Cat's eyes on a mountain bike? No, thanks. Reflective stripes on the tyre sidewall? Virtually non-existent in the bike sector. However, being seen in the dark is extremely important for bikers. Because mountain bikers who aren't lucky enough to live right on the edge of the forest are often caught out, especially in winter: in road traffic and thus in the hostile territory of cars, lorries and the like.
The Munich-based inventors at Flectr have something new for all those who, for understandable reasons, do not want to do without the enormous safety benefits of reflectors, but are also concerned about the weight, appearance and, last but not least, the ecological footprint of their bike. The Reflector 360 consists of two elastic and self-adhesive reflectors that can be attached to both sides of any bicycle rim - ideal for disc rims. No matter from which direction, incoming light is reflected by two Flectr 360 on a rim from almost any direction. Great addition for full illumination: the reflective frame film in silver or black.
Safety plus sustainability
Flectr uses thousands of mirrored micro-prisms for its reflector stickers, which, according to the manufacturer, do not lose their reflective properties even when wet. The reflectors are real lightweights: one sticker weighs just 0.8 grams and thus increases the rotating mass of the wheel less than a millilitre of latex milk. Flectr claims over 90 per cent savings in raw materials compared to conventional reflectors for the stickers produced in Germany. And because they are insensitive to dirt and other environmental influences, they last just as long as the rim they are stuck to.
Before the Felctr 360 reflectors officially go on sale, interested parties can take part in the Kickstarter campaign pre-order a set of two stickers from 11 euros each. From 30.12.2017, the Flectr 360 reflectors will be available directly on the Webshop from Flectr available.
Sebastian Brust
Editor
