Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => The Dark Side => Topic started by: Phil W on 18 April, 2017, 06:47:20 pm
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I bought some reflective 3M orange vinyl tape for the cranks of my recumbent.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2887/33279961144_9f4f70a4a8_k.jpg)
I bought a small amount in case it didn't stick the cranks but seems to have a good bond. Not their ECE104 compliant tape but they only seem to sell that in 12 metres and above.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Scotchlite-Orange-Reflective-Tape/dp/604134396X/ref=sr_1_25?m=A2MJ98ETJUP5X2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1492536031&sr=1-25
May be of interest to some as a complement to their lighting setup.
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I've got tape on the cranks of my upwrongs, but haven't bothered on the 'bents, because it disappears in the glare of the front light when viewed from the front. It may work from the side, but there's a load of spoke reflectors on the wheels for that. Obviously the cranks can't be seen from behind.
What can work really well (depending on luggage and cycle geometry) is reflective tape on the back of a hardshell seat. I like the black stuff, as it blends almost invisibly in daylight.
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Already got plenty of reflective on that end :-)
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You may find one side of that distracting once the front light is on, if it reflects back at you, but I'm all in favour of moving reflectives.
They weren't commonly available if I remember right, but I got some pedal reflectors for the M324. They have stayed on, too.
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Pedal reflectors are useless on recumbents as they just point up or down to the ground and don't get pick up by anything .
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Pedal reflectors are useless on most recumbents, but on bikes with low BB heights (Tour Easy, RANS Stratus, Bacchetta Bella, etc.) the reflectors will offer some benefit for being seen from the front.
I wear reflective ankle bands at night. They can be seen from the side and any other angle that light happens to be incident.
Arguably of benefit is putting reflective tape on your pedal axles; they can be seen from the front, but the area is vanishingly small. A better solution is sticking or gluing reflective tape to the soles of your shoes.
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Arguably of benefit is putting reflective tape on your pedal axles; they can be seen from the front, but the area is vanishingly small. A better solution is sticking or gluing reflective tape to the soles of your shoes.
As long as it's a road shoe where the cleat sticks out and protects the sole, or you don't intend to walk in them :)
There's scope for bodging a decent amount of reflective on the underside of a single-sided pedal (or convert a double-sided one by screwing a cleat to a flat piece of material suitable for sticking reflective tape to).
But I still only think it's worth the effort if there isn't a front light close to the cranks.
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When out on the bent at night I’ve often wondered how I look to vehicles approaching from ahead on dark quiet roads. The effect of my feet passing in front of the lamp must look odd (and therefore eye catching) to approaching motorists.
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When I've seen recumbents from the front in the dark, they've looked like a less wobbly than usual bicycle. (That is to say, all you really see from a distance in the dark is a bike light, and on a recumbent they're usually attached to the frame rather than the steering part.)
If the shadows are anything to go by, you have to be quite close (or off to the side) before my feet occlude the light, but your crank length, shoe size and light mounting may vary.
It's from the side that recumbents look really interesting. That's mostly a daytime thing, unless headlights and reflectives are in alignment.
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Halfords lists reflective tape at £6.39 for 25mm x 5m in orange, yellow and silver...
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CPC have a good range of colours at reasonable prices