I don't mind the cold or the rain so much, the worst part of biking in the winter for me is by far the dark.
Having myself nearly collided with nearly invisible night-time bikers who were dressed in dark clothing and lacked lights, I've made it a priority to be as visible as possible on dark or rainy evenings.
Last year, thanks to Peal Izumi's sponsorship of my Yukon bike trip, I acquired a fluorescent yellow jacket, and in advance of that trip, I gave my helmet a coat of dayglo spray-paint.
This fall I decided to experiment with, aside from bike lights, how I could increase my low-light visibility.
I'd seen these terrific silver lame and dayglo leggings sold by American Apparel, and so I got a pair of each and decided to conduct a visibility test.
Pictured here are the results. Image 1 (click to view larger image) shows me in dark clothing - pretty difficult to spot. Image 2 shows me in the silver leggings with a light colored top and helmet - an improvement from Image 1, but the pants weren't really as reflective as I'd hoped.
Image 3 show me in my full fluorescent getup - by a long shot the best visibility. So as ridiculous as I may feel donning the dayglo, I'm convinced it's the safest option.
0 Response to "Nighttime Riding: A Visibility Test"
Post a Comment