Stuff the EU regulation handlebar bell.

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

The scene:
I'm on a single track quiet country lane, approaching two pedestrians from behind who are walking side
by side in the centre of this 2.5 meter wide road ... but with a meter gap between. (Common round my way).
I 'm aiming for the gap between them as it is the wider option.
I ping my EU regulation handlebar bell but they're too busy yakking to hear it.
I ping it again, getting closer, this time they both turn around to look, both in the same direction, both
making that "gap" in between them disappear!! Brakes on!!

So i chucked the bell.

I want to sound like a car ... so i fitted a car horn and tiny 15 volt lithium battery pack.
After 2 weeks the pedestrians were out.
The horn was used ... it worked ... pedestrians didn't bother looking, they just instinctively moved to the
edge of the road.
I suspect anything not sounding like a car (airzound, squeezy horn, etc) would invoke the usual
curious "look round to see whats coming because that isn't a car" response rather than a "oh there's a car coming, i'd better move" instinctive response.

Has anyone else tried a car-horn on the bike?

 

[400bhp]

1. So i chucked the bell.


2. Has anyone else tried a car-horn on the bike?

1. Well done.

2. No, that's ridiculous.

 

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

2. No, that's ridiculous.

.... and it works well on the dozy twumps who pull out without looking.

 

[400bhp]

Shouting out excuse me probably would work too.

Sledgehammer & nut.

 

[zizou]

What is up with an "excuse me"?

 

[snorri]

For real entertainment, squealing cycle brakes are more effective on pedestrians than any car horn.

It did happen once, I have no intention of seeking a repeat perfomance,
.

 

[potsy]

For real entertainment, squealing cycle brakes are more effective on pedestrians than any car horn.

.

That was my strategy on the TPT yesterday, didn't have to use my bell at all

 

[400bhp]

That was my strategy on the TPT yesterday, didn't have to use my bell at all

You're coming round to my way of thinking.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Slowing down to 5mph, a gentle "excuse me", work like a treat!
Anyway, I've got Big Ben on my bike

 

[potsy]

Slowing down to 5mph, a gentle "excuse me", work like a treat!
Anyway, I've got Big Ben on my bike

View attachment 14782

Want one

 

[Boris Bajic]

I am an advocate of the traditional bell.

I read comments by other posters that they find it rude or that it comes across as strident or ineffectual or both...

But I like it.

Most of the bicycles in my family have a bell on the handlebar. Among them (from when the children were younger) is a Thunderbirds one.

When I read of someone advocating the use of an Airzound, there seems sometimes to be a tace of seething fury in their reasoning.

The bicycle bell is a marvel of sound engineering: Small, light, audible, understood, easy to use.

It combines well with the voice.

When I was a teen (early 80s) my then sweetie-pie was a cycle courier for a firm in Mayfair. The de rigeur gear for that career path was a plastic referee's whistle on a cord round the neck. That didn't do it for me... Shrill, self-important, hard to modulate and bad for the teeth in the event of an unplanned dismount.

There is nothing better than a bicycle bell, although the crazy numbers of electronic devices now clamped to handlebars do take up some of that valuable bell space.

 

[on the road]

I find that changing gear helps, they look round to see where that click has come from.

 

[Glow worm]

I find that changing gear helps, they look round to see where that click has come from.

I do that sometimes too. Failing that or a polite ding on the bell, just a freindly hello, or even get off and have a chinwag them, rather than barging through. We should be glad that there are still some quiet roads left where people feel safe to dawdle and chat.

 

[Luddite Joe]

When I was a teen (early 80s) my then sweetie-pie was a cycle courier for a firm in Mayfair. The de rigeur gear for that career path was a plastic referee's whistle on a cord round the neck. That didn't do it for me... Shrill, self-important, hard to modulate and bad for the teeth in the event of an unplanned dismount.

Wow, she sounds like quite a girl. No wonder you didn't stay together !

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I do that sometimes too. Failing that or a polite ding on the bell, just a freindly hello, or even get off and have a chinwag them, rather than barging through. We should be glad that there are still some quiet roads left where people feel safe to dawdle and chat.

Indeed, if a pedestrian apologises when stepping out of my way I always say 'no need to apologise' and if time say 'thank you for moving, but you have priority'. I made a young mum blush saying something similar yesterday, but she might have caused by the gale blowing up my shorts.