Cycling equipment for visibility

I'm doing a bit of research on runners/cyclists who exercise at night or in the early morning where there is not much sunlight. I was wondering if I could get some feedback on:

-what kind of equipment you use to be seen
-what you like and don't like about your equipment
-any improvements you want to for your equipment
-injuries/stories you've had highlighting the difficulties of being seen by vehicles, pedestrians, etc.
-Your age and gender if you are comfortable mentioning
-how often you cycle each week and approximately for how long
-anything else you'd like to talk about

Any feedback would be awesome!

 

I used to ride my bike around the village every morning for 20 to 30 minutes. During weekdays, I had to ride before the sun comes up because I had to go to work. Now I realize that I should have lights on my bike for more visibility. In fairness to our place, the roads are well lighted and there are not much vehicles during that early hours of the day.

But for safety purposes against muggers and other criminal elements, maybe a siren or a weapon would be needed now since times have changed here.

 

If you have problems with muggers a horn won't do a blasted (pun intended) thing. Weapon? really like what? A gun? ok, a mugger is hiding behind some brush waiting for some moron to come riding by on his bike, he jumps out and suddenly and unexpectedly knocks you off the bike, just how fast do you think you're going to get your gun to prevent that? you're not going to get any chance of getting your gun out, you're laying on the ground probably in pain, you're disoriented, scared, and trying to figure out where your gun is, you finally find but the mugger sees you trying to get something so he starts to beat the crap out of you, finds the gun and shoots you with it.

I love it when I hear people carrying guns with them while riding, how ignorant they are. Even if the gun is in a fanny bag you won't have the time do get it out not alone aim to fire it. And if it's a car that hits you you're laying on the ground injured, even if you are able to retrieve the gun the car is gone.

The only chance you have against a mugger, this won't work for a car attack, is to carry some pepper spray, at least if you get it in the general direction some may hit the eyes of the attacker. But you have to place the spray someplace where you can get it fast like on a clip on your shorts except most shorts won't handle a clip because they don't use belts, so you may have to attach it alongside a water bottle cage, but NOT inside a bag. The only other option, to go along with the spray, is to take Muay Thai, or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or Krav Maga, or GoJu Ryu (either 4 are good just chose the one that has a class closest to you) for self defense, but you need to take it for a long time so it becomes second nature, how long? at least 10 years to learn all the facets to it. Don't waste time learning various forms of weapons in martial arts, none of the weapon crap they teach you will you have on you, or find one laying near you when you need it.

I took Goju for a long time but only recently did I find out that Krav Maga uses a lot of aspects from Goju. Most people either don't know about Goju or overlook it as not being in the top.

 

I don't know where you live or what you look like. I'm brown most of the time because my grandparents were Croatian. I ride through rich white communities and beat-up and broken down black communities. And Hispanic communities in which the greatest danger is being run over by some punk greaser driving down residential streets 25 mph over the limit and going right through stop signs and lights.

As I said time and time again, bicycling is easily the safest form of transport. No one gives one damn if you're riding past on a bicycle and you're far more likely to have your home burgled while you're out on a ride. Now I'm sure that Campybob can find a case where supposedly some cyclist just was riding along minding his own business and was attacked. That would be media click-bait. It doesn't happen.

 

CyclinTom: Actually there have been many cases of someone jumping a person on a bicycle knocking that person off the bike and then stealing the bike.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/police-investigate-attacks-on-bicyclists-in-baltimore/13079586

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/gang-thugs-attack-cyclist-steal-13969745

https://metro.co.uk/2017/05/01/hood...and-steal-his-1500-bike-in-busy-park-6609195/

Those are just examples, a lot of attacks on cyclists are not newsworthy so they get overlooked and that makes it appear that nothing ever happens which isn't the case. This is not to say that one needs to be paranoid while riding because these incidents are few and far between at least in Western countries, but Corzhens doesn't live in a western country and he has legit reasons to be concerned. I rode my bike many time through Watts of Los Angeles which is mostly all black and where riots start, I'm a white guy and never ever did I feel threatened while riding through there, they never looked at me funny nor said some sort of stupid comment, heck I've had more people of color yelling at FU while on my bike here in Fort Wayne then I ever did in Los Angeles! Speaking of Fort Wayne, just last week on the bike path someone jumped a female cyclist and stole her bike and never made it on any local news sources. There was another similar incident in Fort Wayne about 10 years ago involving another female rider, that woman was raped then her bike was stolen, that attack made the news because she was raped. How many times has that happened here where I live besides those two incidences? I don't know because they go unreported. In the past 10 years or so in Los Angeles there have been reports of gangs crowding the bike paths and slowing down riders then threaten them with guns and steal their bikes, so I'm sure the word has gotten out and riders are avoiding those areas.

