How can I make my bike (and myself) visible at night?

Question

By winter I will be commuting on my bike at night. How can I make my bike as visible as possible to all car drivers?

Answer 1

The obvious few things are:

• Front light
• Red rear tail light
• Spare batteries for said lights
• Spoke lights/reflectors for improved side visibility
• Bright clothing, ideally cycling clothing with reflective strips on them.

Answer 2

Get a Bright Bike kit from brightthread.com:

Bright Bike DIY kits cover your bicycle in easy-to-apply design-savvy ultra reflective vinyl for safety. It is like covering your bike with a big stickers that turn ultra-bright in headlights. The retroreflective vinyl is the same material used on the backs of running shoes, but with colors. The kits greatly improve night visibility and thus bicycle safety.

These kits are pre-cut and easy to put on.

I got the blue pinstripe set and I love it - a bright source of light, like a car headlight, hits your bike, and you light up like a christmas tree. It's especially pronounced at night, and as cool as this picture is, it doesn't do it justice. Check out the video on their website for a nighttime demonstration.

Edit: I thought I would share my picture of my bike with the blue BrightBike pinstripes on it. This is taken in my dark garage with my flash covered (just enough light to make it glow without the picture being blurry). In daylight, the color is almost the same as my paint color, so they're hard to see.

Answer 3

Listen to Karl Lagerfeld:

It’s yellow; it’s ugly; it doesn’t go with anything, but it could save your life.

Answer 4

Don't forget side visibility. Spoke lights are great for making you visible at crosswalks or traffic lights.

Answer 5

You could also turn your wheels into programmable displays using Ladyada's kit, which exploits persistence of vision. Some assembly required.

Answer 6

3M makes Scotchlite tape that is very reflective. My wife used craft punches to punch flower shapes out of it and covered her bike with it. Her bike gets noticed day and night.

I haven't noticed any mention of flags here. Particularly on trailers or recumbents, a flag gives you a bit more height, plus the motion attracts attention. My wife hung a bunch of streamers off her flag pole.

Answer 7

I uses the Down Low Glow which is a tube light that mounts to your down tube. It creates an area of illuminated pavement around you which most motorists in my area treat as the "no-zone". I generally feel safer riding at night than during the day because motorists will allow for more passing distance.

Answer 8

In addition to lots of reflective material and a good headlight, I recommend the super-bright Dynotte 400R tail-light.

This light is the brightest I could find commercially available and seems to be visible from more than 1/2 mile away in bright sunshine (and much further at night). I ride with it on at all times of day while commuting year round.

In my side-by side tests the 400R was significantly brighter than my car's break-lights. In the past 8 months I've had about 10 comments from drivers and as many from other cyclists about how bright the light was.

Answer 9

I use a generator front hub and front and rear lights. This setup is very expensive: the wheel itself can run almost 500 dollars. The very best of these generators and lights are imported from Germany by only a few importers, and are not widely available here in the US.

There are a couple of reasons I like generator lights:

• No need to charge them.
• No chance for them to fail in adverse weather conditions: rechargeable batteries can fail suddenly in extreme cold.
• Always available. Once they are installed, there isn't any reason to remove them. Because...
• Less likely to be stolen. The lights are mounted and wired to the bike, requiring tools to remove. The light itself is not very expensive and is not usable without the generator, so less of a target for thieves. Also, there's probably not much of a stolen goods market on high-end bike components. What makes them rare and expensive makes them hard to fence.

Answer 10

I have been using Monkeylectric spoke lights for two years now. They're very bright persistence-of-vision spoke lights that blit out patterns in a beautiful range of colors. Love em. Unlike Ladyada's kit, these work out of the box, though you can reprogram them if you so wish.

Answer 11

A safety vest can help, they can get a bit warm but I have wrapped my backpack in one for extra visibility on the commute

Answer 12

If bikesandcode's suggestions aren't enough you could always paint your mudguard reflective like this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Paint-your-bike-bicycle-gear-reflective/

Like this:

There are some other suggestions on the same site for wrapping the frame in reflective material.

Answer 13

Of course, having some good bright lights is a must for being visible at night! The Bicycles Stack Exchange Blog now has the most comprehensive bike taillight review on the internet (to our knowledge):

Review of the Best Bicycle Tail Lights in 2012

In total I reviewed fifteen different tail lights. The Cygolite Hotshot performed best in the most categories, but there are several other lights which did quite well. If you're looking for a good rear light, check out this review.

Answer 14

I used iron on reflective tape on my backpack (or buy a cover) and Pannier including the sites.

Reflective Ankle Bands are good, as a driver can see the movement when you are pedalling, I also use a reflective helmet band.

Answer 15

I initially looked for a reflective vest but then found very inexpensive LED lights. I got a red one that I put on the rear that I set to flashing mode, then another white one for a front "headlight" and another red one I clip on my backpack or other place near the rear of the bike. I also bought a few reflecting tape pieces and hang them around the rear of the bike.

Answer 16

The favorite thing I've found for lighting is the FlashBak. It's a bunch of super-bright orange LEDs. Orange, to motorists, means "slow" - while RED is the DOT standard and required for the rear at night, I've never understood why we don't see more orange lighting.

Basically, you can't be TOO VISIBLE. lots of blinkylights, lots of reflect-o-stuff. Take everything you've seen mentioned in every reply and do all of it, and you still could add more to make yourself seen.

