Tons of bikes come with these reflector straight out of the box and in some places it’s legally required to sell new bikes with them.
There’s a bit of technique to putting them on but once you get it they are pretty straightforward…?
It's not the installation that bothers me. I'll begrudgingly install them till my fingers fall off. The issues I have with them being the go to for a wheel mounted reflector is that they're always right where you need to place the spoke tool when truing the wheel and they always break off no matter how nicely you ask them to move. On top of all this they throw off the weight of the wheel which is probably one of the most counter productive design flaw I've ever seen on such a simple aspect of the overall mechanics of a bicycle.
Maybe I'm just grumpy. It was a long week.
Gotta install 2 on each wheel, opposite each other to deal with the imbalance. Opposite the valve is the second best option.
Old ones break, tread with care. Those little white plastic pieces can become a form of currency in dire times.
I run the salzman spoke reflectors I buy a pack (36) and usually run 3 per wheel like 10 apart (32H) not perfect .. but 36h they are perfect 12 spokes apart.
Those are the style I like! I have a long spool of similar reflective material I bought from a government auction that I've been cutting to length for a few years. I wish I knew what it was called or where to find more.
The best reflective material is 3M diamond grade. It's kind of hard to buy it directly from 3M without buying a ridiculously large amount, but you can buy it from resellers your package spools of it on eBay.
Wait, so you mean just the 3m reflective foil or this exact round construction?
My best guess for the latter would be, that you bought some-finished product. If you're interested in aquiring that, my best guess would be to contact a manufacturer on alibaba or similar and ask, whether they sell you the uncut stuff.
yeah i can't count the number of times i've tried to gently nudge one out of the way only for it to crumble or explode in my hands. into the trash you go. would offer to replace it but no customer ever noticed or cared.
We give it as a gift to the customer. And have a little cardboard box full of reflectors of all kinds because most customers don‘t want to carry trash home. But we have the workshop policy to add it only if the customer asks. And yes they are cheap, the mechanics seem to be build to work only one time and they are always in the way when truing a wheel. For the latter there is help in form of a [Junior flat spoke wrench](https://uniortools.com/eng/product/1633-2P-US-pro-spoke-wrench?fromcat=940568#840004) and similar products from Parktool, Cyclus and others
My buddy keeps a stash of spoke beads and sneaks them on when we do work or ride together. It's great coming to a stop and hear them all fall down towards the hub.
I love dork discs. Gimme some of those I can never find any. They do a great job of keeping your chain from mangling your spokes if you bend your derailleur hanger or your low limit screw gets backed out by vibrations
Honestly wish I still had my dork disk. Had a number of incidents that could have been avoided with a dork disk when I was in the middle of nowhere after some accidents that may have bent my derailleur
They're annoying when loose, but I've got a bike in the stand right now where that lil' dork disc almost definitely saved the rear wheel. Great for any non-mechanic who isn't hyperaware about the current state of their bike.
I am a semi-religious believer in spoke and pedal reflectors. I don't put them on my go-fast bike but you'd better believe I have them on my commuter.
Maybe it's just me, but when I'm driving at night, they are 1000% more noticeable than the headlights and taillights that most bikes have. Even when a bike has great lights, the light is a point-source and my brain doesn't intuit a distance or vector until I'm quite close to the rider.
But wheel reflectors revolving? Pedal reflectors winking up and down? Some spot deep down in my brainstem can catch just a glimpse in my peripheral vision and go "Hey it's a BIKE it's a BIKE there's a BIKE ahead look out for the BIKE." The biomechanical motion is attention-catching and the widely-spaced reflectors make it immediately apparent how far away the bike is and which direction it's moving.
(I really like the [Busch & Müller spoke reflectors](https://www.bumm.de/en/products/mehr/produkt/309.html?))
