Laser projector bike light for the front

[Scimitar]

Nope - still had people pull out on me with my bright lights.

They look but don't see.

Polis motorcycle cop to me, once...
"Doesn't matter what you're dressed in, or on, or how many lights you have - if they're not looking at you, they've not seen you."
This was a bloke who'd been pulled out on while riding his ice-cream wagon. Jesus, the dopey sod in the car didn't see him!

 

[103Alex1]

my helmet is a mixture of dayglo colours (gay as hell, I know). Actually, I'm undecided to paint it the proper matt black or not - it's a useful visibility aid as it is.

There's a jacket you might like to match ... could audition for Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat in that !

You're at Elevengear -> Roadwear -> Traffic Master

Now I'm just off to list my Rapha team issue skinsuit complete with pin marks on e-bay. Whatever I say about lycra on the outside it does a blooming good job as possibly the world's comfiest one-piece padded undies. If it weren't for the "unsafe anywhere outside Shoreditch" candyfloss pink piping round the neck, which insists on poking up above anything you try to put over it to hide your little secret, I'd probably have kept it

 

[Jeremy]

BTW, one reason why bright colours, especially some of the day-glo ones, aren't that effective is down to the fact that our eyes have very little colour discrimination in the peripheral vision region (peripheral vision is virtually black and white). We only see colour well in the central region of the eye, where we normally focus when looking directly at something. Additionally, the eye loses colour vision, even in the macula (that central region where we have best colour detection) as light levels drop, so at dawn and dusk, or when light levels drop from the effects of cloud, fog or mist, even the brightest day-glo tends to look light grey at a distance.

When we were trying to evaluate high visibility colour schemes we adapted some cameras so that their spectral response matched that of the human eye at a series of different light levels. The results were a surprise, particularly for some trials weapons that had traditionally always been painted day-glo orange. In overcast middle of the day light conditions the orange turned out to be light grey on the photos, at quite modest distances. Switching to painting the things black, with a broad white spiral stripe, increased visibility massively.

It would be nice to see cycle clothing fashions switch from all these fairly useless (and somewhat embarrassing) bright colours and go for a mix of black and white. A black jacket and trousers, with a high contrast reflective white tape around the edge of the arms, body and legs, might well be the best you can do in terms of making yourself stand out and be noticed. I'd love to see someone pick up on this, do some proper testing and perhaps market some sensible cycling gear that actually improves safety.

 

[indalo]

It would be nice to see cycle clothing fashions switch from all these fairly useless (and somewhat embarrassing) bright colours and go for a mix of black and white. A black jacket and trousers, with a high contrast reflective white tape around the edge of the arms, body and legs, might well be the best you can do in terms of making yourself stand out and be noticed.

I don't know if it's just round my way but I seem to have noticed that a lot of club cyclists eschew bright hi-vis tops for quieter colour schemes in lycra. Many of them don't ride in darkness though.

Indalo

 

[billadie]

My instinctive, untested reaction to this is surprise. When looking in my small bike mirror any lights are better than no lights, and I (think I) see bright coloured cars better than dark ones. Worse are the matt greys that seem to fashionable amongst the Clarkson groupies. Oh, and bikes without any lights at all.

As for front lights. I have just got a single LED Cree T6. This is very good light for unlit roads. I match it with a B&M. See every pothole for 50 metres, can follow the kerb and am seen by oncoming traffic.

 

[flecc]

The best way to ensure being seen is to present a large area of a single colour, and since tyres are black, an all black outfit is very effective in daylight to achieve the greatest area.

Breaking up one's image into various coloured areas in our multicoloured world is a very good way to avoid being seen. In the army we called it camouflage.

 

[Jeremy]

The best way to ensure being seen is to present a large area of a single colour, and since tyres are black, an all black outfit is very effective in daylight to achieve the greatest area.

Breaking up one's image into various coloured areas in our multicoloured world is a very good way to avoid being seen. In the army we called it camouflage.

Very true. I once visited a big paint spraying facility, where tanks were repainted after having been overhauled. The interesting thing was that the camouflage was done freehand, with the painter only being given the general rule that you must not have black around the edges or on all the corners. The rest of the disruptive pattern was just left to the painters discretion (this was pre-Afghanistan, so the colour scheme was olive drab and black, rather than the lighter shades now used).

 

[flecc]

Exactly the same rule applies to individual soldiers Jeremy, it being left to each to apply face marking patterns. They usually ended up ranging from splodges for some to redskin style stripes for others, but all were effective. It's what the natural environment background is like, infinitely variable, and our urban environments tend to be also.

