steppinthrax

Just curious. I'm new to all of this and I have reflectors on both my front/rear wheels (spoke). I also still have the front reflector on my handlebar. I bought a kickstand for my bike because It never had one.

Berg417448

Yes, yes, and yes.

Bald Paul

I guess it depends on what level of visibility you are comfortable with.

I've replaced the front and rear reflectors with flashing LED lights, which are much more attention getting to drivers, and are effective during the day as well. The only time reflectors in your spokes will help you is if you ride at night, and someone sees them in the headlights. Too often during the hours in the morning and evening, though, those headlights aren't on, so the reflectors are useless.

I bring a short Velcro strap with me. Apply the front brake, hold with the strap, lean bike against something. No kickstand required.

dedhed

Depends on the bike.

indyfabz

Remove kickstands? I haven't had a bike that came with a kickstand since I was 12--40 years ago. If by chain guard you mean plastic dork disc on the rear wheel, the last time I bought with one of those was in 1990.

fietsbob

Overly broad generalization.

Do what you must, don't worry about online peer pressure ..

Ogsarg

Set up your bike how you want it. There is no correct way other than making it work for you.

Maelochs

I wasn't born with any of those things but i certainly would have had them removed had I been.

Doctor Morbius

Those are all vestigial organs that serve no purpose.

mcours2006

No reflectors on my bikes except my 90's MTB for the grocery store. No chain guards on any bike. I am thinking of getting a kickstand for same MTB. Just having gotten around to it.

Do what you think is right for your situation.

ramzilla

The only reflectors I remove are the ones on the spokes. I believe they mess up the dynamic wheel balance.

Cross Creek

How did the OP get to be a senior member of the forum with a two month old membership and 52 posts?" No judgement, just curious. I am a senior member with relatively few posts (321) as well, but my membership is eight years old. What determines level of membership?

PdalPowr

I at least want reflectors on my bike.
Isn't the spoke reflector also there to balance the wheel?

caloso

The cheap reflectors they stick on new bikes are just to (minimally) comply with legal requirements. You can, and should, do better with proper lights, blinkies, and well-placed scotchlite tape.

GoMtnBiking

Yes. Reflectors are all off. If I ride at night then lights go on. Even lights are often not enough to adequately see people riding on the roads (as I age my night vision gets worse and sometimes I see someone on the road with dimmish lights and I can still barely see them - need more or brighter lights). And all unnecessary stickers come off (which is almost all of them, other than maybe a torque value I might want left on for convenience or some model, SN or size identifier).

sdmc530

shelbyfv

Might have been a reason it didn't have one. Are you sure you haven't damaged something?

TimothyH

My bikes have Oralite conspicuity tape on the rims in place of reflectors.

Black tape is nearly invisible during the day but lights up at night when car headlights shine on it.





-Tim-

Rollfast

Chain guard, hockey stick, art deco thingy, the cover over the chainwheel back to the rear cog that keeps your pants or dress out of the chain and clean.


Racers and road bike owners either remove them or they haven't been seen on one since the 50s or something.


Kickstands keep you bike upright, undamaged from constantly scraping them on the ground/pavement/sidewalk and they don't just lie there haphazardly in the way of other people, which used to be considered good manners. before kickstands there were dropstands on the rear axle and you would swing it up or down to park the bike (ask your grandpa, his Lindy probably had one).


'Dork discs' are to keep the cassette freer of debris and protect the spokes maybe if the chain jumps or possible keep you from having a taco. At least in their original sense (think ten speeds, not aero covers).


Since all of my bikes are between 22-72 years old and quite classic, tricked up quite a bit in the case of tempest, my avatar, I use my stands, in Tempest's case, a dual (forked) stand because she's quite heavy.


Rear reflectors are about as old as fenders themselves, the front one is a safety thing that manufacturers adopted to preclude some government regulations in the late 60s-early 70s *and they're required on new bikes anyway...but the owner can still do whatever with it. Since a good light is much better than a front reflector but supplements the less bright taillight (red is less intense) and reflectors are integrated with rear fenders in vintage designs oftentimes, their absence makes it really expensive and harder to make a correct restoration.


Wheel reflectors are also from the 60s, part of that BMC-6 campaign to add safety features...much needed for visibility, unless you are a total ninja.


But ultimately it boils down to kids will always remove whatever they can for weight, looks or to remove the 'dork factor'. And none of my bikes even have them, the newest rims for my '95 Schwinn (aftermarket) didn't in the first place.


Since my '95 has the famous built in stand that requires a tool to install or remove...but I would never take stands off...call me square, but I'm fat, it's a pear shape.

katsup

Kickstand = No
Front Reflector = Replaced by Light
Rear Reflector = Replaced, or left with addition, with a light
Wheel Reflectors = Only removed when tires have a reflector strip. It is the law here to have these when night riding (along with pedal reflectors).
No chain guards, but I do keep spoke protectors.

With my mountain bike, I only keep the spoke protector.

rumrunn6

have not see a chain guard on any bike I bought since I was a kid. I keep all street legal reflectors on all our family bikes. don't want to get in trouble with the Po Po

tagaproject6

PdalPowr

I am no expert but all the modern bikes I have seen,
have the reflector on the opposite side of the wheel from the valve.
This serves to balance out the valve.

wphamilton

Of course! I'm not vain about my bikes, but at the same time I don't want anything useless cluttering them up.

shelbyfv