E-bike Road safety improvements via motorcycle type mirrors, windshield, lights and horn

[Ken Shopken]

Hey all

I am new here, and have spent some time reading on the forums. I have viewed concerns expressed in the forums that I also have concerning cold weather, rain and safety with other vehicles out on the road.

I have been riding a Rad power bike within a 20 mile area of my home. I live in the country with mountainous secondary roads with minimal shoulders and speeds by drivers averaging 50mph. The E-bicycle I am currently riding only has a tiny handlebar mirror.

From my perspective as also a motorcycle rider, the combination of wind noise, lack of decent lights and the lack of good rear visual view, makes the bicycle too dangerous to continue riding without improving both situations.

I am looking at installing a light wind screen, moped or motorcycle mirrors a strong high beam headlamp, taillight and a loud horn. Yes this all increases weight and yes the windshield increases drag (really not that bad under 20mph and fairly similar to an upright position rider)

As for the windshield: The first major benefit will be that I can hear whatever is coming up behind me due to the lack of wind noise. I have similar windscreens on my duel sport bikes that allow almost a silent ride. The second winter benefit being that it cuts the direct wind to the face and upper body. This would tremendously improve the winter cold and rain riding experience.

As for the mirrors: Large moped / motorcycle mirrors would not allow anything to come up behind me visually. IMO the mirrors must be in the field of normal view- not something that needs a look away, continuous monitoring.

As for the high aim headlamp and horn: A warning system that I use on the motorcycles whenever I approach an automotive driver setting at a stop or preparing to make a turn. A quick and slight turn towards the car aims the headlamp into their face area, followed by a horn blast. It gets their attention before you get to the point of no return where there is nothing you can do but get hit. Having a bright rear brake lamp along with that tail light, allows you to flash your brakelamp a few times as you see a rapidly travelling vehicle coming up from behind. I personally do not hold the traffic lane as is the practice of many die hard cyclists that think to change the worlds bicycle awareness... I get the hell out of the way. It doesn't matter if you have the right of way if you are dead or wiped out. That is how I see it anyway!

I am a fairly careful duel sport rider and always wear a safety yellow vest too.

I can across this cheap windscreen to test out: (still looking up other stuff) https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805670021274.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.7.5ac57536uiHhyZ&algo_pvid=554667f4-bb42-4c06-b731-4c6144263c66&algo_exp_id=554667f4-bb42-4c06-b731-4c6144263c66-3&pdp_npi=4@dis!USD!27.82!4.46!!!197.74!!@2101f49417031960656028814e79ab!12000034594795241!sea!US!0!AB&curPageLogUid=VmH24fLiq3m6

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I am looking at installing a light wind screen, moped or motorcycle mirrors a strong high beam headlamp, taillight and a loud horn. Yes this all increases weight and yes the windshield increases drag (really not that bad under 20mph and fairly similar to an upright position rider)

Just a note about adding any kind of resistance to an ebike: At constant rider effort and ground speed, every Newton of added resistance — be it air, rolling, or slope — ultimately comes out of battery range. On a motorcycle, it comes out of gas tank range, but the underlying physical principles are the same.

So if you have plenty of battery for your 20-mile radius, you can just let your motor cover any resistances added by accessories.

If range is an issue, you can also compensate for any added resistance by slowing down, as the power lost to any resistance grows with ground speed.

The rate of battery discharge at any given moment is roughly proportional to the power expended against the total resistance encountered at the time. It's easier to manage motor power expended on a torque-sensing ebike, but I'm sure there are ways to do it on a cadence-sensing ebike as well.

 

[Dave Rocks]

PCeBiker is your friend...​

 

[fooferdoggie]

You dont go fast enough for a dinky windscreen to do anything. I had a recumbent with a good windscreen and it worked well but only when you were going fast. the best way is when car is sitting at a stop light is either stay behind it or get in front of it. never get beside it.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

If that all works for you, then go for it.

For myself, I don't see a whole lot of benefit in my kind of riding.

1. I use a helmet-mounted mirror and it is more than adequate.
2. I wear hi-vis clothing, usually including a reflective vest and reflective ankle straps.
3. I mount a light to my helmet in dodgy situations. Experimentation has shown that at the lowest power settings a helmet-mounted light is visible over a mile away.
4. I use a rear blinky with an complex flash pattern that can be seen at least a mile away.

So far I have survived the onslaught. So far.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I wish I could handle a helmet mounted mirror but they hurt my eyes,
now my Garmin radar has been a life saver.

 

[mrgold35]

I also have a Radrover I use for work commuting. I pretty much did what @Mr. Coffee suggested for higher visibility when sharing the road with vehicles. The helmet mounted front AND rear lights with strobe/blinking capabilities is what I wouldn't do without.

