BE VISIBLE ON MOTORCYCLE AT 360°

On the road at night, the motorcyclist must be visible from all sides:

• Front and rear visibility: front and rear light + alternative solution: retro-reflecting in the event of light failure or when the vehicle is stopped, etc.
• Lateral visibility : stopped at an intersection, in roundabouts, when stopped on the side of the road...

There are many situations where real 360° visibility will make the difference.

Improve your 360° visibility

1/ For the motorcycle

The headlight and the rear light

The headlight and taillight give you the vital front and rear visibility that is the basis of visibility on the road. It is therefore first of all important to take good care of the efficiency of its dipped headlights. Two points to remember: adjustment and maintenance . The adjustment – ​​neither too high nor too low – must be made taking into account the load of the motorcycle. A simple way to do this adjustment is to stand on your motorcycle and 10 meters from a wall, the beam must then be at the same height as the optics. For the maintenance of the headlight, the rear light but also the indicators, it will be necessary to clean the optics regularly because dust, insects and grease significantly reduce the brightness of the bulb. Then, the headlight bulb must be changed every year and up to a maximum of two years. Few bikers do it and yet it is an important point if you want to avoid a loss of brightness and then a total breakdown at an ill-chosen moment! Finally, avoid non-compliant lights which lack efficiency or, conversely, dazzle other users, thus causing dangerous situations.

“Dimensional visibility”: retro-reflective

VFLUO: "Dimensional visibility" for motorcycles with retro-reflective
360° dimensional night motorcycle visibility with retro-reflective – VFLUO

“Dimensional visibility” consists of making the size of the motorcycle visible (primarily front + rear) using retro-reflective strips.
“Silhouette marking”, or contour visibility, is a high visibility technique used on emergency vehicles and heavy goods vehicles. It's the best way to make yourself more visible at night on the road.
The human eye needs, to estimate a distance as well as a speed of movement, to have dimensional references. In addition, in the dark on the road, it is important to be able to differentiate a simple element of the environment from a vehicle which, by definition, may have to move.

This is why the fact of making visible the contours of his motorcycle and therefore his size, will allow other users not only to become aware of the presence of a vehicle ; but also its nature : a two-wheeler; as well as its movement speed and direction .

All these elements together will radically change your safety during your possible night trips.

Lateral visibility

It has been observed that motorcycles are not visible from the side at night. However, there are many situations where this can be useful. Optimizing the visibility of your motorcycle at 360° is very easy, and will therefore complement the visibility provided by the headlight and the rear light.

It will be a question of adding cutouts of retro reflective elements on the sides of your motorcycle, many places can allow you to do this.

On the other hand, ready-made solutions have been developed, as in the image above:
– The retro-reflective rim strips (liserets)
– BMW 1200 GS aluminum suitcase marking kits

The design of these products has been thought out to provide lateral + dimensional visibility to your motorcycle. Discreet by day and strikingly aesthetic by night.

2/ For biker equipment: retro-reflective

Clothes

VFLUO: make your clothes visible with retro-reflective
3M™ SOLAS GRADE™ ultra-adhesive retro-reflective strips and an ARMTECH™ armband have been added to the leather jacket. 360° night visibility – VFLUO

Some manufacturers incorporate retro-reflective inserts on their clothing, but they are often absent or too small.
Retro-reflective strips (ultra-adhesive or sew-on) discreet during the day can be added which, well positioned on your jacket, will provide additional visibility at night or in low light. To be effective, these retro-reflective elements should ideally be as high as possible and be visible from 360°.
That is to say at the level of the back and the torso, but also at the level of the arms close to the shoulders.


The retro-reflective armband is also a good option, but often restrictive. Because the armbands that are generally found are self-rolling armbands that do not hold well in place and above all, they must be put back in place each time they are used. Opt for an armband (or two ideally) suitable for motorcycle use and which remains on the arm of the jacket between two trips!

Helmet

The helmet must, to be homologated, include the 4 mandatory retro-reflective elements: at the front, at the back and on the sides. Again, this arrangement allows 360° visibility.
If your helmet is black and you don't want to stick the standard white stickers on it, you can opt for black retro reflective stickers. If, like many helmets, this one has patterns, a design, reliefs or particular color zones, you can also create a decoration or integrate black or white retro-reflective in a discreet and aesthetic way. In this case, care must be taken to comply with the legal obligations in terms of positioning, surface and geometry of these 4 elements.


Making your equipment visible, in addition to the motorcycle, is important for a simple reason: if you have broken down and are on foot, or in the event of an accident, unconscious on the road, this can avoid an "over-accident".


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