I ordered the reflective stripes because I primarily wanted to increase my visibility from the side for riding at dusk/night. I went with the dark red so that it would match up closely with the frame of the 650R when not reflecting, and I opted to go for the 10mm width, because I wanted to get as much surface area as possible. I can highly recommend the 10mm width as it seems to completely fill up the edge of the wheel quite nicely.
Tools Used:
- Scissors
- Desk lamp
- Paper towels
- All-purpose Glass Cleaner
The installation instructions that came with the stripes were very good, and after reading through them, I felt fully prepared to make a go at this. Before attempting to apply the stripes, I cleaned the surface of the wheels using the paper towels and all-purpose glass cleaner. This was very effective at removing all the road grime and grease that probably came off of the chain on the left side of the rear wheel.
The wheel stripes come on two sheets as shown below:
In order to make it easier to handle, I went ahead and cut each strip out separately so I could peel off the backing as I applied the stripe rather than having to peel it all off at once.
In order to get the stripe lined up as close as possible, I positioned my desk lamp so that the bulb was near the hub of the wheel, shining up towards the rim. By having the same lighting as I moved the bike to rotate the wheel, I figured I'd get the most consistent reflection off the wheel. There appeared to be a bit of a corner edge as the flat face ended moving towards the hub. I chose this transition point to use for lining up the "inside" edge of the wheel stripe. Exposing about an inch and a half to two inches of the stripe, I folded back the backing and lined up the stripe and the edge, then lightly tapped the stripe to make it adhere to the wheel. From there, I'd expose another two inches or so and repeat the process, making sure the "inside" edge lined up with the wheel's edge.
After getting the first stripe on, it was a matter of repeating the process. The instructions said to butt the edges of the stripes together, but the stripes are considerably longer the 1/4 of the rim circumference, so I went ahead and overlapped the edges by about 1/4", making sure to get the tape down securely at the edge of the preceding stripe. Overall, I think the effect is quite nice. I only had to pull up a couple of sections, but I do not think that compromised the stripes' reflective qualities.
The only issue that I had with the wheel stripes is that sometimes the waxy part of the backing would separate and come up with the wheel stripe. I think this may be because the blade went a hair too far when cutting the reflective stripe material. Usually, I could cut off about 1/4" of the stripe and then slightly fold the corner of the stripe to get it to separate. If the stripe was completely folded, I would simply cut off a little more. As I mentioned before, there was plenty of length to the stripe to do this. I would estimate that by the time I had three of the stripes applied, I would only need 2/3 to 3/4 of the last stripe to complete the wheel.
Another recommendation is to work the part of the wheel that is most accessible towards the top, and then move the bike so that the next piece is being applied to the same location. I tried to go around the wheel without moving the bike at first, and that resulted in having to pull up part of the stripe to reapply it because I simply didn't have a good enough visual angle to get the tape lined up with the edge of the rim. Additionally, it changed the lighting aspect of the wheel, so the placement may be somewhat off compared to the rest of the wheel. Granted, we're talking about maybe a millimeter or two, but it's enough to annoy me since I know where it is.
Aside from the reflective properties of the stripes, I think that the dark red rims really add a lot to the visual aesthetics of the bike. The wheels really "pop" now, whereas the were just kind of "there" before. Here are some before and after pictures.
Front wheel before:
Front wheel after:
Right side before:
Right side after:
