To flag or not?

[BentMikey]

What's your vote - do you ride with a flag, and how high is your bike? If possible, put an estimate of how high your eye level is above the road surface.

I have no flag, and my eyeline is at 87cm.

 

[byegad]

Can I vote yes and no?
On my QNT it's yes and on my Kettwiesel it's no. The seat height makes the difference for me.

Additional info, Seat heights are 8" for the QNT and 18" for the Kettwiesel.

 

[andharwheel]

I mainly use it because my girlfriend doent like me going out without it. I do have a huge windsock one which can be descibed as a training aid as cause a a lot of drag. Looks good though.

 

[NickM]

Not on any of the recumbents I ride on the road: Kingcycles (seat height 47.5cm) and a Fujin SL II (33cm).

If I rode a low trike, I think I would.

 

[Auntie Helen]

I tend to have two flags on my Trice Q - well, I have two slots in the seat frame for flags, might as well use them both.

I think the feeling of safety they give to me is more in my mind than in reality as I think I'm seen by others anyway, but I do find they are fairly easy to spot when Uncle James is ahead/behind - they're the first thing I usually see. I'd feel a bit uncomfortable going out without them, perhaps just because I'm used to them though.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

If i rode a recumbant i would fly the flag definatly, drivers arnt even looking for upright bikes they will drive over a Recumbant and not even notice or care probably.

 

[ufkacbln]

Hurricane - Yes
Catrike - Yes
Street Machine - No

 

[BentMikey]

If i rode a recumbant i would fly the flag definatly, drivers arnt even looking for upright bikes they will drive over a Recumbant and not even notice or care probably.

Funnily enough that's what most people think, but experience proves the opposite. I can guarantee you that a shed load more people will see me on my recumbent than you on your upright. I feel considerably less safe on the upright than I do on the hurricane sans flag.

 

[yenrod]

If I rode a rec. id ride one !

They just go with the situation !!!!!!

 

[byegad]

If i rode a recumbant i would fly the flag definatly, drivers arnt even looking for upright bikes they will drive over a Recumbant and not even notice or care probably.

Totally not so. Drivers give far more room to recumbents precisely because we do not register as a normal bike. So they pay us a lot of attention.

When I was riding both DFs and 'bents my initial reaction on going back to a DF after a few 'bent days was shock at how close cars pass you by and how little room I got for and aft on a DF in slow moving traffic.

It's because DFs are familiar and therefore easily dismissed that drivers make so little allowance for the cyclist. After all the lack of height of a Ferrai in traffic means it IS noticed far more than, say, a Fiat Punto, made by the same company.

 

[tdr1nka]

I ride with a flag, but I have ridden without it and not noticed any ill effect.

 

[BentMikey]

If I rode a rec. id ride one !

They just go with the situation !!!!!!

On the other hand they wipe out much of the aero advantage. Can't be having that.

 

[bonj2]

that must be SO unaerodynamic! surely that defeats the whole point of a recument. I've voted no.

 

[BentMikey]

p.s. I should have mentioned that there's only point in voting if you actually ride a recumbent yourself, rather than voting to say what you would do if you owned a recumbent.

 

[arallsopp]

Nope for me. SMGTe is plenty high enough to be seen, and like others have said, drivers seem to be far more cautious going round me than they were on my wedgie.

I've always thought of a flag as a long distance marker rather than anything else. I can't see how you'd implement a flag to ensure suitable overtaking space. Horizontally, maybe?

I briefly had a flag from the London freewheel, but it tended to cover my rear light so I took it off again. My rear light is clipped into the top of the seat cushion, so its actually a fair amount higher than that on most DFs. Result is I'm often spotted earlier by cars in the dark, and you can hear the revs drop as the car goes "what-the-hell-is-that-thing-its-too-tall-for-a-bike-but-too-short-for-a-horse-maybe-its-a-policeman."

I guess motorists are just like horses in that regard. If they see something they don't understand they assume its a predator.

I don't ride a lot of dipped / undulating single lanes, so I'm less worried about disappearing between humps, and there are enough horse riding schools around here to make flags a little irresponsible for the reasons above.