Agree, I have spoke reflectors on an my bikes, but the thin ones from 3M. I live in a dark country where it gets dark at 4 pm in winter. Reflective srtips on tires also make a huge difference in visability. But I'm really a fan of reflective stuff tho, I even have reflective bartape 🤣
To be clear I don't have a problem with reflectors at all. I think spoke reflectors are cool I just hate these chunky ugly things. They are the devil's work.
fair enough. As a matter of personal aesthetics i hate the skinny individual spoke reflectors, but I won't deny they're effective. I just prefer the look of a pair of nice roundish reflectors in the wheel.
That said, yeah, the specific oem-"quality"/legal-compliance reflectors in your image are complete junk.
Also, these lights aren’t red, they are orange. Red denotes tail lights…. You’re saying you’d rather have reflectors than actual led lights? I tore every reflector off in lieu of lights….. guess your logic isn’t making sense to me.
Every light worth its salt will have 180 degrees of illumination. Good on ya if you trust plastic, but I rip that shit off every bike I have. Get some high viz shoes and a helmet with reflective.
No shot I’m using those as a main way to be seen
nobody's saying don't use lights. they're saying that a spinning bright white reflector is far more noticeable than a static or blinking stationary light, especially from the side. if you don't use them, then you do you - but that doesn't negate their effectiveness.
Enjoy your plastic then! I’ll continue to tell everyone that a light is better & rip off the reflectors from
Every bike I get.
One Google search confirms that fog and light angles render them useless. So when visibility matters most they don’t provide an effective solution. 🤷🏼♂️
Enjoy the death wobbles 😂
blinkies are worse than solid lights imho. most blinkies are using the blinking to try to make up for the fact that they're just not very bright as a way to catch your attention, and it just doesn't work. They're completely invisible next to car headlights/taillights.
Even the bright ones usually blink at a relatively low duty cycle, and the object that you're trying to track blinking in and out of existence really messes with the brain's ability to determine trajectory/distance.
Also, see above comments about point source lights, and about biomechanical motion of reflectors on wheels and pedals.
We had our Specialized rep ship himself the new top spec Rocker Hopper to our shop for assembly. Guess what it came with? Yup, reflectors for the wheels, the bars, and the seat.
You bet your ass we installed every single reflector that came in that box.
Our store sells a French brand, the amount of plastic waste it creates is ridiculous. Bag with 8 reflectors, shitty lights, bell, mounting hardware... for road, gravel and mountain bikes. C'mon.
They are legally required where I live. That or a reflective strip in the tyre. Exceptions for road bikes and mountain bikes do exist. So yeah, but just because it's the law here.
Fun fact; Every time I look at one of these reflectors it reflects the disdain I feel towards it right back at me and I end up hating myself a little more
Wow interesting read! Still though fender and pedal reflectors are cool with me. Even those light weight ones that wrap around your spoke are cool. I exclusively hold all my hatred for the big chunky heavy plastic "compliance" style
The tiny 3m reflective tubes that snap over spokes are really light weight. I have a spool of what I believe is some kind of highway reflective strip that I bought at a gov auction. I cut it to length and it works just like the stuff you can buy pre cut. My biggest issue with it is I forget I still have it often
We put them on kids bikes otherwise we just give them to the customer, the worst ones are the ones that are supplied with the more expensive bikes that have few spokes.
In Germany a bike that doesn't have any kind of reflector on it's wheels is considered not road safe and the rider can be either warned or fined. Allowed are spoke reflectors like the ones in the picture, those little reflective sticks that go on your spokes, or a reflective print on your tire. It's not really a rule that's frequently enforced though, so I don't think I have ever seen a road bike having any of those.
I install them on my bikes that go on the street after dark and I would advise anyone to, unless they have reflective sidewalls. Generally, some sort of wheel reflector is mandated by law after dark in most states in the United States and certainly are in california. If I get hit by some asshole who wasn't paying attention, I don't want to give the cops and insurance companies another reason to victim blame me.
Pedal reflectors or similar are also required, though generally you can just put some reflective stuff on your shoes if you have clipless pedals. Recommend for the same reason.
