Things You'll Need:
- Cleated Bicycle Shoes
- Padded Bicycle Shorts
- Bicycle Route Guides
- Reflective Tapes
- Bicycle Helmets
- Bicycle Jersies
- Bicycle Lights
- Bicycle Seats/saddles
- Gel-cushioned Bicycle Saddles
- Reflective Vests
- Children's Bicycles
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Step 1
Wear bright colors to help catch the eye of motorists and pedestrians.
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Step 2
Consider wearing a blinking red taillight at all times, even during the day. All it takes is a couple of rechargeable batteries, and you can alert those coming up fast behind you that you need to share the lane.
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Step 3
Leave all the reflectors on your bike. Lights alone don't make you visible enough at night. Reflectors don't weigh that much and are conveniently located out of your way, and they catch motorists' eyes at night.
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Step 4
Get a headlamp for your handlebars for riding at night. There are many different styles available. Most just take a couple of batteries to make you visible to oncoming traffic but will also light the path for you to see where you're going.
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Step 5
Consider reflective tape or vests in combination with light-colored clothing at night.
Comments
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 The more you are in the lane the more easily a motorist will see you. If you are against the curb the outline of you on the bike will blend with the shoulder of the road and not against the road itself. This is how motorcycles position themselves on the road. It's not because they are fast like cars, but because they are smaller than cars - like you. If this were not true, a motorcycle would right up against the curb. But they do not for the reasons below.
Against a curb a motorist will either not see you or will try to squeeze by you. If the pass is close and you are already up against the curb then you have no where to go. If you had had a margin of road to your right and the same close pass occurred you would have room to maneuver into.
How much room you leave to your right is proportional as to how fast you are riding. The faster you ride the more room to your right you will need. Climbing a hill you are slow. You can leave less room to your right. But, if cars are passing you too closely, then defensively you have to increase the margin of road to your right more than you would normally leave if the cars were passing at a more slow and prudent speed.
Anonymous said
on 7/28/2006 Rear blinking lights are cheap--use 2, one high placed high and one lower. That way you will have at least one if the batteries wear out on the other, and the distance between the two lights gives motorist a better sense of how far away you are.
Anonymous said
on 3/15/2006 When cycling in low light conditions it is essential that you are visible to motorists. Together with the appropriate lighting, the wearing of illumiNITE clothing will further enhance your visibility, as well as reflective strips and stripes with illumiNITE the entire silhouette of the wearer is visible.