High-vis top with zero insulation
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- Posts: 36776
- Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm
Re: High-vis top with zero insulation
EN 471 is the H&S standard for yellow mesh waistcoats as worn by many whose job involves being in the road. As pointed out by others above, they are widely available from workwear suppliers and the like for under a fiver and by buying over the counter, you can check the fit and avoid p&P.
Re: High-vis top with zero insulation
Yes they are brilliant (in both senses). Very light and airy.mjr wrote:Hi-vis waistcoats are available from Wickes, Screwfix, Toolstation and probably other similar industrial park builders shops. Best price found just now £2.98 http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Workwea ... 188/p43997 - I've worn a mesh waistcoat in the past and there's only very slight insulating effect, especially if you leave it flapping, which only annoyed me when it got over 30 degrees or so.
But now I don't think hi-vis is proven and carrying and using special clothes annoys me: I'm slow enough to park/unpark the bike already. I think reflectives are good and put lots on my bikes because I always have a bike with me when I ride. I tend to wear large blocks of solid colour (most often blue, and that works well because most of the time I'm riding past green countryside, red brick or sandstone buildings) in daylight. At night/twilight, I tend to wear black/white or blue/white jackets with reflective detailing.,,,,,EN 471 is the H&S standard for yellow mesh waistcoats
Personally I've no doubt at all about their effectiveness - you can feel the difference in driver behaviour as soon as you put one on. The reason being that the right shade of yellow plus reflective stripes can mean police, road-worker, lollipop lady, ambulance person etc and a driver on auto-pilot knows this subconsciously and isn't going to discriminate when it's just a cyclist, whereas a different colour, even if hi viz, may not trigger the same alarms.
Re: High-vis top with zero insulation
Bicycle safety is a bit like North Korea. Accident statistics are so sparse that everyone can find evidence to support their argument. But I am convinced fluorescent yellow makes me safer (except in rapeseed fields).