Staying visible on the road is an important way to stay a little safer as a cyclist. If cars can’t see you, it’s just plain dangerous. We’ve rounded up all the top high viz, fluorescent colored and sometimes reflective cycling gear and apparel we could find. Did we miss anything that’s a personal favorite piece of highly visible cycling kit? If so, please leave a comment and tell us about it so we can add it to the list.
Read our in depth article about visibility while cycling or this one about a study that shows which items make you most visible when riding.
Looking for the best at any cost? Consider the Showers Pass high viz jacket. It comes in versions for both men and women. Not only is it high visibility yellow, but it also highly reflective for night riding. And that’s not all. It additionally has built in LED lighting, so they can see you in the dark even if they aren’t shining a light on you. Read our full review.
See it at Showers Pass, or see their entire high vis collection.
The Summit RT mens jersey from Pactimo has slightly more room than a typical race fit jersey. It’s still a very high end jersey though, with a price to match. Comes in regular or high viz color options, and includes Pactimo’s proprietary Reflective Technology (RT) integrated into the arm and waist bands for 360° of visibility in the early morning, late evening or in poor weather.
See the entire round up of high visibility and reflective Pactimo cycling apparel or see the Summit RT jersey.
Proviz Nightrider LED and High Vis Cycling Jacket
The entire Proviz brand is dedicated to high visibility gear for both runners and cyclists, so it’s always a good place to check out when you are looking for apparel that will get you seen. This jacket is waterproof, high visibility, and also has reflectivity and washable LED lighting built in.
See the jacket, or see the entire line.
Bontrager Halo Crew Reflective High Viz Cycling Sock
Your feet move in circles, so high viz socks really capture attention. These come in a high visibility yellow and also have reflectivity sewn in so they light up when lights shine on them in the dark.
See the socks, or Trek’s entire high viz lineup.
Elevengear Viz Cycling Jersey
What’s not to like? Super visible. Made in USA. And reflectivity. The Elevengear Viz jersey is made from Aries Micro Plus fabric and is sublimated in fluorescent yellow and bright red. They add 3M reflectiveelements in our distinctive chevron shape to the sleeves and back pocket.
See the jersey. See the lineup.
Aerotech Designs High Visibility and Reflective Short Sleeve Jersey.
With Aerotech, you can choose a standard color with reflective elements, or high visibility yellow with reflective elements with this short sleeve jersey.
See.Sense Reflective Pedal Stickers for Look and Shimano Clipless
Stickers are made of high-quality semi-permanent 3M Scotchlite reflective film, an enclosed lens and retroreflective film designed for commercial vehicles and railroad graphics. Claims 90% of its retroreflectivity even when totally wet.
Lazer Z1 Flash Yellow Bicycle Helmet with Rear Light Compatibility
Not only is this Z1 road bike helmet bright yellow to be seen during the day, but it also features the ability to attach a rear blinking light to the back of the helmet so you can be seen even better both in daylight and when it’s dark. MIPS for additional safety.
See the helmet. Find it on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2VM3vz6
Castelli Aero Race 4.1 Jersey
You want a high end, aerodynamic jersey that’s suitable for racing, but you still want to be seen? Consider this jersey from Castelli. All the best of high end racing, with super visibility to match. Read our full review.
See the jersey. Find it on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2LrjpL5
Bell Stratus Reflective MIPS Helmet
From the famous helmet maker Bell, with built in reflectivity so that it really lights up when a light shines on it. Great for high viz at dawn, dusk and in the dark when headlines are typically shining.
See it at Bell. Find it on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2H9fajp
Specialized Roubaix Pro Endurance Road Tire with Reflective Sidewalls
Mid level road tires with a reflective strip on the side so that your tire lights up like a Tron cycle when car lights shine on it. Great for dawn, dusk and night riding.
Specialized Reflect Tall Socks
These socks come in high visibility orange for the day, and include a reflective band that lights up when headlights shine on it for when you are riding in evenings or at night.
Bontrager Grippytack High Visibility Yellow with Reflectivity Bicycle Tape
They’ll see you coming with this high visibility yellow tape on your road bike bars that also feature reflectivity dots.
Blackburn Grid Bike Bag with Reflectivity
You need to carry your stuff around anyway, so why not add some additional reflectivity at the same time? This Blackburn bag comes in multiple sizes and really lights up when a light shines on it.
See it at Blackburn. Find it on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2YePp6U
Topeak iGlow Water Bottle Cage
Perfect for riding in the dark, or heading to your next rave on two wheels. Turns your water bottle into a lantern.
See it at Topeak. Find it on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2LuvdfH
Bontrager Flare-R Tail Light
The Flare R/RT uses balanced optics for 270-degree visibility both near and far, which increases safety. There are different visibility settings that let you dial in exactly what the conditions warrant. The LED indicator light on the top of the unit glows green for a full charge and changes to red when the battery needs to be recharged. Read our full review.
Garneau Course Air Lite II High Visibility Yellow Cycling Shoes
Stiff Power Zone carbon soles provides good power transfer, especially when climbing. The bright yellow design provides superior visibility. These shoes might be a little pricy, but the comfort and stiffness are well worth it. See our full review.
See them at Garneau. Find them on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2JM8RUn
If you’re on a tight budget you can go down to any home improvement place and pick up their store brand hi vis green (some call it yellow) or orange mesh (so that it will breath) vest with wide silver reflective bands for under $15, they do fit loose so you may look nerdy but people will see you.
Something I noticed is that all the hi vis colors this article used is green/yellow except for one that mixed it with orange and one that was all orange. If you’ll be riding where there is a lot of greenery hi vis green (or yellow) will NOT stand out like hi vis orange will. This is why hunters wear the orange because it stands out better in green and brown backgrounds, it’s why road crews use orange barrels, it’s why safety triangles use orange. If you live where there is a lot of greenery I would use something with orange in it.
How about something on UV protective cycling clothing, especially long-sleeve jerseys
In my experience, unless a cycling jersey is visibly “transparent” (ultra-thin cloth or mesh) then it is fully UV resistant. I ride many long rides in mid-day sun and even though my jerseys fade due to the UV, I get zero sun exposure on my skin. I’m of northern European stock and at the end of the season, my skin under the jersey is just as white as it was at the end of winter.
Yes, please! I need clothing that is reflective and sun shielding. An article or info on this would be appreciated
Aero Tech has a white Coolmax long sleeve jersey with SPF 40. https://www.aerotechdesigns.com/meloslcoje.html
Thanks for the link.
The picture heading up this article in my Killa’s Garage blog was an ah hah moment for me.
http://www.killasgarage.bike/uncategorized/you-look-great-in-fluorescent-yellow/
Fluorescent colors aren’t the only way to catch drivers’ and passengers’ attention. Cartoon characters, super-heroes, iconic album covers and other forms of pop-art catch peoples’ attention, too.
Riding close enough to the traffic to force them to notice you – as opposed to hiding at the extreme right edge of the road – makes a big difference, too. An additional benefit of this practice is that you’re less likely to get flats from debris that collects at the edges of the road .
There’s an amazing seller called runbikesurf who make high vis tops – in thermal or t- shirts and their products are amazing!
I bought mine on Etsy – can’t recommend them highly enough – they’ve got unique running gloves too – totally brilliant and not expensive.