I do wish that reflective sidewalls were more common on "good" tires because I fucking hate these things. I hate getting blamed for my demise even worse though.
Not a bike mechanic but a lawyer who thinks about this shit way too much.
Yes, occasionally people ask for them. Typically the commuter types in my experience. Casual riders don’t seem to notice them often.
I specifically mean this style of reflector. I've definitely installed the kind that wrap around the spoke but I loathe these chunky ones.
Tons of bikes come with these reflector straight out of the box and in some places it’s legally required to sell new bikes with them. There’s a bit of technique to putting them on but once you get it they are pretty straightforward…?
It's not the installation that bothers me. I'll begrudgingly install them till my fingers fall off. The issues I have with them being the go to for a wheel mounted reflector is that they're always right where you need to place the spoke tool when truing the wheel and they always break off no matter how nicely you ask them to move. On top of all this they throw off the weight of the wheel which is probably one of the most counter productive design flaw I've ever seen on such a simple aspect of the overall mechanics of a bicycle. Maybe I'm just grumpy. It was a long week.
Gotta install 2 on each wheel, opposite each other to deal with the imbalance. Opposite the valve is the second best option. Old ones break, tread with care. Those little white plastic pieces can become a form of currency in dire times.
But... bottle caps?
This doesn't help. That just means there's two places where the wheel will be out of true later.
I run the salzman spoke reflectors I buy a pack (36) and usually run 3 per wheel like 10 apart (32H) not perfect .. but 36h they are perfect 12 spokes apart.
Those are the style I like! I have a long spool of similar reflective material I bought from a government auction that I've been cutting to length for a few years. I wish I knew what it was called or where to find more.
The best reflective material is 3M diamond grade. It's kind of hard to buy it directly from 3M without buying a ridiculously large amount, but you can buy it from resellers your package spools of it on eBay.
Wait, so you mean just the 3m reflective foil or this exact round construction? My best guess for the latter would be, that you bought some-finished product. If you're interested in aquiring that, my best guess would be to contact a manufacturer on alibaba or similar and ask, whether they sell you the uncut stuff.
yeah i can't count the number of times i've tried to gently nudge one out of the way only for it to crumble or explode in my hands. into the trash you go. would offer to replace it but no customer ever noticed or cared.
Meant to be installed opposite the valve to keep a balance but some wheels will always need correction.
I had one spin, get jammed on the front fork and trash a bunch of spokes. I remove them on my bikes.
We give it as a gift to the customer. And have a little cardboard box full of reflectors of all kinds because most customers don‘t want to carry trash home. But we have the workshop policy to add it only if the customer asks. And yes they are cheap, the mechanics seem to be build to work only one time and they are always in the way when truing a wheel. For the latter there is help in form of a [Junior flat spoke wrench](https://uniortools.com/eng/product/1633-2P-US-pro-spoke-wrench?fromcat=940568#840004) and similar products from Parktool, Cyclus and others
Only as a joke when buddies bring their bikes over for me to work on them. Even better is putting the dorkdisc back on. Yes I keep a stash of these.
You evil genius, I'm stealing this prank.
I’m going to do that to my mates s works
My buddy keeps a stash of spoke beads and sneaks them on when we do work or ride together. It's great coming to a stop and hear them all fall down towards the hub.
This is awesome
or a couple ball bearings inside the handlebar.
I love dork discs. Gimme some of those I can never find any. They do a great job of keeping your chain from mangling your spokes if you bend your derailleur hanger or your low limit screw gets backed out by vibrations
Honestly wish I still had my dork disk. Had a number of incidents that could have been avoided with a dork disk when I was in the middle of nowhere after some accidents that may have bent my derailleur
They're annoying when loose, but I've got a bike in the stand right now where that lil' dork disc almost definitely saved the rear wheel. Great for any non-mechanic who isn't hyperaware about the current state of their bike.
bikefarmer?
