reflective tape vs spray
 

Reflective tape

• Engineering type 1 tape. According to this has the lowest reflectivity. But is flexible, thin & stretchable. It can conform more to tube size curvature. Has more colors options & solid.
• V92, V82, V98 Metalized Prismatic type 5. 5-7x more reflective than type 1, but isn't solid color; has a pattern. Fewer color options, flexible, but not stretchable. V98 is actually stretchable like the type 1 but twice as thick.
• Reflexite aka Orafol seems to be brighter than 3M reflective tapes.
• Is identi-tape.com still the defacto place to buy these tape?
• I'm bummed there isn't a pink color. Red is the closest.

Photoluminescent aka glow in dark tape

• These actually work well at night for bike commuting?

Reflective spray

• albedo100us aka volvo life paint permanent version.
• only review of it I found. youtube.com/watch?v=khCs6SwRr38
• does it work well?
• it is permanent, with the tape at least I can peel it off. However, I could apply a thin vinyl wrap first then spray this on top.

Reflective vinyl wrap

• basically type 1 reflectiveness but heat wrapped/molded like what they do for cars etc.
• easier to remove?

Thinking about covering my entire bike to be reflective during night commute. What do you think?

edit:
Completed covering bike

I don't know much about reflective materials, but, covering the bike is a good idea. Also vests with reflective tape on them are very cheap. A white light on the front and a red one on the back are nice to have. They work even when there are no lights shining in your direction.

Reflective spray us made of micro beads which are detrimental to aquatic life because they can't tell the difference between micro beads and real food.

So only put it on your bike and not on your boat?

I covered a large portion of my workhorse bike with the blue 3M tape. (Bike is the sky blue standard powder coat color. The blue 3M color is very close.) Blue is not a high reflectivity color but clearly drivers see it based on what I see when I am out after dark and have forgotten lights.

Ben

Reflective tape will last longer (In most cases.) then spray on type. A wide range of tape can be bought at Ident Tape's site. All Kinds of Reflective Tape, Photoluminescent Tape, and Colored Floor Marking Tape I just bought Flor.Yellow , Diamond Grade at a good price from them.

How flexible is the 3M diamond grade? Heard it was pretty stiff and ridged and best for more flat surfaces.

I was thinking tapes for the frame and try out the spray for the tires. They spray isn't invisible, seems to leave a grayish textured look.

"Eighty percent of marine pollution comes from land..."
...wikipedia

just got some red tape at Walmart for my hitch mounted cargo carrier. haven't really tested it much, but it seemed to reflect the flash from my camera. it stuck on pretty well & easily. the cargo carrier is stored in the basement, so it was cold & dusty. I cleaned it & then warmed the areas for the tape w a hairdryer. it's pretty thin & I'm sure it would wrap around bike frame tubes

http://i.imgur.com/aK18D4T.jpg

How does paint on a bike harm the ocean???

I've done this before on a couple bikes. On one bike I applied two large panels around the entire diameter of tube, on the toptube and downtube. On another bike I wrapped tape-like strips around all tubes. IMO, the 2-panels worked just as well visibility/safety-wise and was easier to apply (and easier to remove) and less costly. I used white/silver 3M reflective sheeting........ Just remembered I've posted this topic before:

http://www.bikeforums.net/3683225-post11.html

http://www.bikeforums.net/2559821-post15.html

I tried a "retroreflective" spray paint before, it was complete junk WRT reflection of light, highly recommend you stick to reflective sheeting/tape.

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/...aphic-film.pdf

These 680CR are similar to the 680 you bought, but are the easy to remove version using heat. Not sure where to by them. Most places I've contact only sell them in 48"x150' rolls which is way more than I need.

I think you'd be good with most any 3M reflective sheeting product. In general, white is the most reflective - the colored sheeting/tapes are less reflective. eBay and Amazon are good places to shop for this stuff. Most of the 3M product is sold in large rolls that cost $xxx-xxxx.

IMO, any reflective material is but a secondary safety measure to the necessary primaries - head and taillights. It's a good idea to run 2 taillights, in case one quits or falls off. I always mount my main taillight just below saddle, then another on the back of helmet (you'll have to jury-rig a mount with zip ties). Wearing white shirts helps too (lots of area). Or go full safety nerd with a safety vest. I have this one, it's real 3M Scotchlite and highly reflective. Many of the chinese safety vests barely reflect - they cheap out on the most critical component.

