Advise on High-Viz Clothing, Helmet ect...

ST Gui said:
Some kind of strobe effect could be added to various LED aux lights as well. Or get creative and put strobes in a couple of tubes and add a PA with sound effects to approximate twin Vickers. Impersonating the rate of fire of an M134 or M61 might be lost on most people. :grin:
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With the Clearwater CANopener I have set the option to strobe the two 6,000 lumens Clearwater Erikas when I hit the horn, which is the 120dB Nautilus. Illegal but it does get other drivers attention!
 
SMSW said:
Truck parts stores - at least the one I've been to that caters to semi trailers - sell 3m reflective tape in 2" x 12" pieces for about $1.50/piece. It comes in two flavors - all white and half white half red. This is the Solas 3M product mentioned earlier. Buy as little or as much as you want.
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I wasn't clear.

It was hard for me to find fluorescent emergency vehicle/school bus yellow in small quantities. Truck supply stores, of which I have a couple of as customers, don't carry it and referred me to Grainger who wanted nearly $20 a foot. I found 24" x 1" for $10 at REI.

 
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I went from wearing my First Gear black leather jacket to wearing a Hi-Viz Aerostich Roadcrafter and I wear it from 32 F to 115F. I also can tell that people see me better due to the looks or the look then a double check look as I ride by the car driver that is wanting to pull out.
I have had people ask me if I am a fireman and such things. My wife and kids laughed when I first got it. Now my wife has a Hi-Viz First Gear jacket. I have a Hi-Viz vest for my kids who ride. Had a vendor tell me that white is seen better and faster than Hi-Viz. Aerostich told me that the Hi-Viz color was starting to become a popular choice. I haven't had to wash mine for two riding seasons. May wash it this winter.
Agree that inattentive drivers will not see it but those that are somewhat complacent about looking do see you. It is all about reducing the odds. When my son was flying my drone at Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado river this past summer he commented. "Dad, I am glad you have that Hi-Viz shirt on. It makes it easy to see where we are"
Just don't let your textile materials touch hot mufflers! In the following picture you can see the Hi-Viz color stand out.
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ST Gui said:
+1 on all counts. I've only recently added the Eviteks but I've had a similar strobing brake light reflector substitution for quite awhile now. It's pretty cool to see it reflecting off chrome and paint of a vehicle stopped behind me. Sometimes way behind me. Other vehicles will sometimes creep up a little to get the light out of their eyes. I may revert to an older strobe that cuts the output for night use since it's not authorized and it *is* bright.

I haven't been stopped either though I seldom get out at night. I figure I can talk my way out of it and if not it's only a $10 fine.

My GW buddy constantly raves about how visible my Evitek lights are. He says they're far brighter than my ST buddy's 55/60W H4s that I gave him when they were replaced by the G6s. Now he wants LEDs for his Wing including the lower fog lights.




I've seen that reference a couple of times now and it made me consider an alternative— two white strobes or a modulator connected to a push button that would have to be really close to a thumb like right about the starter switch. Push the button and get wig-wag like flashing white light. While it's highly unlikely The Weave is illegal (when done within reason) wig-wags of any variety almost certainly are. But used sparingly they could be more effective than a horn. Or they could be used in concert with a horn. (npi).

Some kind of strobe effect could be added to various LED aux lights as well. Or get creative and put strobes in a couple of tubes and add a PA with sound effects to approximate twin Vickers. Impersonating the rate of fire of an M134 or M61 might be lost on most people. :grin:
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We have Clearwater Erica’s on all our bikes. On the Police ST I fashioned an adjustable flasher relay to an additional Clearwater high/low trigger wire and added a switch allowing the Clearwater’s to flash high/low at a desired rate. I only use them for splitting lanes here in California, which is like parting the Red Sea now. One could also use white Wheelan Linz 6’s or white Sound off ghost lights. I also have white/amber Soundoff ghost lights up front on the P bike for other occasions.
 
Question for the Ferret, what are those warm looking hand warmers you have and where did you get them. Do you wear gloves underneath that system? They look really neat!

On the visibility question I think it is just another layer of protection you can give yourself as a rider. We will always be invisible to some who just are not looking properly, but good defensive riding strategies, brighter/flashing lights, Hi-Vis Clothing, bright helmets, reflective are all part of any defensive riding system

Bike Rider
 
Grizzly said:
Doesn't matter how hi-viz you are. My buddy had a old Harley FXR that was so loud it would shake the sheet metal on a car at idle. He also had the front and back so bright you could see him from a mile away in bright Florida sun. Dude still pulled out and t-boned him from a center lane on a 4 lane road. 4 FL State Troopers witnessed the wreck and they all said we were just saying "Damn that guy doesn't want to get hit" then BAM! Point being, i don't care how hi viz, how many lights you have, or how many reflectors you have.....a distracted driver, fiddling with their phone or whatnot is gonna hit you any way.
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Yep, people generally have no clue how to drive, which involves paying attention to what you are doing. I find it ironic that this has been augmented by the introduction of "smart" phones. I also firmly believe that the best car/truck drivers out there also ride motorcycles.
 
