Hidden riders

[rocketman1]

Why do some Riders seem to try and be as camouflaged as they can on NZ roads. I seen a guy on a Harley the other day near Hamilton, no lights on, black gear, black hat and army green camouflaged trousers, he obviously "wanted to be seen" by the $30,000 bike he was riding but would have been very difficult in many NZ road conditions to be clearly visible.
No wonder bikers get into trouble at intersections, most car & van drivers are half blind anyway , why make it worse?
If that rider recognises himself and is reading this at least put your lights on mate,and give yourself half a chance of being seen, & maybe get rid of the black helmet.
Yeah I wear a black leather jacket but I have a bright coloured bike, helmet & always have my lights on... I hope it helps

And too all those cage drivers out there, remember this " take an extra look out for "motorbikes" at intersections and when doing U turns" then, you may also see the cyclist and the car'

[Shadows]

Whatever.

Black gear stands out quite well, actually. Especially against a green background, which is more often than not the case.

Truth be told, one could be dressed in a shocking pink gimp suit with a four foot flashing dildo stuck on one's head and the "didn't see you" brigade would be just as much of a liability - although I guess in that case a lot of them might be just using that as an excuse...

[oldrider]

With all due respect....you saw him, obviously! John.

[Romeo]

I've almost hit a biker before, black gear and black R6 - Knee down around a blind roundabout. I was just about to pull out into it when he came through, obviously doing 20+ the speed limit.

For this reason I've sworn to never wear anything solid black when I get a bike, sounds pretty gay, but I love those hideous mid-90's leather jackets.

[cowboy]

Iv had some close calls since I started riding again
I normally wear black jacket & lid but its when I'm wearing my red Budweiser nascar jacket I have the most problems.
Its almost like its got a target on the dame thing

[Drum]

If I understand correctly you are suggesting bikers shouldn't wear black?

Good luck with that!

(I agree with the headlight part though).

[Drum]

... one could be dressed in a shocking pink gimp suit with a four foot flashing dildo stuck on one's head.......

You get some new gear for fathers day mate?

[Shadows]

You get some new gear for fathers day mate?

Nah, just making a point. My gimp suit is black... makes me look slimmer.

[ZeroIndex]

Why do some Riders seem to try and be as camouflaged as they can on NZ roads. I seen a guy on a Harley the other day near Hamilton, no lights on, black gear, black hat and army green camouflaged trousers, he obviously "wanted to be seen" by the $30,000 bike he was riding but would have been very difficult in many NZ road conditions to be clearly visible.
No wonder bikers get into trouble at intersections, most car & van drivers are half blind anyway , why make it worse?
If that rider recognises himself and is reading this at least put your lights mate on and give yourself an chance mate of being seen, & get rid of the black helmet.

And too all those cage drivers out there, remember this " take an extra look out for "motorbikes" at intersections and when doing U turns" then, you may also see the cyclist and the car'

Wait a second... this guy was wearing a black hat? by that do you mean a small black helmet? black gear... to me, as long as he's wearing something to protect his skin, he should be commended! Pity about his headlight though...

[RDJ]

Visordown UK had quite an intelligent series of threads that discussed conspicuity.

In summary, bright colors do not - counterintuitively - make you stand out more in an urban context, and there is also the issue - which I agree with from personal experience - that if you do the extra hi-viz Power Rangers kit to be safe, some cagers will regard you as a pushover target whereas if you stay Menacing in Black, they may not want to risk a confrontation.

Personally I wear a jacket with enough orange to make it harder for the cager to pull a credible SMIDSY with the law or the judge, and focus my visibility efforts on after dark riding with black reflectors on bike and helmet which are not visible in daylight.

[bgd]

I wore a high viz jacket one winter, made absolutely no difference. I didn't feel that more or less drivers saw me. The thing fell apart so I never replaced it.

A guy I knew had done quite a bit of research on the matter and he wore a bright green jacket, something to do with not being mistaken for a street cleaner.

