alexk_il

Unsurprisingly my MKS Sylvans came without extra plates/reflector holders that are shown on Zefal installation guide. Does anyone know what are these?

smd4

What?

10 Wheels

Add some Reflective Tape

Oakman

These ought to work:

Wellgo Bolt-on reflectors

Jeff Neese

Whenever I encounter those, I take them off and throw them away, along with all the other reflectors.

Iride01 

Sad that people object to reflectors so much. They really do seem to be some of the first things I notice bringing my attention to a bicycle and cyclist when I'm driving at night. And when those reflectors on the pedals are going up and down, it makes it very quickly apparent what I'm about to encounter.

icemilkcoffee 

Or if you don't want to dork up your bike, put reflective tape on the back of your shoes and wear pink or yellow socks.

alexk_il

I lost all my front lights on my bike once, also had no reflectors on the front. The lights/reflectors on the back still worked fine, however facing crazy drivers trying to beat their personal speed records on a dark twisty narrow rural road was not the most pleasant experience of my life.

smd4

You don't need reflectors if you don't ride at night.

oldbobcat

Nice. If you are able to mount these over the toeclips, using the same screws, even better. If you have to mount them on the back of the pedals, you'll probably kick them off after a few rides.

Andrew R Stewart 

The usual issue with pedal reflectors and toe clips is that most current reflectors are rather cheap injected plastic and the bolt heads tend to compress into the plastic bodies (of the reflectors). Since so few riders do much follow up check over/fine tuning after the initial miles of any new item's use this results in loose reflectors. Adding the stress of the toe clips to the system just hastens the loosening (especially when the reflector is also made of plastic). My suggestion is to revisit the reflector/toe clip hardware soon after the install just to make sure all is tight.

I won't argue about using reflectors in any location. Do know that the cube cut style (which is pretty much any CPSC approved reflector) has a best angulation WRT the incoming light source. Just like the popular LED flashers the unit really works best when it is at 90* to that incoming light (or with flashers with the following driver's eyes). So while reflective stuff is good there's a range of (of attachment/aiming angle) actual effectiveness to consider. Andy

FBinNY 

By now they might have discarded the last of them, but for a long while just about every bike shop had a bucket of these that they couldn't decide whether to save or not

alexk_il

No offence to US based cyclists, but your national cycling habits might not be always relevant for the rests of the world.

Did you know that it is actually illegal in Europe to ride a bike without reflectors at night? It is also illegal to sell complete bikes without reflectors where I live.

JoeTBM 

I actual like that and all our shop bikes get a full inspection for reflectors and replace anything that is missing/broken. Front/Rear/pedals/wheels

Jeff Neese

Same here in the U.S. Laws vary by state but many states even require both lights and reflectors when riding in low light conditions. Some of us don't ride at night so we take our reflectors off. Bike shops have to sell them with reflectors.

Andrew R Stewart 

Here in NYS we have the same regulations, however most people feel that the police have more important things to do than chase reflector less cyclists.

It would be interesting to learn of this forum's member's stats WRT where they live. Each member can include their location, but the vast majority don't make this public, just like they use fake names Andy

FBinNY 

No offense taken. OTOH I don't feel concerned by my lack of psychic powers. While technical issues travel with the bike and are the same all over the world. Side issues, like rules of the road, other legal equipment requirements depend on location.

FWIW - in the USA it's a bit complicated. Federal rules apply to bikes as sold new, while state rules apply to the bike as used. So, while new bicycles must be sold with front, rear, wheel, and pedal reflectors, different rules apply once they leave the shop. In most states reflectors aren't needed except at night, and usually that requirement is only for front and rear reflectors. This dichotomy contributes to pedal reflectors being a poor stepchild, with nobody being very committed to them.

Also, as Andy mentioned, there's often a conflict when mounting toe clips, so even those retaining the rear facing pedal reflectors discard the front facing one. This isn't really an issue, because the shoe often blocks the sight line, and the risks of lack of visibility generally relate to approaches from the side, ie, a car coming from a side road. In these cases, reflectors become much less effective, approaching zero, since there are no headlights pointed in their direction.

kitbiggz

Those are totally useless and adds weight. Having lights is what saves people night riding.

Jeff Neese

They are most certainly not useless. I take mine off because I don't ride at night, but if you've ever come up behind a bike at night with pedal reflectors, they're actually quite effective and a good supplement to lighting.