All out Hi-Viz Neon Yellow or not Gear Dilemma!

I'm happy with my Olympia jacket, but even a vest helps, particularly in bad weather or low light conditions. That's why highway workers and just about anyone that works around vehicles wears Hi-Viz. Orange bikes are good too! :eek1

Seems budget is a deal breaker here , get the cheaper (2) jackets you mentioned and a white helmet . Suppliment with a safety vest , either a cheap construction one or a fancy motorcycle one . This way all your bases are covered while you can save up for an expensive hi-viz jacket down the road ...........Good Luck

MC Vest ---- http://www.motorcycleinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.ejdlwmdldgctiiar&pageId=175122

I wanted a neon helmet, but none of them offered fits me. Grrrrr....

I went with a white helmet to complete the hiviz ensemble.

I bought a Hi-Viz Olympia AST jacket 4 years ago and it's been a fantastic piece of gear. It's only just started to leak some in heavy rains, and has served me really well. That being said, it is a hot SOB in temperatures above 90 degrees, despite the excellent venting system. Last Winter I bought one of Olympia's GT Air jackets (yeah, it's a little pricey, but worth it) in Hi-Viz, and it's so far proven to be the perfect year-round solution. It's got panels that zip down to expose mesh areas for Summer venting, and the liners have been both warm and completely waterproof, even in some very heavy t-storms. The quality of construction is top shelf, and I expect to get many years of service.

My wife has been shopping for some Hi-Viz stuff for about 6 months, and we bought her an Olympia Airglide online for $140, which is a pretty good deal. Check E-Bay for Olympia's stuff, as there are some good deals to be had.
We spent a lot of time looking at the Tour Master Transition II jacket, which runs around $170. The venting is good, but not great, and that's what led us to buy the Airglide.

Hope this helps.

Here's what I suggest

Buy a used high viz yellow Darien jacket, used darien pants.
I've seen this combo go for about 250 for the jacket and 150 for the pants.
Don't worry about getting a liner jacket with the darien. as they are not worth the price.

And a white helmet.

With looking and waiting you should be able to find the get up for the same prices as two new jackets and a high viz helmet.

Don't buy the helmet used. unless you are positive you know it's history and how it was cared for.

some high viz tips.
You want solid colors, especially on the outline of the jacket (sleeves, shoulders and sides)
Solid color helmets are easier to see then ones broken up with a pattern
Even if the pattern has High Viz in it.

Lighter yellow colors are better in low light then red colors.

Med value blue works pretty well as well (so called Fog blue)

A splash of high viz on your bike helps also. Put it again at the edge of the bike away from the headlight.

A quick note on the silver helmet. When I bought a silver VW, a body repair friend told me that he fixes silver and grey cars that have been hit more than any other color. Seems that these colors blend in the most.

Schuberth is selling a high vis C3 now...

FYI, I had a silver helmet before. It blends in very well. I keep it as a guest helmet now, since it has the intercoms already installed. White, bright yellow, bright orange, hiviz green...

Thanks. I'll look into it next time.




Oh, and I second used gear. You can get top line gear for much less...

Correlation is not Causation.

There have also been more silvers car sold in the last 15 years.

You could be right Squish, But it does kind of make sense, silver or grey on roads that are usually grey or black. And just to play devil's advocate, the silver car was an '88 Fox I bought in 1994 when the comment was made to me. To be a bigger pita, it was the only car that I've had a multi-vehicle accident with. I cut a corner on a gravel road, I didn't see the white car coming the other way, she was cutting her corner and didn't see my silver car. Biggest factor was we were both inexperienced teenagers, 2nd was that we didn't see eachother till it was too late.

+1 (or more) for the Darien Light hi-vis jacket.

Rode in hot Chicago summer last year with it and it was cooler than no jacket.. vents really move air and the light color keeps heat to a min........rode yesterday in 35degree day. With the standard zip in fleece, i was toasty warm.

I have just been very satisfied with the gear. and another +1 for not having to carry rain gear.

Got the darien light pants as well in black. Happy with it although last summer, while the jacket kept the heat off and vented air well, the black pants did seem to do a slow cook on my thighs in the bright sun.

the only down side that i have found is that the jacket and pants are not very forgiving when it comes to dealing with the off season extra 12lb weight gain. Oh well, i guess that it will motivate me to drop the pounds.

I have to comment on all of the recommendations for the Darien light..

According to the Save Your Hide report only nylon with a denier of over 620 is suitable for motorcycle protective gear. The Darien light is described as having only a 200 denier fabric, and appears to have no separate ballistic fabric (1000 denier) impact areas for additional protection. IMO this seems like a pretty risky decision for what is intended to be protective gear.

I have never seen one of these in person so if I am missing something please let me know and I will stand corrected.

1500+ in impact areas is all I will wear-or leather.

My econimical Fieldsheer Quattro is 600D for the whole jacket, with 1680D over all shoulders, elbows, arms and impact areas. In fact it's abrasion resistance is why I chose it over the Tourmaster Transition2

Just to show what difference color makes, I read a report of a study in Europe, where they found that wearing a white helmet reduced the chance of having an accident with an other vehicle by 35 percent.

Been using an Olympia mesh jacket with a waterproof liner for a couple of years now. Incidents of people not seeing me have virtually stopped. The jacket is good down to about 40 detrees and with an electric vest I rode for 10 hours last fall with the temps below 30. I think I only paid about $200 for it, but it was on sale. It's holding up well and I have no complaints. Prior to the jacket I used a brown leather jacket and had a near miss incident almost every week.

I got my Olympia 1 piece HIvis suit and love it. Its makes people see you NOW! Its bright to the point that a guy asked me what size battery's does it use!!!

Lose the black and be seen in HiViz. Pretty simple and much more sensible and cooler.

All great suggestions.

I wore a High Vis vest for awile until some stranger asked if I worked for the sewer department. It hasn't been out of the closet since. So I'm kinda glad I didn't spend much money on it. I went with something that had wrap around velco on the wrast...a one size fits all approach. http://trafficsafetystore.reachlocal.net/SubCatMProdDetails.aspx?CID=7&SCID=53

Instead I placed some tape on my panniers. Having an orange bike helps too.

http://www.tapebrothers.com/Tape-Brothers-2-Mil-Premium-Fluorescent-Cast-Vinyl-Tape-s/286.htm




daryl

Would you rather be a little embarrassed or a little DEAD??

Oh, good grief.


I'll repost what Chop said...

If you're more comfortable wearing a hi-viz suit, by all means, do it. However, don't even start with the "if you don't wear hi-viz, you're gonna get all kilt!" business.

There's a mountain of evidence on both sides of this. Some claim it helps, some claim it makes no difference. I think one branch of the U.S. Armed services (I think it was the Marines) determined wearing hi-viz has virtually no impact on the number of motorcycle related accidents.

Situational awareness will save your hide far more often than a white helmet ever will.