 

[billadie]

The best way to ensure being seen is to present a large area of a single colour, and since tyres are black, an all black outfit is very effective in daylight to achieve the greatest area.

Breaking up one's image into various coloured areas in our multicoloured world is a very good way to avoid being seen. In the army we called it camouflage.

I am not sure that all black clothes are going to show up on the black tarmac that Glos County insist on using on our roads. Now if they painted them yellow or white it would also reduce global warming by reflecting heat. In the meantime I'll stick with the hi-vis.

 

[flecc]

I am not sure that all black clothes are going to show up on the black tarmac that Glos County insist on using on our roads. Now if they painted them yellow or white it would also reduce global warming by reflecting heat. In the meantime I'll stick with the hi-vis.

I think that would be likely to apply mainly to those in helicopters etc viewing cyclists against the road background, much less to road users on the same level. However the main point I was making was the one colour approach, whichever colour is suitable, to give the greatest chance of the "object" being seen.

 

[Scimitar]

The best way to ensure being seen is to present a large area of a single colour, and since tyres are black, an all black outfit is very effective in daylight to achieve the greatest area.

Breaking up one's image into various coloured areas in our multicoloured world is a very good way to avoid being seen. In the army we called it camouflage.

You should take a black and white picture of your cat and see how well it blends into the background when (not) seen by a mouse.

 

[flecc]

I did say in daytime Dave, moggies are most effective at night when hunting.

Wearing all black on motorcycles, some of them all black, has kept me safe on the UK's roads. I've never been hit once in my over 50 years of motor cycling, nor ever claimed once on my insurance.

 

[Old_Dave]

Ditto with flecc, never been hit but must admit to stuffing bikes into the tarmac on a few occasions, lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[smudger1956]

Ditto - Ditto, I have never had an accident in my life.........seen plenty in my rear view mirrors though.....

 

[Scimitar]

I did say in daytime Dave, moggies are most effective at night when hunting.

Wearing all black on motorcycles, some of them all black, has kept me safe on the UK's roads. I've never been hit once in my over 50 years of motor cycling, nor ever claimed once on my insurance.

I'm talking about daytime. A ginger tom or tortoiseshell cat shot in black and white is a masterpiece of camo. Having seen it, I can see how they can just sit there and wait for the mice to wander by, unconcerned.

 

[flecc]

I still don't see it Dave, we're speaking of human eyesight, not that of a mouse. To my human eyes a black cat in daylight sticks out like a sore thumb. A photo isn't relevant, it's dynamic range far less than that of the human eye, and a BW photo even less relevant since effectively it converts all colours to degrees of blackness.

 

[Jeremy]

Compared with humans, mice have rather odd eyes. They have very different colour perception, for example. Unlike us, they can detect up into the UV end of the spectrum slightly when looking downwards and to the rear, and they can see into the green bit of the spectrum when looking forwards and upwards. They also have poor distance vision, anything more than a few hundred mm away will be out of focus to a mouse.

Like many prey species, they are pretty good at detecting distant peripheral movement, but in all probability they don't have the visual acuity to actually determine what's moving.

I suspect that one reason that the cat strategy of staying absolutely still works is as much down to mice being relatively short sighted and unable to detect stationary things a little distance away as it is due to cat camouflage.

 

[Haku]

I saw a Mythbusters a few weeks back where they tested if you could cycle under water (tested in a swimming pool) and to show when the back wheel was moving but not giving any traction they painted the wheels+tyres a 'checker' white, it was extremely effective and I wonder how such a tyre colour scheme would work in relation to being more visable on the roads:

 

[flecc]

I saw a Mythbusters a few weeks back where they tested if you could cycle under water (tested in a swimming pool) and to show when the back wheel was moving but not giving any traction they painted the wheels+tyres a 'checker' white, it was extremely effective and I wonder how such a tyre colour scheme would work in relation to being more visable on the roads:

It would certainly work broadside-on as do other wheel highlighting methods, but I'm not so confident it would work well from the rear where most needed. That woud be expecially true where mudguards were fitted.

 

[Scimitar]

I still don't see it Dave, we're speaking of human eyesight, not that of a mouse. To my human eyes a black cat in daylight sticks out like a sore thumb. A photo isn't relevant, it's dynamic range far less than that of the human eye, and a BW photo even less relevant since effectively it converts all colours to degrees of blackness.

So, without having seen it you just dismiss it. Fair enough, fine, you carry on.