Hiya. I gots another newbie question for you:

I'm going to be riding my bike (Sportster) into work as much as possible. I've done it once or twice now and I've found that the "worst" part of the whole trip is when I actually arrive there - we have guard shacks and I need to either show my ID card to the guy in the box, or slide the card through a reader if it's after hours.

The problem is that I haven't found a good way to do either of these easily. At the moment I'm reduced to coming to a stop, fumbling with a zipper on a pocket (with gloves on) eventually get the pass out to flash or scan, then fumble to get it put away again (hoping that the gate hasn't started to close already). The whole process is kind of annoying and takes too long.

I'm not trying to over-dramatize it or anything, but it's kind of a drag to deal with at the end of the ride. There's got to be people on here who do this a lot too, right? Do you have any tips or suggestions for easy badge-flashing?

Thanks.

 

Badges, we don't need no stinkin badges.


How bout a lanyard around your kneck under jacket??

 

Magnetic tank badge that you can get to easy. Or you could get a windshieldbag.


Terry

 

During my military days we used an arm band with a clear pocket to put our ID card in so when we had to pass through control points it could be seen by the guards. You can find them at surplus stores or some military clothing stores if you have access. But like Qball said, use a lanyard around your neck.

 

Thats a age old problem for the military folks. I have to show my ID 4~5 times a day. Here are some of the places I have stuck it to have it at the ready. If wearing a full face helment (on thoses cold days) I stick it inside my helment by my cheek. If other days inside my gloves (got to carful if gloves are short). Or a clear plastic "ID holder" that you wear around your neck. ICON makes a need vest if you have to wear one of those that has a nice ID holder that is velcro held on left breast. Hope some of these ideas help.

Geno

 

Geno:
I like the vest from Icon, I had seen it awhile ago on the base safety site but lost the info. Thanks. I wear the construction worker vest and it is a hassle!

Mpemulis:
As far as showing my ID at the gate, I have a tank pouch and before I get to the gate, either from the house or at a stop sign, I get the ID card out and put it in there. Then when I get parked, put it back in the wallet....Our gate guards require that they hold it in their hand when they look at it. Since 9/11, military installations have been doing this. Also, the exit's are down to one lane with concrete barriers so leaving work is a pain sometimes....

 

I face the problem all the time - As a contractor I have to manage up to 6 badges at a time and it sucks on the bike. Each company site has different requirments but I do have an armband badge holder and it makes things a little less painful as long as I remember to put it on and have the right one on top -

 

Arm band will work. Also if your company have a prox card that can get a Hi-Fi badge reader that can read the cards up to 10ft.

We have them at my job because people don't want to roll down there window to get into the gate.

 

I have the same problem. The lanyard idea works for me. I have my ID on a lanyard type deal around my neck and under my jacket. When I arrive at the gate (which is on a slight incline), I can go into neutral and use my left hand to get the ID card out and activiate the gate. I have the ID on one of those retractable cords so that I can reach out the card and activate the gate and then basically drop the ID and let it retract naturally. Then I can get into first and move on. I found this to be extremely important on the first day that I tried it because our gates go down fairly quickly. After I fumbled around with putting the ID card back under my jacket and got into first, I went under the gate and barely made it. In fact, the gate hit my antenas in the back. Talk about a close call. Now, if the card is outside my jacket, no big deal. My .02 Euros worth.

Bill

 

Some great information here. I've got some lanyards in my desk at work so I think I'll try that first. I think I'll check out some of the other options too though.

BTW here's that ICON vest that was also mentioned. This might be worth looking at too.

http://www.cyclegear.com/spgm.cfm?L1...PAR_30700236_G

(sorry - for some reason my browser isn't letting me paste in URLs correctly.)