Part of the problem is that motorists filter stuff out. They look in a general direction without seeing things they aren't looking for. Most of them are only looking for gigantic multi-ton hunks of metal and glass lumbering down the road.

Answer 17

Check out Fire Fly.

The Firefly light uses a Passive Infrared sensor in order to detect traffic approaching from behind the rider. Upon detection LEDs flash onto the back of the rider with varying intensity depending on the proximity of the traffic. The protruding arm of the device allows the light to illuminate the entire back of the rider at any angle. A set of LEDs also illuminate the ground beneath the rider; providing traffic with a proximity of depth which can be used to determine exactly where the rider is. While a rear tail-light provides strong rear presence and meets bicycle light requirements.

Not sure if it's in production yet, but still a really great idea.

Answer 18

Lights and reflectors... lots of it. As others have mentioned you can buy tires with reflective strips on them.

(Picture taken indoors, with a flash)

I am also a firm believer of using multiple head and tail lights. When one fails there are others to fall back to. Also I stagger the time recharging my headlights... meaning I don't charge them at the same time. This further minimizes the chance that both will lose a charge when I am commuting at night. Some pics of my commuter:

To top this off I have a Planet Bike Headlamp on my helmet and a triangular reflector I stitched on my backpack. In addition to the reflective strip on the tires I also placed white 3M reflective strips on the rims (4 each) so motorist can see the wheels rotating at night. Finally I use bright orange ankle straps.

Answer 19

I have flashers front and rear going any time that I'm near dusk. Once the sun is completely down, I make sure to have my helmet light as well, a NitRider MiNewt:

The little thing is super bright, enough to light the road for 30 meters ahead, has enough battery power for a few hours, and it charges from a mini USB cable.

Answer 20

Many urban/commuter tires have reflective sidewalls. Next time you're due for a tire change, you might check to see if any of the tires have the reflective stripe. Someone told me (not sure if it's true) that reflective sidewall tires are required in some European cities.

e.g. Vitoria Randonneuer http://www.amazon.com/Vittoria-Randonneuer-Pro-700x35c-Reflective/dp/B0028N305O

3M makes some reflective tape that is available in many colors (even black!) to match your bike finish during the day but it reflects bright white at night.

I too use a Dinotte tail light and they are astoundingly bright. I have found that motorists with eye pain give me lots more room. The Dinotte lights are stupidly expensive though. The Planet Bike Superflash is the best inexpensive blinkies I have found. I put them on my kids' bikes and I can see them two blocks away in broad daylight; < $30.

Stay safe and assume all cars are trying to kill you.

Answer 21

Motorists are familiar with the 'Sam Browne' reflective belt, the 'Hump' rucksack cover or the reflective jacket, typically in yellow - or orange. To them, at night, when coupled with the regular LED flashers, no thinking is required to see that there is a bike ahead.

In my opinion there are good reasons not to decorate the bike too extensively with reflective tape. When parked up you really want your bike to be as stealthy as possible so that thieves, drunken idiots and other undesirables do not pay attention to it. Furthermore, an even layer of grime can quickly dull the reflective tape, not that it is that visible from behind (or head on) in the first place.

There is an added benefit to the hi-viz jacket on the UK commute. The filth from the (diesel) car in front will make your normal coat quite dirty. Protect it with a hi-viz jacket. Also in early mornings there can be a chill in the air - a hi-viz jacket takes the chill off yet is not so tight that it will make you sweaty.

My top tip for buying a hi-viz jacket is to buy a couple of them, long sleeve and sleeveless. Also, don't buy the £££ ones from the bike shop. Unlike the cheap ones that binmen and the like wear the bike shop ones do not have the E.U. style patterns that 3M + co worked to perfect.

As noted already, trouser clips are a very good idea. The affordable 'Adie' brand ones available from any UK bike shop give motorists an idea of your relative speed and distance. If you are not wearing them, get cycle shoes with reflective heel tabs, if not wearing those then keep the British Standard approved pedal reflectors on the pedals. If you have lost those then get a set for free from your friendly bike shop - in the workshop they will have a drawer full of them knocking around.

Reflective sidewalls are a great idea in principle, however, nobody keeps their bike clean enough for them to actually work.

Approaches to roundabouts are particularly hazardous, you need the traffic already on the roundabout to see you as well as the traffic behind you. The hi-viz jacket works well in these and other scenarios where visibility matters.

I have tried the 'terror tactic' of having really bright lights on the bike, however, these can lead to unpredictable results. Basically there will be drivers that will respond with 'WTF?' and hit the brakes because they do not know what is coming towards them. You actually want to send them a 'I am a cyclist' message with symbols they already recognise - the flashers, pedal reflectors and, most important of all, the hi-viz jacket.

Two sets of lights, front and rear are a very good idea, much better than carrying spare batteries. If you can get one set hard-wired to the bike, e.g. on the reflector brackets you are less likely to get caught out without them. Also try to get a high level rear light that can be seen through car windscreens, e.g. attached to your rucksack.

Remember that helmets do not help you to be seen or to avoid accidents. If you really care about road safety go for the hi-viz jacket before the nice polystyrene hat (that doesn't quite fit properly...).

Assertive, confident cycling also helps. Do not trudge along in the gutter and be aware of traffic coming towards you from other directions, e.g. head on cars overtaking. Light for these guys too and don't assume you will be okay when you only have a rear light (and no front).