Want to add another safety feature to your scooter or motorcycle? Turn that big red plastic bit on the back of your GIVI trunk into a true reflector for $5.48. This photo was taken with a flash to emulate what it may look like in the headlights of a vehicle behind you.

I was over at twistedthrottle.com to order a backrest for my GIVI E350 topcase, when I saw a product I’d never heard of before: the ReflectGard 3M Scotchlite Reflective Visibility Kit for various GIVI products. The catalog copy starts out like this: Did you think that red lens on the back of your Givi topcase is actually a reflector? Think again! It’s just a piece of non-reflective red-tinted plastic!

And they are right. Go check your GIVI trunk now and do a flashlight test to see its reflectivity (or lack of it). Take a flashlight, hold it up next to your head at eye level, and point the beam of light at the reflector: no reflection. Try it with something you know is reflective, for comparison, like one of your fender reflectors.

The description goes on to explain that the ReflectGard is a “custom-cut piece of automotive-grade 3M Scotchlite reflective sheeting under the original red lens” which promises to turn the red plastic area into an actual reflector that “shines like the sun.”

If you’ve taken your GIVI trunk apart to put in a brake light, you’ve noticed that there’s a white sheet of thin plastic cut to the shape of the red plastic behind it, which makes the red in the red plastic stand out more. But it doesn’t make it reflect.

I thought this kit was a great idea until I saw the price tag of $25. That’s a cheap price to pay for a safety feature, and no disrespect to twistedthrottle.com (they have great prices on GIVI products, and fast service), but since I knew about that white sheet under the red plastic, I also knew I had a built-in template to make my own custom-cut piece of automotive grade reflective sheeting. That is, if I could find a piece of sheeting that was big enough to cover the entire area, at a reasonable price.

First stop: ebay. I did a search for 3M Reflective Sheeting first, and could only find rolls of 100 yards for $299. I changed my search to 3M Reflective, and found an auction by ebay seller doublewow selling two 4″ x 9″ pieces of silver reflective sheeting that I calculated would just barely fit if they were used together at just the right angle.

The sheets arrived in just a few days. I originally thought I’d stick the reflective tape right on to the trunk under the red plastic, but instead, I took my white sheeting out of the GIVI trunk and just stuck them to it. Since they just barely fit, I had to plan where to stick them, but if you make a mistake, you can use some of what you cut off to fill in any empty spaces. Then simply used sharp scissors and an Xacto blade to cut out the shape. I put the sheeting with its attached reflective sheeting back into place, and presto.

This photo shows roughly how I arranged the two 4″ by 9″ sheets to cover the GIVI reflector backing.

Here’s the location of the screws that disconnect the red plastic from the trunk. The white plastic sheet has a piece of tape holding it together on the bottom under the section where the light would go. You can remove that part to get it out in one piece, or just untape it. When I put the silver reflective-enhanced sheet back in, I cut through the bottom and put it back on. You don’t see the cut since it is hidden under the red plastic.

Here it is at a bit of a distance away. Photo taken with a flash.

In this particular GIVI trunk model (I have the E350), the modification also makes the trunk reflective from the side. Photo taken with a flash.

I can’t compare my home-made reflector to a ReflectGard, and I’m not sure if I could claim that it “shines like the sun,” but I now have a giant rear reflector rather than just a giant red spot on the back of my trunk, for a total cost of $5.48 (if you don’t have to buy scissors or an Xacto knife). My E350 is very similar to the E30, so this should look and work very much the same way on those trunks. Other GIVI trunks - and maybe even trunks made by other companies - should also be modifiable.

Also keep in mind that my photos were taken, where noted, with a flash. I haven’t tried to take photos of the trunk being lit up by another vehicles headlights, but I imagine it would be quite bright.

Good luck, and safe riding!