Safety vests

[Albino]

This is NZ, you can't try to address the root cause of something. We need a solution that is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Or probably more accurately the coffin 6 feet under the bottom of the cliff.

Wear hi-vis if if makes you feel safer.

Personally I don't like feeling safe on my bike because I know that I'm not.

[DUCATI*HARD]

dont make me laugh,ha ha!!!no offence to those who wear them,ha ha.

[Griff]

I remember an article about a guy in the UK who had the word "POLITE" embossed on the back of a safety jacket, with the intention to be mistook for a policeman. The police were pissed off, but couldn't do anything about it.

Personally I prefer to feel safer by wearing Bubble-Wrap.
Try it! Hopefully its melodic popping will entertain you when you get knocked-off your bike.

[breakaway]

I'm thinking of getting some reflective tape and taping "LOL" on the back of my jacket.

[Hanne]

I do have a hi vis vest but only wear it when it is really pissing down or I am going for a reasonably long ride... Ireckon mostly it is the reflector bits that are helpful, not the orange day bit.

The last time I wore it while riding into uni (Mt Eden to city) Ithought great, this should reduce the number of 'oops i didn't see you' moments along the way. And I had... 3 cars turn left in front of me coming out of sideroads, one turn right across my path and one dash straight through a red light.

Day glo clothes don't make the morons who never look grow any more brain cells. So as yet I am not convinced thay make for a safer journey.

[xgnr]

I ride a push bike as well and sometimes wonder if it just makes me a better target.

Wear Black on the Bike and flouro top on the little bike... go figure

[Griff]

I ride a push bike as well and sometimes wonder if it just makes me a better target. Wear Black on the Bike and flouro top on the little bike... go figure

Funny that! I have a set of Racing 1-piece leathers which are a bit flashy, I use them when my normal leathers are soaked and I find Car drivers are for more aggressive little bunnies.

But when I stick to the Low-Vis Black leathers, I get far less hassle.
I think the more aggressive you look, the weedier car drivers become.

[Mekk]

Personally I don't like feeling safe on my bike because I know that I'm not.

That's an excellent comment, bling sent. I completely agree with keeping bikers on edge, we're not in cars after all.

Besides, it makes it more thrilling.

[Pancakes]

I wear one kinda like below, started cos my jacket leaked and I used to cycle heaps so had it laying around. People still need to look to see it tho! Have heard about bright jacket and light being too bright and blending into background glare. After being hit I don't think it really helped much but who can predict who is going to hit/not see you and in what situations? Black is the new black! I'm going all black with my new gear (picking up in a day or so! Exciting!) But use full beam in the day and yellow bike, want visibike kit too. can you turn them on and off or is it typically hardwired?

edit, I used to cycle to town each day (roughly 35K's/1 Hr each way) and would wear that jacket, have a 5 LED thing on my seat post permanently on and a single LED on each side of my helmet set to flash. I figured the constant light gave distance and the flashing got people to look in the first place. Also had two 20w halogen lights on the front. People in the area that saw me commented on how bright the getup was, made me happy to know I'd been seen.

[Coldrider]

Personally I think flouro is a bit gay, and a false sense of security, nothing beats black.
I watch other road users, always regarding them as not having seen me.
At excessive speeds, tintops will not see you anyway, no matter what you wear, headlights on etc.

[McJim]

I wore one when I started riding....then I got hit by a car....stopped wearing it and haven't been hit yet.

Coincidence?

[HungusMaximist]

I got handed a free yellow vest by a ACC chump after visiting their motocycle commercial production down in Greenlane 5-6 weeks ago.

They were dropping old bikes from a crane from different heights to show impact damage at different speeds. That was the highlight.

As for the vest I wear em only in the evening as I navigate through central city's traffic.

But I always had this dream that I wanted to look like a biker cop while wearing it........

[Zapf]

I wear one kinda like below

I have a similar jacket I wear over my 1 pce leather for rain. When I do wear it it is usually either dark or raining with bad visibility. So in that sense I believe it works to my advantage. However I would not wear something like a construction / etc. fluro vest during fine or day time.

I am however looking at these vest

[timg]

Personally I think flouro is a bit gay,

Yup, I tried a fluro vest and felt like a dork but I like the idea of making myself more visible to other road users...if they bother to actually look. Nothing beats riding defensively and a vest is no excuse to lower your standard of vigilance.

Check out this thread and link; http://www.tinwolf.co.uk/index.html
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...hlight=tinwolf

I settled on one of these and paid Spank for the use of the KB logo. It doesn't look as gay as a fluro vest but does stand out well according to my riding mates. Have a look at my profile pic.

Cheers T.

[Bass]

Personally I think flouro is a bit gay, and a false sense of security, nothing beats black.
I watch other road users, always regarding them as not having seen me.

I will take all reasonable precautions to avoid getting bowled when on the bike. Consequently I wear a high viz vest. It is simply another reasonable precaution. It does not make me feel any more secure when on the bike and I don't know whether it reduces the odds against me or not. I wear it on the chance that it works.
I don't give a shit whether anyone else thinks it's ghey or not. IMHO that says more about their insecurities than mine.