High viz or cool?

if you do get a hi-vis then please replace it regularly (like once a year or something). I see so many ppl out and about with faded hi-vis jackets that are so faded they're just pale yellow with zero luminescence anymore.

Lights are your best bet. etc...
But whatever you choose remember: Drivers will fail to see you, but: All drivers that have seen you are a out to kill you. Especially bus and taxi drivers.

Be safe.

+2
I use a Hope One Vision on flashing, it's very comforting to see the reflectors and number plates on parked cars blinking at me half a mile away, even in murky daylight.
I see loads of riders riding with flashing front lights and they are -IMO more visible than hi-viz. If you sit just back from the nearside door mirror of cars, see how long it is before they wake up and start wondering what's flashing in their eyes.
I also use the brightest back light I could buy.

Bikeradar is that way --->

as andy said it's not that far away

Cycle Guy in the Sunday Times is having a similar cycle attire dilemma today regarding cycling shorts/trousers that are equally at home in the office. He plumped for Rapha cycling trousers at £150, which is nice....

The Fibre Flare lights are good...

http://fibreflare.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6

And makes a good combo with a Mars Blackburn 4.0

Cycle Guy in the Sunday Times is having a similar cycle attire dilemma today regarding cycling shorts/trousers that are equally at home in the office. He plumped for Rapha cycling trousers at £150, which is nice....
...but a bit pricey.

^ and there goes the magic!

Saw these guys at the Bike Show. Normal looking clothing with reflective trim. NOt cheap but does bridge the gap between visibility and normal clothes.

www.lostvalues.com

Saw a guy wiped out one dark, murky eve last year by a guy from the far lane in oncoming traffic turning across him. Slick looking bike, trendy dark camo gear, but no lights or helmet. I stopped to help, and the driver said to the rider 'If you'd been wearing what he's wearing, I'd have seen you'.

Course it's the driver's fault, but your call if you choose to give them the excuse. I got good lights and a mix of hi-viz and reflective stuff depending on the conditions. But then, I don't look as cool as the guy that got totalled.

having no lights render himself invisible, hell it's illegal to ride without light on the road, hi-ves won't make any difference, light does.

and drivers always will have excuses, even when I have my old hi-ves windbreaker on, they''ll always go 'oh I didn't see you'.

Saw these guys at the Bike Show. Normal looking clothing with reflective trim. NOt cheap but does bridge the gap between visibility and normal clothes.

www.lostvalues.com

fucking hel £70 for a hat? a hat? i wouldn't even pay that much for a helmet!

;)

butsrsly

i used to use a fluorescent yellow rucksack until it was taken off my but the police.

Ahem. They're not Air Max 95.

I know people in Dagenham who'd eat your liver for getting that one wrong.

It was a question, so I'm not wrong.

Stop spending time in Dagenham and you might learn about punctuation!

;-)

I own none of these items.
The word is spelt cunt btw.

Ok Mr Already Fording, the fact that you felt the need to respell my name as Jizzvendor seems to suggest that i struck a nerve, do you at least have a moustache,

Saw these guys at the Bike Show. Normal looking clothing with reflective trim. NOt cheap but does bridge the gap between visibility and normal clothes.

www.lostvalues.com

Trouble with that stuff is not getting harmed by callous car drivers, but by getting dragged off your bike and beaten by the fashion police.

having no lights render himself invisible, hell it's illegal to ride without light on the road, hi-ves won't make any difference, light does.

and drivers always will have excuses, even when I have my old hi-ves windbreaker on, they''ll always go 'oh I didn't see you'.

evidence ? or what you just said is merely hypothetical.
btw i think your wrong.... just for the record.
I'm not willing to let a post like that fester for others to read and perhaps follow ... it's irresponsible IMO, because Hi-Viz, as a driver myself, makes a very significant difference when tracking a cyclists in the mirrors.

Hi-Viz, as a driver myself, makes a very significant difference when tracking a cyclists in the mirrors.

True. Plus lights.
There's nothing worse, than a cyclist wearing black hooded tracksuits and no lights, sometimes on the wrong side of the road.
Drivers are often too nonchalant, but give at least the more conscious of them chance to see you.

Although probably mentioned above already – hi-vis-shnizz is especially good at dawn/dusk when even flashing lights aren't very effective. That's what my local CTC group tell me anyway.

I'm still to young/dumb for fluro clothing to be for practical reasons. However I'm running loads of lights and a reflective arm/leg bands these days. I must be approaching 30.

That's why 1992 was much safer for young cyclists

Bright car lights and retroreflective signs & roadmarkings have turned the night-time roadscape into an eighties arcade game of neon-bright colours on a black background.

Have reflectors on your bike. Pedal reflectors are surprisingly effective. Get lights. Wear light colours. Customise your bag or clothing by adding retro-reflective material. I am a fan of showing the correct colours in the correct directions, but it probably doesn't matter too much.

Pedal reflectors are so good because being so low down they catch dipped headlights, and their motion is unique to cyclists. Also their lowness also reduces ambiguity about how far away they are - they cannot be further from the driver than where his line of sight intersects the road surface. It is quick and easy for the driver's brain to work out 'low down in field of view = close". Lights or reflectors at driver's eye level could be at any distance.

Ok Mr Already Fording, the fact that you felt the need to respell my name as Jizzvendor seems to suggest that i struck a nerve, do you at least have a moustache,

Nope and nope, I just think if you are going to make generalisations and then have a go at intimating a very naughty word..

it is just a bit of a pansy thing to do.

evidence ? or what you just said is merely hypothetical.
btw i think your wrong.... just for the record.
I'm not willing to let a post like that fester for others to read and perhaps follow ... it's irresponsible IMO, because Hi-Viz, as a driver myself, makes a very significant difference when tracking a cyclists in the mirrors.

that's the thing mate, you're a driver as well as a cyclist, you do look out for other cyclists, and therefore were able to see the difference which is not what I'm arguing about.

what I am saying is that if a drivers is not looking out for cyclists on the road, the hi-vis top make little/no difference.

Even with 3 lights on front of bike, 3 on back, another one on backpack, extra strip light on rear of helmet, hi-viz vest, hi-viz tape on bike, last winter I had many drivers that still just didn't see me. Usually when they were doing sudden eratic pissed off u-turns to get out of traffic jams or turning across my path. If someone is making too sudden a judgement on a dodgy manouver then they just don't think to look and won't see you whatever you're wearing.

On the other hand, you've got to give the people who do look out for you the chance to see you. It's suprising how difficult it is when driving to see a bike with just lights in a city when there's pinpoints of light everywhere you look. A bit of rain on a windscreen can make it worse too. As already mentioned a combo of solid and flashing lights is good. Hi-vz isn't vital but wearing light colours rather than black makes sense.

Now i'm catching your drift Ed, yes, fair point, and a very good one at that.

that's the thing mate, you're a driver as well as a cyclist, you do look out for other cyclists, and therefore were able to see the difference which is not what I'm arguing about.

what I am saying is that if a drivers is not looking out for cyclists on the road, the hi-vis top make little/no difference.

Nobody 'looks out' for cyclists, so it makes sense to make yourself as visible as possible! Hi-Viz definitely does make a difference, especially in places where it counts most (cars pulling out of side roads in to your lane, with only a glance to their right), or cars turning in to side roads, only glancing in their mirrors.