Reflective sticker locations

[Se7enLC]

With Cortech saddlebags on my FZ6, the rear side reflectors are covered up. I'd like to have some better side visibility at night, so I need to add some reflectors to the sides (front and rear are fairly well covered with lights and reflectors).

First, I think I will get some sew-on reflective strips and put them on the sides of the saddlebags. I don't know why they didn't come with them, but they didn't. I can't seem to find it in any brick-and-mortar stores, so I'll have to order online.

I also bought a roll of automotive reflective tape. It reflects light really well, and the silver color looks nice. So far, I've cut out a few decals and put them on the sides of my givi top box.

Has anyone tried adding sticker reflectors to the bike itself? If so, where did you put them? I've got about another 2.5 feet of this sticker tape and I figure I should make good use of it. I may add some pin-striping to my helmet, since it is just black with a small amount of rear reflective stickers.

Also - has anyone tried the BLACK reflective tape/fabric? Supposedly it's black in normal light, but appears white and reflects light back when a headlight hits it. It doesn't reflect as well as the silver/white reflective tape, but I suspect it might work well for adding to my jacket or bike frame without making it look too silly.

[reiobard]

Why not get some reflective rim tape, i think it is like $11 on e-bay or something for a full set.

Not my bike, but a quick google search for images pulled this up.

[Boneman]

Lol,

Reflectors were the first thing I removed from my bike, followed shortly by the factory stickers. They are next to usless and look like an eye sore IMHO.

Sorry, but if people can't see your LIGHTS, I can't imagine them seeing a 1" x 3" 'reflector'. Can't say that I've ever heard someone say "Thank god he had reflectors on that bike or I would have never seen him!"....

I think the above mentioned relfective wheel stripes are your best bet for visibility and usefullness if you insist on using reflectors.

[VEGASRIDER]

I placed a strip of 3m reflective tape vertically up along my front forks. Since my front forks are silver, and the reflective tape is silver, you can barely see that I have them applied. It gives me great visiblitly from the sides, especially at intersections. I also place a small strip on the back of my helmet. 1/2 my riding is at night.

[Se7enLC]

Originally Posted by Boneman

Lol,
Reflectors were the first thing I removed from my bike, followed shortly by the factory stickers. They are next to usless and look like an eye sore IMHO.

Sorry, but if people can't see your LIGHTS, I can't imagine them seeing a 1" x 3" 'reflector'. Can't say that I've ever heard someone say "Thank god he had reflectors on that bike or I would have never seen him!"....

I think the above mentioned relfective wheel stripes are your best bet for visibility and usefullness if you insist on using reflectors.

Obviously the lights are the brightest thing on the bike - but they only shine forwards and backwards. Very little visibility from the sides at all. Not to mention what happens if I have to turn the bike off on the side of a dark road (I guess this is why I have hazard lights, but still...)

I dunno, you'd be surprised about the effectiveness of those reflecting materials. I saw a motorcycle cop riding down the road at night with a vest that had a big reflective X, and it shined like it was daylight. As bright as the lettering on a stop sign. Those little plastic red reflectors on a bike kinda suck, but they are still very visible when it's really dark and they have a headlight shining on them.

I did some testing last night with a flashlight. Apart from the headlight + taillight, the most visible things on my bike are: The license plate, and a parking sticker on my windscreen, because they are both made of reflective material. From the sides, nothing is visible at all.

I agree, the stock reflectors are pretty ugly. That's why I'd like to use some hand-cut reflective stickers (possibly even using black reflective stickers, since those would be invisible in the day but shine when hit by headlights).

I really like the idea about the rim stripes. If I got them in black, they would look pretty much the same as they do now during the day, and it would look pretty sweet at night.

[jsp]

Originally Posted by Boneman

(...) I think the above mentioned relfective wheel stripes are your best bet for visibility and usefullness (...).

I use reflective wheel stripes but i still think if someone doesn't see the bright of the headlights... the stripes won't save the day!

[wrightme43]

you can get almost all of these done in retroreflective. http://www.tapeworks.com/GENERIC%20K...its_sport.html

If you look in my attachments, or search


My ninja250 thats leaving you will see my bike decked out in retroreflective. It looked cool as hell at night when lights hit it. Looked like glowing blue flame.