I apologize if i'm posting this in the wrong place I'm new to this forum ... should probably be on here more to learn things.

Anyway!, was on a casual city bike ride last night and heard my front wheel spoke reflector fall off, .. the lil plastic fastener that holds it on just broke randomly... has this happened to anyone else? Do bike shops sell that part so i can put the reflector back on? or am i screwed into buying a new reflector?

Those are pretty cheap, I'm glad it didn't get cause damage or injury.

A used bike shop will probably give you one, if they have any spares, but they almost always break trying to take off used bikes.

They are useless. Use lights for night riding.

They are cheap even at a bike shop and any Walmart or Target will have them on the bike accessory rack.

Most riders remove them as unwanted weight but, if you ride at night routinely, they are worth having. However, do not rely only on reflectors. A decent headlight and tail light/flasher are essential for safe night time riding.

I've got one bike set up to ride at night, and kind of like the idea of being reflective from the profile view. Panaracer has a tire with reflective sidewalls, so I put those on my 84 Supersport, way better option. Tim

Most rides remove them because they unbalance the wheel. The little plastic piece that holds them on is usually has a anti-tamper type screw head, so they break, or are broken, off. No big loss. Get some flashy lights, white in front, red in back. I use them day and night(but I don't ride at night too much).

They also tend to get in the way when truing the wheel. You can slide them out of the way, but if you don't slide them back into position they can twist sideways and shatter when the go through the fork or stays. Startling, but again no big deal.

As mentioned just go to your local bike shop and they will probably give you some reflectors or possibly have the part you need. I agree with others that it's best to have some good lights at night but the reflectors certainly help make you even more visible. I live in the land of drunk cyclists dressed in black, black bike, riding in the middle of the road or the wrong side of the road who have no lights save for the one reflector that is still attached to their pedal from when the bike was new 18yrs ago and that one reflector is the only thing making them visible.

Pretty much any bike shop will tell you to remove them, as those spoke reflectors have the nasty habit of removing themselves above 20mph or so, often with undesirable results. You want to retain nighttime visibility, pick up a roll of retroreflective tape.

It is a rather simple procedure to secure the reflector to the wheel using zip ties instead.

I second the recommendation for lights at night. However, some municipalities require reflectors at night, if you care about such regulations. Personally, I ditch the plastic reflectors because the tires I use have reflective sidewalls. You will find some controversy about the relative merits of sidewall reflectivity versus discrete rotating point reflectivity from a conspicuity point of view. I feel the rider's awareness of surrounding conditions more than compensates for any hypothetical differences in the effectiveness of different reflector types. I also wear reflective ankle straps on both legs; on the right for chain hygiene and the left for visibility in traffic (I'm in the US).
Steve

Alternates; are slip over the spokes plastic tubes that clip on .. and now tires are offered with a reflective ring on the sidewall

pedal reflectors are effective

yes a real head light is needed and an active tail light and passive reflector on the rear maybe on front too ..


I have a large surface area, so my winter clothing has reflective bands on them , wide and several on my parka.


IN NL in 88, I bought a ring reflector, a tube of reflective plastic, with a wire thru it, it laced among the spokes,

so was like the reflective sidewall ring , but being above the rim , did not get cloudy from dirt and aluminum off the rim ,from braking friction.










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hmmm bunch of interesting replies here ! reflectors, lights, or shiny tires ... i tend to not care about all of them! Yeah they help but I treat every car like they cant see me !

My CO-OP has a large box of all manner of reflectors free for the taking. The only recquirement..... You can't bring them back.

Its not either or, its both, imo. Tyres with reflective sidewalls are great. Reflective adhesive tape is available as well.

I love Salzmann spoke reflectors. You can buy 36 reflectors, each about 3 inches long, for 8 bucks or so on Amazon. They really show up!

It's not only the cars that don't see you you have to worry about, it's also the cars you don't see. Like the guy pulling out of a hidden driveway who is on top of you before you are aware he's there. It's better if he sees you first.

If it were me I'd probably use a spoke reflector.

Flectr makes one that looks great but is so unbelievably expensive it would cost $50 to do a set of wheels. I might consider DOT C2 reflective tape installed the same as the Flectr product, but it would need to be available in small quantities and have very good adhesive to withstand the elements.

John

hey at least they aren't driving a car!

Not quite sure how a reflector falling off would cause some sort of catastrophic disaster

Didn't realize some areas were so strict about bike regulations ... i think the cops could care less here in Indiana unless someone is riding in such a way that is causing some type of traffic hazard

Strange things can happen, could drop and bounce up. I rode over some debris that flicked up and got caught in the chain at the rd, it was not a pretty outcome.

Yikes! hope u didnt get too banged up

Well, those are the laws on the books... but in Chicago it seems like no one gets stopped for *anything*.
Steve

It's not the cops I'd be worried about, but rather the defense attorney in civil court. If I'm trying to recover damages after their distracted client failed to notice my 100 lumen tail light or 500 lumen head light, that attorney may argue contributory negligence if my bike didn't have the legally required pedal reflectors, front and rear side reflectors (which can be spoke reflectors), or the white front and red rear reflectors.

I stuck on a small 1 x 1/2inch strips of reflective tape on my rim. That seems to work pretty well if you have disc brakes. Two 180 degrees apart if you want more. I wouldn't go any more than that, in my opinion the motion is beneficial and what catches the eye. An example.. although a tire with a reflective strip can be seen, it is basically just a steady circle, not a visibly "moving" dot per say like a spoke reflector is. I have small pieces of stationary reflector on the frame and probably on most of my night riding clothes already.

There is cheaper reflective tape but this works really well and is more flexible than many others so it can usually stick good to most small diameter bike tubes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MUDQQ0H