Wacky jacket!

Simon D writtificated

Quoted message said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7340000/7340963.stm

Great idea, but it needs to go from red when trundling along/accelerating
to a brighter red when slowing down. IMO green means Go or Pass, which is
not the message you want to give when going through a pinch point.

On 16 Apr 2008 11:14:33 GMT, Mark T
<pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com.invalid>

Quoted message said:

Simon D writtificated

Quoted message said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7340000/7340963.stm

Great idea, but it needs to go from red when trundling along/accelerating
to a brighter red when slowing down. IMO green means Go or Pass, which is
not the message you want to give when going through a pinch point.

yea - WTF are they green for!

FS Simon D said:

I don't think this has been posted before:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7340000/7340963.stm

If it had been dated April 1st, instead of April 10th, I might well have
wondered...

There is a vid of the guy on You Tube. He does not have any lits on his
bike. He also manages to either cycle past a no entry sign, or the wrong
way down a one way street or something.

"Simon D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't think this has been posted before:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7340000/7340963.stm

If it had been dated April 1st, instead of April 10th, I might well have
wondered...

If folk won't pay a few quid for a rear light, why would they fork out lots
of monay to look like a badly decorated Xmas tree.

It's a poorly thought out series of solutions looking for problems to solve.

In article said:

"Simon D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't think this has been posted before:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7340000/7340963.stm

If it had been dated April 1st, instead of April 10th, I might well have
wondered...

If folk won't pay a few quid for a rear light, why would they fork out lots
of monay to look like a badly decorated Xmas tree.

Who says he didn't have a rear light as well? He claims:
"I noticed that cars passed me more slowly, gave me more room, and that
the drivers and passengers were even making eye contact."

It's plausible that something unusual would have that effect - we've
seen recumbent riders make similar comments. Of course if it is just
being unusual that makes the difference it does mean that if it became
popular, it would be useless. And more evidence than the anecdotal
experience of the designer would be nice, obviously.

Mark T said:

Quoted message said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7340000/7340963.stm

Great idea, but it needs to go from red when trundling along/accelerating
to a brighter red when slowing down. IMO green means Go or Pass, which is
not the message you want to give when going through a pinch point.

I've recently been experimenting with a home-brew brake light on my
bike, built into the shell of a mudguard-mounted dynamo light. Like
those of motor vehicles, it's bright red when braking, and off when not.
I have a separate, rack-mounted rear light for visibility.

It's actually a significant-deceleration-of-rear-wheel light (using a
magnetic pick-up from a cheap Chinese bike computer and some
microcontroller logic[1]), so functionally similar to the jacket.
Measuring deceleration is a great way to do this on a bike, as it works
when you're slowed by gradients (including speed bumps) or gusts of
wind, which can be just as significant as deliberate braking.

I have noticed some anecdotal reduction in tailgating through pinch
points and especially at speed bumps, where presumably its novelty value
(and message in a language they understand) serves to get drivers'
attention.

Kim.
--

[1] My electronics is better than my mechanical engineering, and I
couldn't think of a robust way of interfacing microswitches with both
brake levers.

kimble said:

I've recently been experimenting with a home-brew brake light on my
bike, built into the shell of a mudguard-mounted dynamo light. Like
those of motor vehicles, it's bright red when braking, and off when not.
I have a separate, rack-mounted rear light for visibility.

It's actually a significant-deceleration-of-rear-wheel light (using a
magnetic pick-up from a cheap Chinese bike computer and some
microcontroller logic[1]), so functionally similar to the jacket.
Measuring deceleration is a great way to do this on a bike, as it works
when you're slowed by gradients (including speed bumps) or gusts of
wind, which can be just as significant as deliberate braking.

I have noticed some anecdotal reduction in tailgating through pinch
points and especially at speed bumps, where presumably its novelty value
(and message in a language they understand) serves to get drivers'
attention.

this I can see the advantage of - I kinda liked those brake pads with
red leds in them (anyone try them?) which I just couldn't bring
myself to get

big_one said:

I kinda liked those brake pads with
red leds in them (anyone try them?)

Yes. Kinetics were selling a load off cheap a few years ago (the
batteries had passed their stated expiry date).

It's a nice idea, but with just a single small LED in each block they're
not going to add much to the visibility you get from a decent rear
light. I paid less for them than I'd usually pay for brake blocks, and
they were perfectly adequate blocks, so I was happy enough but I
wouldn't say they were worth paying full price for.

Quoted message said:

which I just couldn't bring
myself to get

--
Danny Colyer <http://www.redpedals.co.uk>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"The plural of anecdote is not data" - Frank Kotsonis