Safety vests

[N4CR]

Yeah I wear mine just like XP....
At night or in crappppy weather.

I got mine from 'Canterbury' or wtf that sporty brand is. Its a police regulation XXL (so I can fit it over my bag ;D) and it has awesome stripes and yellow bits .

Works well when splitting as it starts to get dark (>5pm) and at night it dont always help unless lights are on you or you have some ambient light source (moon etc). Well... no shit its reflective

edit: thats if they see you at all huh . If they dont see you during the day normally it wont matter if you have a hi-vis jacket on etc... at night its better though.

[John]

Dont want it getting stuck round the mirror and getting draged, use tape if your going to do anything. (IMO)

[placidfemme]

What does IMO mean? (have seen it a few times)

[FEINT]

What does IMO mean? (have seen it a few times)

In My Opinion


I probably wear one.... so that the bugs won't get on to my leathers...

I saw Paco wear an orange T-shirt, that was pretty good idea. Keeps the leather clean and more visible than black.

I think the safety vest would be good once it gets dark.

I think Nak1d wore one on the Kaiaua ride. I think it catches more attention. IMO

[XP@]

Yeah, the reason why I ask this question... is because my partner and I don't have a computer at home... and I have access to the net at work... so I'm compiling a document (80 pages so far) on articles and tips for bikers off different web sites, and this one article said that a good thing to do when going on group rides, is to have the leader and the last biker wearing safety reflective vests... which got me to wondering how many bikers even wear them...

Judging by the results so far... not many.

P.S. Once I've finished my little document, I'll post it on here for anyone else to print out if they like...

The document sounds GREAT!!!

The first, last and other organisers (wih really big groups) usually wear vests so that other riders recognise them. This is good practice for organised rides (should probably be adopted for the noob rides).

Have you read Jim2's threads on the group riding etiquet? if you havent already, PM him because he has done heaps in the area too.

Looking forward to reading the doc :-)

[vifferman]

What does IMO mean? (have seen it a few times)

As FEINT said, "In My Opinion"
There's also: IMHO (in my humble opinion), and IMNSHO (not so humble).
Most don't appear on here, as we have smilies and whatnot, but you may also see IIRC (If I Remember/Recall Correctly), LOL (Laugh Out Loud) and ROTFL (Roll On The Floor Laughing) and LMFAO (Laugh My F*$%ing Ass/Arse Off).

[placidfemme]

The document sounds GREAT!!!

The first, last and other organisers (wih really big groups) usually wear vests so that other riders recognise them. This is good practice for organised rides (should probably be adopted for the noob rides).

Have you read Jim2's threads on the group riding etiquet? if you havent already, PM him because he has done heaps in the area too.

Looking forward to reading the doc :-)

The document is just the basic's mostly. Covers things such as... Braking, Cornering, Carrying passengers, Counter Steer, Riding Gear, Riding attitudes, Surfaces, Weather conditions, Group Riding, Tips for riding in city traffic, Bike to bike hand signals, day/night riding, overtaking, punctures, towing, tips for ferry travelling, acceleration, Feet (which foot to put down when stopping and why), Gears.

And all that is just in the first 63 pages... I havn't even finished reading ALL of it, and still have about 30+ web sites to look through for more information. Once I have all the information I can be bothered reading (lol) I'll edit it and put all the different articles on the same topic's together one after the other, so it's not all broken up and all over the place. I have also Added the URL of each article before the article so if for any reason I want to check up on anything I'll know where I found it... And also if anyone else reads it they know where it came from...

Can you tell I get bored at work?

And thank you for the explanations on IMO and those other words

[XP@]

The document is just the basic's mostly. Covers things such as... Braking, Cornering, Carrying passengers, Counter Steer, Riding Gear, Riding attitudes, Surfaces, Weather conditions, Group Riding, Tips for riding in city traffic, Bike to bike hand signals, day/night riding, overtaking, punctures, towing, tips for ferry travelling, acceleration, Feet (which foot to put down when stopping and why), Gears.

Well... sounds Awsome!!
Darn, can't add more rep's to you...

[DingDong]

Id like to wear one but Im worried that someone might see me!!!!

I feel the same way...

[placidfemme]

So its proberly safe to say that most bikers don't wear them...

So far the reasons I've gathered for this are:

1. Ruins the "hard" biker image...
2. The vests are not suitable for bikes, they are designed for other uses... therefore too big, baggy or hard to adjust... not enough reflective material and so forth

which are both understandable... I thought more bikers would wear them than the one (and only one) that I've seen...

[bear]

I've got a running jacket that has reflective stripes on it that I wear when riding in the dark (goes over the top of the MB jacket). Feel a bit safer with it on.

[placidfemme]

I've got a running jacket that has reflective stripes on it that I wear when riding in the dark (goes over the top of the MB jacket). Feel a bit safer with it on.

Yeah night riding is the only time I'd really consider wearing one... Good on you for wearing one though

[sels1]

Yeah night riding is the only time I'd really consider wearing one...

My RJAYS cordura jacket (and most makes do I think) has several reflective panels that show up quite well at night...see no point in covering with a vest that does the same thing

[placidfemme]

My RJAYS cordura jacket (and most makes do I think) has several reflective panels that show up quite well at night...see no point in covering with a vest that does the same thing

Yeah I have an R-Jays Cordura (Kevlar?) jacket and pants, but it only has two very thin reflective lines down the back of it... they do glow really well at night (I've been riding behind my partner at night, she has the same jacket just a different colour to mine...)

My issue is that when I ride... 90% of the time I have a back pack on (a MotoDry bike back pack), which again only has a round logo/brand name in reflective material, and one reflective line...

[dhunt]

Yes. And they do work. People notice them. Of course only some people. Others would not notice a nuclear bomb explosion under their noses. And some of the ones who do notice will then ignore me anyway. But it cuts down the odds.

I actually conducted a wee experiment with the aid of Mrs Ixion. Our deck has a good birds eye view of surrounding roads in several directions. I rode around the neighbourhood wearing no vest, red vest and yellow vest, in turn, a number of times, whilst Mrs Ixion watched and noted when and at point she noticed me in the traffic.

The vests were much more noticeable, and yellow better than red.

But, usual caveat, whatever you do or wear assume that noone at all has seen you

I would be interested to know if there is any real stats showing this. I would say it probably would help but the article below would sort of controdict this.

NZMSC instructors wear black leathers for both practical and, believe it or not, safety reasons. Firstly, on a machine where it is easy to get one's clothes black with oil or traffic grime, black is a parcatical colour.

Secondly, NZMSC study indicates that black leathers tend to trigger a "fear" reaction in motorists, giving black leathers a resultant higher conspicuity value than "wimpy" colour.

If the rider's bike is a light colour and the headlight or running light is in use, the motorist's subconscious appears to see the machine, register the "threat" of the black leathers, and prompt the driver's conscious into "seeing" the oncoming rider.

Ah, the complexity of crash avoidance psychology...!