Originally Posted by
Andy_K
Reflective sidewalls used to not be high on my priority list. Then one night while I was driving somewhere I noticed just how much visibility they added to a bike in my headlights. So I got a set of Marathon Supremes.
I think they're great and I wish more tires had them but when it comes to features things like:
traction
flat protection
durability
ride quality
performance
are all more important to me than a reflective stripe. There are a lot of ways to make you and your bike more visible at night including the wheels so I'm willing to forgo the reflective stripe in order to get the other features I want. If a tire has everything else + the reflective stripe, then it's icing on the cake.
A case in point is my Marathon Winters. In so many ways they are a fantastic tire, but when push comes to shove, they just aren't as good in the snow as the Nokian 106s. A reflective stripe isn't enough to compensate for that.