Trikes, Flags and Safety 

You can also wrap some aluminum foil around a flagpole a few times, or reflective safety tape, for extra attention.

Katie now has flags with reflective piping.

thankss sylvia yes it is vary inportant to have a flag you made a vary good poing be safe sylvia

that was great I have used a flag from my first ride outside. I went to a parking lot to see if people could see me and one man said I needed a bigger flag so I got one and saw him again on the parking lot and he said great flag and he could see me this time. Thanks for this video, go turtle power.

I have one of Katie's flags and I love it. I've had it for a year and a half. People have said it is visible from quite a distance.

We basically ride on Greenways & Trails only time on streets is to get from point A to point B. However we always fly 2 flags. Our American flag & a very colorful second flag. I am surprised at how many walkers & riders comment on our beautiful flags. Even have people state God Bless America when they notice the American flag. My husband is a veteran & we fly the flag because we love our country. Liked the video. Thank you & stay safe.

Great subject! You make good points about each kind of flag. Boaters fly the US flag. That's how I got mine--for my kayak. I also fly a pirate flag, which usually gets some attention here at the beach. My first trike was a Funcycle, and it came with two small triangular flags on tall poles. Way back then I couldn't find appropriate flags and I had to use the streets for a few blocks to get to the beach, so I bought a holographic wind sock, which I cut up and taped onto the ends of the poles to make sparkly sets of streamers three feet long that flutter in every direction with the wind and can't be missed at driver eye-level. They are finally starting to fade after many years of use.

Hi Sylvia- thanks for bringing up flags and for talking frankly about the different options. I'd like to take the opportunity to clarify a couple of things though. While we can put all kinds of graphics on flags, we can't put logos and stuff unless it's licensed- NFL logos and things like that are pretty much out. So think creative alternatives there. Sadly, the particular Recumbent PDX flag you have is probably the least colorful flag we've ever made. It's a first generation RPDX flag, where their graphics person took their standard graphics and arranged it for a flag. In subsequent runs, we boosted the color quite a bit and added more colors. The new ones are quite colorful. If we just knew how to find you, I'm sure Mel would be happy to update you... And lastly, about flapping: flapping is attention getting, and that's really important, but too much flapping is both really annoying and significantly increases drag. The right amount of flapping is important. We design our flags to have a controlled about of flap that increases with speed and then steadies out so it never goes crazy. The tassels are tuned to dance at low speeds and flitter controllably at high speeds. We think they are an important addition to visibility.

Thanks Sylvia. Cycling is very dangerous in the UK. In North Wales the roads are ancient, there are walls, sharp bends and hedges. Parked cars line every street because few people have driveways. I think the flags are a great idea, and I am a regular upright cyclist. Flag choice is problematic because many people get offended, so I will have to think of a something nice. A flower design perhaps. Great video.

Good morning Sylvia, Excellent topic. I haven't paid enough attention to the flag flying, and I will make some changes now. I do think when drivers say they don't see you (again the collective "you") that they most times don't. It is because they are not looking. Phones cause more deaths than we know about. Seeing only what we expect to see is another cause. Ask any motorcycle rider how many times a car turns in front of them. That could have killed me in 1969 except for some very good avoidance from my friend who was the driver of the bike. Be well and stay safe, bf

As usual another great video. Cindra and I are pro flag users, wether we are on our trikes or tandem upright. Doesn't matter we found if you are on a trail or road in our area, you need lights for daytime use as well as flags. Some of our trails are very dark with shadows and shade making it hard to see a biker with dark clothing and a dark bike. We have had a lot of positive comments from others that we are so visible. Be safe and we love watching you. Ron and Cindra.

another reason I like a flag(s) on trikes is trikes tend to disappear behind things cause they are so low. Riding in traffic, stopped at a stop light next to a car, they can't see me sitting next to them the way they can see an upright bike stopped next to them. So I hope my flags will help them to remember I'm there !!

