Advocacy & Safety - Upgrading my new Giant FCR-3 for night rides

Last week i purchased a Giant FCR-3, my first real adult on-road bike, i had a Schwinn Stingray (lime green and flourescent yellow) as a kid, and as a teen, a Schwinn World, after i outgrew both of them (in hindsight i really wish i had kept the World, would've been a great Singlespeed...), i switched to mountain bikes (a late '90s Fila Taos rigid MTB which is now my road-going Singlespeed, next a Giant Boulder SE, and finally a Trek 4500 MTB with slicks)

long story short, i tried a bunch of bikes, and the Giant FCR was the one that felt the best, fast, responsive and stable, i like the upright position of a flat-bar road bike

since i ride in the evening after work, i want to maximize my visibility, i want to make the Giant look as "motorcycle-esque" as possible from a distance, so drivers can see me.....

i'm off to a good start, on the rear of the bike i have a CatEye TLD-1000 and 600 blinkies, top bank on the 1000 set to chase, lower bank solid, and 600 set to "random", the front of the bike sports 2 CygoLite halogen headlight assemblies one running off a NIMH bottle, the other off a standard D-cell pack, that way i can "cheat", get the full 12.5 watts of light and still get decent runtime, i turn one bulb in the left halogen to spot, and the other in the right housing to flood, and from a distance it should look more like a motorcycle, or perhaps a car with badly-aimed headlights ;)

....it also gives me the opportunity to be "evil" and turn on all 4 lamps if i *really* want to make my presence known in the dark....

here's the problem i'm facing....

i've got all the factory reflectors on the bike, and a decent amount of active lighting fore and aft, however, from the side of the bike, nothing, and the bike has a black paint job, not the most visible color for night rides....

i'd like to get some of that retroreflective tape to outline the frame so if i pass across a vehicle's line of view, the frame will reflect back light....

i'd prefer a tape that would blend in with the bike's black paint job, i know there is "black" retro-reflective tape out there (looks black during the day, but reflects light at night, not as brightly as red or white retro-tape, but better than not reflecting), any idea on where to get it?

If you cant find it, I wouldnt worry too much as it is too late to prevent being hit if they see your side reflectors. Your main safety method is to keep your eyes open for cars approaching from the side. The beam from their headlights is visible around corners long before the car is visible - one of the great things about night riding.

Excellent point, totally forgot the spoke reflectors.....

as far as night riding, it'll really be closer to "dusk" riding, which is a little more precarious than true night riding, not enough light to make reflectors viable, yet dark enough to hide a cyclist....

maybe one of those retro-reflective vests would be a good investment....

here is one place to get black reflective tape (http://www.reflectivelyyours.com/generic50.html)

Much of the time when I have had a separate dedicated commute only bike I put a PAR 36 rubber tractor headling mount on the handlebars. The size (~4 inches) makes it look a lot like a motorcycle headlight. Real motorbikes and some mopeds do not have dinky little MR11 and MR16 lights. PAR 36 bulbs can go up to 50 and 100 watts at 12 volts.

It's easy to get. Just search for stealth black reflective tape. It comes in different widths. Most effective on the rim, I don't recall if it was 2 or 3 strips per rim side. Not visible in the day hardly at all, but reflective at night.

Also would add: front clearance lights on front forks and reflective side wall tires. You also might consider white or night reflective jacket.

Also, reflective legbands are an awesome goodie, I'd recommend the "clear" JogALite ones: http://www.jogalite.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.productsgroup&cat=14
They're lightweight, they catch the eye, and they're down low where they catch low-beam headlights well. Of course, they don't reflect if there's no light coming, and neither will your stealth reflective tape, so I agree about having some active lighting facing to the sides.

What I use for side-marker lights is a pair of these blinkies clipped to my front lowrider panniers: http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=101&subcategory=1068&brand=&sku=2149&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename= in the clear-lens-with-amber-LEDs color. For a road-racing bike, I would consider using some good zipties to ziptie them to the fork blades by their clothing clips. But make sure they won't slip down and catch in the spokes! :eek: They do come with regular wraparound clamps too, but they're a bit ugly.

Another item I like is my illuminated reflective belt, and PlanetBike makes similar legbands out of this stuff too. Since it gives off light of its own, the fact that it's also retroreflective is just icing on the cake. I got mine from http://www.hivis.biz and may get another one since I like them a lot.

http://www.omnicast.net/~tmcfadden/thumb2.jpg
forget looking like a motorcycle, I'm going for the UFO look!

Other than that, have you considered a helmet-mounted light? If you see a car coming on an intercept course from a side road, you can aim your helmet light at them to catch their attention.