Stuff the EU regulation handlebar bell.

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

Excuse me doesn't work in my home town.
Wisbech is somewhere between lithuania and poland!!

We have a lot of folk wandering inappropriately at 45 degrees across dual carriageways and right through
traffic junctions. All forms of pedestrian barriers are ignored.

From chatting with the eastern europeans at work i understand they do not tolerate cyclists on their home roads
as much as uk nationals do here and as pedestrians certainly won't move when a cyclist approaches.

So i'll blast 'em with a car horn, let 'em jump out the way ... and then realise its a pesky bicyclist.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

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.

I personally think that bells belong in museums, we should have decent horns readily available now, I spend nearly all my time in traffic, its very rare for me to be dealing with pedestrians, a quick excuse me is the best way to let people know your there, most car drivers wont hear a bell, and those that do wont know what it is.

 

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

most car drivers wont hear a bell, and those that do wont know what it is.

Nor will motorists hear "excuse me" when they have chris moyles or whatever on, in their modern car
which has excellent soundproofing.

You can tell which posters on this thread don't have much experience of city driving.
"Use a bell"
"Excuse me".
Yea roight!!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Nor will motorists hear "excuse me" when they have chris moyles or whatever on, in their modern car
which has excellent soundproofing.

You can tell which posters on this thread don't have much experience of city driving.
"Use a bell"
"Excuse me".
Yea roight!!

Fair enough, but your original post was about the silly little "ping" type bells being useless against pedestrians (which they are). For that a proper bell does work very well.

Like Pat, I favour one of these, which gives a loud but pleasant tone. Personally I like the old-fashioned look of it too.

I actually get people thanking me for ringing the bell at them.

 

[Arjimlad]

I like my bell and find it useful on shared paths, which I generally try to avoid. However, I'd love to see a picture of the home-made car horn contraption which would be jolly useful on the road sometimes !

 

[Eribiste]

I like the bell on what is now someone else's Pashley Roadster. It's got "Ice Warning" engraved on it, and a White Star Line badge, just like Pat 5mph's example. Mind you, I need ear defenders on when I use it!

 

[fossyant]

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

No, no no. Just slam on the rear brake hard, the scrabbly stone ripping noise should wake them up. Can you get a horn that sounds like a HGV or intercity train ? Better still a cruise liner !!

 

[fossyant]

I am an advocate of the bicycle bell and am born and bred in the city (London in my case).
I find them civilised.

The padded room is > that way !

 

[fossyant]

Nor will motorists hear "excuse me" when they have chris moyles or whatever on, in their modern car
which has excellent soundproofing.

A loud 'Oi' has the ability to be heard very well in a car. I have even managed to get one dozy lady 'air bourne' as she jumped that high from the drivers seat - I nearly fell off laughing.

 

[potsy]

No, no no. Just slam on the rear brake hard, the scrabbly stone ripping noise should wake them up. Can you get a horn that sounds like a HGV or intercity train ? Better still a cruise liner !!

Do you ride with a hoodie on and no lights?? Hooligan

Some of us prefer the more civilised approach

 

[Teuchter]

A few years ago I was out for a Christmas Day ride along a cycle path. Everyone I saw seemed filled with Christmas cheer and goodwill except for one old bloke walking his dog. Despite leaving LOADS of space and passing on the opposite side of the track to him, he angrily shouted after me "Haven't you got a bell?".

I ignored him and carried on but kicked myself afterwards for not thinking of the obvious response at the time...

"Aye, jingle bells!".

 

[davefb]

some of the bells you can buy are just pointless, probably just the cheapest they can get in order to 'have a bell'

you need the full 'dring dring" to get that 'people realise its a bike' effect.


well thats what I think anyway ...

mind you, on my first ever bike, i had an electric horn thing that looked like something from a 30's scifi serial

 

[Cyclopathic]

I like bells and think they are the very thing in some circumstances. They're inoffensive and a good way of letting people know you're there. However out on the road a clear sharp shout is the best and easiest way of being heard.
I too am not keen on the single ping things. They sound rubbish and are not as efficient to use..

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Nor will motorists hear "excuse me" when they have chris moyles or whatever on, in their modern car
which has excellent soundproofing.

You can tell which posters on this thread don't have much experience of city driving.
"Use a bell"
"Excuse me".
Yea roight!!

I have over 40 years cycling experience, I have been commuting for over 30 years, the the quick excuse me is for pedestrians, you have miss read my post, then miss quoted it, bells belong in a museum, they are a quaint left over from the past.

 

[Davidc]

Bells go back aeons, to before the bicycle. I find them useful, and the ring ring ones are better than the ping ones.

An airzound is more fun though. Especially up close behind a dozy pedestrian who's ignored the bell.

Even an airzound isn't enough on a really busy road. There a train horn might do the job, or one of the fog horns that used to be co-sited with light houses.

They're nothing to do with the EU. The UN perhaps in the form of the VCRT.