Evening Latte

One of the basic tents of bike safety is to be as visible as possible from as many angles as possible, especially in the dark. For a long time, I mostly focused on front and back lights/reflectors since that’s the approach angle for most vehicles, but riding more often in the last two or three years has made me realize there are scenarios when side visibility is also very important. The most common for me is crossing a 4-way stop: if a driver doesn’t see me, they may fail to fully stop or even blow through the sign.

The single clip-on reflectors that come with most bikes seem inadequate to me. Since they’re only visible on a small percentage of the wheel’s area, a fork or pannier pack could block most or all of one while I’m stopped, and the amount of light reflected may not be great (depending on the type/design).

After looking at a several options, I ordered my first 36-pack of Salzmann Spoke Reflectors in July of 2022. I quickly added them to my other bikes and have happily used them since.

Why I like them:

• When they’re installed evenly across each wheel’s spokes, most of them will be visible at any given wheel position, even with panniers.
• The 3M Scotchlite reflects a lot of light. The pic above is a quick one to show their positioning, but the background means the you don’t get the full effect. Pics from online retailers and other reviewers show what they really look like in the dark.
• They stay on. Knock on wood, I’ve never lost one.
• They’re cheap. I put one on every fourth spoke, so the bikes I’ve owned have required between 7 and 9 reflectors per wheel. That means a 36-pack will cover at least two bikes for <$15. When I sell/replace a bike, I just leave them on and get a new pack with the new bike.
• According to my kitchen scale, they’re about 1g apiece. Not a big factor for me, but I know weight is a big deal for many cyclists.
• I like the look. During the day, the wheel looks a lot cleaner and symmetrical than when chunky plastic reflectors are installed. From more than a few feet away, you can barely tell there’s something on the spokes.

I haven’t found a drawback for my uses. If you want more reflective area per wheel, doubling the density to every other spoke means it’s <$15 per bike, which is very low in the context of cycling accessories. I suppose they may not be great for bikes that see double duty on trails and roads since I assume there will be a higher risk of them being knocked off during the former. But for road-focused riders, they’re the best overall solution I’ve found.