(cont. from phase 1)
The black bike, as it is now. (Note hottie.)
I’m waiting as patiently as I can for my barcons to arrive. Once they do (I’m told, tomorrow!) I’ll be able to finish this bike and take it for a ride! Weather predition is 54° and sunny. I’ll take it! In the meantime, here are some more in-process photos.
Here’s the bike as it will appear in headlights. That’s Scotchlite tape. Amazing stuff.
… and here I am applying it. (It’s too bad you’ll have no memory of looking at this picture.)
That scar on my chin, by the way, is from a serious bike accident when I was 19. Always check your quick releases!
The drive train. If I could brush the derailleur, I would, but it’s just too complex a shape.
It is my sincere hope that tomorrow I’ll have completed pics to show!
Okay, why are bike frames not just surfaced with Scotchlite-y stuff to begin with?? ‘Cause those few dots are great and all – lots better than nothing – but imagine if a night driver could actually see a shape that s/he couldn’t not read as “bike.” Wouldn’t that be better?
Well, I’ve got two answers.
One is that, while you can mix Scotchlite with paint, this frame isn’t painted — it’s powdercoated, and you can’t powdercoat with Scotchlite. It’s made it bazillions of glass beads and powder coating is a plastic. Powder coating is *extremely* durable, and that’s why I chose it for this frame.
The other answer is that then I’d have a pearly white bike. And while that would be cool, it’s not what I’m after.
An ancillary answer is that you don’t need to see “bike”. You need to see *movement*. The problem is not getting seen out of the corner of the driver’s eye. Once they’ve know where you are, it’s cool. It’s when they don’t *notice* you that it’s a problem.