Random thoughts on rider visibility

[phaedrus]

i just had a rather odd idea. if we were to use the colouring and patterns of poisonous animals would people be less likely to ignore/not see us?
after all, you wouldn't ignore this happy fellow


is this crazy enough to work? or should I lay off the coffee.

[MSTRS:Me]

I see your point but feel compelled to respond with "Stick with the coffee & give the LSD a miss"

[Waylander]

Why is it that when I see that pisture I think Gixxer? Would look pretty good on one of them bikes I think.

[MSTRS:Me]

Why is it that when I see that pisture I think Gixxer? Would look pretty good on one of them bikes I think.

Gixxers - the bikes with bite. New sales pitch WT??

[MacD]

You mean something like this?

The Violator -as worn by certain KB members!


(what marketing genius came up with that name!?)

[phaedrus]

You mean something like this?

yea, that look about right.

[Timber020]

In summer I often wear my motocross helmet on my 750 since its cooler and it doesnt matter so much if it gets sweaty and grimey inside after a days work.

It has a second more interesting advantage as it has a pattern on it that makes it look like a big skull with two big black eyes on it. I have noticed that cars seem to see me more and are less likely to cut me off while wearing it. It could be that instint of keeping an eye out for and avoid a big set of eyes bearing down on you. But it really does make a difference!
Also I find I can lanesplit, speed, cut people off and generally be completely unsocial and not have a problem as long as I have a chainsaw straped to my back or on my pack rack.

[Waylander]

... as long as I have a chainsaw straped to my back or on my pack rack.

I wanna see a picture of that mate!! with the helmet on ofcourse

[Wolf]

is this crazy enough to work? or should I lay off the coffee.

I think I could use suma that coffee!

I reckon as bright as possible, use the "natural warning colours" on both bike and armour, fearsome skull or similar on the helmet does sound good and then outfit the bike with spiky bits (foam rubber of course or it will fail the warrant) - that should put the shits up any cager. See you? They'll be pulling over to let you pass!

[inlinefour]

but I reckon there are enough dumbarses in cages that would not see it even if their life depended on it...

[Lou Girardin]

Yellow, blue and white are pretty noticable. especially with red highlights.

[bear]

Painting your bike with the same pattern as the snake could make it stand out - might even look evil!

[Wolf]

Bright coloured retroreflective stuff for night time, especially if it's arranged in a pattern that is attention-grabbing - something that with reach into the psyche of the cager and ring warning bells, like P O L I C E or T R A F F I C or, I dunno, maybe a huge skull like the pattern on Timber020's helmet.

Some bikes have the front indicators wired so that they are on whenever the headlamp is on, only turning off when indicating, so that it looks unusual and is (theoretically) more visible. Some sort of unusual, non-standard lighting to evoke a "what the fuck is that, Mabel?" reaction could be very advantageous.

Still would like to have something that has the "take me on and die" look, but that'd probably mean fixing a huge frame onto the bike and decking it out with lights so that it looks like the front/back of a truck...

[Fryin Finn]

That snake has a cuzzy which is non poisonous but has adopted the colour/banding to fool other predators.
I have 2 types of sunglasses. When I wear my John Lennon/Liam Gallagher round glasses, cars tend to ignore me at pedestrian crossings. But when I wear my black dirty dogs they stop in a hurry and avoid eye contact at all cost.
I'm sure there is something to be learned from this. Perhaps if we bikers completely intimidate the cagers they might pay more attention when were about. I reccomend all sub 250 riders beat up cagers that offend them. 250 to 600 riders trash their cars as well and all bigger bikers kill em all. And then we'll take over this country and restore order then make the world our oyster.
Yeah!
Actually I'm not really into shellfish but quite like crayfish and Grouper steaks

[BM-GS]

Still would like to have something that has the "take me on and die" look, but that'd probably mean fixing a huge frame onto the bike and decking it out with lights so that it looks like the front/back of a truck...

If the techies could make a hologram widget to project a truck 5m in front of a bike, that should work well!

Personally I do all I can to be seen. Black/yellow leathers, yellow bike, the lairy-est coloured lid I could find which fitted properly and lights on. I even put on more lights to help with lane-splitting - put them all on (flick high beam) and I have 2 pairs of lights on 2 levels which made a big reduction in people changing lanes into me - a lot even moved over to give me space (yes, I did wave to say thanks). The 200 Watts helps me see at night too!

However, there are some people who are beyond hope. Any truckies out there got any good "Didn't see you mate" stories? I saw one on telly from a bus driver in London: "It's a f***ing London bus! It's 40 feet long, it's 15 feet high, it's 8 feet wide, it's painted bright red - what else do you need?!"

There is the school of thought which says that the faster you go, the harder you are to hit... Not sure about that one.