lights ... numpties ... dark clothing

fat daddy

What the hell is it with about 50% of Commuters in Bristol being inadequately visible.

I almost hit a cyclist this morning .... and I was cycling ... she (I think) cycling close to the kerb, slowely, in the shadows wearing black and blue( Ithink) .. no lights, no reflectors .... I was doing 20mph+ saw her with about 4 meters to go .. FAAAAAARK

other riders .... all in dayglo .... great, that does d1ck all in the dark, with 1 light, obscured by your black back pack

another rider, light, on the back .. was it working .... was it fcuk

I really don't get it, these people are sitting targets, if I struggle to see them, aint no way a car with misted up windows doing 30mph, not concentrating is going to.

I wonder if there is a correlation between bike - car incidents and accidents ? that shows if there is a link between lights and reflectives

I dunno perhaps it doesn't make any difference ..... but no way I could ride in the road camouflaged to the night !

kleinstroker

That sounds suspiciously like a rant!

DrLex

I saw my first sugoi zap/proviz jacket yesterday, but on a dog walker. Zowie, those are noticeable!

tangled_metal

Black with reflectives here. Oh and up to 3 lights in a mixture of solid, flashing and strobing front and rear. In darkest winter I put a novelty wheel light on as well. Gotta be seen from the side too.

Hi-viz / contrast in the day, reflectives for night and lights for anything but good daylight/visibility.

Then the best thing after all that is live and work away from big cities in places with good cycle routes and commute before rush hour. Check!

Bristol is a big cycling city I thought. Don't they promote it as a transport option? Cycle safety promotions on key commuter routes and things like that? Round our way they occasionally do that with free slap wraps and other reflective and hi-viz visibility aids. Plus cycle cops putting id stencils and registering your bike at least once a year.

Mind you, idiots probably just ride on by oblivious.

My pet hate are bouncy fs mountain bikers with a very cheap battery light (with or without working batteries) placed low down on the seat post. So low it is masked by at least the cheapo crudcatcher copy mudguard and probably behind the rear wheel. It's as visible as no light.

Why buy a couple of quid lights from some cheap shop when it's your life? Then mount them so they can't be seen?

Why buy £99 or less fs MTBs? Really? Do you like bouncy castles that much you want the bike equivalent?

Sorry! I'm better now. With you on the lights. Blinky and solid to the front and rear at the very least IMHO.

tangled_metal

I saw a guy wearing a grey and slightly baggy cycling top this morning it kind of got a little bright. I'm sure it was proviz but it wasn't as bright as I'd thought. My two 300 lumen lights on full and flash didn't light them up.much, neither the car overtaking me with its headlights. Must be a rip off one.

fat daddy

Tangled Metal wrote:

Bristol is a big cycling city I thought. Don't they promote it as a transport option? Cycle safety promotions on key commuter routes and things like that? Round our way they occasionally do that with free slap wraps and other reflective and hi-viz visibility aids. Plus cycle cops putting id stencils and registering your bike at least once a year..

well, we get told its big cycling city ..... but only by people that don't live here, I have never seen any schemes or promotions .... perhaps I am not lookinghard enough

Cycle lanes are no more than any other city, certainly less than Cambridge and London

bigmonka

Here in York the police are about to start a big drive on giving fines to inadequately lit cyclists.
The nice thing is that they're giving out reflective backpack covers and emergency lights to any cyclists they deem to be "vulnerable" (i.e. unable to buy them themselves like school kids). A similar operation in October 2015 saw 36 Traffic Offence Reports issued to cyclists without lights on in just a few hours

fenix

Yes it is annoying. And what about car drivers driving in dull or rainy conditions with no lights - usually in rain coloured cars. All they have to do is flick a switch but they cba.

fat daddy

Fenix wrote:

Yes it is annoying. And what about car drivers driving in dull or rainy conditions with no lights - usually in rain coloured cars. All they have to do is flick a switch but they cba.

got to say I don't have an issue with that in town ..... mostly because if It was an issue we would all be crashing into the parked cars.

