I was hit from behind by a cyclist today

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roley poley

Über Member
Location
leeds
get well soon. On the tow path in leeds bridges over the canal are the main problem as sight lines are compromised you cant see a walker or worse a scorcher giving all a bad name, have taken to whistling before I go under slowly keeping to the wall side, the walkers are fine , the scorchers may have to swerve into the nav to learn manners. Coming up on other cyclists from behind a hello and" passing on your left/right" will help .Strange they don't allow horses on the tow path as it was built for them
 

rogerzilla

Legendary Member
I tend not to ring my bell when approaching a pedestrian, if they're on the correct side of a segregated psyclepath. Experience shows that the bell is more likely to make them step into my path. I will ring it if I want them to move. Having said that, a bell has no effect if the walker is wearing headphones, and cyclist-haters will ignore it anyway.
 

roley poley

Über Member
Location
leeds
I tend not to ring my bell when approaching a pedestrian, if they're on the correct side of a segregated psyclepath. Experience shows that the bell is more likely to make them step into my path. I will ring it if I want them to move. Having said that, a bell has no effect if the walker is wearing headphones, and cyclist-haters will ignore it anyway.
and phone gazers on autopilot
 
Living out in the wild west (Wiltshire) I believe its everyone's responsibility to be considerate to all road users, I live just outside of Marlborough and not far from Lambourne both of which are very horsey places and both full of narrow busy lanes, my rule of thumb is whatever i'm doing, cycling driving walking or riding if I come up behind someone I make myself known long before i'm behind them, which I harder to do in a car without seeming like a dick.

ipeds on the other hand I have to time for
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
I have a man with a red flag, strobe lights, wailers, a very pistol and an assortment of distress flares...and they still don't see me.

Are you still trying to get out of the basement they locked you in?
 

JPBoothy

Veteran
Location
Cheshire
I tend not to ring my bell when approaching a pedestrian, if they're on the correct side of a segregated psyclepath. Experience shows that the bell is more likely to make them step into my path. I will ring it if I want them to move. Having said that, a bell has no effect if the walker is wearing headphones, and cyclist-haters will ignore it anyway.
Much to the disgust of the 'cool' cyclists at work, I have a bell on each of my bikes and always receive a pleasant "thank you" from most pedestrians when I approach.. Having said that, I have had a few say "alright alright, I heard you". Also a few who have jumped a few feet in the air 😂
 

Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
The choice of bell seems to make a difference. When I used one of the cheap "ping" bells people either didn't notice or got annoyed at me ringing it. A change to one of the sort that goes "ding dong" makes people smile and say thankyou. The old fashioned sounding bike bells do similar.

Currently I've got Lion brass bells on the two best bikes which give a nice resonant ding and mainly generate smiles while the almost identical looking Ohgi on the knockabout bike disappointingly doesn't have the same friendly tone and people don't react as warmly to it. If I can work out a better position to fit it I'll probably go back to the "ding dong" type on that bike.

Edit to add: The above isn't foolproof of course and you'll always get the people who don't notice a bell at all and the grumpy buggers who are just looking for something to moan about;).
 
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JPBoothy

Veteran
Location
Cheshire
The choice of bell seems to make a difference. When I used one of the cheap "ping" bells people either didn't notice or got annoyed at me ringing it. A change to one of the sort that goes "ding dong" makes people smile and say thankyou. The old fashioned sounding bike bells do similar.

Currently I've got Lion brass bells on the two best bikes which give a nice resonant ding and mainly generate smiles while the almost identical looking Ohgi on the knockabout bike disappointingly doesn't have the same friendly tone and people don't react as warmly to it. If I can work out a better position to fit it I'll probably go back to the "ding dong" type on that bike.

Edit to add: The above isn't foolproof of course and you'll always get the people who don't notice a bell at all and the grumpy buggers who are just looking for something to moan about;).
I have been searching for something that sounds like General Lee in the Dukes of Hazard. That would do the trick, or Del Boys from his Capri Ghia
 
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