Reflective Clothing - Bring Light to the Darkness

Reflective cycling clothing really has become a must now that the nights are getting ever longer. Whether you go out for an occasional evening ride on your road bike or mountain bike, or you commute to and from work on a daily basis. It’s important that you can be seen by other road users. Fortunately there’s a lot of choice available when it comes to reflective cycling clothing, helping you take to the road as safely as possible.

If ever you drive a car yourself, you know how hard it can be to see a cyclist sometimes. When it’s raining, that becomes even harder. It’s for your own safety then to stand out as much as possible whenever you’re on the bike.

Besides proper bicycle lights, reflective cycling clothing is ideal to make yourself more visible to other road users.

Fortunately cycling clothing manufacturers know all too well that it’s essential to stand out during the dark months. Any item, head to toe, is available these days in bright fluorescent yellow and with high-grade reflective elements.

Those reflective elements don’t just help you be seen better. It also aids other road users in gauging your speed. Especially when you’re moving quicker than the average cyclist, for instance on a road bike, e-bike, or high speed e-bike, that becomes a reassuring thought.

How does reflective cycling clothing work?

Everyone knows the reflective clothing used by for instance road workers. You can see them from miles away and it looks as though they’re glowing. The technologies developed for professions such as this over the last few decades, have been made available -and affordable- for other items such as cycling clothing.

The fabric is so highly reflective because it has minute glass pearls or -prizms integrated into it. They reflect all the light that hits them. What makes them so special is that they do so under any angle. It’s something called retro-reflection.

So when light hits the crystals from a certain angle, most of them reflect it back to where it came from. Since they return the light in the direction of the source, you -provided your vehicle is the source of the light reflected- will always see the object reflecting it back to you.

As the glass pearls are so minute, they can be made into an actual fabric. This can then be used to produce cycling clothing with.

The only downside to the reflective fabric is that it’s often a lot less flexible and breathable. Usually it’s only incorporated into places where you need less ventilation and not where there’s a good chance of moving body parts, such as the knees with cyclists.

Enough about the technology behind it all, we’ll have a look at various parts of the body and offer you our tips on reflective cycling clothing.

Warmth and reflection for your head

Your head is the highest point whenever you’re on the bike. It’s an important part of your body to highlight using a reflective or striking bicycle helmet and helmet cover or cap.

Besides being visible, keeping your head warm is nice too. You could get yourself a thin bandana, or go for a thicker, warm cycling hat. The advantage of a bandana -or buff- is that you can not only wear it on your head, but as a scarf or balaclava as well.

Brave the elements in style

You can also make your torso stand our more. Fully reflective cycling clothing is something you won’t easily find, but most brands to have versions of their garments with reflective strips on them or with a reflective logo.

There’s a little more choice when it comes to cycling jackets and rain jackets. Depending on what sort of ride you have planned, you can opt for either water repellent or waterproof. Other than that, you can pretty much keep as warm as you want.

Is it not that cold out yet, or do you own plenty of warm cycling jerseys already? Then you could always consider a reflective wind stopper.

Visibly fight the cold with bibtights and leg warmers

Besides reflection, movement is often the best way of standing out. So when it comes to your legs, this is a particularly good area to opt for reflective bibtights or leg warmers. The cycling motion of your legs helps you stand out even more.

When it comes to your legs, opting for extra warm cycling clothing is never a bad choice. If you ride in the dark, you’ll also often ride on the coldest times of day. A little extra warmth can go a long way to making your ride more comfortable.

Don’t shy away from a little rain? Then waterproof cycling tights are a must. Cycling in the rain doesn’t have to equate to suffering. The reflective elements on bibtights are often on the lower legs, around the zipper, and at the ankles.

Warm and visible with cycling shoes and overshoes

Like with your legs, your feet are continuously in motion on the bike and will attract more attention from your fellow road users.

You can opt for high visibility cycling shoes. While you’re at it, get yourself some water resistant ones. Warmth is something your feet should really not do without.

Besides the striking shoes, there’s plenty of choice when it comes to reflective shoe covers. The advantage of the latter is that they’re often extra warm and protect your feet from wind and water as well.

Even more reflection for cyclists

Besides all the high-visibility cycling clothing, you can also get numerous accessories in which reflection plays a big part. An example is reflective tape that you could fit to any part of your bike.

Or reflective strips that can easily be laced around your spokes. Naturally we have hi-vis leg grips too, ideal for the cycling commuter to add a touch of visibility to his or her outfit. And do you own cycling panniers? They too can come in high visibility versions.

So whether you ride your road bike or mountain bike in the dark, or go to and from work every day regardless of the weather during the winter, there’s reflective and hi-vis cycling clothing available for every scenario as well as matching cycling accessories.