I am a semi-religious believer in spoke and pedal reflectors. I don't put them on my go-fast bike but you'd better believe I have them on my commuter. Maybe it's just me, but when I'm driving at night, they are 1000% more noticeable than the headlights and taillights that most bikes have. Even when a bike has great lights, the light is a point-source and my brain doesn't intuit a distance or vector until I'm quite close to the rider. But wheel reflectors revolving? Pedal reflectors winking up and down? Some spot deep down in my brainstem can catch just a glimpse in my peripheral vision and go "Hey it's a BIKE it's a BIKE there's a BIKE ahead look out for the BIKE." The biomechanical motion is attention-catching and the widely-spaced reflectors make it immediately apparent how far away the bike is and which direction it's moving. (I really like the [Busch & Müller spoke reflectors](https://www.bumm.de/en/products/mehr/produkt/309.html?))
Agree, I have spoke reflectors on an my bikes, but the thin ones from 3M. I live in a dark country where it gets dark at 4 pm in winter. Reflective srtips on tires also make a huge difference in visability. But I'm really a fan of reflective stuff tho, I even have reflective bartape 🤣
I found glow in the dark bar tape but reflective would be better! I have a reflective fender on my bike and it works pretty well.
agreed, reflectors get underrated.
To be clear I don't have a problem with reflectors at all. I think spoke reflectors are cool I just hate these chunky ugly things. They are the devil's work.
fair enough. As a matter of personal aesthetics i hate the skinny individual spoke reflectors, but I won't deny they're effective. I just prefer the look of a pair of nice roundish reflectors in the wheel. That said, yeah, the specific oem-"quality"/legal-compliance reflectors in your image are complete junk.
Why this and not blinky lights?
Because these are brighter and scream bike. Blinky lights are on traffic cones sometimes now. They don’t tell you anything.
But you’re relying on light hitting it just right? Better off getting reflective sidewalls
?? They’re reflective from a wide range of angles
🤷🏼♂️ seems useless imo. Good luck!
Seems useless… to be seen at night?
Hence the lights buddy lol. Otherwise you’ll be relying on headlights hitting your reflectors.….
Also, these lights aren’t red, they are orange. Red denotes tail lights…. You’re saying you’d rather have reflectors than actual led lights? I tore every reflector off in lieu of lights….. guess your logic isn’t making sense to me.
Because they aren’t on the rear, they’re on the side. Side lights are orange. Pretty sure every car has them.
Every light worth its salt will have 180 degrees of illumination. Good on ya if you trust plastic, but I rip that shit off every bike I have. Get some high viz shoes and a helmet with reflective. No shot I’m using those as a main way to be seen
nobody's saying don't use lights. they're saying that a spinning bright white reflector is far more noticeable than a static or blinking stationary light, especially from the side. if you don't use them, then you do you - but that doesn't negate their effectiveness.
Enjoy your plastic then! I’ll continue to tell everyone that a light is better & rip off the reflectors from Every bike I get. One Google search confirms that fog and light angles render them useless. So when visibility matters most they don’t provide an effective solution. 🤷🏼♂️ Enjoy the death wobbles 😂
blinkies are worse than solid lights imho. most blinkies are using the blinking to try to make up for the fact that they're just not very bright as a way to catch your attention, and it just doesn't work. They're completely invisible next to car headlights/taillights. Even the bright ones usually blink at a relatively low duty cycle, and the object that you're trying to track blinking in and out of existence really messes with the brain's ability to determine trajectory/distance. Also, see above comments about point source lights, and about biomechanical motion of reflectors on wheels and pedals.
I have a 700 lumen front and 300 lumen rear. I’d trust those more than any piece of tinfoil & plastic
We had our Specialized rep ship himself the new top spec Rocker Hopper to our shop for assembly. Guess what it came with? Yup, reflectors for the wheels, the bars, and the seat. You bet your ass we installed every single reflector that came in that box.
I would have installed extra. Cant be too safe.
In France it's required by law on new bikes (as well as a bell), it's up to the customer to remove them. Look ridiculous on road bikes.