[Waylander]

Why do some Riders seem to try and be as camouflaged as they can on NZ roads. I seen a guy on a Harley the other day near Hamilton, no lights on, black gear, black hat and army green camouflaged trousers, he obviously "wanted to be seen" by the $30,000 bike he was riding but would have been very difficult in many NZ road conditions to be clearly visible.
No wonder bikers get into trouble at intersections, most car & van drivers are half blind anyway , why make it worse?
If that rider recognises himself and is reading this at least put your lights mate on and give yourself an chance mate of being seen, & get rid of the black helmet.

And too all those cage drivers out there, remember this " take an extra look out for "motorbikes" at intersections and when doing U turns" then, you may also see the cyclist and the car'

How about you let him wear what he wants to wear and mind your own business.

Bad enough when the government wants to control every minute detail of our lives without some other do-gooder trying to asw ell.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Why do some Riders seem to try and be as camouflaged as they can on NZ roads. I seen a guy on a Harley the other day near Hamilton, no lights on, black gear, black hat and army green camouflaged trousers, he obviously "wanted to be seen" by the $30,000 bike he was riding but would have been very difficult in many NZ road conditions to be clearly visible.
No wonder bikers get into trouble at intersections, most car & van drivers are half blind anyway , why make it worse?
If that rider recognises himself and is reading this at least put your lights mate on and give yourself an chance mate of being seen, & get rid of the black helmet.

And too all those cage drivers out there, remember this " take an extra look out for "motorbikes" at intersections and when doing U turns" then, you may also see the cyclist and the car'

Can't have been that bad... You saw him. Even without his head light on.

In my experience the so called HiVis vests make no difference in being seen in the urban enivironment... there is so much colour an visual things going on in the back ground that things do become a blur and your brain is processing so much info at once even things you don't realise your are processing, your head light will help hence why I am for motorcyclists to have them on 27/7 but against cage drivers having them on during the daylight (unless the day calls for it ie bad weather).

Its like advertising you have to be different, if you are the same as every one else then it gets lost and blends in the background... Take a newspaper... pick any page. Its a constant percentage of black and white through out. Now if you were to put an advert in that was just a white block, or just a black block it would stick out like dogs balls.

The HiVis vests are personal choice, I'm not going to hassle anyone who wishes to wear one, nor any one who wishes not to wear one. If the feel safer wearing it good for them it will help with confidence.

It may be safe for you to ride around faster than normal as a rider and your skills but If you as a motorcyclists aren't being an arse on the road coming road corners at an above rate of knots that may or may not have an intersection on the other side with a cage waiting to pull out then you are less likely to put yourself in danger. It gives the cage driver a bit more time to react to change from the accelator pedal to the brake pedal. At high speed they have less time to react as do you have less time, and have committed themself to pulling out, and then you come barrelling around a corner and blam...

I have faith in my own abilities to ride faster on the open road, heck even around town, but I do not have faith in every other person on the road and there abilities including other riders (even those I have riden with in the past)

You as a rider have to be thinking ahead, you may know the road, and ride it everyday, but did you know that today was the day something was going to be different on that road... that cage is going to pull out from that intersection around that corner, or there has been some shit fallen from the cliff top onto the road right the apex of your corner, or that hawk eating that dead rabbit isn't going to get out of the road in time... or that kid comes out running after his ball, that cyclist makes a dumb move, or or or the list goes on...

[craigs288]

[QUOTE=Romeo;1248681]Knee down around a blind roundabout.

I wonder how it lost it's sight. Perhaps a motorcyclist stuck their knee in it's eye.

[Mikkel]

- Knee down around a blind roundabout.[/CENTER]

Hmm - if there's no line of sight (i.e. blind) why would it matter what colour you're wearing? Or am I reading what your post wrong?

If you want to be seen chuck some red and blue flashing lights on your bike - it works really well I've been told.