Are reflective tapes easily removable?
 

If you put wrap reflective tapes on your bike, can it be removed easily without sticky traces when some day you are selling your bike?

Also, what are some of the typical parts of the bike to put it?

They come in a variety of stickinesses.

Some of that hardcore 3M stuff requires use of a heat gun for removal.

If your bike spends a lot of time outdoors then the sun may fade the paint where it's exposed so any stickered frame areas will look different.

Adhesive residue usually comes off easy with Goof Off.

Not like electrical tape. I notice that ScotchLite tape leaves a residue that I had to use Goof-Off to remove.

Oh, thanks, good to know before too late! Maybe the rims or even spokes (no paint) are good candidates if I don't remove them later?

Also, silver or yellow, which better?

WD40 also works well for removing the adhesive residue...
( ... as a chain lube, not so much :innocent: )

I like white or silver, no real reason why, though. I got a couple of cranks that a guy had put some really strong tape on, I'm curious as to what they show up like. I also have a rim done up in it.

If you put it on the rim, it has to be on the inner surface of the rim, not the side "wall", as it is slippery and will negatively affect the braking?

Don't put it on the brake track, not because it's slippery, but because it's raised and will cause pulses when braking, until the brakepads wear it off. But I've had good luck applying a strip between the spokes. It helps if you have v-profile rims, obviously.

It depends. The carrier film and construction isn't the same for all of them. The latest 3M products that are thicker and use a polyester film might be easier to get off. Some of their earlier products were thinner and used a foil. Very reflective, but more easily scratched and needed to be scraped off.

I bypassed this problem by using shelf liner. The shelf liner doesn't leave a residue, is easy to remove, but it sticks to the bike well enough and reflective tape sticks well enough to it. I've been running my bike with it for a little over a month, and it's been working fine. It's on my seat, bottom and top tubes, along with my seat stays. The only places where I applied reflective tape directly wasn't on my bike, it was on my fenders and water bottles.

It would be nice if they used a reflective paint for bikes from the get-go. I've already considered repainting my bikes brighter colors several times and they must make some kind of reflective paint or better yet powder coat.

From an old thread I was led to this website. They have good reflective tapes and glass beads for paint. Pictures look dramatic.

Maybe the plastic food wrap used in the kitchen will work, too? Maybe even better as it's thin and clings?

That might be more of a hassle, and I'd think you'd have to wrap the bar completely, and you'd probably destroy it when you remove it. With shelf liner, you could apply the reflective tape to the shelf liner first, cut away the excess shelf liner, and then attach it to the bike. It'd look like you applied the reflective tape directly to the bike, but it'd be much easier to remove. It could probably be removed and reattached several times.

You should see my bike now. From some angles it looks like it'd be a Tron movie bike.

I use the Velcro reflective tapes, that also have blinking lights in them. Double for the money.. ;)

I got two for $6 shipped.

No tape or sticky stuff. They use Velcro.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/170773346644...84.m1439.l2648


http://i.ebayimg.com/t/2-Piece-Set-C...,53g~~60_1.JPG

There are different kinds of shelf liner, some may not work. What kind do you use?

You normally attach it to surfaces that catch light from oncoming cars. Stays, sides of top or down tube, front or back of cranks.

Sorry about that. I meant to provide a link when I first posted about it. I'm sure there are others that work, but this works for me.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

Thanks. Never had this stuff before. Looks like good for my windows, too. :)

Just had an epiphany while riding last night. I can put reflective tape on my water bottles too.

Another concern occurred to me about reflective tapes: Do they lose the reflective feature after a long time with dirt and rain--especially the tapes on the wheels? (a lesser concern: does rain cause "self peeling off" of the tapes?)

They probably loose reflectivity at some point but the exposure time would be pretty long. Gently wash wheels with Dawn (don't grind dirt into them) just as you would any other wheel.

If you apply the metal-backed 3m film to a clean dry surface it will stay on there for a very long time. Clean rims with Acetone, or at least 99% Isopropyl. It takes a heat gun to remove the stuff. I mean you can scrape it off but it won't come off in one piece without a heat gun.

I think the only issue with water on reflective material is on the cloth tapes that have the reflective material exposed. Most of the tape I've seen that is suitable for use on a bike has a smooth coating, seems like the reflective properties of something like that wouldn't really change in the wet. I could be wrong

I've never seen a reflective tape that would peel off. Removal is always a travail

I have applied it to the back of my Mudguards.
my Panniers came with a reflective patch on the front and back sides.

My Parka is having a lot of stripes on it and there is a few spots on my Rain Cape too..

I imagine tapes like SOLAS and Reflexite would be okay since that's what's used on boats, buoys and traffic signs. There is deterioration, at least I recall seeing something about it on 3M's site, but as we've experienced, it's still effective over many years. Tapes like Scotchlite might not last as long though, based solely on class 3 apparel that is only supposed to be washed 25 times and then discarded.