Can you not buy bells for bikes anymore!!!!

[Crankarm]

There is nothing that can be bought that can protect you from being rear ended, not even an Airzound. Bells, in day to day cycling, on or around the roads with sometimes very high traffic volumes are frankly useless. Maybe back in 1930s Britain when the only other noise was a skylark but not today.

 

[Candaules]

Just had an encounter with a beardy flat capped dog walker (no offense to anyone who like beards, flatcaps, dogs aslong as they cycle of course), who shouted after me as I'd gently slowed behind him and politely asked him if I could sneak past due to the fact his 63 foot long extendable dog lead was blocking the entire width and half a field on the pennine trail. I asked why I needed one as I'd asked him nicely and politely and had slowed to a stop before doing so, to which he let fly with a rant about dangerous speeding cyclists. When I asked him whether I was a dangerous speeding cyclist he then went onto say no but you're all the same.
.

I've just had the same experience. I saw a dog (unleashed) and its owner on opposite sides of the path. I slowed right down, and aimed at the gap between them. Just as I got there the dog wandered into my path. I braked, stopping dead. The dog owner did not apologize for the dog, but said (in a sneary voice) "Oh Dear! You should get a bell."
I couldn't think of anything clever to say, so I cycled on, seething and silent.
But why should I use a bell, when we could all see each other? Anyway, half the time, if you do ring a bell, you get shouted at for that.

 

[Dmcd33]

Bell or no bell, he would have come out with the usual - "youre all the same....." I.e. your not him?
- I keep buying them on ebay for the kids, but they keep falling off due to them bashing and dropping their scooters and bikes. I don't use one myself. I just shout if needed (which isn't that often to be fair)
Mobile phone users who cross without looking are the main culprits and I don't think a bell would make any difference.

 

[terry_gardener]

In the UK the only law regarding bells is that a brand new bike must be sold with one. There is no actual requirement to have one on your bike.

interesting i have just bought a new bike which was fully built be the local LBS i bought it from and it didn't come with a bell or reflectors fitted, not bothered about them just surprised LBS left them off and didn't supplied them.

 

[uclown2002]

I couldn't think of anything clever to say, so I cycled on, seething and silent.

Frustrating that! I bet you spent the rest of your journey thinking of what you should have said in reply!

 

[Salad Dodger]

Yes to a bell. The one on my MTB has a compass on top - handy sometimes when my navigation goes a bit astray.

 

[Eribiste]

I have a dog. He has an extending lead. I also have a bicycle, but without a bell. I think I might be a nobber.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I have 2 dogs, many flat caps, as did my father before me. But I'm in the US, and am considered a snappy dresser, due to a prevalence of headgear here related to commercial products, sports teams, or some strange wrestling on the television. Or "Country" music. Or seed corn.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

l have a bell, a dog AND an extending lead. I really am my own worst enemy!

So have I, the dog walker should have been more careful with his lead though, and I would have told him that maybe he was pissing people off just as much as cyclists were him.

For the record, I learned very quickly to keep Cindy on a short lead whilst on the cycle path. The one time, I had been shouting at her for ages to get out of the way of the oncoming cyclists but something was more interesting, so if she'd been hit by a bike it would have been her own fault!

Forget dog walkers and people wearing flat caps though, In the great scheme of things, Roadies are the biggest bunch of nobbers going by a country mile!!

 

[ufkacbln]

Most dog owners are nobbers as well.

Just thought I would throw that in there.

Will a dog fetch it?

 

[Maverick Goose]

I've just had the same experience. I saw a dog (unleashed) and its owner on opposite sides of the path. I slowed right down, and aimed at the gap between them. Just as I got there the dog wandered into my path. I braked, stopping dead. The dog owner did not apologize for the dog, but said (in a sneary voice) "Oh Dear! You should get a bell."
I couldn't think of anything clever to say, so I cycled on, seething and silent.
But why should I use a bell, when we could all see each other? Anyway, half the time, if you do ring a bell, you get shouted at for that.

How about 'I'll get a bell if you get a lead?'

 

[paulmad]

i got a crane suzu bell its so polite, it almost says "excuse me sir or madam".... if you ride on shared pathways and dont have a bell you have no consideration for other users. time you realised that your not as important as you think. and shouting on your left ( or right ) and expecting pedestrians to react as per your instructions is like tossing a coin. so get a bell OK

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Never used a bell. Only has one complaint about not having one in 12 years, and that bloke was just a grumpy git looking for a fight.