My kittier has 3M Conspicuity tape (yellow) and white vinyl wrap stripped from a safety vest.

Both are very reflective

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...7&d=1401917683

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...hmentid=379728

https://www.identi-tape.com/3M-engineer-grade1.html sells the normal 3m reflective stuff, but those are permanent adhesive. You can remove it, but difficult.

I want the 680CR version which uses 3M's comply adhesive. Designed to be removable plus easier to squeegee out wrinkle/airbubble. Mostly used for car decals etc. I plan on entirely covering the bike frame like vinyl wrapping cars.

I bought a 5' strip off of eBay for I think about five bucks, surely from somebody that invested in one of those large rolls and is selling it off at a healthy profit a little bit at a time.

1) Capitalism.
Consumer: Hey this reflective stuff is great I bought some, you should buy some.
Manufacturer: Hey another use for those micro bead thingies. Make more reflective material and lets start applying that stuff to other things.
Consumers demanding environmentally friendly solution have a lesser voice and so a lesser chance of getting change.

2) things don't last forever. Eventually they get thrown away.

3) I doubt all of that spray on stuff is going to make it on your bike.

4) Consumer is saying it is OK to buy things that are harmful.

5) Environmental group says "hey this stuff is really bad". Government says "it is too hard to ban it, it has so many uses"

Every little bit helps.
That being said I don't know how bad the other reflective material is.
Remember if it makes it into the food chain that means you are eventually eating or drinking it.

I am looking for less invasive reflective material too. Here in Ontario is is the law. A very unclear and poorly written law but I am pretty sure I need some despite never seeing another bike with it.

I heard black tape that is basically invisible in the day but its ability to reflect is very limited.
Are there any good almost invisible options?

More reflection is cooler
 

Reflective paint:

http://images.gearjunkie.com/uploads...life-spray.jpg

3M 680 black tape has a Retroreflection Coefficient of 30. The white color tape is coefficient of 100.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/2...series-680.pdf

The black will look black during the day. At night with a flash light it will look grayish silver. With a bright light from a camera flash or maybe car headlight then it will look bright white.

If you want brighter reflection then you need to use a different type. 3M 680 is rated as type 1 which is usually about 20-100 coefficient. Type 3 ~250, type 4 ~ 500, type 5 ~800.

3M diamond tape white tape will give you 800 coefficient, but it has a texture/pattern to it and stiffer. Harder to apply to curves.

http://reflectivetape.info/514-2/

I don't know of any other alternative than type 1 black tape in terms being least invasive. Black blends well if your bike is black. If you plan on using it get 3M 680CR version the CR variant is more stretchable and conforms better to curvatures. It is also easier to remove if heat is applied.

Volvo-life paint got rebranded or relaunched as albedo100.

They have a spray for fabric which will wash away and claims to be invisible. Not sure how invisible it is. With the limited reviews I've seen it doesn't appear to live up to the hype.

But the permanent version I think leaves a grayish dusty textured look to whatever surface is applied. Not sure how reflective it is compare to type 1 tapes.

V82 is the brightest, but I don't think it's SOLAS approved.

Not even sure where to buy v82 at. I did purchase some 3M 983 Diamond 2" strips to test out.

Planning on wrapping my bike in 3M 680 white type I, then add on some 983 diamond strips along the tubes.

https://www.identi-tape.com/reflexite-conspicuity.htm

1" 2" 3" 4" 6" Oralite (formerly Reflexite) V82 WHITE Prismatic Reflective Tape ONLINE STORE

Black tape is about as bright as a license plate. It is very dim.

In general the other 3m tape is as bright as most highway signs. They can be very reflective.

I bought mine from identi-tape mentioned above. They sell it in huge quantities, but I also order a LOT of their samples.

I tend to get tape that matches the color of my bikes. I have some "invisible" silver (aluminum) and red tapes. Otherwise, I just use red or yellow as accent stripes to my base paint job.

Yep, they work best on flat surfaces, or simple curves, not compound curves.