Vehicles on side streets really can't see my low bike head/tail lights because of parked cars in my direction of travel or landscaping; but, they can see my high helmet lights. I also turn my head towards the car driving up a side street to alert them so they don't do a "no cop, no stop" at the stop sign at O'dark 30.

I also added side illumination to my Radrover. Noticed a lot of front/rear (e)bike lights don't do a good job at side illumination.

Helmet with Vis 180 rear light, helmet mirror, and Niterider 2200 Enduro Pro.

2016 Radrover before 5am work commute with Vis 180 rear light, Niterider 3600 Enduro Pro headlight, and LED 2 AAA rechargeable batteries light under rack for side illumination:

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Also, other things to think about:

If you aren't wearing hi-viz clothing, e.g. you are wearing blues and blacks or grays and greens, you are effectively wearing camouflage.

If you are backlit by something very bright (usually the sky at dawn or dusk, but sometimes bright lights) you are invisible.

Experiment. Go out with a friend on a foggy morning and see how visible you really are. You might be very surprised.

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

For those low light hours where I may be out on the H-Bike, I have full trust in the dynamo powered SON28 rear tail light. Being German, it's a full-bright, full-on light, no blinking.

I'm pretty much constrained to my camo-gray Fox Racing pants and usually the upper wear are shades of black. I blend in well on a matte metallic gray fatbike!

But I always wear velcro-attached daylight yellow Reflective Ankle Straps and I recommend each and every one of you folks to do the same. The cycling motion of my legs, up and down, is easily detected by any driver with their headlights on.

Absolutely anything that is reflected back to the driver's eyes is only going to help us.

Jogalite Wide Leg Band 1.5 Inches | REI Co-op

Increase your visibility when walking, cycling, skating or jogging at night with a Jogalite Wide Leg Band. The 1.5-inch-wide reflective fabric will help you catch a driver's eye so you can stay safer.

www.rei.com

This is what I have but I see it is now unavailable. Not to worry as there are dozens or hundreds of other similar ankle straps on the market

 

[PCeBiker]

,.. As for the windshield: The first major benefit will be that I can hear whatever is coming up behind me due to the lack of wind noise. I have similar windscreens on my duel sport bikes that allow almost a silent ride. The second winter benefit being that it cuts the direct wind to the face and upper body. This would tremendously improve the winter cold and rain riding experience.

I put a windshield on my e-bike mostly because my e-bike looked really stupid without one.

I checked out all the windshields I could find on AliExpress and I searched the comments about that windshield you linked to, and people said that the windshield is really thin and it starts to fold and flop around at about 20 mph so I chose this one,..

It is more heavy duty but it only has two attachment points so it does move around and rattle a bit.

I sit up straight and my head is way above the windshield so it does nothing for wind noise.
It is meant for a motorcycle and comes in smoked black which isn't intended to be in your field of view.
When I did crouch down to look through it, the view was all warped and the plastic scratches easily.
It needs to be made out of acrylic if you want to see though it without getting nauseated. (I get motion sickness easily )

I never did try raising it up high enough to block the wind from my face, but it would be fully extended and teetering on the two support rods, and I'm sure that it would look stupider that with no windshield at all.

This is how the windshield is intended to be used,..

These are some pictures that I searched trying to find something that would block the wind in face,..

I did find a place that made custom bicycle windshields but they were $700 I think and there were some motorcycle fairings/windshields that I found that might work but they were over $200, and I didn't want to spend that much money on an experiment.

Another thing I noticed is that the windshield didn't upset my steering in any really noticeable way. It is mounted to the handlebars and not the frame but the wind gusts didn't feel much different than without the windshield.
(My e-bike does weigh almost 100 pounds though, with my front wheel weighing 15 pounds. It take a big gust to affect my heavy steering.)

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

@PCeBiker: Why is your handlebar stem backwards?

 

[PCeBiker]

You dont go fast enough for a dinky windscreen to do anything.

I do, and I usually only ride at about 20 kph.
Anything over 15 kph starts to be irritating.
If there's enough wind to make my eyes water, then there's enough to be noisy.

My favorite part of riding is when I have a 20 kph tailwind.
I like the complete silence.

 

[PCeBiker]

@PCeBiker: Why is your handlebar stem backwards?

So I can sit up perfectly straight and still reach my grips without leaning forward at all.

I was thinking of using a stem riser instead but I figured that it wasn't as sturdy as riser bars and the riser bars were the tallest that I could find without spending hundreds of dollars experimenting.
(My riser bars were only $25 with shipping. They are mass produced for folding bikes.)

I had my original adjustable stem raised all the way up, and they started creaking from pushing hard on the bars.
The stem was creaking at both the adjustment point and the fork tube connection point. I was worried that I was going to snap it off.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

The longstanding debate over the aerodynamics of bicycle windscreens has yet to be resolved — in part, because total air resistance as a function of speed can depend strongly on seemingly small details.

