Bike equipment by law

I understand that all road bikes are required to have a rear red
reflector. My question is, does this mean that we'll need both a
reflector as well as a red light? I understand that most red lights are
not reflectors in function. Is this correct? Also, is there a size
stipulation to the reflector?
--

aRTOI said:

I understand that most red lights are not reflectors in
function. Is this correct?

Yes, that's right. The vast bulk of rear lights have no, or else token reflectors.

You can get rear lights with good reflectors built in though - I use a Cateye TL-AU100BS, which has a British standard compliant reflector. Another possibility is the Busch and Muller Dtoplight, which complies with DIN standards. Of course you won't find these in the shops here in Oz, you'll have to mail-order them.

Cheers,

Suzy

In article <[email hidden]>,

Damian said:

Artoi said:

I understand that all road bikes are required to have a rear red
reflector. My question is, does this mean that we'll need both a
reflector as well as a red light? I understand that most red lights are
not reflectors in function. Is this correct? Also, is there a size
stipulation to the reflector?

http://tinyurl.com/j2vh6

Yep, we went in a full circle. That's the exact place where I read it
and hence my question in the OP. :P
--

Artoi said:

I understand that all road bikes are required to have a rear red
reflector. My question is, does this mean that we'll need both a
reflector as well as a red light?

Yes, if riding at night.

Quoted message said:

I understand that most red lights are not reflectors in function.
Is this correct?

Yes

Quoted message said:

Also, is there a size stipulation to the reflector?
--

No but it must be red and visible from 50m when light is projected onto
it by a vehicle's headlight on low beam

Parbs

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:56:21 +1000

suzyj said:

Cateye TL-AU100BS, which has a British standard compliant reflector.
Another possibility is the Busch and Muller Dtoplight, which complies
with DIN standards. Of course you won't find these in the shops here
in Oz, you'll have to mail-order them.

you can get the Dtoplight from Greenspeed, $35.

It's on my bike and is a lovely bit of kit.

Zebee

Parbs said:

No but it must be red and visible from 50m when light is projected onto
it by a vehicle's headlight on low beam

I'd suspect (though haven't tried, and I don't have wheel reflectors on
many of my bikes, or pedal reflectors on any) that a decent sized red LED
flashy would have sufficient reflectivity that it'd be visible from 50m.
Maybe I'll try it tomorrow night using the LEDs, since if they illuminate
it the headlights should.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Never go off on tangents, which are lines that intersect a curve at
only one point and were discovered by Euclid, who lived in the 6th
century, which was an era dominated by the Goths, who lived in what
we now know as Poland." - Nov. 1998 issue of Infosystems Executive.

Artoi said:

I understand that all road bikes are required to have a rear red
reflector. My question is, does this mean that we'll need both a
reflector as well as a red light? I understand that most red lights are
not reflectors in function. Is this correct? Also, is there a size
stipulation to the reflector?

Does the reflector have to be on the bike?

Could it be, for instance, on a backpack?

Travis

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:56:21 +1000

suzyj said:

Cateye TL-AU100BS, which has a British standard compliant reflector.
Another possibility is the Busch and Muller Dtoplight, which complies
with DIN standards. Of course you won't find these in the shops here
in Oz, you'll have to mail-order them.

you can get the Dtoplight from Greenspeed, $35.

It's on my bike and is a lovely bit of kit.

Zebee

Yup, got one on my bike too, 20 Euro from memory, so $35 is right on the
money.
BIG reflector, great high intensity spot light.
Many cyclists use these in Germany, and they are highly visible. One of
the first things I noticed actually after the 24hour flight!

In article <[email hidden]>,

Travis said:

Artoi said:

I understand that all road bikes are required to have a rear red
reflector. My question is, does this mean that we'll need both a
reflector as well as a red light? I understand that most red lights are
not reflectors in function. Is this correct? Also, is there a size
stipulation to the reflector?

Does the reflector have to be on the bike?

Could it be, for instance, on a backpack?

It's not clear reading RTA's page. But I suspect it's not ok for it to
be on the rider.

I am interested in this issue so that my bike is fully legal and won't
be used as an excuse should I ever have an accident (knock on wood).
--

The only thing required by law is a helmet. Anything else the cops
don't know about.
A light at night is desired by some police but you are certainly not
going to get a fine.

Put your helmet on and you will be safe

Artoi said:

I understand that all road bikes are required to have a rear red
reflector. My question is, does this mean that we'll need both a
reflector as well as a red light? I understand that most red lights are
not reflectors in function. Is this correct? Also, is there a size
stipulation to the reflector?
--

On 2006-08-30, Wally (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

The only thing required by law is a helmet. Anything else the cops
don't know about.
A light at night is desired by some police but you are certainly not
going to get a fine.

Put your helmet on and you will be safe

Heh. Cynical!

It's illegal, as far as I know, to fit anything to a helmet, because
then it is not standards approved. Ie, lights on helmets are illegal
(especially the kind of lights I fit to my helmet!) Same for mirrors.

But the amount of times I have been waved past a booze bus, past a
line of 6 coppers, with lights blazing all over my helmet, and haven't
been pulled over... I must be about due.

Of course, I will strenuously argue in such a situation, that I would
much rather be seen and have any collision avoided, than be not seen,
hit, have my head planted against a windscreen at 60km/h, and killed.

