Commuting - Wheel spoke reflectors, 3M tape, lights

I just got a new bike and am using it mainly on the trainer for now. My commuting season should start in april when they open the bridges to Montreal.

I am currently in the process of getting ready. I am using my trainer every other day and also did a little road test to see what I would need to survive in cold rain.

Now I'm looking at reflectors and lights. I intend to remove at least front and rear reflector and take battery powered lights with me whenever I need to ride in poor visibility conditions. Is it better to get a helmet rear light or just bolt one to the rear rack?

As for the spokes reflectors. I don't like to look too much. I was thinking of removing them and maybe putting some 3M tape all over the bike to hide anything that has a brand name on it. I hate being a non-paid publicity.

One question remains... Is it possible to remove that 3M tape later on?

Any other suggestions as far a being seen? I know nothing is perfect. I used to ride a bright white motorcycle with a bright red jacket. Cars still tried to run me over.

Get a Cateye TL-LD1000 and bolt it to the rear rack. Putting one on your helmet as well is optional.

Some US states require spoke reflectors, many allow reflective sidewall tires as a subtitute, I don't think many allow tape on the rims as a subtitute. I don't know the law in Canada, but it can't hurt to check.
Personally I don't think rim tape would work for me. All winter long I can't see my rims through the mud except where the rim brakes grind away at it.

If you're going to do a lot of night riding, consider an HID light. They're down to just over $200, and IMHO are an invaluable safety item. You do not get ignored with an HID light. Otherwise there are some decent 10W halogens for < $100 (IMHO 10W is minimum for lights you actually need to see by).

I have 9 strips of white reflective tape on my deep V rims. I also have this tape on my cranks. I have two red blinkies - on seatpost and back of the rack. A white blinkie at the fork crown. If I am planning a ride in the dark I have 2 LED headlights - on bars and at bottom of left fork. These headlights ($26 Cdn MEC) are not adequate for full speed in the dark, but thats OK because I am not very athletic and I dont ride in the dark very often. The LED blinkies have a very directional light, so ones on backpack and back of helmet may not point in direction needed. However a white light is good for checking street signs and making yourself seen to cars approaching from the side, and also fixing flats in the dark (I dont have one but am considering it). Most Montreal drivers are also cyclists or they get their beer delivered from the depanneur by bike, so they are generally well mannered towards bikes.

Now I'm looking at reflectors and lights. I intend to remove at least front and rear reflector and take battery powered lights with me whenever I need to ride in poor visibility conditions. Is it better to get a helmet rear light or just bolt one to the rear rack?
Both. The helmet one is nice and high where people can see it, but the rack one is easier to aim right at peoples' eyes.



As for the spokes reflectors. I don't like to look too much. I was thinking of removing them and maybe putting some 3M tape all over the bike to hide anything that has a brand name on it. I hate being a non-paid publicity.
The bike will look worse after the tape job than with the brand name. Don't count on getting the tape off without marring the finish, but you really shouldn't care if it's covering something you don't like. If you want a good looking result, you need to repaint.



Any other suggestions as far a being seen? I know nothing is perfect. I used to ride a bright white motorcycle with a bright red jacket. Cars still tried to run me over.
The trick is to stand out. As others have suggested, HID is very helpful. I actually had some guy (who I didn't know) walk up to me on the street and say "you got a new headlight -- I saw you on highway 22 in the storm. That thing is awesome!". Wear a reflective vest when you ride. Bright colors are invisible in the dark.

I think pulling the reflectors off the wheels is not a good idea. First of all, they are reasonably visible. Secondly, their movement tells drivers that what they see is a cyclist. As others have suggested, I think that putting reflective tape on the cranks is a good idea because the movement catches attention.

Don't go cheap on lights -- they're far too important.

The 3M tape is kind of hard to get off. It does come off, but you'll have to scrape it.

Spoke reflectors: http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/webalog/miscellaneous/31370.html has nice, lightweight, bright reflectors. I'll second bannerjek's suggestion of helmet light plus rear rack light. I recently bought arm flashers (http://www.planetbike.com/rearlights.html#). I also put a couple of orange flashers facing sideways on my aerobars. Safety vest. Ankle reflectors. I guess I think it's impossible to be seen too well from all directions.

Contact 3M for removing tape. They must have a way. With a good enough headlight and Xenon strobe tube flasher I have had no need for tape even in heavy traffic. For headlights see the lights sticky. For taillights try All Electronic Corp. their amber Xenon Flasher looks good and cheap, cheap, cheap. I had a RadioShack equivalent and a city bus pulled along side me and the driver called out that he had thought I was a construction barricade flasher and went around by reflex. My 50 Watt homebrew halogen has frozen cross traffic and kept cars in driveways 'til I got past.

Consider heavy tires. I do not want to worry about bad road surfaces when I am watching traffic around me.

If you want more spoke reflectors check out local bike shop dumpsters or slip some coin to a mechanic. :rolleyes:

Spoke reflectors: http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/webalog/miscellaneous/31370.html has nice, lightweight, bright reflectors.

Cool. Velcro attachable and removable wheel reflectors. Never thought of it. Have never seen them until now.

