The science of being seen

[chuxtr]

With daylight hours waning (especially once DST kicks in), thought this would be a good read for everyone.

https://www.velonews.com/2018/10/bikes-and-tech/the-science-of-being-seen_472689

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18481[/ATTACH]

[Tania]

When driving I’ve often wondered “bike or car?” when looking at a one light in sea of red lights. They all blend together.

I want to stand out – so I run clip on NiteIze wheel lights in purple, pink, green or blue (often a mix of all) plus my rear light has a blue setting. I have neon blue flexible lights that wrap around my arms. I have neon pink string lights that wrap around my frame. Ankle reflectors. Reflective tape on my back pack and reflective stickers on my helmet.

I want drivers to think “wtf is THAT over there?”

This is so that if I get hit I can argue that there’s absolutely no way they didn’t see me.

[drevil]

@Tania 181925 wrote:

When driving I’ve often wondered “bike or car?” when looking at a one light in sea of red lights. They all blend together.

I want to stand out – so I run clip on NiteIze wheel lights in purple, pink, green or blue (often a mix of all) plus my rear light has a blue setting. I have neon blue flexible lights that wrap around my arms. I have neon pink string lights that wrap around my frame. Ankle reflectors. Reflective tape on my back pack and reflective stickers on my helmet.

I want drivers to think “wtf is THAT over there?”

This is so that if I get hit I can argue that there’s absolutely no way they didn’t see me.

Back in ’94-abouts, I was working at a bike shop when Vistalite had to recall all their blue blinkie lights because that color was reserved for the police in some states. Apparently, it’s OK in VA and MD according to this site: https://www.supernovabikelight.com/statutes/

I also put Monkeylectric wheel lights on my wife’s commuter, which sometimes makes people slow down and go, “Ooooh ahhhh”

[Tania]

Honestly I wouldn’t care if the blue lights weren’t legal. I don’t leave my rear light on blue but it’s nice to have it when I feel I need it.

The red and blue flashing mode is particularly obnoxious. And eye catching. 😎

[trailrunner]

@Tania 181925 wrote:

When driving I’ve often wondered “bike or car?” when looking at a one light in sea of red lights. They all blend together.

I want to stand out – so I run clip on NiteIze wheel lights in purple, pink, green or blue (often a mix of all) plus my rear light has a blue setting. I have neon blue flexible lights that wrap around my arms. I have neon pink string lights that wrap around my frame. Ankle reflectors. Reflective tape on my back pack and reflective stickers on my helmet.

I want drivers to think “wtf is THAT over there?”

This is so that if I get hit I can argue that there’s absolutely no way they didn’t see me.

I used to work at a military lab doing the opposite research – camouflage, or the science of not being seen. Our lab did a lot of work trying to hide, or trying to see things that are hard to see.

One day I was in the parking lot getting ready to ride home. Like you, I had a lot of lights, and I was turning them on. Our lab director was in the lot, and came over to me. He was a bit of a crusty old dude not known for casual conversation. He looked me over with a professional gaze, and said “with that many lights, if anyone hits you, then you will certainly know it was intentional.”

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[streetsmarts]

Where’d you get your neon blue flex lights to wrap around your arms? Now that i’m mostly riding in the city, I need more lights!

[streetsmarts]

yeah, i’m thinking about those Monkey lights too

[Tania]

@streetsmarts 181939 wrote:

Where’d you get your neon blue flex lights to wrap around your arms? Now that i’m mostly riding in the city, I need more lights!

My mom found them in the deep bowels of Amazon – I know she had trouble finding any kind of wearable light that wasn’t red. They came from China as did my rear light (the packaging was in Chinese).

The NiteIze mini spoke lights are much cheaper than the monkey lights. Easier to install and you can quickly swap them from bike to bike.
https://www.niteize.com/product/See-Em.asp

[streetsmarts]

Thanks! I’ve been using NiteIze since my buddy Bobco introduced me to them on one of my first night rides home from Third Thursday Happy hour about 2 years ago!!

[Tania]

@streetsmarts 181943 wrote:

Thanks! I’ve been using NiteIze since my buddy Bobco introduced me to them on one of my first night rides home from Third Thursday Happy hour about 2 years ago!!

I think he turned me onto them too. I regularly commute on three different bikes so it’s not financially feasible to put monkey lights on all my bikes. The spoke lights work great for me although the ML’s are way cooler.

Speaking of niteize, I see they now have some LED wrist slap bands that come in neon yellow and neon pink. May pick up a set of those.

[Emm]

This was a great reminder to move my monkey lights onto my new commuter from my old bike. Thank you. I decided not to move it before the Natchez Trace trip since adding monkey lights to a steel bike that already had a rack and fenders installed would just be too much added weight (:confused: :confused: :confused: ). The monkey lights are fabulous though. I LOVE them.

I also got 2 of these for my birthday and I’m curious as to how they will work. I just installed one on the back wheel of my commuter that has the monkey lights up front, and one on my backup bike. They require an absurdly fast speed to be “perfect” (18.6 mph), but they should do the trick of making me light up like a christmas tree.

I’m also a huge fan of the lumos helmet. I received one off the kickstarter campaign and have gotten numerous positive comments on it from drivers, pedestrians and other cyclists. I just realized they released it in pink so I may be about to have 2 lumos helmets now…

[drevil]

One relatively cheap reflective item I love is the Salzman Spoke Reflectors. I don’t see them in stock at Amazon now, but I’ve bought few packs of 36 at $13.90 the last couple of years. They take 1 second to put each one on, and you can hardly tell they’re there, so if you have a super swank bike – ahem, kwark – these won’t out you as a dork. I even put a couple on my mountain bikes (around the valve) in case I have to hop on the road for a little bit. Also makes it easier to find the valve to pump the tire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVqixwHSTAA

BTW, I don’t do full wheelsets of them like they do in the vid. I usually only do 2-4, and sometimes 8 on bikes that I know I’ll ride on the road a lot at night.

[cvcalhoun]

tania;181925 wrote:

this is so that ̶i̶f̶ when i get hit i can argue that there’s absolutely no way they didn’t see me.

ftfy.

[AlexandriaBiker]

The recommended Flare RT lights have been recalled. https://www.bikeradar.com/us/road/news/article/trek-recalls-some-bontrager-flare-rt-and-ion-700-rt-lights-48822/

[Judd]

@AlexandriaBiker 182359 wrote:

The recommended Flare RT lights have been recalled. https://www.bikeradar.com/us/road/news/article/trek-recalls-some-bontrager-flare-rt-and-ion-700-rt-lights-48822/

I hope they’ve fixed the issue since 2016. I had two Bontrager Ion front lights that crapped out on me in less than a year and started turning on and off whenever they wanted to. I switched to Light and Motion Urban 500’s for the front light and like them just fine, although the port cover is junk and breaks off quickly on them.

[Author]

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