--
TimC
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

I don't think anyone has mentioned reflective tape. I don't know if it
fits the legal definition of a reflector (why the heck not?), but it
stands out like dogs' balls and you can adorn your bike in it. I've
seen it on rims so from a distance you dance aroud like a
will-o-the-wisp. I've even seen it chopped into tiny pieces and stuck
between the lugs of a knobbly tire. You can get it in white or red at
an auto shop. I've also seen web shops that sell it in fancy products,
e.g. reflective nude girls (which I'm not allowed to buy).

Donga

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:19:27 GMT

TimC said:

But the amount of times I have been waved past a booze bus, past a
line of 6 coppers, with lights blazing all over my helmet, and haven't
been pulled over... I must be about due.

If you have lights that more or less work then they won't care.

Unless they want to do you for Public Stupidity, at which point they
will care quite a lot.

Zebee

The problem here is that if one ever gets into the courts following an
accident, the opposing lawyers may rip you apart if you don't fully meet
the legal requirement.

I read elsewhere (?US) where because the cyclist didn't have the full
legally required safety gear on his bike, the court refuted the
liability of a motorist. I guess it's part of defensive riding. 🙂

In article <[email hidden]>,

Wally said:

The only thing required by law is a helmet. Anything else the cops
don't know about.
A light at night is desired by some police but you are certainly not
going to get a fine.

Put your helmet on and you will be safe

Artoi said:

I understand that all road bikes are required to have a rear red
reflector. My question is, does this mean that we'll need both a
reflector as well as a red light? I understand that most red lights are
not reflectors in function. Is this correct? Also, is there a size
stipulation to the reflector?
--

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:05:02 GMT

Artoi said:

The problem here is that if one ever gets into the courts following an
accident, the opposing lawyers may rip you apart if you don't fully meet
the legal requirement.

Going to depend on the crash isn't it? And the injuries?

If the lawyer can say "black as the inside of a dog and the idiot had
1 little red LED and no reflective anywhere" then that's going to cut
a bit more ice than "Yeah, lit up like a christmas tree but the
reflector was 1 sq cm less than required".

Quoted message said:

I read elsewhere (?US) where because the cyclist didn't have the full
legally required safety gear on his bike, the court refuted the
liability of a motorist. I guess it's part of defensive riding. 🙂

Well.. I'd like a good citation and a local judgement from more than a
magistrate's court before I'd believe there was a huge danger 🙂

Zebee

In article <[email hidden]>,

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:05:02 GMT

Artoi said:

The problem here is that if one ever gets into the courts following an
accident, the opposing lawyers may rip you apart if you don't fully meet
the legal requirement.

Going to depend on the crash isn't it? And the injuries?

If the lawyer can say "black as the inside of a dog and the idiot had
1 little red LED and no reflective anywhere" then that's going to cut
a bit more ice than "Yeah, lit up like a christmas tree but the
reflector was 1 sq cm less than required".

Lawyers are trained to twist a thousand things and you don't want to
risk the outcome of a court case (invariably a more major accident
involving significant material outcome) on some personal arguments.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I read elsewhere (?US) where because the cyclist didn't have the full
legally required safety gear on his bike, the court refuted the
liability of a motorist. I guess it's part of defensive riding. 🙂

Well.. I'd like a good citation and a local judgement from more than a
magistrate's court before I'd believe there was a huge danger 🙂

Sure, but the issue here is the weight or whatever penalty there maybe
is hardly great by fully complying with the regulation. So why not just
do it by the books?
--

On a related (safety / law) note, I saw in the regulations that a bike must have "a bell, horn, or similar warning device, in working order". My road bike doesn't have one but I think it would be a very good idea, as long as it can be easily reached. I mostly ride with my hands on the brake hoods - could anyone suggest a suitable "warning device" that could be mounted within easy reach (ie. so that I don't need to move my hands away from near the brake levers in order to operate it!)?

roshea said:

On a related (safety / law) note, I saw in the regulations that a bike
must have "a bell, horn, or similar warning device, in working order".
My road bike doesn't have one but I think it would be a very good idea,
as long as it can be easily reached. I mostly ride with my hands on the
brake hoods - could anyone suggest a suitable "warning device" that
could be mounted within easy reach (ie. so that I don't need to move my
hands away from near the brake levers in order to operate it!)?

--
roshea

You can mount a bell just on the drops, with a ziptie, within reach of
your pinkie.

Alternatively, you could argue that your voice is a suitable warning
device.

Tam

quote='Tamyka Bell'roshea said:

On a related (safety / law) note, I saw in the regulations that a bike
must have "a bell, horn, or similar warning device, in working order".
My road bike doesn't have one but I think it would be a very good idea,
as long as it can be easily reached. I mostly ride with my hands on the
brake hoods - could anyone suggest a suitable "warning device" that
could be mounted within easy reach (ie. so that I don't need to move my
hands away from near the brake levers in order to operate it!)?

--
roshea

You can mount a bell just on the drops, with a ziptie, within reach of
your pinkie.

Alternatively, you could argue that your voice is a suitable warning
device.

Tam[/QUOTE]I'd have to do that pretty loudly wouldn't I?