I have just bought one of those yellow jacket things, VERY impressive.

Thanks

Please make sure it has plenty of reflective patches on, in the dark just a fluorescent colour is next to no use (though they are great when it's murky out). Reflectives are very visible when car lights hit them.

jeremyrundle

UndercoverElephant wrote:

jeremyrundle wrote:

Actually the above comments are right, I have just bought one of those yellow jacket things, VERY impressive.

Thanks

Please make sure it has plenty of reflective patches on, in the dark just a fluorescent colour is next to no use (though they are great when it's murky out). Reflectives are very visible when car lights hit them.

Oh I did, I have bought one with strips across the back, sleves and fronts, shone a torch at it last night, what a difference.

rolf_f

EKE_38BPM wrote:

The current pattern looks like two rings. One at the rim and one at the hub. I may have to rejig my pattern.

Is a solid disc of reflected brightness (or two rings of reflected brightness) a bad thing?

Probably not - just referring to the comment/implication that the 'solid ring' will be bright but won't have visible movement. A spiral will probably be much more noticeable - same effect as flashing lights versus non flashing.

kelsen

Specialized Needs wrote:

JR, did you capture this on video? If I recall correctly, you have several MD80s or similar? It may be that you need to improve side visibility, but it may not. There might be other issues, or it may be that nothing would have prevented this (other than walking, pushing the bike on the pavement).

Indeed. It's all very well riding around lit like a Christmas tree, but sometimes people simply fail to register cyclists when they've got their mind set on something else. As well as improving your visibility, there's a lot you can do to improve your safety by learning to read the road properly and avoid accidents before they happen. I'm not saying don't have all these lights and reflective gear, but sometimes too much onus is put on the other party seeing us, and we end up with the assumption that if we're visible, we're safe.

Perhaps if you posted some footage of your commute, people here can give some helpful comments on riding defensively.