I started wearing a yellow hi-viz vest about four years ago when I bought my Tiger.
I definitely noticed the people looked at me. Now that could have been because the Tiger is just so darn good looking ;-)
When we bought the ST we bought white helmets and I still wear the same vest. We will likely purchase a similar vest for my partner.

ST has upgraded headlights and the daylight reflective panels on the back but I'm considering a Evitek or similar for the rear brake light.
One thing that make a difference here is that drivers tend to be used to looking for cyclists and scooters as they are very prevalent. I think that does make a difference.


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jmcarruth said:
Yep, people generally have no clue how to drive, which involves paying attention to what you are doing. I find it ironic that this has been augmented by the introduction of "smart" phones. I also firmly believe that the best car/truck drivers out there also ride motorcycles.
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I agree about the best drivers being motorcyclists. For the last 4 years if my wife and I go anywhere I drive . This is because of her frustration for years of me saying are you going to get in the left lane before you get trapped, watch out for this car slowing down in front of you. Watch out for this guy over here. She retorts... I'm only half a second behind you why do you bother me. I told her because for the last minute I've been frustrated that you haven't been watching out or you're going to get trapped. So one day she pulls over on the highway gets out without word and I get out without a word and we swap places and we are both very happy since. I had a dealer tell me the reason this happened. Guy you are motorcyclist you ride motorcycles you just don't ride it from bar to bar or on a weekend you are a motorcyclist you've ridden for years. So you are aware of what is around you as you have to be to survive.

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Bike Rider said:
Question for the Ferret, what are those warm looking hand warmers you have and where did you get them. Do you wear gloves underneath that system? They look really neat!

On the visibility question I think it is just another layer of protection you can give yourself as a rider. We will always be invisible to some who just are not looking properly, but good defensive riding strategies, brighter/flashing lights, Hi-Vis Clothing, bright helmets, reflective are all part of any defensive riding system

Bike Rider
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Before I switched to my 1 pc Aerostich suit I used (and still have) the See Me vest in black with vertical yellow stripe from Conspicuity. Excellent quality and a very easy piece of gear. I just left in on my jacket and never took it off unless I was switching jackets.

Skip
 
amorley said:
Illegal but it does get other drivers attention!
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More power to you! Hey that's a great manufacturer option. I though about doing that too. Sometimes when in a car you hear a horn and don't know where the warning is coming from and have to do a quick wide scan.

Actually having a driver seeing an 'unseen' threat can keep 3500+ lbs. off of you.


Grizzly said:
Doesn't matter how hi-viz you are.
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Sometimes it doesn't. It depends on how severe the cranial-rectal inversion. If it didn't actually matter there's be no reason to go to the lengths of increasing conspicuity that most of us do. I suppose we could forgo ATGATT and aftermarket conspicuity lighting and clothing and just say 'Whisky Tango...' let Darwin sort us.

There are no guarantees. We do the best we can and learn from our and others' mistakes and hope it all works.

On the fashion/conspicuity front I don't like the hi-vis green yellow but am slowly upgrading my wardrobe to bright yellow or yellow/black instead of all black. Had I the disposable income the ST would be painted Arctic White (the color of Honda White of my VF1000 Interceptor).
 
ST Gui said:
More power to you! Hey that's a great manufacturer option. I though about doing that too. Sometimes when in a car you hear a horn and don't know where the warning is coming from and have to do a quick wide scan.

Actually having a driver seeing an 'unseen' threat can keep 3500+ lbs. off of you.




Sometimes it doesn't. It depends on how severe the cranial-rectal inversion. If it didn't actually matter there's be no reason to go to the lengths of increasing conspicuity that most of us do. I suppose we could forgo ATGATT and aftermarket conspicuity lighting and clothing and just say 'Whisky Tango...' let Darwin sort us.

There are no guarantees. We do the best we can and learn from our and others' mistakes and hope it all works.

On the fashion/conspicuity front I don't like the hi-vis green yellow but am slowly upgrading my wardrobe to bright yellow or yellow/black instead of all black. Had I the disposable income the ST would be painted Arctic White (the color of Honda White of my VF1000 Interceptor).
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All good.... but I must poke the bear. You do have disposable income... Otherwise you wouldn't have a MC or two and all the gear.
So if you had more disposable income... your ST would become a Polar bear:)

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please please PLEASE tell me that X-Wing fighter is reflective! That would be AWESOME!
 
Yes the x wing fighter is reflective. Funny story ... A few years ago I was riding in the UP of Michigan, going thru a small town that was spraying crossbars when unbeknownst to me, my black bike got caught in the overspray /mist. That night when I stopped I saw it was covered head to toe front to rear with little white spots. Tried to clean it off when I got back home to Ohio, but couldn't get it off. Looked like a galaxy (far far away) of stars in the blackness so since I worked for a sign company at the time, I used some reflective sheeting and cut out an X wing fighter to apply to it, and I call my bike "STarship" for it's ability to transport me across the country at warp speed.

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