reflective tape... now you see it

[sendler2112]

This is a dismal failure in my opinion so perhaps someone can duplicate this to confirm.

The reflective tape does help on the sides of the scooter where I saw it a couple times. Your scooter being white also shows how much more visible that color is at night on it's own. I will try to get someone to video me to check the effectiveness of the white film on my helmet.

[SECoda]

Well it looks great in the daytime! Reflectors are best with large angles and depth to reflective surfaces or the light kits if legal.

[homie]

Well, maybe the tape is not that good? I need to find BLACK reflective tape to put on my black scooter.

OH black scooter if I had a black one this would look like someone swinging a lantern in the distance ROAD PIZZA! I will be pealing some of this off now and maybe look into running lights sometime.

[WhiteNoise]

That seems rather drastic homie. Why remove all of it?
Shouldn't some quality reflective tape placed properly work on the sides of ones scoot? Okay, I need to know. I really do. It's gotta be homie's tape, or where it's placed or both? Geez

Let's set a scene:
Here's homie riding at Night on a fairly busy two way street. A safe distance away, in the opposite lane there is a moving vehicle coming towards him. With plenty of time to make a turn, homie puts on his left signal and makes his left turn (on his very White scoot )
The oncoming headlights should catch his "Glow" while homie made his turn. Right? Am I crazy?
Convince me that the "other guy" didn't see him? (Not wanting the obvious reasons we all already know...texting, eating, combing hair, phoning etc).

Puzzles me, sorry. I certainly don't want to apply my visibility reflective tape on my White if it won't be seen Color me Disappointed.

No worries homie, Christmas is coming & you can light your scoot up like yer Christmas tree ("if" you're out there).

[homie]

That seems rather drastic homie. Why remove all of it?
Shouldn't some quality reflective tape placed properly work on the sides of ones scoot? Okay, I need to know. I really do. It's gotta be homie's tape, or where it's placed or both? Geez Puzzles me, sorry. I certainly don't want to apply my visibility reflective tape on my White if it won't be seen Color me Disappointed.

Ok WN, the 7/16" reflective tape is not an unattractive trim and looks great in the daylight. I need to video again under different conditions before I'm convinced its not visible at night. I just don't want people having a false sense of security or putting the time in only to see what I saw. I assumed the front and rear stock reflectors would do something... anything!

[you you]

Somebody you know vv (I think I met this dude somewhere ) Thanks for cleaning info

@ 2yous, now you know who homie refers too! As Monk.
You're welcome

One for the vaults...

[pcxpower]

Ok WN, the 7/16" reflective tape is not an unattractive trim and looks great in the daylight. I need to video again under different conditions before I'm convinced its not visible at night. I just don't want people having a false sense of security or putting the time in only to see what I saw. I assumed the front and rear stock reflectors would do something... anything!

Thank you very much for the time to record the effectiveness of the tape, and I think that you would need to record it again with the high beams on, as when you are outside the illuminated area is normal that we cannot see the tape, because it's not illuminated...

Also, it's really thin, and maybe because of that, it's not clearly seen? Here in Spain there are several types of reflective tape, and the one is used in the big panel in highways, etc, is the "top of the line" one, which is the one with more reflective power. If you search "3m reflective tape" you will see what I refer to. Something like that:
http://www.identi-tape.com/USCGFP.htm

The problem with this tape is that it's really thick, and it's almost impossible to place it in curved areas, as it tends to recover its original shape (plain) in just some hours The link that I have provided states:

3M's marine grade reflective tape is highly flexible and conformable and is an excellent choice for use on flight helmets, motorcycle helmets, saddlebags. and kayaks.

And this is not what I experienced when I used mine... perhaps they have changed the material, or the one that I used was a different type of tape? What is sure is that its reflective characteristics are "top notch"

[DeadInside1969]

Hello Fellow Scooterists,

So I bought a roll of Reflexite Marine Microprismatic Retroreflective Conspicuity (SOLAS) Tape: 1"x15' (silver/white). Finally got out there and put it on the bike. Baby's white, so this looks mostly invisible on her in the daytime, but at night it's pretty spectacular. These pictures are showing the reflection from the LED light on the camera. The tape reflects light fairly directly, so someone in a car should experience a pretty strong reflection from the headlights. Food for thought, anyway. To properly test it, I would probably need to have someone follow in a car (either with a dashcam, or it might take three (me on bike, one to drive, one to video).

The pieces cut easily with scissors, and a razor separated the tape from the backing paper pretty well. This stuff is super sticky. Here's the photos etc:

[DeadInside1969]

[DeadInside1969]

[DeadInside1969]

[DeadInside1969]

[DeadInside1969]

http://becoollhunnybunny.tumblr.com/pos ... solas-tape

[homie]

never heard of it... where did you get it?

Looks like it works VERY well

[DeadInside1969]

So, realize that it is brightest closest to the point of radiated light, so a camera's LED is almost directly in line with the reflection. That's why I propose some real world tests. But, it does meet the SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) standards, so that's awesome. I bought it here: http://www.amazon.com/Reflexite-Marine- ... B00DWBI0RO 15 feet for about 25 bucks. Have some left over, putting squares on my white van too (it hides pretty well in the daytime on white paint, which is good if you're trying to stay married (like me). It cuts really easy with scissors. Just know that it does almost nothing in the daytime. I put some bright yellow dots and stripes on my helmet (got them at the Sports Authority for about 7 bucks (times 2 packs). It's really visible in the daytime, so I used both on the helmet for max daytime/nighttime vis. The cool part about the SOLAS tape is that it fades into the helmet graphics well in the day. I got the Speed and Strength S700 Top Dead Center in Grey. Lightweight, looks great.

Keep the shiny side up brothers!

[Jge64]

I have put it on all my helmets, not so much on the bikes.

[homie]

So, realize that it is brightest closest to the point of radiated light, so a camera's LED is almost directly in line with the reflection. That's why I propose some real world tests.

Can we get some of that in a manageable width to use as pinstripe. The product in this video looks better in the daylight but fails miserably in front of headlights at night unless the angle is just right. Yes we need better reflective tape but preferably esthetically pleasing during the day.

[foggyhelmet]

I had some white reflective tape. Looked good in low light....bit too shiny and flashy in regular sunlight.

Black reflective tape would be perfect. Anyone know where to buy some?

[homie]

I had some white reflective tape. Looked good in low light....bit too shiny and flashy in regular sunlight.

Black reflective tape would be perfect. Anyone know where to buy some?

never tried black but it looks cool

http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Reflec ... tape+black

[sendler2112]

That white SOLAS tape looks really effective. Any of the black I have seen barely lights up at all.