Best helmet for visibility? (color on underside of rear)

[Jeff Potter]

Anyone know of a good helmet at a good price for visibility safety?

I'm thinking that an optimally visible helmet would be a bright color
with the coloring extended under the rear 'tail' of the helmet so that
drivers can still easily see it from the rear when a rider is going
hard with their head tipped down a bit.

Any brand/model ideas? Links?

--JP

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On 6 Nov 2004 10:24:51 -0800, [email protected] (Jeff Potter) wrote
in message <[email protected]>:

>Anyone know of a good helmet at a good price for visibility safety?

Do you ride a recumbent? On a wedgie you will get much better value
by wearing a fluorescent jacket.

If you are really concerned, try a pennant on a pole, available from
recumbent and trailer bike shops. These wave around like crazy on
their flexible poles and are really visible.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

 

[Matt O'Toole]

Jeff Potter wrote:

> Anyone know of a good helmet at a good price for visibility safety?
>
> I'm thinking that an optimally visible helmet would be a bright color
> with the coloring extended under the rear 'tail' of the helmet so that
> drivers can still easily see it from the rear when a rider is going
> hard with their head tipped down a bit.

Your head probably isn't tipped down as much as you think, unless you stare at
your feet while you ride. Put a strip of good, 3M reflective tape around your
helmet, and a few pieces here and there on your bike and clothing.

Matt O.

 

[Zoot Katz]

6 Nov 2004 10:24:51 -0800,
<[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Jeff Potter) wrote:

>Anyone know of a good helmet at a good price for visibility safety?

Personal observation:
Fluorescent Hot Pink (in daylight) followed by White (under most
lighting conditions), Hi-Viz lime green, yellow.

I'm not looking for pennants so have only noticed them after spotting
either the white helmet or jersey or brightly coloured jacket or
trailer. After ascertaining what it is, do I see the orange pennant.
This time of year they're less effective with the autumn background.
--
zk

 

[Dan Daniel]

On 6 Nov 2004 10:24:51 -0800, [email protected] (Jeff Potter) wrote:

>Anyone know of a good helmet at a good price for visibility safety?
>
>I'm thinking that an optimally visible helmet would be a bright color
>with the coloring extended under the rear 'tail' of the helmet so that
>drivers can still easily see it from the rear when a rider is going
>hard with their head tipped down a bit.
>
>Any brand/model ideas? Links?
>
>--JP

I've had no problems applying adhesive-backed reflective tape to the
styrofoam sections of helmets, including the bottom back section. In
ten years and three helmets, I've seen no signs of the adhesive
attacking the foam.

Then again, bright clothing and/or lights are probably more effective.

 

[Pat]

: I've had no problems applying adhesive-backed reflective tape to the
: styrofoam sections of helmets, including the bottom back section. In
: ten years and three helmets, I've seen no signs of the adhesive
: attacking the foam.

I haven't had any problems applying it, either. It's getting it to stay in
place that has been the problem for me. Maybe it's the Texas summertime
heat, but the reflective tape just curls up...

Pat in TX

 

[Chip C]

[email protected] (Jeff Potter) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Anyone know of a good helmet at a good price for visibility safety?
>
> I'm thinking that an optimally visible helmet would be a bright color
> with the coloring extended under the rear 'tail' of the helmet so that
> drivers can still easily see it from the rear when a rider is going
> hard with their head tipped down a bit.
>
> Any brand/model ideas? Links?
>
> --JP

I've been thinking about this, and my own personal opinion, being
someone with no professional expertise in this whatsoever, is that a
solid bright colour, like white or yellow, is your best bet. My
thinking is that you not only need a colour bright enough to draw the
eye, but you need to present a shape that the viewer recognizes as a
person on a bike, and can quickly get an accurate bearing and range
on. That's where the solid colour comes in.

I'm convinced that isolated bright lights, little stripes of reflecto,
complex patterns of loud colour, etc, may nominally be visible from a
great distance, but it can form part of the visual noise of a
streetscape without imprinting "hey, there's a cyclist".

I do agree with the other poster who suggested that your jacket or
jersey will make more difference than your helmet.

