How vissable are we?

How visable are we?
recently i rode in a rain storm followed by my mother, she pointed out that she could bairly see me.

So to the back of the licence plate mount i put some red reflectors. but now looking at vid's of the vfr i notice the break light is also very hard to see. I've never followed my vfr so no idea how easy it is to see.

any thoughts on our visability?

 

We are completely invisible and you would serve yourself well by remembering that, and riding like it.

 

100% agree! If you want to help your visibility, try wearing a reflective vest or other reflective clothing.


Action

 

Aye the reason this was an issue is at the time my rain gear was NOT reflective. I should add some reflectos to my helmet. Still does not aid saytime viability or the tiny size of our break light.

 

That is why the bikes have all those reflectors on them, especially on the rear fender with the plate. Many people when they do a fender eliminator, loose all those reflectors, leaving just your tail light, and possibly license plate light. The license plate light helps a lot. Adding reflectors helps too. But as Shinigami said, we're invisible. I beleive it's the BMW's that the rear blinkers are always "on", as marker lights. This helps tremendously. Could always look into rewiring them that way? There are a few companies selling light strips that go along the license plate. I beleive JCWhitney carries them.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/Motorcycle-License-Plate-Frames/600014852.jcw

 

I fugure that in the rain I would think we may be hard to see. I ride with bright orange rain gear. In normal dry weather we are hard to see because most drivers have their heads up their ass.

Next time you roll up next to a car or better yet a pickup truck, take notice to how high you are. You should notice that you are eye to eye with a pickup driver or pretty close to it. Even though we are in their line of sight, they are not looking for us. Shoot they aren't looking for anything even the semi they are about to hit.

I agree with the "think that you are invisible and ride like it" comment. which is why I ride the VFR. Accident avoidance. Ride assertively, keep you head on a swivel and dress for the fall.

OH! and enjoy your ride.

 

I make every effort to ride during daylight hours on sunny days. I ride a bright yellow bike, with a yellow helmet. Not a bad idea to get the reflective tape.

 

I agree that you should drive like you're invisible. What I always do is either get BEHIND or IN FRONT of the car. I avoid getting on the side of the car as much as I can because people just don't look when changing lanes.

One tactic I've found that works is to either tap or pull your brakes light enough so that the brake light goes off but you don't actually slow down. It's worked several times on tailgaters/cellphone talkers. It works even better if you flash the brake light several times instead of a steady light.

Plus I take note of the driver. If they're on a cellphone or driving kids or have the back seat full of playboy models I take careful note of them and try to stay away from them as far as possible. I like getting behind them because they can't run you over if you're in front of them. If you're surrounded by cars and can't easily avoid them be on red alert and downshift a gear and be ready to haul ass to escape a near kill. Plus downshifting makes your bike louder and chances are they may note your loud engine.

To see what I mean about being invisible I got a true story for you. I'm approaching a 4 way stop sign and there's a car approaching from the right. I stop first and I actually saw him looking at me so I'm about to take off and guess what? The bastard took off and I had to squeeze the brakes. When he came by in front of me he had a surprised look on his face like I just appeared out of nowhere and gave the sorry wave.

The big problem is the fact we're not too common. Most people are like robots and don't really use their head and don't look proactively for objects around them. They're literally like "Look for cars, drive around cars, repeat"

If everyone rode motorcycles it would be a different story.

 

We are completely, irrevocably, permanently, and in all circumstances invisible.

The sooner you realize it, and the sooner you realize that no matter how you festoon the bike with reflectors/lights/neon signs and/or yourself reflective tape/glow-in-the-dark helmet mohawk/orange jacket/etc. you will remain completely, irrevocably, permanently, and in all circumstances invisible, the better.

To paraphrase and old aphorism "All illusions of visibility are just that... illusions."