So yes, these things do happen regardless what you think Tom, and I bet it has happened where you live it just wasn't considered newsworthy enough to give it air time. You maybe right that you stand a greater chance of someone breaking into your home while your gone on a ride vs getting mugged while riding, but to say that a bike mugging never happens is just plain ignorance.

Just so you know, runners, especially female runners, are at risk of getting attacked too while out jogging if their alone. A few months ago here in Fort Wayne a woman was jogging alone with her two dogs and some guy attacked her and raped her while the dogs looked on! So if anyone here is a female and think running with a dog or two will protect you...think again, run with a human partner, of course you can take the dog for fun but have a partner with you.

 

Firstly you showed one article in the USA. I'm sure that if you showed articles from Zimbabwe that you could discover another article or two. In a world with 4 billion people you can discover some pretty strange things.

There are 320,000,000 people in the USA and you think that attacks on bicyclists are common? You'll have to come up with a hell of a lot more evidence than one article.

There were only 840 cycling deaths in the USA last year vs. 34 1/2 thousand car deaths and almost 3 million home burglaries. So as I said you have a far greater chance that your home would be burglarized than you would be harmed riding your bicycle.

Now I grew up in Oakland and you learn to take care of yourself. And I'm VFW. So I sure as hell wouldn't have any bike I was riding taken by 20 kids so perhaps my perspective is different from yours.

 

Cyclingtom you like to go off the deep end don't you? Dude, settle down and get past the drama stage of your life. I NEVER said it was common, I said it happens; nor did I ever say that all people being attacked on their bikes are killed. Come on man really? you get mad all the time if someone disagrees with you, you pull this sort of immature crap all the time and gets really old.

Look man people get mugged in all sorts of ways, that's life and you should know that living here, unless you live in a bubble and are completely cut off from the rest of the world. How many reports would I have to show you? You look this crap up yourself, why should I spend 10 hours trying to find sites and post them for you, get off your lazy arss and start searching. Why are there news articles about how to prevent such a thing if it never happens? http://www.betterbybicycle.com/2014/07/how-cyclists-can-protect-themselves.html

https://road.cc/content/news/237010-cyclist-mugged-and-pushed-stream-popular-cambridge-cycle-route

https://wgntv.com/2018/02/01/woman-robbed-while-riding-divvy-bike-in-old-town/

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/201...ike-robbed-on-606-trail-humboldt-park-police/

https://bikeportland.org/2017/05/18...hile-bicycling-on-springwater-corridor-229061

https://nypost.com/2016/10/10/cyclist-beaten-and-robbed-by-teens-in-central-park/

https://www.fresnobee.com/latest-news/article209016744.html

https://www.theoaklandpress.com/new...cle_a23f7f6b-cfb2-518b-9c75-fd2cc632b30d.html

Now that's two pages worth, if you want more you go look, and if you don't believe any of those sources I listed well that's too damn bad!

 

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that you can be robbed in Chicago bike or not?

 

Yes, that would be more accurate, you can also add "be killed" at the end of robbed.

 

It really makes me sad that the policies of the Democrats turned Chicago and Detroit into hell holes that people would run from if they could. I see it here in the bay area. Every time they set up "low income housing" they install illegal aliens in them. These people are making tons of money from invisible sources, they are driving around in new high end cars and now we have freeway shootings probably two or three times a week. In a poll 46% of Californians said they planned on leaving this state as soon as possible. I live about two miles from where I was born and raised and it has become a hell hole. But when they build "low income housing" it doesn't go to the people that are living there now - it goes to the people that they ship in! In a crowded area you could do better than to increase the crowding. Meanwhile East Palo Alto which used to be the murder capital of California is only a couple of miles from Facebook and all of the houses there, are being bought up by Facebook millionaires and being totally rebuilt or torn down and new houses built on those sites. The people being moved out of that neighborhood have nowhere to go so you know that is going to increase crime. We have the immigration and naturalization telling us that there are only 11 million illegal aliens in this country. Well California alone cops to 10 million and Florida cops to a million. Something has to be wrong with the numbers.

 

You know what's weird is I can't understand why people vote democrat when the proof of their ways is destroying cities is everywhere yet they keep voting for them. If you want a very real and eye opening read then please read this everyone, this webpage is very accurate and backed up by facts and not fiction:

https://pensivepost.com/the-unfortunate-truth-of-democratic-urban-governance-bce7c8abc2a3

That is a very telling factual report that a lot of black people simply do not understand, and I hope some black people read it and begin to realize just what exactly voting democrat is doing to them. Historically democrats have been pro slavery and republicans were anti slavery, so while today the democrats have become quite skilled at pretending to be the superheroes of the black race but in reality they are not as the above website I gave so factually proves, the democrats are still trying to suppress the black population, by destroying their jobs, their communities, their cities, their families, their schools, etc, etc, etc. I simply cannot understand how people can be so blinded to the reality that is all around them 24 hours day 365 days a year, it's simply amazing to me but sad at the same time.

