pmw

Hi, all. Recently I bought a Redline 925 from a local bike shop. It did not come with front or rear reflectors, and the shop gave me a reflector kit (front and rear) for free. Now I am trying to install them, and have run into logistical trouble: I cannot figure out where to place them.

The only place on the rear of my bike where I can install the rear reflector (and tomorrow, an active light) is on the seat pole. My seat is high enough to allow comfortable installation of plenty of reflectors, but it seems odd to have bicycle lights and reflectors attached to the seat.

On the front, it's even more mystifying. My two choices appear to be the handlebars or the really thick part of the frame through which the wheel bar (don't know the official name for it) runs. The mounting bracket that came with the reflector kit is made of plastic, and it's not flexible enough to allow me to wrap it around that thick bar. On the other hand, installing it on the handlebars seems entirely wrong, and while the handlebars are thin enough to allow me to wrap the reflector bracket around them, the bar is too thin.

Oh, and even if I manage to somehow wrap the reflector bracket around the thick front part of the frame, it would orient the front reflector sideways. The bracket expects to be placed onto a horizontal bar in order to keep the reflector upright.

So, what am I doing wrong? Can someone suggest how to properly install these? Thank you.

PDXJeff

pmw, without seeing the reflector brackets it's hard to say. The seat post is a pretty common place to mount reflectors and/or blinkie lights. As long as the height of the seat isn't changed often, it shouldn't be a problem. As for the front, if the bracket is designed to wrap around a tube, then it is probably meant to be mounted on the handlebars (try a piece of rubber as a shim, or some electrical tape wrapped around the bar to increase its diameter). Personally, I would try to get a decent front and rear light and mount them on the bars (front) and the seat post (rear). My opinion is that reflectors are only efficient when they are viewed from the correct angle. Not to say that you shouldn't use them, but lights may be more effective.

The other option is to get reflectors that have an arm-bracket that allows the reflector to attach where the brakes attach to the frame, holding them out and above the brakes. You could also try reflective tape and/or wheel reflectors.

Good luck!
(Also-try posting this question in the "commuting" section. A lot of great info to be had there.)

Sir Bikesalot

Doesn't really matter where you place them as long as they're facing the right direction and are unobstructed. Sounds like you should mount the front one to the handlebars (with the aid of a shim as per PDXJeff's suggestion) and the rear one to the seatpost.

But please also look into getting active lights if you plan on riding at night. There are numerous threads in this forum to point you in the right direction, but allow me to provide you a shortcut on the choice of tail-light that most seem to like (including me), namely the Planet Bike SuperFlash.

pmw

Thank you, guys. The folks at my bike shop told me the same thing, so I bought two active lights (a headlight and a tail light) and mounted them alongside the two reflectors. Now I am highly visible.

The tail light I opted for was a Serfas TL-2000. The bike shop sells both the Serfas and the Planet Bike SuperFlash, but they have been out of the latter for the last two weeks. In fact, the Serfas was the last one I snagged -- it was the display model, so they gave me a 1/3 discount. It's plenty bright -- way brighter than any other taillight on display.

Thanks again for the help.