I can't see you is code for I did not expect you to be there and I don't like having to pay attention to driving. Even with a very large flappy flag, I have had drivers tell me they can't see me. They get offended when I ask if they really should be driving if they can see me and my bright yellow trike.

Great video Sylvia. I mainly ride dedicated rail trails and try to avoid roads as much as possible. BUT..... flags always wherever I ride. Even on trails there are public road crossings. I always wear the brightest colored riding tops.....very colorful hats when on rail trails and the ever present strobe red tail lights and white headlight. Plus the red strobe on flag poles...when I remember to charge them and bring them. A little tip for great flags for virtually no cost....I swipe the old kites my grandkids are finished with and section them and mount them. Incredible colors and shapes, aerodynamic and conversation pieces. Plus they cost nothing! I am finished paying big bucks for flags that blow away or get ruined.

Love your tassels ;-) Flap on 👍

Wife and I use flags every ride. I think they should be required. Cannot put a price on safety. Great video!

Great video Sylvia!

Great video, Sylvia! I'm always amazed that drivers who can see turtles on the road, or painted letters on it, cannot see a trike. Anyway, I made my flag out of three old sport shirts. Cut the backs out of them, then cut those squares of material into strips, leaving a strip of cloth at 90 degrees to the others, so they all flow into it in one piece, if you can imagine that in your mind. A picture is worth a thousand words! Anyway, then I clipped those end strips onto the pole using your idea of office binder clips. The smallest clip size works great and I've never had a problem with them. I think my wildly flapping strips of red, white, and blue cloth are probably easy for drivers to see. On our rural roads, they all go way far out around me to pass. Life is good. I may try your idea about the little lights. Thanks for another valuable video.

These ideas are so well thought out and clearly a product of your thousands of miles of experience on the road. You are unflappable on the road, Sylvia, because your flags are not😏 Great video!!

Thank you Sylvia. The only falg flying here today is on the flagpole and the comforter and pillows on the clothesline. See how the dust mites like them apples! -30C w 30 mph wind in Rainy River, ON, Canada

I have been flying an American Flag on my two wheeled recumbent for years now. And I've noticed that people will give me a friendly honk and wave. I fly one made for use on a boat. Very well made. As for how high up to put it, about eye level with drivers of say trucks. So not to high and not too low. Stay safe and keep riding. I'm stuck inside due to cold and snow. P.S. I use PVC pipe to make my own flag poles.

Flags are simply part of my trikes unless I’m off road riding on my Full Fat. BTW ... Katie has further developed her flag collection and offering. Something about being her dad let’s me try everything a little ahead of others. Appreciate the endorsement for her.

Great Flag tips 🇺🇸

Do you ever ride at night? I find myself riding at night after a trip to Victoria, and in December it starts getting dark around 5 pm. I realised that I needed something a little more noticeable than the reflective flag than the one I had, so I came up with an inexpensive mast with an LED flare on the top with the height of 5 feet so that even pickup truck drivers can see it above the hoods of their vehicles. I'm working on the Mk. IV version. Look up " Enhanced Visibility Mast " on RU-vid if you're curious.

I just have the "Normal " Orange triangle flag. So boring . So I added some longer bright color ribbons. And a "Big" fake silk flower. It really shoes up ALOT more than just the orange flag alone.

Hi Sylvia, you inspired me with a walk around of Myrtle in an earlier post to go with the two flag, two different colour option. I changed out the fibreglass poles for aluminium tent poles as they less flexible and can be separated for transport.

More great information for a recumbent trike newbie. I'm in the UK and there are not too many bricks and mortar or internet recumbent trike specialists around.. Looks like I'm heading towards another international internet purchase. 🙏

I suppose the best flag to fly will be the flag of the country you're riding through, sort of a "flag of convenience" that foreign vessels fly when in a country's territorial waters.

Hi Sylvia! Thank you for this video, it was very informative. I found it really funny how they yell at you even if they can't see you 😂 Where we are, there are not many flag options available, and recently it has been difficult to order anything online that ships over here, so we are going to make our own flags. This video was very helpful to understand how different shapes affect the flapping of the flag and visibility. I will definitely have that in mind! Do you think the color choice is also important? Or should we just pick anything bright (and of course, add some reflective materials into it)?

