Dark coloured rain jackets seem fairly popular with manufacturers but I’m wondering if they are not a danger even with reflective stripes. What are rider’s opinons on this?

I’ve got a reflective yellow jacket but some people say that in winter they are not that visible in daylight due to autumn leaves and low sun.

I don’t cycle much at night and have some megawattage lights if I do.

I’d ask drivers.

IME if you have lights and reflective stuff you’d hope they are being sufficiently attentive for that to be enough.

Lights and reflectives are good at night but a brighter colour is more easily seen during daylight. Lots of reds, blues, green jackets out there without going down the dayglo route.

I drive and I road ride. I wouldn’t use a black cycling jacket if other colour options are available.
Makes sense to make yourself as visible as possible IMHO

Get a yellow reflective strip you can throw over the jacket.

im a bus driver, i do about 130,000 miles a year, the colour i find easiest to notice is hi viz yellow, it stands out the most against almost any background.
if it was twilight/dark id like to see some reflective element there to work with my headlights. along with a rear light with a fairly bright irregular flashing pattern.
thats my 2 bobs worth, based on my own experience, ymmv.

think its the lights and reflection that counts not the actual colour

FWIW we cannot see colours in the dark so your point is a mute one

Black is slimming.

interesting to get the perspective of a bus driver, thanks martymac

Surely if they can’t see you they can’t hit you 😉

agree with martymac, I cover some miles due to work scared myself silly when I did not see a cyclist in a black jacket black tights black rucksac……he looked so slim……….but was not visable.

considering choice of colour for my next jacket no more black.

Reflective strips only work when drivers have their lights on, which unfortunately isn’t a given even when the sky is overcast or it’s getting dark. Given the choice I’d always go for a bright coloured jacket with reflective strips.

Yellow for daytime with reflective strips and good lights for night.

In some conditions though it doesn’t matter what you wear people won’t see you. I used to add an extra 3 miles on to a 9 mile commute when the short route involved sections of rural A road towards a low rising sun.

For road riding I try and be visible and also watch traffic in my mirror. So if they don’t see me I’ve got a chance to avoid them. I’ve once had to ride off the road to avoid a 60mph hit.

On the road no. Go Fluro Euro and get something brighter!

Black is slimming.

Good point 🙂

Personally I always find black clothed people (peds) very difficult to see at night but what about during daylight hours.

I always notice the dayglo colours over any others while out, eothet driving, riding or walking. Imo it depends on the background colours as to what stands out, so blues and reds are great on a moorland, but blend into the background in an urban environment. For this reason the only coloured jackets id wear for road work or commuting ie bright orange or bright yellow.I might look a prat but id rather be seen than be the most colour coordinated guy in the morgue.

Pretty much all my riding gear is black. But I tend to light myself up like a Christmas tree. The only time I’ve been knocked off was in broad daylight, sporting a flouro top, a bright orange helmet, on a bright orange bike. “Sorry mate, i didn’t see you!”

Since then, I’ve not felt the need to dress like a lollipop lady

There’s a reason special forces wear black for most ops and it isn’t to make them look slim.

Deffo Hi Vis colours for daylight, reflectives for riding during dusk/night.

So a black jacket with reflectives during the day is not going to increase your chances.

I’d sooner have a black jacket with high quality, well placed reflectives, than a yellow jacket with poor ones- which sadly seems to be true of most bike jackets. Yellow is better in daytime for sure but it doesn’t make that much difference at night, reflectives do.

If you don’t do much night riding, colour is important for daytime riding.

Next time you’re out in the car, try to make a note of when you notice pedestrians and cyclists down country lanes etc – if you see them as soon as you have line of sight, even if they are 0.5 miles away, what colour are they wearing (I will bet it isn’t dark colours). If you see them at 100metres, what colour are they wearing?
Dark colours blend in well to hedges and trees, especially with the autumn colours of browns and greens. Brighter colours (yellow, white, red,orange) stand out. Adding reflective bits will help with night riding if you do any.

Why does nobody complain about black cars being invisible?

Reflectives need to be low down to get picked up by dipped headlights. I’ve just fitted coloured refective tape to the lower tubes of my commuter bike but the BS pedal and spoke reflectors are brighter. Reflectives on the tyres spokes ankles shoes and pedals work well.

My stealth jacket is black. It’s superb, but I’d never wear it on road bike..

HTTP404 – Member

Why does nobody complain about black cars being invisible?

Because cars are the size of a car, and move at the speed of a car. But vehicles that don’t move at the speed of a car, like bin trucks, breakdown trucks, etc do carry hiviz, flashing lights, etc etc.

The day I can ride my commute at the speed limit the whole way, I’ll worry a lot less about visibility.

I go for hi-vis yellow with reflectives – night or day. I can’t believe black would be better in either situation. And not just on the road bike either as all my mountain bike rides will involve some road anyway.

I have no need to be ‘stealthy’ anywhere.

On the strength of this advice, I’ve cast aside my usual black baggies and black jacket, and have just ordered a fleoro yellow Lycra body stocking!

You have to ask, why the F is ‘high viz’ yellow ? Because it’s easy to see.