Just been knocked off my bike... What do I need to buy for best protection?

FrenchTart said:
Until a light shines on you at night your bright yellow tshirt will look exactly the same as a dark black jumper. Dark black. Anything reflective will stand out.
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That's exactly the point. Something more reflective is going to reflect more of the light from a car's headlight back into the eyes of the driver. Yellow is a more reflective colour than black. But yes, proper hi-vis gear is itself a lot more reflective than just a plain yellow shirt.
 
Cut out the random posts guys, this isn't GD.

Sorry to hear this OP, can ony suggest more hi-vis and lights but it's not alway preventable. And personally I find the flashing lights worse as a driver, not pleasant on the eyes. A strong constant light is just as effective and doesn't dazzle drivers.
 
PermaBanned said:
That's exactly the point. Something more reflective is going to reflect more of the light from a car's headlight back into the eyes of the driver. Yellow is a more reflective colour than black. But yes, proper hi-vis gear is itself a lot more reflective than just a plain yellow shirt.
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I don't completely disagree so..let's just agree to (sort of) disagree as this discussion isn't going anywhere :)
 
I thought most hi-vis jackets had reflective patches anyway. I know my hi-viz jacket has reflective lines down the arms and the back. I also have a hi-viz bag cover (mostly for waterproofness) but that also has huge strips of reflective patches.

Unfortunately there's only so much you can do to avoid having an accident, but wearing a helmet is really a no brainer.
 
Hi-vis gloves for when indicating
Some sort of light(s) to go on wheel spokes or screw onto valves for side on visibility
Paint parts of your bike with luminous paint or add reflective strips
Have redundancy front and rear lights in case your main one "dies" while out
Consider tyres with a reflective band


But all the protection in the world will not prevent all bad things happening while on a bike, I can personally vouch for that. I regained consciousness ~20mins or so after hitting a stationary vehicle in a very unexpected location (just past big blind sweeping bend), when my brakes failed to stop me in the wet/windy weather. My alternative Xmas day involved having permanent titanium plates inserted to reconnect my fractured upper jaw and lower nose under general anesthetic , six days later I had two metacarpal bones screwed back together while under a neural block.
 
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Ouch that sounds very nasty. I was lucky the driver was beside me and decided to gently get in my way and push me off my bike no serious injuries apart from lower back muscle spasms. Definitely get some more reflective parts then for the spokes as they're cheap so no point in not getting them.
 
I've had several falls off my bikes mainly due to black ice and two of them were quite bad.
After the last one Mrs Dimple took my £15 Aldi coat and sewed some protective shoulder & elbow pads in I got off eBay.
I got knocked off my bike about 3 weeks ago on a roundabout and the jacket worked a treat.

cyclejacketprotect.jpg
 
Almost forgot, except for the idiot on the roundabout I would say the best piece of preventative accident technology I have on the bike is a mirror.
It's the one item I can't ride without and I can't keep looking around because of arthritis in my spine.
 
Thought i'd post these pictures in here of some jacket/jerseys i've picked up. From left to right Altura night vision jersey, Proviz Reflect 360 and Altura Transformer.

Daylight
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Night with reflected light
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Glad you're OK and seen some sense in wearing a lid.
The GoPro idea is a good one, though perhaps look at something less expensive (unless you have the money an/or can use it for other purposes too)

There are a few GoPro knockoffs about on ebay and the usual places, one of which is called the sj4000 action cam, that will more than suffice for your needs i.e: clear filming of commuting and act as a deterrant. Can be had for around £40, so you can't go wrong.
 
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Supercow said:
There are a few GoPro knockoffs about on ebay and the usual places, one of which is called the sj4000 action cam, that will more than suffice for your needs i.e: clear filming of commuting and act as a deterrant. Can be had for around £40, so you can't go wrong.
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I was talking to a fellow biker the other week and he said he has bought all the bright coats and expensive bright lights but the one thing that has stopped motorists from being idiots is wearing a camera on top of his helmet.
 
on top of reflective clothing and helmet i would advise a pair of gloves to protect your hands when you hit the floor (speaking as someone who went from fast to stop quickly and went through a lot of pain and recovery on hands, ended up with a piece of skin and muscle hanging out of it)
 
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