 

I agree with everyone's statements....We are invisible. So drive like it!
Although, Joey_Dude, if there's a car full of Playboy Bunnies, I'll be following closely behind them!
One thing that I read years ago, and it is now 2nd nature to me, is if you are approaching an intersection and someone is turning left in front of you, do a 'wiggle' of the handlebars. That moves your headlight back and forth and makes the other driver aware of something coming towards them. Often our bike headlights get lost in the glare of the sun, or other distractions, so a light flashing at someone usually gets their attention.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times.
GeorgiaRider

 

I assume I'm invisible, and I'm planning on using 3M solux (or solus?) tape to go over a bunch of the white badging on my bike. The stuff is crazy reflective (and crazy expensive from Aerostitch/RiderWearhouse at $6 for a couple feet of 2-3" tape).

I'm going to go over the Honda decals in a few places, and trace a few of the bikes lines between the white and the blue/red with it. Won't help much head-on or from behind, though. Probably going to add a few stripes/chevrons to the helmet (bright blue, with a Halo around the bottom, but the Halo is fading after a year or so of use).

Not much to be done about the front, except be really annoying with the lights always on high, or using a modulator (which I hate, but they clearly work really well for getting attention).

But I've found I have more to worry from people not paying attention than from people not being able to see me. One reason for the reflective "pin striping" is that I think it will be a bit more eye-catching, and people seem well-tuned to reflective paint on emergency vehicles, although many people's inability to see something bright red, 8' wide, 30' long, 9' tall and covered with reflective paint and brightly flashing lights is astonishing (and night, too, when it's turning the road into a disco).

 

LOL, Yep to all the above with one exception, I want to be invisible, there fore I know how to ride like I am.

 

3M tape

3M Tape works well. You can cut really thin strips and place them along the natural lines of your bike. The tape becomes hidden until you shine lights on them.

You might be able to place silver 3M tape on the passenger pegs for side visibility...and tape on the front shocks for head-on visibiliy.

 

Now on my second VFR....

because last June I was knocked off by a young mum in her Chelsea tractor (a massive 4x4) who hadn't noticed I had stopped a couple of hundred yards ahead of her waiting and indicating to turn right once the oncoming traffic had cleared. That bike was snapped in half but I came out unscathed. Made me realise how invisible we are when that can happen at 4pm on a clear and sunny Sunday afternoon.

One interesting development is I've heard rumbles that an MP here in the UK is pushing for legislation to allow bikes to have colour coded head lights. Probably green so as not to interfere with other lights (other than traffic lights of course). Could be interesting...a way for car drivers to clearly identify bikes. Worth a try??

 

Hey guys...don't forget the thread we had a ways back on HYPERLITES (www.hyperlites.com)...the flashing brake lights. But, they not only do the well-known flashing when braking but they also have models that are RUNNING LIGHTS (always on) too.
In addition, they have a WHITE version that is lit steadily and is installed on the FRONT. They are meant to be make you seen (not to see by).
Now don't get me wrong, I still agree that we are INVISIBLE but I think the best way to go is light up the bike and then drive like you are still invisible. That extra light just might save your life.

 

I'm a big fan of tail light modulators. I had the SOS Priority Plus model on my Nighthawk, and I plan on putting that or something similar on my VFR. It made the turn signals into running lights, and it quickly flashed the turn signals every time I touched the brakes.

After installing it, I saw an immediate improvement in how closely people stopped to me at lights and stop signs. With tailgaters, I'd just tap the brakes a few times so they saw lots of flashing, and they usually backed off a bit.

 

I just got my VFR, but before that I had a '99 Triumph Sprint ST that had a "passing switch" that would flash a center light and headlights on the front and it grabbed everyone's attention at an intersection. Maybe there is a way to do this on the VFR...something aftermarket or I could look at making something.

 

So the hyperlites act as taillight modulators? I didn't know that they had one for the VFR I'm going to have to check that out. I've had a flashing rear brake light on my last two bikes and they've been pretty noticeable. Even got a local cop to stop and talk to me about it. He thought it was a great idea, while checking to see if I had my city sticker. Hyperlites here I come!!!