 

Some reflector vest will help you to be seen by other drivers. Use blinking lights also, but for me, two blinking lights and reflector sticker to my helmet is enough for me to recognize at night.

 

Well, believe me or not but in India it's really essential to get vests with blinking lights. First of all, the city where I live is usually full of rains so the visibility on roads is absolutely awful. So I used to get the proper one vest for myself. There're plenty of cool sources where you may read about proper equip such as:

bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/how-to-ride-in-the-rain-51377

and

bestadviser.net/reviews/mountain-bikes-reviews/top-mountain-bikes-helmets-and-clothing-review

Thanks to those sources I've got at least some basics about proper equip. In my opinion, guys, you'd better use some kind of reflectors. At least it'll make your journey more safe.

 

The problem sure as hell isn't that black people don't understand it but that a large percentage of them do not vote in local elections. While they got a significant turnout for Obama (which most soon learned to be a mistake) for state and local elections the corruption is almost unbelievable because of two reasons - when blacks and other minorities do vote it is very often because of pressure by unions. It is EXTREMELY difficult to dodge the Democrat ideal of no black (especially) or other minority being bright enough to know what is good for them without the "nice sound advice" of a white Democrat. Having grown up poor in a neighborhood in which all of the most respectable members of the community were black that makes me so mad that when Democrats start their rants I'd like to punch their lights out.

Regardless of the false news of the media, illegal aliens have been voting especially in local elections for years. In the last of Obama's election there were at least 100 illegals at my poll. For the last election me and another man put out the word that we were going to stand outside of my poll and take pictures of everyone who votes. Not one single one of those illegals showed up. But no doubt they voted elsewhere.

With some 30 million illegals in this country now, they are a larger voting base than the black population so that is where the Democrats are now concentrating their efforts. Look at TV programs now: since they can no longer count on blacks the Democrats are using the propaganda power of the media to breed the black population out of existence. No black hero is complete without some blond white women on his arm. Black women are body-shamed as if you don't have a body like a Playboy model, you are ugly.

They have for years been attempting to convince the younger generations that the only thing important in life is sex. The results of this are a large segment of the population being children without fathers and mothers working full time to support them. Children alone and with no adult supervision or model for behavior is turning this country upside down. The mere fact that it has become pretty much standard that people go through FOUR marriages and divorces before they learn to even look at anything other than the sexual standards that Hollywood has shown them proves that the morals and ethics that are being presented to Americans in general is all screwed up.

So while the Democrats are destroying America what has given them the ideas that are so backwards is the media. People like Kevin Spacey who abused young men and even boys. Harvey Weinstein who used the "casting couch" so liberally that he invented the Me Too movement.

What is occurring in this country is pretty clear. It doesn't take a Russian conspiracy, global warming or carbon fiber bike frames to understand - it is virtually the media who is losing power and will do ANYTHING to retain it.

 

Only on each and every post he makes.

I've posted, quite literally, more than a hundred news articles of cyclists being attacked on this forum is various threads. Search. They're there.

On a positive note, thank God we're all conservative Republicans. And yes...I carry CCW. I also have fire extinguishers, but my house has never burned down.

 

I have a couple of fire extinguishers also and my house has never burned down either, but I bet if I wasn't home and my wife was while a fire started she would run out the door without ever trying to even go get the extinguishers, so their only good if I'm there! LOL!!!

 

Bicycle visibility materially adds to safety on a bike and come from reflective fluoro (which reflects UV), yellow and bright colors in clothing, packs, and elements on the bike. It is particularly important for commuters and tourers.
This area contains elements that we stock and our customers find useful for visibility – through reflective elements are becoming increasingly integrated into bike wear – especially winter apparel. We are also seeking to offer high visibility bike wear with an element of style – such as the Hump backpack covers which include enormous reflective chevrons in an attractive package

Here are some of them

1. SUPACAZ SS KUSH BAR TAPE
2. POC OCTAL AVIP HELMET WITH MIPS
3. PROVIZ REFLECT360 GILET
4. SPECIALIZED REFLECTIVE TIRES
5. CAMELBAK ROGUE HYDRATION PACK
6. DEFEET AIREATOR SOCKS

Online visit at ADSCT Classified for more information

 

You shouldn't sell other people so short.

 

I will ride before work and I’ll be getting back to my house around sunrise.
I run a headlight and tail light.
On my left ankle I wear a reflective strap so I present some bio motion to cars from the side and coming from behind.
I also bought some cheap lights that screw onto my cable stem and are activated by motion. This provides some sideways visibility above and beyond my head and tail lights.
I typically will ride in fluorescent colors but fluorescents don’t work as well at night.

 

Very many of the locals are now using those taillights and front blinking lights that have movie cameras built into them. There is an entire group that are now turning in people that take too close a pass at cyclists and we even have had a judge rule that these motion pictures are admissible in court. And that the Highway Patrol is required to take actions on the basis of these pictures.