In the end, you'd have to test specific rider+bike+windscreen combos with little hope of extrapolating the results to other combos.

GCN did one such test using an elite rider on a fast road bike on a flat paved test track at high speed and constant rider power output.

Small changes in air resistance should shine through under these conditions, as slope resistance is absent, rolling resistance is at a minimum and largely independent of ground speed, and the windscreen's added weight will have minimal impact on total resistance.

The dialog is worth a listen, as it highlights many of the difficulties encountered in bike aerodynamics. Wilson and Schmidt devoted an entire chapter to the subject in Bicycling Science, 2020, 4th ed.

Lots of empirical data in the book, but because it's such a complicated subject, few useful generalizations for non-racers beyond the usual: If you're serious about cutting air resistance, tuck as much as you can in tight-fitting cycling clothes. If you're really serious, get a full-length fairing totally impractical for normal use.

For me, the take-home from both the video and the book is this: For commuting or recreational riding, no way to tell in advance if a given windscreen will help or hurt your total resistance at commonly encountered ground speeds. But any penalty could be well within an ebike's ability to overcome with little or no impact on battery range.

So, if you want a windscreen for some non-aerodynamic reason, all you can do is go for it and see if you can detect an impact on range at constant effort.

The GCN video makes a point worth keeping in mind in windy areas: Air resistance depends only on airspeed. If you often ride in headwinds, you might often reach airspeeds where a windscreen penalty could become significant — even at modest ground speeds.

 

[fooferdoggie]

big full size fairings can work well the long wheel base recumbent the gold rush was the fastest bike in the world you could do 65 mph on it with a full fairing and sock. I had the fairing and it really helped at higher speeds. but it was noisy like a giant speaker. Plus it kept some rain off you but not all so the rain would run down your upper body into your pants. you just dont go fast enough to keep the rain and wind off your face.

 

[PCeBiker]

,.. you just dont go fast enough to keep the rain and wind off your face.

Well that's good to know.
I'm still going to keep my windshield for esthetic reasons but I'm going to try a full face motorcycle helmet from my brother-in-law to see if that helps with wind noise.
I don't like wearing goggles so the full face visor should work for me and it's got chin protection.

I don't mind the heavy helmut, but I'm worried that my head might melt on hot summer days.
It isn't ventilated but it sure will protect my better than a bicycle helmet.

 

[BlackHand]

I personally am not a fan of helmet mounted headlights for street or MUP riding - if it's bright enough to light your path it's bright enough to blind anyone you meet. I occasionally meet someone at night on the MUP who has a good light up on their helmet and I have to look away to avoid being blinded. I have a STVZO light on my stem that can throw fairly far but cuts off light going up into others' eyes.

Similarly I was behind someone a few weeks ago who had a good taillight (Light+Motion or Bontrager Flare?) running in daytime strobe mode at night. Completely dazzling even from 100+ft behind them. Steady blink or steady on are much better at night!

Last month I was driving on a road that's parallel to a MUP and saw a rider with Arclight pedals and was impressed not only with how visible they were but also how easy it was to identify their direction and speed.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I personally am not a fan of helmet mounted headlights for street or MUP riding - if it's bright enough to light your path it's bright enough to blind anyone you meet. I occasionally meet someone at night on the MUP who has a good light up on their helmet and I have to look away to avoid being blinded. I have a STVZO light on my stem that can throw fairly far but cuts off light going up into others' eyes.

I use a helmet-mounted headlight on the lowest possible power setting with a blink mode, usually those modes are around 250 lumens which is bright enough to be seen but not very good for lighting up your path. It just helps you be seen. In practice most helmet-mounted lights can't run very bright for very long (typically you are talking about ninety minutes or less for 1000 lumens).

 

[PCeBiker]

1. I use a helmet-mounted mirror and it is more than adequate.

My mirrors are sticking out so far that I have to turn my head to see them, I can't see them in my peripheral vision.
I have to have them that far out to see past my jacket, especially when I'm sitting straight up.

I'm going to give a helmet mounted mirror a try.
I'll look for a helmet mirror that glues or velcros in place because my helmet has no vents to clip into.

I'm worried about getting used to it and trying to aim it by moving my head around to see towards my blind spot and not paying attention to the road.
I'll give it a try if I can get one for around $20.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I'll give it a try if I can get one for around $20.

The one I linked to is $18.95 at rei.com . It works fine attaching to the visor of your helmet, if your helmet has a visor. Otherwise you can attach it to the frame of your glasses if you wear glasses.

What I've found is that nearly all small mirrors have a very narrow field of view. It is easy to tilt your head back and forth to compensate for that, but a little bit more complicated to do that with mirrors attached to your handlebars.