Help with best price reflective tape.

[paulonadew]

Hi.
I have a black kona dew and would like to put the 3m Black reflective tape ( black during the day, bright white at night.) on many parts, so that I light up like a christmas tree at night. I have looked on the internet and the prices vary so much. So does anyone here know of the best price in the UK for this tape for one role?

[Starfire]

Try www.cyberglow.co.uk, they have a good selection of reflective tapes at reasonable prices for small amounts.

[james01]

I did some experimenting with various stickies a few years ago (with a torch in a dark garage - very high-tech!) . I found that the named brands like Scotchlite were far more reflective than the anonymous cheapos, in fact some of these were not much more reflective than white paper. Some stickies which my children were given by a visiting road safety organiser for their school bags were almost useless.

[nmnm]

I used to have white tape on my bike. Replaced with blue now. Search ebay for "diamond grade reflective". 5 metres is under a tenner. Having experienced both, I reckon the cars hit the brakes a few metres earlier when the blue tape enters their headlight beams (compared with the white tape). I suppose blue light = police.

The diamond grade tape is a bit thicker than the lower grade stuff so it does tend to try to unstick from smaller tubes like rear seat stays. You can use a hair dryer to warm it and get it to curl and stick well.

[david143]

Sorry, not Black, but most other useful tapes here:
http://www.apetape.co.uk/

[insanityideas]

I use the black tape on my bike (over the bits painted black), whilst it works as advertised i.e. really does look black durring the day and reflective at night it is nowhere near as bright as reflective tape which is the same colour as it reflects (i.e. normal) this is because the black tape consists of black pigment mixed with reflective material so there is less actual reflective in it.

If I was doing it again I would still use the black tape though as you can chuck loads of it all over without your bike looking goofy.

I support the not all tapes are made the same comment, I think the worst stuff is the plasticy green reflective stuff they make reflective bands out of, its not retroreflective. I also have a pet hate of reflective trim, its too narrow to be of any use so it gives a false sense of security.

Good rule of thumb, use the same width of tape that you see on clothing approved for people who work in the road (BS standard reflective jackets) as you are in a similar risk category when it comes to being seen. Of course you can make your own funky designs with sticky fabric tape on your cycle gear if you don't like the "builders vest" look.

[Malaconotus]

I used the Respro Black Diamond stuff on forks and crank arms and had a bit left over for rack stays etc... http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=23560

On the plus side it is subtle, but it is nowhere near as reflective as this kind of stuff... http://www.beseenonabike.co.uk/acatalog ... 15019.html The walls of my Schwalbe tyres are superb, though, and it's the degree of reflectivity these have which shows how relatively poor the Respro stuff is. I've now replaced my forks but I don't think I'll be splashing out another £12 to cover them again with the Respro stuff.

Attached picture shows cranks, rackstays and whitewalls under flash photography.

Graham