Now I'm looking at reflectors and lights. I intend to remove at least front and rear reflector and take battery powered lights with me whenever I need to ride in poor visibility conditions. Is it better to get a helmet rear light or just bolt one to the rear rack?

As for the spokes reflectors. I don't like to look too much. I was thinking of removing them and maybe putting some 3M tape all over the bike to hide anything that has a brand name on it. I hate being a non-paid publicity.

One question remains... Is it possible to remove that 3M tape later on?

Any other suggestions as far a being seen? I know nothing is perfect. I used to ride a bright white motorcycle with a bright red jacket. Cars still tried to run me over.

i use head and tail light attached to helmet in flashing mode, 2 more flashing tails on seatpost and constant head + on demand (switched) headlight. i think getting the lights 2-3 feet higher give potentially more response time for drivers.

i think those std spoke reflectors work pretty good.

authentic 3m "tape" can be purchased cheaply off ebay, search "3m reflective sheeting". theres a dude who gets the 580, 680, 690 factory rejects and sells 20 sq. ft. for $24 + sh. they have minor coating imperfections but you can't tell in small area of bicycle frame tubes. he's in mn.

the sheeting can be removed without damaging paint but its a laborious job. basically the adhesive and microsphere reflective layer stays stuck to the frame, polyethylene film peels off. i could not find any solvent to cut this stuff that wouldnt attack paint. tried gasoline and acetone, failed. ended up rubbing the debris off with bare hands. it forms super gummy balls that can eventually be hand rubbed off. i had a few blisters from this job, tough on skin. but you can remove it, even off weak rattle can paint jobs without damage if you go easy.

if you use the reflective sheeting, be advised it will not tolerate much stretch without compromising the reflective properties. basically the poly stretches a bunch, but the reflective coating and adhesive wont. i guess it reorients the spheres somehow and screws up the reflection, but you can really tell the difference. so dont stretch it much.

a fun side effect of using this stuff is that motorists are used to seeing this reflection only associated with LE vehicles and ambulances, and even though you are clearly not a car, the reflection triggers an alarm in some motorists mind, esp late at night on their way home from the bar. its entertaining watching the response to 3m reflective tape covered bikes. downside is some folks bright light you trying to identity odd looking vehicle.

From: www.bikeexprt.com :

REFLECTORS TO AVOID

Some reflectors cause more trouble than they are worth.
Wheel reflectors have serious flaws.

When you're stopped -- unlike when you're moving -- any vehicle on a collision course with you ought to have headlights aimed at you. If you get stuck behind a car that stops in the middle of an intersection -- and especially if you use generator lights which go out when you stop -- all-direction reflectors could be useful. I don't think they are a bad idea in addition to the basic lights and reflectors -- but the U.S Government standard wheel reflectors have some serious design flaws:

1) They only have their "wide angle" properties in one dimension, and lose the "wide angle" properties when at the top or bottom of the wheel. If the bicycle is stopped and the reflector happens to be at the front or rear of the wheel, it won't work for a motorist who is approaching you from a diagonal direction.

2) A wheel reflector can get hidden behind a pannier bag or your leg. For this reason as well, wheel reflectors are unreliable in the one situation in which they might be useful: when the bicycle is stopped.

3) A wheel reflector unbalances the wheel to a degree that can become quite scary on a fast downhill run. A wheel reflector also can flutter in the wind, loosens the spoke that holds it, and if the spoke or the reflector mounting breaks, a wheel reflector can turn sideways, jam in the fork and send you over the handlebars.

Ankle bands are a better way to get all-direction reflectivity. Reflective strips on your clothing or baggage, or on the bicycle frame, also are more reliable and less troublesome than wheel reflectors.

My advice is to make sure you have what you're legally required to have, as a baseline, and then add to that. You don't want to leave any technicalites or loopholes in the event that someone collides with you. You also don't want the police to be able to ticket you for not having those items. If the laws say you should have the reflectors, then have the reflectors.

Also note that if the law says the bike needs to have lights, then you want lights on the bike, not just on your body, helmet, or backpack.

For the rear light, the Cateye LD-1000 is a good bet. I suggest mounting it rigidly and aiming its "hot spot" very carefully so it's effective. If xenon strobes are allowed, an amber one would make a nice supplement.

For your body, get a neon-lime safety vest with reflective tape, plus reflective ankle bands (JogALite ones or the nifty blinking Planet Bike ones). If you also fastened a small blinkie to your ankle bands, that would be a difficult effect to ignore (blinking plus rotating).

If you use full fenders, they're a great place to load up on reflective tape because of the size, shape & surface area. Ditto for the rim bed.

I would not remove any reflectors, if any thing I would add more. The prismatic reflective tape (DOT stuff) is the best. You mentioned removing the front and rear reflectors, okay as long as you replace them with something reflective. Lights can fail at anytime for a variety of reasons. Reflective material on anything that moves is good because it will catch the motorists' eye.

Aaron:)

To remove the 3M (and other) reflective tape try putting a strip of standard clear 3" packing tape over it then pull it off quickly. I use it to remove adhesive lables from boxes. I cannot imagine an officer ticketing you for not having spoke reflectors unless you did something that upset him that he can't ticket you for. I always give the police some slack; they are doing a needed job that I would not ever want.

WD-40 makes a great sticker remover.