Reflectors on your MTB...

ross_mcculloch

...why is it such a no no?

dave_hill

Who says its a no-no?

ross_mcculloch

I've heard loads of people say you have to take your reflectors off your bike if you're serious about MTBing yet I have no idea why!

Is it some bizarre thing where reflectors just aren't cool?

Andy B

Neither of my MTB's came with them*

*yes it is illegal to sell a bike (to be used on the road) without reflectors.

dave_hill

ross_mcculloch wrote:

I've heard loads of people say you have to take your reflectors off your bike if you're serious about MTBing yet I have no idea why!

Is it some bizarre thing where reflectors just aren't cool?

None of my bikes have reflectors, that's just me - I tend to find that they get in the way, rattle, get snagged on stuff, etc.

But there's no hard and fast rule that says "thou shalt not have reflectors on thy mountain bike". Who cares? It's up to you in the long run.

ross_mcculloch

Oh I know, I couldn't give a monkeys, it's just always puzzled me!

Steve_F

First thing I do when I get a bike is remove the reflectors (and bell) if it's a road bike or a mountain bike.

No idea why but I just don't like the look of them on and I have to agree they do tend to rattle.

Milkie

Mine came with reflectors and a bell !!!

I only got rid of them due to the rattling... But I was gonna get rid of the bell anyways...

Honest.

imo bikes look better without 'flectors.

robmanic1

It's like the "bar ends on risers" thing, and the wearing camelbacks for roadie-rides unwritten rule. I say go with whatever works for you a fcuk popular opinion!
(Reflectors will make you look like a numpty though!)

FSR_XC

Yeh, you gotta get rid of those reflectors & bell.

There's at least a 200g weight saving removing those.

That should mean you can excellerate better and it will make you 0.00000000000000001% more efficient.

or


Keep the bell, then when you are trying to pass someone in a race, a quick 'ping' & they'll know your coming through.

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

maybe an xtr carbon fibre double butted reflector would be co0l....

SuperCove

If my girlfriend had anything to do with it I would have reflectors, a bell and ribbons coming out of the handle bars....

Surf-Matt

I left my bell on - if I took it off, I'd mow down a large number of people on the subway (as in cycle/pedestrian) every day.

My front and rear reflectors have come off, but I left the wheel ones on.

ross_mcculloch

My front and rear reflectors are long gone as they're a pain, it's my wheel ones that are still there.

Steve_F

I actually left my bell on for a few weeks, funny as to pass someone who thinks they're flying down the trail ringing your bell

Captain Turok

Marjory Stewart BAxtor wrote:

maybe an xtr carbon fibre double butted reflector would be co0l....

I would buy a bell if they did do super duper version, sad but true!

Where are my stabilisers?

It's a pro thing init - a bike of high spec for offroad use only wont need reflectors for the cars to see. A bike like mine, ahem, comes with reflectors and a bell - cheaper, lower spec xc hardtail, which is also road friendly (ish) for folk that want to do both.

I haven't taken mine off yet but i'm guessing it would look a little more like a serious outfit without em! Might just have to do it :oops:

jmeadows

best not to worry about what you should and shouldnt have on your bike, do what you want to do and dont worry about what other people think! be your own person

Will Snow

huh... i never actually took mine off conciously, they either snapped off, fell off or were taken off for cleaning and never got put back...

Father Faff

The less sharp pointy out things to hit when you crash the better in my opinion - take em off!

If you want something reflective I would sugest reflective tape on seatpost and headset.

Douche

Lets face it we all know the drag coefficient of reflectors is abnormally high, similiar to that of a pregnant hippo infact, combine losing that amount of drag together with the weight reduction and removing reflectors will give you anywhere between a 25-35% performance increase

dav1

first thing i do to my bikes is take refectors off. They rattle, get muddy to the point where they don't work anyway and look naff.

Also if you are a weight weenie you can save a good few gramms by removing them.

mattfinch

Dav1 wrote:

and look naff.

Will Snow

god that took me a minute to work out

delcol

i took my reflecters off but i still got my bell. well on my hardtail anyway.

i love ringing my bell :shock: at hikers who have to walk 4 abreast across the trail..

Torres

Reflectors on my kona snapped off in a crash, and the bell was dented, so i took that off aswell. The focus didn't come with either. Personal i prefer the look of the bikes without, but there's no written rule.

mediamonkey

I left my reflectors on because I commute on the MTB during the week - the more shiny bits the better after sark with the numpty drivers round here!

Of course when I finally get round to turning my old MTB into a commuter hack instead of letting it rust in the shed, I will no longer have to use my decent MTB for commuting! :idea:

LordBanks

I took them off as soon as i left the shop, dunno why, just felt the need to get shot of them, and the bell went too.

dhxcme

I took mine off as when I did my first big crash on my spesh hardrock (long time ago) my reflector ended up turning 1 snapped spoke into 3, as the reflector pulled the 1 it was attached to and pushed the other 2 around it. So couldn't even limp home riding carefully as the moment I tried to put weight on the wheel I could feel the wheel starting to go. Which propmed a new wheel off the shelf as a rebuild was about 3 pounds less than the whole new one and left me with a spare hub.

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

my rule: Off MTBs on roadies

Team515

I took mines off, plus the bell when i got my bike home