Bike Safe Noodle

Everyone has their own take on bike safety.  Some wear helmets and some get excited when the the topic of helmets comes up and point to studies showing that riding with a helmet decreases safety.  Some load up on bike lights for night riding and others refuse to ride at night thinking that it is too dangerous.  The important thing in the end I guess is that you feel safe, and that you don't endanger others. 

Reader OcO contacted us and clued us in to a cool site, BicycleSafe.com.  One of their header pictures is brilliant in its simplicity -

 Reader OcO specifically referenced the following picture from the site. 

Picture from bicyclesafe.com

The caption on the site reads:

One cyclist tied this bright noodle to the back of his bike, exactly the width of his handlebars, to show drivers how much space he takes up on the road.

It's a pretty simple and brilliant idea that could be executed in a number of ways.  Perhaps incorporating LED lights would really add punch to this hack. 

This picture made me think of some of the ridiculously narrow handlebars I came across in NYC, similar to this set that was posted by member bettermade on London Fixed-Gear & Single-Speed.

This picture also  reminds me of our post on 10  Strange Handlebar Set Ups.

Comments

[anniebikes]

Hmmm, very ingenious. That's what I love about your site. It reminds me that once I fashioned an orange flag (an extra one from my kid's tag-a-long)in the same position, flag on the left. Somehow I eventually lost it, but it did the trick for a while.

[John Romeo Alpha]

I could extend it by three feet to illustrate to drivers where they are legally required to pass me in Arizona. It would need to be at SUV rearview mirror level to really help them to understand, though, since too many SUV drivers seem to lose track of how close their passenger mirror is to me as they pass.

[Ben]

Very nice! But slow. I wonder if they make orange noodles with NACA low-drag foil sections... or if a hot wire could be used to advantage...

I've also seen people mount flags sideways, which might or might not be less visible, but which might have lower drag. And be more expensive. I also wonder about slipping between parked cars when trying to reach the curb...

It's worth mentioning that in many places a car must not pass within some distance (3' here in Colorado, see 42-4-1003 at http://colobikelaw.com/law.php) of the bike--defined to be the closest part of the bike+rider to the closest part of the car. So wider bikes are entitled to more room. Presumably a noodle that extends 5' to the side is legal, and means that cars must legally give the noodle 3' of clearance, which gives your torso a whole lot more of a buffer zone. Now I'm wondering about a hack involving a sticker saying "This bike uses video surveillance", a laser rangefinder, a camera, and a new hobby that involves meeting lots of lawyers...

Thanks for the link, by the way :)

[Ben]

Oops, I forgot I was wondering about something else as well:

The noodle/flag/whatever would want to be flexible enough that if a car actually hit it, you would feel (or hear?) something, but it wouldn't push the bike around. That'd be a fun one to test.

[mattyfu]

Know what would also get cars to give you more room, mounting a rifle case on the rear rack and as a bonus you'd have storage!

[drew]

Re: the guy with the ridiculously narrow handlebars. What's the point of having handlebars more narrow than the width of your shoulders? I guess it would help with storage, but any smaller than your shoulders and you start losing functionality and not getting any narrower.

[WV Cycling]

Not aero enough :(

[Leo Horishny]

MattyFu, funny! In parts of the country that concept would actually fit the local culture.

For not much money, the Flash Flag does exist and Terry, the owner, is helpful with many other reflective aids to light your bike up. I find it helps a little in traffic.