I add a streamer or two of holographic bird scare tape to my flag pole. Great inexpensive addition to any flag. Reinforce attach end with a piece of package tape and safety pin to flag😁⛳

I have found that my veltop canopy works well as a “flag.” I have asked friends if it was visible and they all said it was. My lights are pretty basic and cheap, but they work well.

Thanks for the insite

While watching videos of Graham Williams riding in the UK I quickly noticed the ribbons. I bought some lime green ribbon with a reflective stripe and added it to the top of one mast. I doubled a three foot section so there are two 18" pieces flapping in the breeze. They are attention getting. (Sylvia calls them tassels, same same) I fly an Arizona flag (local flag store) and an Army flag (from Terra Trike). Both poles have Velcro sleeves so I can swap out with other flags easily. Sylvia talks about using a U.S. flag thus getting some respect from drivers. I use the Army flag thinking drivers are less apt to run over a veteran. 8-) Go figure.

Good topic Sylvia. One thing I think bears mentioning is flag pole mounts. Some brands come with them, others do not. My Trident came with a small generic triangular flag; the mount is on the OEM rear rack, with no way to clamp the pole. Oddly it's underneath where a trunk bag fits, which means it's useless. I bought a Soundwinds flag/pole and attached it to my seat cross bar with a TerraCycle flag mount. Like most TC products, the mount costs, but is pretty much bulletproof. I do quite a bit of riding on streets, so lights are very important. I have 3 of them: a Canway red/blue flashing tail light on my neck rest cross bar (car drivers really pay attention to red and blue), a round BrightRoad tail light mounted on my flag pole(TC sells a rubber puck that fits around it-you can mount any standard tail light to it), and a Cateye Ampp 400 headlight. A pedestrian recently told me the headlight made it very easy to see me coming.

Maybe after I do more research my question will be answered...I would like to know where to get the poles. My wife can make wonderful flags but I need longer poles than what I currently have. Some people have used old fishing poles and other things but a nice, sectional pole (for storage) would be sweet.

And tailwind flags are the fastest. Next time: Skull valve stem caps; Are they real an do you need them?

I love your channel. I’d like to send you a picture of a drawing and hopefully a surprise. What email can I send it to? Thank you.

I wouldn't fly the american flag in Iraq/Haiti/Syria/Libia/Russia/China........ Infact I wouldn't fly it in the UK either. Flying the flag to see what other think of the USA is a bad idea as you are a vulnerable road user.

Hahaha afcourse everyone knows about American politics, especially with Trump as President.😁😉 Americans aren't used to bikes on the road. Here it is different and will you have no problem ad all to tide without a flag. Here children get traffic education and when you go for your driving licence, you learn to look and think what a cyclist can do. For Dutch people that isn't that hard, because everyone rides a bike. Also, you are always guilty as you hit a cyclist with your car, even as he went trough red. That with the infrastructure, makes that it is very safe to ride out here. I noticed that you get even more space as you ride a trike. People stay behind you and wait till there is space to pass you. I was in the beginning not sure if people would see me, but they always did. I understand that the USA is different. When I was there, I bought a bike to ride around. Never had any problems, but to be visible is there very important, especially with those roads that have no separate space for bikes. They made the roads for cars and never looked ad anything else. I will never ride with a big Dutch flag in my country. Then they think that you are a member of the extreme right groups out here. A small flag is no problem, but I am getting a small flag of my province from where I live. I know that it is normal in the USA to show your flag. Here it is different. We hang it out ad surten occasions, but not as much as in the USA. It is snowing like crazy out here. First they where saying that the south would have less snow, but now it has the most. It started snowing and it keeps doing that for 2 days and it will snow harder than it already does. I can't go outside now, because of the evening clock. Else I would have ride my trike trough the snow. Want to do that. My new build only needs a chain and then I can test tide it.