Perhaps its more of an issue on the Motorways and big A-roads

fenix

Yeah I was thinking of moving cars. I dont expect parked cars to have lights on - and a stationary object isn't as much of a risk as a moving one.

tangled_metal

It was dark this morning so I'm wondering whether it's time to add the comedy wheel light yet. Monkey lights is the brand.

I got a nice set of pogu brand reflective stickers a few years back. All a nice matt black until light hits them. My old, black bike got nicked and my silver bike doesn't suit them. They're very effective though. Plaster a few round your bike in a matt colour to match.your bike and any light source will light them up. They might be expensive at £7-10 IIRC for a small pack but as a discrete visibility aid they're great.

BTW even cheapo hi-viz work vests vests are good. Ours at work light up in the sun too. A swathe of sunlight into the building and you see those horizontal and vertical reflectives right across the warehouse.

thistle_

Fenix wrote:

Yes it is annoying. And what about car drivers driving in dull or rainy conditions with no lights - usually in rain coloured cars. All they have to do is flick a switch but they cba.

Big problem with daytime running lights - often brighter than an older car's headlights but the tail lights don't come on so people are driving around oblivious to the fact that nobody can see them from behind.

BobMcbob

another rider, light, on the back .. was it working .... was it fcuk

Darwin will take care of these people...

fenix

That's interesting- I have no idea what my tail lights are doing - need to check this out...

You can buy 3M reflective tape on Ebay in all kinds of colours - I think white is the most reflective - but black is still very reflective in the dark.

My winter bike has tape all over the guards and pedals so it's covered from all angles at night.

Oh and look up tyre flies - flashing valve caps that you put on. Very visible from the side.

pangolin

fat daddy wrote:

Tangled Metal wrote:

Bristol is a big cycling city I thought. Don't they promote it as a transport option? Cycle safety promotions on key commuter routes and things like that? Round our way they occasionally do that with free slap wraps and other reflective and hi-viz visibility aids. Plus cycle cops putting id stencils and registering your bike at least once a year..

well, we get told its big cycling city ..... but only by people that don't live here, I have never seen any schemes or promotions .... perhaps I am not lookinghard enough

Cycle lanes are no more than any other city, certainly less than Cambridge and London

Yeah doesn't seem particularly cycle friendly to me. Usual smattering of cycle lanes which stop just when they'd be useful.I mean it's fine, you can cycle around easily enough, but it's not the gold standard of British cycling cities by any means.

DrLex

Fenix wrote:

[...]
You can buy 3M reflective tape on Ebay in all kinds of colours - I think white is the most reflective - but black is still very reflective in the dark.
[...]

My pub/hack bike has a ghetto version from the sleeve from a road cone found in my hedge, thanks to a few zip-ties and a bit of scissor-work.

Semantik

These numpties don't enjoy cycling one little bit. They cycle more often than not because they can't afford a car or 2nd car. So they absolutely will not spend a penny more of their hard earned money on a bicycle or any of its accessories than is essential to allow them to still make forward progress. I know a couple of guys that commute to work on old mtb's that are so disgustingly badly maintained I wouldn't ride them to the post box and have lights pointing down/hidden by mudguards etc/not working and they frankly don't care or give it a moment's thought. And they have little to no cycling specific clothing, i.e. they ride in tracksuit bottoms or football shorts and have been doing this for years. Seems unfathomable to enthusiasts like ourselves but they would rather send their money on fags, booze and other essentials. But bicycles...no.

wolfsbane2k

Semantik wrote:

These numpties don't enjoy cycling one little bit. They cycle more often than not because they can't afford a car or 2nd car. So they absolutely will not spend a penny more of their hard earned money on a bicycle or any of its accessories than is essential to allow them to still make forward progress. I know a couple of guys that commute to work on old mtb's that are so disgustingly badly maintained I wouldn't ride them to the post box and have lights pointing down/hidden by mudguards etc/not working and they frankly don't care or give it a moment's thought. And they have little to no cycling specific clothing, i.e. they ride in tracksuit bottoms or football shorts and have been doing this for years. Seems unfathomable to enthusiasts like ourselves but they would rather send their money on fags, booze and other essentials. But bicycles...no.

