[ThinkBike]

Thanks for doing the experiment and sharing the information. What you said confirms the experience of one of my friends. He has a very bright head light, yet uses reflective tape or clothing when riding. He said the same thing, that his light gets washed out by the car headlights and that the reflective tape/clothing was necessary. Regarding the angle of the LED lighting / tail lights, you're dead on. I was driving home from work at night and there was cyclist on the side of the road. The problem was I didn't see him until the last minute. He had one of those 5 LED blinky lights hanging off his his back pack. I didn't even know he had an LED until I started to pass him and then I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Because the LED wasn't pointed directly at me, I didn't see it at all when I was behind him.

[LarryM]

Originally Posted by ThinkBike

Thanks for doing the experiment and sharing the information.

You're welcome. Actually, for the part 1 and 3 exercises, thanks should to the League of American Bicyclists Cycling Instructor Training program.

[froze]

Cycles; your information is very detailed and probably correct. I know for myself that I use reflective material, reflective tape on the helmet, reflective leg bands for that up and down look you mentioned, reflective tape on the seat bag, and reflective piping on the jacket if it's being worn otherwise nothing on the clothes. I was in no way disregarding the use of reflective tape, I was simply saying I don't rely on it, instead I rely on lighting which from my experience is more noticeable then reflective material. I have a twin lamp 400 lumen light on the bars combined with a amber flasher and a 6 or 7 LED lamp on my helmet, then I use a very bright bar end lights and rear light on the seat post with a helmet rear light. If a driver hits me because he didn't "see" me then he's blind and would not have seen me if I had used extensive reflective taping and wore a safety reflective vest!!

[LarryM]

Froze,

Originally Posted by froze

I was in no way disregarding the use of reflective tape, I was simply saying I don't rely on it, instead I rely on lighting which from my experience is more noticeable then reflective material...

I didn't think you were. Those posts were not meant to be critical of anything that you or anyone else said in this thread.

The exercise was intended to give people an easy way to evaluate the effecacy of their own night riding setup. My observations were intended to shed some light on the different conditions under which lights or reflective materials shine.

I believe that you and I are in substantial agreement ... cyclists are more visible and recognizable from a greater distance if they use both lights and reflective material than they are if they use just lights alone or just reflective material alone.

Stay safe out there.

[froze]

Originally Posted by LarryM

Froze,


I didn't think you were. Those posts were not meant to be critical of anything that you or anyone else said in this thread.

The exercise was intended to give people an easy way to evaluate the effecacy of their own night riding setup. My observations were intended to shed some light on the different conditions under which lights or reflective materials shine.

I believe that you and I are in substantial agreement ... cyclists are more visible and recognizable from a greater distance if they use both lights and reflective material than they are if they use just lights alone or just reflective material alone.

Stay safe out there.

Agreed. In my case I use very little in reflective material, just primarily leg bands and reflective tape on the helmet. My saddle bag has reflective material but it's dulled over the years so it's probably less then mildly reflective. I did have my wife follow me with my set up and even she said someone would have to blind to hit me; then she passed me and turned around and came at me with the same results...only a illegally driving blind person would hit me. I only did that experiment so she could relax a bit when I rode at night.