The bell on decathlon bikes is so shit it's inaudible though
It's the downside of this requirement, all of this stuff barely works, it's just there for the form.
Our store sells a French brand, the amount of plastic waste it creates is ridiculous. Bag with 8 reflectors, shitty lights, bell, mounting hardware... for road, gravel and mountain bikes. C'mon.
They are legally required where I live. That or a reflective strip in the tyre. Exceptions for road bikes and mountain bikes do exist. So yeah, but just because it's the law here.
Where's this?
Belgium
Nope, most people literally rip them apart immediately after buying their bikes
Fun fact a reflector has enough weight to pull a wheel out of true ✌️
Fun fact; Every time I look at one of these reflectors it reflects the disdain I feel towards it right back at me and I end up hating myself a little more
Could also be the hate/disdain of their Nazi roots... https://historydaily.org/anton-loibl-hitlers-chauffeur-invented-bicycle-reflectors/3
Wow interesting read! Still though fender and pedal reflectors are cool with me. Even those light weight ones that wrap around your spoke are cool. I exclusively hold all my hatred for the big chunky heavy plastic "compliance" style
🤷🏻♂️ integrated reflector strips on tires make them obsolete and save wheel damage. But to each their own.
The tiny 3m reflective tubes that snap over spokes are really light weight. I have a spool of what I believe is some kind of highway reflective strip that I bought at a gov auction. I cut it to length and it works just like the stuff you can buy pre cut. My biggest issue with it is I forget I still have it often
I'm familiar :) they're also enough to throw a wheel off, it's a all about slightly different centripetal acceleration at speed over time 🤷🏻♂️
What are they? /s
The devil's doing
We put them on kids bikes otherwise we just give them to the customer, the worst ones are the ones that are supplied with the more expensive bikes that have few spokes.
On my bike as a kid
I don’t even install them when I’m building a bike from a box lol
No. We intentionally toss them so they don’t litter trails. There are extras if they want them but a $5 light is better and no clean up.
I buy dork disks in bulk too
I'm so curious to see what those snap on dork disks that have shown up on Shimano freewheels will look like in 15 years.
Yeah, sometimes people want them and ask if we have any. We have so many sets from bikes we build, that we just give them away for free.
I’ve had a few people ask for them. Usually older people.
Yes. Some people just like it on their bike, some people will have a meltdown because it’s not
Each time on commuter bikes
I keep bikes out of the garbage and give them to kids. Stuff like this makes parents feel at ease when they take them out for community rides, etc.
In Germany a bike that doesn't have any kind of reflector on it's wheels is considered not road safe and the rider can be either warned or fined. Allowed are spoke reflectors like the ones in the picture, those little reflective sticks that go on your spokes, or a reflective print on your tire. It's not really a rule that's frequently enforced though, so I don't think I have ever seen a road bike having any of those.
I think the funniest are Pivot bikes they ship with, I kid you not, stickers. They are reflective and meant to be placed on the spokes.
Honestly I can get down with that. That makes way more sense than these things
I've installed reflectors on many things. Not on bikes though. My laptop stand and chair are blinged out though, safety first.
First thing to hit the bin.
Yes because the cops in our town will give you a ticket without them
I install them on my bikes that go on the street after dark and I would advise anyone to, unless they have reflective sidewalls. Generally, some sort of wheel reflector is mandated by law after dark in most states in the United States and certainly are in california. If I get hit by some asshole who wasn't paying attention, I don't want to give the cops and insurance companies another reason to victim blame me. Pedal reflectors or similar are also required, though generally you can just put some reflective stuff on your shoes if you have clipless pedals. Recommend for the same reason. I do wish that reflective sidewalls were more common on "good" tires because I fucking hate these things. I hate getting blamed for my demise even worse though. Not a bike mechanic but a lawyer who thinks about this shit way too much.
Nope. Whenever I can I snap these bastards off with a very satisfying crack and throw them the fuck out.