bells on bikes

mattsccm wrote:

A clicking freewheel means nothing to a non cyclist (or someone with a properly maintained or designed bike.

There’s a vacancy for you in Vicenza.  Mr. Campagnolo clearly didn’t know what he was doing when he designed the Record rear hub.

mattsccm wrote:

I refuse to accept that a bell cannot be mounted.

I don’t see anyone above saying they can’t mount a bell – just that they’ve had one in the past and it hasn’t been of any use.

Bells do have the advantage

Bells do have the advantage that people know what they are. Well decent ones anyway, not the single ring pingers.

A skid indicates that something is stopping too fast. A clicking freewheel means nothing to a non cyclist (or someone with a properly maintained or designed bike. )  

A voice can work but is so often misued and isn’t cycle specific.  A bell says that a bike is coming as a horn says that a motorised vehicle is there.

I refuse to accept that a bell cannot be mounted. They fit bars or the seat post, which is where mine is. . As you should be slowing when approaching a pedestrian or slower cyclist or what ever control isn’t an issue. If it is then the riding speed should be slower still.

Of course bells don’t work with the dimwits who are deliberatley deaf but remember the idea isn’t to get them to move out of your way, its to tell them you are there.  What they do then depedns on their nature as a human.

Nothing of course will work for those with no genuine hearing or they complete antisocial morons who use headphones in public. Its not the wearing thats wrong, its the oblivion to the world around you.

To those who say “bells don’t work”. Of course they don’t always but why should that be an objection to them?  NOTHING works in every situation does it but that never ever is the reason to stop using something.

hawkinspeter wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

Sometimes it can be tricky to spot pedestrians if they’re just over the brow of a hill, so maybe it’d be more thoughtful if they were to carry 6 foot poles with a flag on top to make them easier to spot.

Dogs on shared use paths are

Dogs on shared use paths are the bane of my commute. On ten metres of lead, if they’re on a lead at all. All is fine if the dog or owner has half a brain, but there’s plenty with barely that between them.

You don’t ride a bike, do you

You don’t ride a bike, do you Bonnie?

As you correctly point out, some people are awkward no matter what their mode of transport; everyone’s an individual.  Which is why some cyclists will ring a bell at you, some will shout “hello” or “excuse me”, and some will make a noise that lets others know a bike is approaching, by skidding the back wheel on gravel or perhaps freewheeling so that you can here the clicking of a freewheel.

I’m in the clicky freewheel/shout “hello” camp, so no, I won’t be fitting a bell to my bike.  Not because I’m awkward, but because experience has told me that a bike bell is roundly ignored.

Another titbit for you, Bonnie – not everyone defines themselves by their mode of transport.  Sometimes, I ride a bike.  I’m also quite partial to a day out walking.  I understand that everyone has a different approach to things, so I don’t waste my time posting on forums asking people to change their behaviour just to please me.

Surely slowing down and a

Surely slowing down and a cheery ‘morning / afternoon’ followed by ‘rider left/right’ is more polite than ringing a bell at them?

Once past a group of 10 older walkers on a shared use path and everyone was fine with the above apart from one old girl who made a snarky comment of ‘don’t bikes have bells anymore?’ as I slowly rode past. She seemed quite taken aback when i said ‘actually I prefer to speak to people than ring a bell at them as it seems a little more friendly don’t you think?’.

The amused looks on the faces of the other walkers indicated she was a serial complainer of all things life related and wasn’t used to people answering back to her. 🙂

or they have headphones on,

or they have headphones on, or are that special class of person who will deliberately obstruct you because they hate the fact that you’re ‘demanding’ them to move’. A few polite words much better IME.

ktache wrote:

Some pedestians react by randomly jumping either left or right upon hearing a bell, apparently believing that you are cycling right at them, whereas you are only notifying them of your presence.  And beacause they are walking down the middle of the shared path they have a 50% chance of jumping in front of the cyclist.

If they jump in front of the cyclist on hearing the bell, the cyclist either hasn’t sounded his bell early enough or is travelling too fast for a shared path.