The 7 Best Reflective Bands for Cycling in 2022

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Be seen at night and on the road with one of these top-rated safety reflective bands for your bike.

It doesn't matter if you’re biking in the early morning or a few hours after dusk: If you’re riding in the dark or in low-visibility conditions, you should always wear reflective gear—in conjunction with using your bike lights, of course. And what better way to add some reflective gear to your person than with some lightweight reflective bands? While, yes, a tail light and headlight are essential when you're riding at night, reflective bands can offer an additional layer of safety by alerting motorists and pedestrians of your presence from miles away.

These accessories are often inexpensive, very light, and offer a realm of customizable fits to best suit your needs, comfort level, and style. Whether you’re looking for a lightweight set of reflective bands to wear on your wrists and ankles, or you prefer an adhesive set that you can paste directly onto your bike frame or helmet, we have you covered. Check out our picks for the best reflective bands on Amazon that you can strap to your bike, helmet, or limbs.

Reflective bands come in all sorts of varieties and styles, so deciding which ones to purchase largely comes down to what best suits your comfort level. Basic fabric reflective bands are often adjustable via Velcro and cinch straps, while cheaper options operate as plastic slap-bracelets. These bands can typically be attached to your arms, wrists, legs, and ankles for extra visibility. If you’d rather wear less, consider grabbing a reflective band that comes on a vest or sash, or making your own reflective bands by using adhesive tape. With adhesives and decals, you can simply paste them directly onto your bike frame, helmet, or bag for increased visibility.

To find the best reflective bands on Amazon, we researched and sifted through dozens of reflective bands, narrowing our list based on visibility, comfort, design, and value. We also considered bands that offered an alternative to the typical wearable band, checking out products that could be used as a tape that could be placed directly onto bicycle frames, helmets, and other accessories. We also looked at a combination of expert and professional critic reviews, as well as user reviews found on Amazon, to nail our final picks down for the best reflective bands available on the market.

For more illuminated safety, check out our picks for the best bike reflectors, headlights, and rear lights.

All you need for increased visibility at night is right here in this set. This package includes four bands that you can adjust with Velcro—enough to attach directly to your arms, wrists, legs, and ankles. They offer visibility and can be seen from 800 feet away at night. They also come with a mesh bag, so when you’re done with them, you can stow them away and allow them to air dry, or just toss them in the wash to prevent odors.

Over 1,200 users give this set a 4.6 out of 5-star average rating, and many say they love these bands for their value and custom fit.

This set of reflective bands from New Balance is about as bare-bones as you can get, with two wearable, adjustable pieces that you can add to your wrists, ankles, or arms—you can even attach them to your backpack or helmet.

They adjust with a buckle and Velcro, ensuring a proper fit, and because they’re made of fabric, you can wash them between uses to keep them smelling fresh.

For some crossbody reflection, you can't beat this affordable sash. This easygoing sash belt can be tossed over something as bulky as a hoodie or as thin as a T-shirt and can be adjusted to fit varying heights with a few tugs. It doesn't have buckles or snaps, which makes it almost effortless to put on—just sling it over your shoulder and go.

The sash offers reflective visibility from the shoulder to the waist from up to 700 feet, and users say it's so lightweight that you’ll forget it's there. If bright yellow isn't your style, you can also grab this model with either red or orange reflectors.

A reflect vest, like this one from HiVisible, allows you to easily cover your torso and be seen from all angles at night, whether a motorist or pedestrian encounters you from the front or the back.

This vest can easily fit over hoodies, jackets, jerseys, and T-shirts, and adjusts to accommodate riders of all heights and body sizes. It wraps around your waist and shoulders, ensuring a proper fit, and won't jiggle around while you're in motion. Stow it away in its included bag when not in use, and toss it in the wash between rides for easy cleaning.

For those who can't be bothered to wear an abundance of reflective gear, this pack of colored strips will be your savior. This five-pack of colored reflective tapes can be cut into long strips that you place directly onto your bike.

Each roll of tape offers 26 feet of length, while the added bonus of having multiple color options allows you to personalize your ride with red, yellow, green, blue, and white accents.

Because each tape is waterproof, you can easily clean them off when they get grimy, or simply rip off the older tape and replace it with new. Customers say this tape adheres fairly well to frames and is great for pasting onto helmets and bags, too.

Maybe you already have some reflective bands for your body, but you want something with a tad more flair. If that sounds like you, grab this pack of reflective decals. Rather than buying reflective tape and having to cut it down to size, you can paste these small decals over your frame and rims, and accent your ride with some reflection.

Each hexagon-shaped decal sticker is half an inch wide, making them compact enough to fit on the outer rims of your wheels, or even on the crown of your helmet. They’re weather-resistant and designed to last up to 7 years.

Grab a pack in your choice of red, black, blue, green, white, orange, or yellow.

Looking for a way to add some reflective band protection to your riding gear without breaking the bank? Consider this pack of reflective tape, which costs well under $10 at the time of this writing.

While you won't have much luck attaching pieces to your wrists or ankles, this waterproof tape can be cut into strips that you can then place onto your bike. The tape comes in a roll that's 15 feet long and half an inch wide, a size that makes it easy to add to your bike's frame, your helmet, or any other pieces of visible gear.

Just be wary that if you get it covered in dirt and grime while on the trail, you may have to wipe it clean to stay visible—though, even in cases where you can't effectively clean it, you’ll have of plenty spare tape to use as replacement, thanks to the hefty 15-foot roll it comes on.

Kevin Cortez is a Commerce Editor for Popular Mechanics, Bicycling, and Runner's World. A culture and product journalist for over ten years, he's an expert in men's style, technology, gaming, coffee, e-bikes, hiking, gear, and all things outdoors. He was most recently the style editor for a leading product-recommendation site and previously covered music and podcasting at Mass Appeal, Genius, and The A.V. Club. His work can also be seen in WSJ, Leafly, Input, and Vulture. He enjoys reading graphic novels, birding, and taking long, meandering walks in his spare time.

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