Chip C
Toronto

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:46:30 -0600, "Pat" <[email protected]> wrote in
message <[email protected]>:

>I haven't had any problems applying it, either. It's getting it to stay in
>place that has been the problem for me.

The solution is to buy non-adhesive reflective and glue it on with
cyanoacrylate.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On 7 Nov 2004 08:51:48 -0800, [email protected] (Chip C) wrote in
message <[email protected]>:

>I've been thinking about this, and my own personal opinion, being
>someone with no professional expertise in this whatsoever, is that a
>solid bright colour, like white or yellow, is your best bet. My
>thinking is that you not only need a colour bright enough to draw the
>eye, but you need to present a shape that the viewer recognizes as a
>person on a bike, and can quickly get an accurate bearing and range
>on. That's where the solid colour comes in.

How about red and white quartered, or painted up like a crash test
dummy? Seriously.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

 

[Dan Daniel]

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 19:30:19 +0000, "Just zis Guy, you know?"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:46:30 -0600, "Pat" <[email protected]> wrote in
>message <[email protected]>:
>
>>I haven't had any problems applying it, either. It's getting it to stay in
>>place that has been the problem for me.
>
>The solution is to buy non-adhesive reflective and glue it on with
>cyanoacrylate.
>
>Guy

Have you done this? Cyanoacrylates/ super glue will eat many foams.

 

[Zoot Katz]

Sun, 07 Nov 2004 12:44:59 -0800,
<[email protected]>, Dan Daniel
<[email protected]> wrote:

>>The solution is to buy non-adhesive reflective and glue it on with
>>cyanoacrylate.
>>
>>Guy
>
>Have you done this? Cyanoacrylates/ super glue will eat many foams.

You have to use special ones labelled "foam safe". They work on the
pink or blue foam insulation but I've never used them on a helmet.
--
zk

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 12:44:59 -0800, Dan Daniel
<[email protected]> wrote in message
<[email protected]>:

>>The solution is to buy non-adhesive reflective and glue it on with
>>cyanoacrylate.

>Have you done this? Cyanoacrylates/ super glue will eat many foams.

I have indeed. I used Loctite gel superglue to glue the velcro
fixings for my visor and the reflectives on the back of my helmet.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

 

[Frank Krygowski]

Chip C wrote:

>
> I've been thinking about this, and my own personal opinion, being
> someone with no professional expertise in this whatsoever, is that a
> solid bright colour, like white or yellow, is your best bet. My
> thinking is that you not only need a colour bright enough to draw the
> eye, but you need to present a shape that the viewer recognizes as a
> person on a bike, and can quickly get an accurate bearing and range
> on. That's where the solid colour comes in.
>
> I'm convinced that isolated bright lights, little stripes of reflecto,
> complex patterns of loud colour, etc, may nominally be visible from a
> great distance, but it can form part of the visual noise of a
> streetscape without imprinting "hey, there's a cyclist".
>
> I do agree with the other poster who suggested that your jacket or
> jersey will make more difference than your helmet.
>

Although I also lack professional expertise in the matter, I think most
of the worry about cyclist visibility is excessive. I wouldn't
purposely camoflauge myself, but I've never seen evidence that ordinary
colors are inadequate in daytime. As mentioned in another thread, _all_
my commuting is in ordinary clothing. In cool weather, that includes a
dark green jacket. I can recall only two incidents where people didn't
see me and started to pull out in front of me - but both stopped, and
apologized!

At night, I think the best "signature of a cyclist" devices are rear LED
blinkies, and reflectors on pedals & wheels. The motion is very
characteristic and immediately telegraphs "cyclist." And reflectors
placed low are very bright indeed.

I know there are some prominent cyclists who are anti-reflector, but
I've never bought into that. Just be sure you don't use reflectors in
_place_ of lights.


--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

 

[Jeff Potter]

"Matt O'Toole" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Jeff Potter wrote:
>
> > Anyone know of a good helmet at a good price for visibility safety?
[ ]
> Your head probably isn't tipped down as much as you think, unless you stare at
> your feet while you ride. Put a strip of good, 3M reflective tape around your
> helmet, and a few pieces here and there on your bike and clothing.

