Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Advocacy & Safety
Reload this Page >

Wheel reflectors - who needs'em, right?

Notices
Advocacy & Safety Cyclists should expect and demand safe accommodation on every public road, just as do all other users. Discuss your bicycle advocacy and safety concerns here.

Wheel reflectors - who needs'em, right?

Old 01-26-23, 05:34 PM
  #26  
Daniel4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,497

Bikes: Sekine 1979 ten speed racer

Mentioned: 15 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1477 Post(s)
Liked 637 Times in 436 Posts
Took my fat bike out for a spin in the snow the first time this year. Took a look at my wheel and they both have their reflectors on. Regardless, I have my helmet lights and tail light on. I have my reflector vest and my reflector bands on my wrist and ankles.
Daniel4 is offline  
Old 01-29-23, 05:05 PM
  #27  
Paul Barnard
For The Fun of It
 
Paul Barnard's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Louisissippi Coast
Posts: 5,844

Bikes: Lynskey GR300, Lynskey Backroad, Litespeed T6, Lynskey MT29, Burley Duet

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2131 Post(s)
Liked 1,640 Times in 822 Posts
Seems all the photos are of when the camera is perpendicular to the bicycle. Getting out in the real world, when are motorists perpendicular to cyclists, other than in intersections where one operator will be required to yield right of way?

In the OPs case, had the rider been using lights, wouldn't the lights have made the cyclist visible well before the reflector?
Paul Barnard is offline  
Old 01-29-23, 05:36 PM
  #28  
sjanzeir
BF's Resident Dumbass
Thread Starter
 
sjanzeir's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Posts: 1,566

Bikes: 1990 Raleigh Flyer (size 21"); 2014 Trek 7.6 FX (size 15"); 2014 Trek 7.6 FX (size 17.5"); 2019 Dahon Mu D9; 2020 Dahon Hemingway D9

Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 792 Post(s)
Liked 1,493 Times in 496 Posts
Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
Seems all the photos are of when the camera is perpendicular to the bicycle. Getting out in the real world, when are motorists perpendicular to cyclists, other than in intersections where one operator will be required to yield right of way?

In the OPs case, had the rider been using lights, wouldn't the lights have made the cyclist visible well before the reflector?
I wasn't meaning to demonstrate the merit of wheel reflectors with those pictures. I was merely showing off my wheel reflector collection.

And that rider didn't have any lights on his bicycle or his person, so we'll never know.
sjanzeir is offline  
Old 01-29-23, 05:36 PM
  #29  
fooferdoggie 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 2,343
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 680 Post(s)
Liked 946 Times in 553 Posts
those long round spoke reflects give a large angle refection,
fooferdoggie is offline  
Likes For fooferdoggie:
Old 02-04-23, 10:03 AM
  #30  
jfouellette
Full Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2021
Location: Montreal
Posts: 390

Bikes: 1999 Bike friday NWT, 2009 Bike Friday Tikit, 2023 silverock Dewy, 2008 Dahon Smooth Hound, 2023 Litepro Trifold

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 190 Post(s)
Liked 228 Times in 138 Posts
An important rule for all road and lane users is, see and be seen. Retro reflective materials will help.
jfouellette is offline  
Likes For jfouellette:
Old 02-04-23, 03:59 PM
  #31  
10 Wheels
Galveston County Texas
 
10 Wheels's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: In The Wind
Posts: 33,221

Bikes: 02 GTO, 2011 Magnum

Mentioned: 18 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1346 Post(s)
Liked 1,236 Times in 617 Posts
Reflective Tape

__________________
Fred "The Real Fred"


Last edited by 10 Wheels; 02-05-23 at 10:18 AM.
10 Wheels is offline  
Likes For 10 Wheels:
Old 02-04-23, 04:05 PM
  #32  
fooferdoggie 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 2,343
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 680 Post(s)
Liked 946 Times in 553 Posts
here are the spoke reflectors. work well and are easy use and more out of the way of grime.

fooferdoggie is offline  
Likes For fooferdoggie:
Old 02-05-23, 10:10 AM
  #33  
cyccommute 
Mad bike riding scientist
 
cyccommute's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 27,275

Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones

Mentioned: 150 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6147 Post(s)
Liked 4,093 Times in 2,325 Posts
Originally Posted by sjanzeir
Well, I've sensed a general indifference towards the humble little wheel reflector around this forum, and I've read posts by multiple users in which they say that one of the first things they do with a new bike is remove wheel reflectors. I've done the same to my bikes, but after one close call (in which I was driving abd the other party was riding,) wheel reflectors are now back on all of my five bikes!

I was driving home the other night and came up to a tee near our home where the street lights have been out for a while, and the place was almost completely dark. I turned left from a fairly well lit main street into the short side street that brought me up to the very dark tee, and I had only the 40-year-old headlights of my old Peugeot to rely on. Just as I was fixing to turn right at the tee, a cyclist came out of my right and turned left in front of me. He was wearing dark clothes on a black bike and literally the only reason I saw him at the last moment was the single, solidarity reflector he had on his rear wheel. That's when I decided that I'm putting the reflectors back onto the wheels of the bikes.

Moral of the dumb, silly, stupid ststor Those little things that plenty of people discount as gimmicky children's toys and just throw away can actually save lives. It sounds a little hyperbolic, I know, but that little wheel reflector probably saved him from a visit to the hospital and me from spending a night (or more) in a Saudi jail.
There’s indifference because they are useless. The Consumer Product Safety Commission did a study back in the 90s and this is the conclusion reached concerning side reflectors.



(Sorry about the screen grab.) The rest of the report says that reflectors can be seen from about 700 feet but side reflectors never got more than 200 feet and often much less than that. Reflectors, in general, are not as good as active lighting but side reflectors are particularly bad.
__________________
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!



cyccommute is online now  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.