Advice from the postman

[Auntie Helen]

Crankarm, I have rear-view mirrors which mean I know what's behind me the whole time - completely different than having to look over my shoulder on a normal bike. When my husband got a trike he immediately got a mirror on his normal bike as he found it so useful (although they don't work as well on normal bikes).

Not sure the sort of flagpoles one could buy would cope with the weight of a flashing yellow light, or even a normal bike light.

My experience of recumbent riding, as mentioned above, shows that people pass me MUCH more widely than on a normal bike. My husband, who rides both types of bike, finds this all the time.

I have scotchlite on my panniers facing forwards and from the side. I also have reflective strips on my mudguards (as suggested by Aperitif on a group ride some time ago). I've not had the overtaking experience you detail above which I imagine could be dodgy - but I imagine would be the same for a normal bike that the overtaking motorist might not see either!

 

[Arch]

Just out of interest, how many of those saying "oh, you must be hard to see", have ever actually ridden a recumbent, any distance, on a road?

Reading again, I see Crankarm qualifies as one of the 'don't know what they are talking about' brigade....

Auntie - there is one way to carry a light on a pole, if you choose to (I reckon a decent normal light mounted on the rack does as well for any bike - after all, the rack is at the same height pretty much as on an upright). Get a pair of the little single LED backupz type light, they run on a button battery and have a multipurpose elastic fixing to fit all sorts of diameters, and are very lightweight. I use them as spares and emergency backups on all my bikes, since they don't need a bracket fitted.

Or someone I know had flourescent blue glow wire coiled up his pole, but that was really for showing off as opposed to visibility.