I just like sensible design.

I've made up for bad design in the past with lots of tape. It's ugly.
I'd like to refresh my 15-yr-old helmet scene with a product that
doesn't need to be uglied up to work. A good solid color should do the
trick.

Regarding the other reply, I ride all kinds of bikes and notice how
different biker items look when I drive. No jacket for me unless it's
cold and the jacket is real breathable. And no pennant making noise. A
forward-facing white strobe plus red rear blinker seems like good
ideas, tho.

--JP

 

[Matt O'Toole]

Jeff Potter wrote:

> I've made up for bad design in the past with lots of tape. It's ugly.
> I'd like to refresh my 15-yr-old helmet scene with a product that
> doesn't need to be uglied up to work. A good solid color should do the
> trick.

Strips of reflective tape don't have to be ugly. Use your artistic sense, and
make a nice pinstripe, or artfully placed dots or something. You only need a
little bit to be effective -- even a 1/8" pinstripe would work.

> Regarding the other reply, I ride all kinds of bikes and notice how
> different biker items look when I drive. No jacket for me unless it's
> cold and the jacket is real breathable.

IMO, all cycling clothing should have reflective material built in. Even little
bits of piping can be very effective. I have a black backpack with a couple of
3" zipper pulls made of reflective cord, and even those show up in headlights
from a hundred feet away. Strangely, this kind of piping appears on lots of
clothing, without being reflective. Stripes are "in," but unfortunately not
reflective ones. It's even more important these days with dark colors being in
fashion. I don't understand why my Sidi shoes, which are purely bike shoes,
don't have a reflective patch on the rear, which just about every running shoe
in existence does.

I was discussing all this yesterday with a friend who did the RAAM this summer.
He was describing the RAAM requirements for reflective material, etc. He has
silver reflective tape on his bike, which blends right in with the bare Ti
finish. Nice, and very effective. You can get good quality reflective tape in
all kinds of colors these days, even black, to match whatever you're putting it
on.

Matt O.

 

[Jeff Potter]

Thanks! You make VERY good points for reflecto tape. I'll do it! I
like the pinstriping in matching colors idea. But I also have to have
my stuff be visible in all weather, including plain old daytime.
Anyway, I went and ordered an Orange Limar, on sale at Perf. We'll see
how it plays!

There's a racer-type around here who trains at twilight in murky,
no-reflectors, no light, in basically a road-camo outfit/bike:
gray/navy/black---on a dark navy bike, blackwall tires, navy helmet.
They wear winter gear that's all dark, too. I'm very surprised. My
wife and I both note how this rider is VERY hard to see when we
encounter him/her while driving---I usually see them on the other side
of the road and do a doubletake before I pick up that it's a cyclist.

---JP

 

[Jeff Potter]

The red rear blinky PLUS pedal reflecto does sound like the BEST.
---That pedal motion will indeed be a GREAT cue.

I still think a bright helmet in daytime is also a great CUE.

I haven't had people almost hit me, so you do have a good point,
Frank. However, the roads are getting busier. And on one of our very
busy streets I do have a few cars pass me within inches. I think
bright colors might help. ---Also an orange triangle 'distancer'
(scratcher!) that sticks to the left a foot would probably work but is
too dorky for me at this time.

--JP

 

[Frank Krygowski]

Jeff Potter wrote:

>
> I haven't had people almost hit me, so you do have a good point,
> Frank. However, the roads are getting busier. And on one of our very
> busy streets I do have a few cars pass me within inches.

Usually, that means you're riding too far to the right. When you take
more of the lane, they tend to go further around you. And if they
don't, you've got a bit of escape room.


I think
> bright colors might help. ---Also an orange triangle 'distancer'
> (scratcher!) that sticks to the left a foot would probably work but is
> too dorky for me at this time.

If it makes you nervous to take the lane, you might try one of those
lateral flags. If you do, why not report back here? I'd be curious
about the results.




--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com.
Substitute cc dot ysu dot
edu]