Posted on 08/16/2014 7:36:03 PM PDT by Steelfish
A Highly Reflective Bike for Safer Nighttime Rides The shimmery finish of Mission Bicycle Company's 'Lumen' promises to keep your ride brilliantly aglow
By LOREN MOONEY Updated Aug. 15, 2014 FLASHY RIDE | Paint embedded with microscopic glass beads makes the Lumen bike highly reflective. F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal IT'S A CONUNDRUM every city bicyclist who pedals after sunset has grappled with: How to be seen by drivers in the dark of night? You can attach blinking lights and shiny stickers to your bike or backpack, or wear special reflective jackets. But these approaches have their flaws. Batteries die, stickers peel or fade with time, and jackets can be left at home.
One new solution is just hitting the streets after a successful Kickstarter campaign: the Lumen from San Francisco's Mission Bicycle Company. Using the same principle that makes street signs so dazzlingly reflective, the frame and rims of this sleek urban bike reflect a blazing white when the beam of a car's headlights fall upon them.
The Lumen's power lies in its paint: a dark gray powder-coat treatment embedded with microscopic glass beads that direct light back at its source in a more focused way than, say, a plastic reflector. At night, the effect is imperceptible to the rider, but to drivers, the Lumen looks like a glowing X-ray of a bike's skeleton. "It instantly reads, 'bicycle' to a driver," said Mission general manager Jefferson McCarley. "It doesn't look like anything else out there. It's not just a little blinking red dot." According to the manufacturer, the glow of the Lumen is visible from 1,000 feet away.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Really smart idea. I’m not giving them any MONEY, but it’s a really smart idea. :)
As one who has logged thousands and thousands of miles on a bike over the past 40 years (including a 500 mile trek this past week), I’m always on the lookout for ways to increase my visability and general safety. I’ve been using a reflective vest for a long time, the best rear and headlamps that you can buy.... but the one safety measure I never leave without is the small rear view mirror that clips on to my glasses. There is no car coming behind me that I don’t scrutinize completely until it is past me and if they are running just a bit too close for my liking, I quickly get off as far as I can.
You are a rare breed! The Spandex Crowd that trains in my little Cow Town for The Iron Man at the end of each summer are a bunch of absolute JERKS.
The next two weeks are driving HELL around here. I want to bump every last one of them into the manure pile!
I seriously CANNOT get to work on the Sunday when the race is held. EVERY road I need to use to get to my shop is closed. You literally cannot get there from here.
Not a rare breed at all. We all know that we and our cycles are no match for cars and trucks. The problems you seem to be encountering seem to have more to do with bad planning by the city than with cyclists.
I ride ... and when I do, I am cautious, knowing that I could meet my maker at any second. As the previous poster said, I do what I can to make sure I am seen and am obeying the laws of the road. All the cyclists I know and ride with do the same. Do car drivers? Nope. They speed. They run stop signs. They make illegal turns. More so that cyclists do. As a driver, I am guilty of these things too. But the thing is, we know we are vulnerable when we’re riding on the roads with cars. Please keep that in mind when you encounter us on the roads.
I’m not going to run you or anyone over. My tax dollars pay for literally THOUSANDS of miles of bike trails in my state; some reason they can’t run the Iron Man on those? They’re JUST as hilly, just as challenging.
Guess you have to live here to know how annoying it is.
Why, it’s almost like being in labor, and 0bama’s motorcade is between you and the hospital! *SMIRK*
Bicyclists are rude beyond belief around here. Several weeks ago we ended up behind 30 or so of them riding 3 wide on a back county road - no bike lanes.
There were semis on the road delivering water or milk and this train of cyclists would not move to single file, which is the law here, forcing these semis, for several miles to drive in the other lane. If a car had come over a hill while those semis were driving on the wrong side of the road, there would have been major damage to a lot of people.
No excuse for that type of selfish behavior on the part of those cyclists.
Unfortunately, around here, it is the rule rather than the exception.
Thank goodness! I live and work in an urban area and there are many cyclists. As a driver I am grateful. **ALL** bikes should be coated with this reflective material.
Passive lighting is not as safe as active. Check out this electroluminescent paint.
I find the pack riders are the worst. They think if there’s enough of them together then the world should stop for them. When I cycle I do it on my own.
Just honk at them continually.
Muscle through them.
That could work during the training periods.
Loud horn too. More than one? A funny sounding one (ooUH-ga) and one more like a train.
If there was a passenger on the motorcycle, then have them carry a super-soaker water gun. That could be fun. Hell, on a hot day the bicyclists might even thank you.
“Please keep that in mind when you encounter us on the roads.”
I do a fair amount of biking and a fair amount of driving. So I see both sides.
Here in CO, the biking militants are complete a$$holes. Riding three abreast up curving mountain roads at 7 mph with a line of cars stretching two miles behind them. Happens all the time. Never occurs to them that they could pull over for a minute and let cars by. Or it does; and they enjoy being jerks.
Deliberate rudeness (not accusing you at all) is dangerous.
You must live in Colorado.
Actually this is a common issue. It is one reason I tend to ride alone
The lone riders may be the worst. About once a week I have to dodge one on one of the roads I used to commute. The road is clearly not built for bikes on the street, and I have looked at the “bike routes” for the town and it is listed as not for biking on the street. But they still do it, and clog up traffic right at the light.
After a couple of blocks - oh, I am not supposed to be on the road - and they get onto the nice wide sidewalk.
Yeah, man here learned a lesson on what happens when you do that. They filmed him. He was arrested, and had to take some anger management classes or something. Ridiculous. Again, they were blocking a small county road, holding up traffic.
Our county has spent millions on bike paths ...asphalt, 3/4 lane wide, both sides of our new parkway...and the Jerks still ride in the street.ni don’t give them a lot if room.
If you want a loud horn, this is an option: http://www.amazon.com/Stebel-Nautilus-Chrome-Compact-Motorcycle/dp/B003SEBYF0
I agree ... that’s a stupid place to ride.
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