On our trip to and from Eureka, Dan told me that the reflective strip on my jacket was totally hidden behind my Givi bag and that I was close to invisible from the back. That's not good!!
Fortunately, I had ordered some reflective tape sheets from CycleGadgets.com.
The bike before adding tape:
I added a 8" x 5" rectangle to the back of each saddlebag. With the extra little strip left on the 8" x 11" sheet, I added some reflection to the back of the Givi bag, too:
As you can see here, without light, the reflective tape is plain black. Stylish in the daytime, productive at night!
Here's another shot of the bags without direct light. You can still see that there's tape on them, of course, but the effect really is nice and black.
I'm loving the tape. I still have one more 8" x 11" sheet (for $17, you get two sheets), so I have to think of other ways to light up my Givi for commuting. I think I'll also put some on the back of my helmet.
I always knew you would light up my life!
Posted by: Colleen | Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 09:17 PM
That looks great!!
Don
AKA---->RunRun
Posted by: RunRun | Friday, February 29, 2008 at 09:27 AM
This tape can also be fun for your helmet, you can use cookie cutters as stencils and slap a few reflectors on your lid. Granted this is less tacky if your helmet is black!
Posted by: SheRidesABeemer | Saturday, March 01, 2008 at 09:35 AM
I *LOVE* the cookie cutter idea! Thanks!
Posted by: carolyn | Saturday, March 01, 2008 at 01:06 PM
wow, you're super visible now!
I just can believe all the riders I see who seem to go out of their way to be invisible! All black, no reflectives - just nuts.
Posted by: Bombauer | Sunday, March 02, 2008 at 09:50 AM
The black reflective tape is very cool.
I'd assumed that the red band on the Givi was reflective, unlike the JC Whitney clone.
Over in "JC Whitney Box Mod" on CG there's a night photo of that box with reflective tape UNDER the red plastic strip, which works pretty well. That might work for the Givi, too. Me, I'm going to add tape in the open.
I just wish they made "black daylight, red reflective" tape.
Posted by: Doug Faunt | Tuesday, March 04, 2008 at 08:53 AM