[wibble]
But isnt' that part of the general problem with society & cyclists in a heartbeat? Society sees "us" as the users of cycling lanes/superhighways, when most of "us" are mostly happy to mix with the cars, and actually it's these guys & gals that don't have "cycling specific clothes" that they are the most important for.
Yes, people should be legal and have suitable lights, and have road worthy bike if on cycle paths or roads etc?
[/wibble]

essex-commuter

Fenix wrote:

Oh and look up tyre flies - flashing valve caps that you put on. Very visible from the side.

I ordered some of these from eBay a couple of days ago, dirt cheap. Still wondering if it's a stupid idea. Is it numpty looking, I've never seen them in action.

Did check they fitted presta valves. Can't imagine the batteries lasting long. I just feel a bit vulnerable at roundabouts at 6am in the morning, cars joining from the left and not seeing me.

cougie

I've found the batteries on those to last a good while. They only flash.

Mine were designed for car tyres so I super glued them onto normal valve caps. Sorted.

UndercoverElephant

DrLex wrote:

I saw my first sugoi zap/proviz jacket yesterday, but on a dog walker. Zowie, those are noticeable!

I have one of those! It's a bit boil in the bag, though so it only gets used when it's tipping down.

fat daddy

yeah I have a proviz .. it only gets worn for commuting in the dark .... fortunately for me those times are 7am and 7pm in the autumn/winter and its cold enough to wear it then

no way I would wear it for a day ride ... far to hot, even with the vents open

7am it is nice though, don't need arm warmers, just a t-shirt and jacket ..... and some kind of shorts/longs of course

keef66

Driving home last night my lights picked out a child on the footpath wearing a puffa type jacket but with the proviz type reflective finish. Zowie did she stand out! Great idea for kids once the nights draw in.

Why are there no breathable shells with this 360 degree reflectivity?

fenix

The thing with proviz is that if its worn in daylight - its just the same colour as road. After nightfall and in lights - amazing.

Pretty sure there are lots of shells with a lot of reflectivity - just not that entirely reflective material - as it doesn't breathe very well.

http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/Castel ... lsrc=aw.ds

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-flashlight- ... of-jacket/

http://illuminite.myshopify.com/collect ... ve-cycling

http://www.sportsdirect.com/karrimor-x- ... e=45207103

hopkinb

I bought one of those Mortirolo reflex jackets. I haven't taken the label off yet, as it seems very warm, and I do run hot, so it might end up being sold given that winters down here tend to be damp and grey rather than actually cold. But I took a flash photo in front of a mirror in the dark, and I did light up. I also have the sorpasso tights with reflex bands down the outside of the thigh and calf.

fenix

I honestly think you're as well off to wear whatever normal top you want with one of those reflective vests over the top.

hopkinb

Fenix wrote:

I honestly think you're as well off to wear whatever normal top you want with one of those reflective vests over the top.

Flappy. Look like a mendicant.

fenix

If only there were a way to add a bit of velcro or something to make it less flappy - HANG ON - WAIT A MOMENT.....

imatfaal

Proviz rucksack/pannier cover. They are also reversible with day-glo yellow on the one side for daylight riding and proviz stuff on the other side for night time

hopkinb

Still flappy, but fine for you, and that's great! I'll stick with reflective stuff with a bit more design, plus reflective tape on the rear mudguard plus big shiny lights.

DrLex

hopkinb wrote:

Fenix wrote:

I honestly think you're as well off to wear whatever normal top you want with one of those reflective vests over the top.

Flappy. Look like a mendicant.

+5 internet points for vocabulary.
I bought a reflective Sam Browne to give me the visibility without the loss of breathability.