[RafatheRed]

So today while cycling i came up behind 2 walkers in a lane.I was going 5 mph and from a resonable distance I politly said ‘bike coming past ladies’ .They moved out the way.however as i passed one lady said ‘you need a bell’ This seems to be the standard responce from walkers. I have also had this cycling in the forest on my mtb with walkers on cycle tracks

So do i need a bell?

Topic

[andyp363]

Find a bell doesn’t get a

Find a bell doesn’t get a great response 1/2 the time – the trick is to do it VERY early, but still feels a bit presumptuous like a car beeping you with the horn

Had quite a few people literally jump out their skins when I speak (on quiet paths)

BEST solution is just a nice loud clicky freehub  stop peddling get some buzzing going always works great gets attention good without sounding  get out of my way-ey or being too surprising (unless you on some kings and stop peddling at 30mph 10 feet away hahah  save that for people crossing the roads without looking

And unless there’s a strong headwind

[roadrunner23]

For some you’ll never get it

For some you’ll never get it right. I remember once passing a couple of horses on a reasonably wide road in the middle of a village. I slowed right down, moved right across to the opposite side of the road about 15 metres before I got to the horses and still got an earful from one of the riders. The horse didn’t react at all though. 🙂

 

[Captain Badger]

I certainly am, however as I

I certainly am, however as I said, it’s not me, it’s the others. 

By sounding the horn I am providing another (unknown) driver more information about the situation than if I didn’t – ie, the presence of another vehicle. Whether or not it is of material benefit depends on a number of other factors, most of them outside my control. If the approaching driver is a similar style to mine, it probably matters not, as we would both be proceeding with caution. Another driver may not be familiar with that stretch of road, or too familiar (eg complacent). May be less cautious, maybe cutting the corner at speed, or [fill in other variation of choice here].

It is of course entirely possible that, in addition, the driver may be incompetent, wreckless, on the phone, telling their kids off, doing a Waynes World rendition of Bohemian Rhaposdy or a combination of some or all of the above, and in that case there may be no benefit, and I’m wasting a small amount of fuel as an indirect result of Lenz’s Law. 

Or maybe there’s no other driver – that is more often than not the case.

But, I’m still going to pi-pip whenever I approach that particular bend…

[ktache]

The law was added to in 2005

The law was added to in 2005 permitting certain flashing lights on a bicycle.

[Captain Badger]

The Torygraph , surely….

The Torygraph , surely….

[TheBillder]

I find a good loud parp on
I find a good loud parp on the hunting horn does the job very nicely. Any pedestrians having issues with this policy can be swatted away by my grooms SocratiCyclist and BOOBOOJMOOJ using rolled up copies of the Daily Mail.

I mostly delegate my actual cycling to those two anyway.

[don simon fbpe]

I trust that, as you are

I trust that, as you are approaching the hump back bridge, you are driving at an appropriate speed as well as pip-pipping the horn. Rendering the use of horn pointless.

You have failed to idendify why the use of horn serves any purpose. It tells me that you are there, but unless you are driving at a speed whereby you can stop easily, it is useless.

[shutuplegz]

Historically I found that on

Historically I found that on shared-use paths pedestrians would get far more grumpy at having a bell tinkled at them (just like if someone beeps their car horn at you I guess?) than other means. Politely shouting something only works some of the time and wind direction can just carry your voice away. These days I try to avoid such paths but do regularly encounter horse riders on the roads. Again, sudden noises like bells can scare a horse and a polite ‘hello’ or ‘bike coming through’ might not be heard until its too late. So I have found that a really noisy freehub is the best solution. Just freewheel from a good distance back and the noise is high enough frequency to be different to other nosies around and usually the rider hears it or the horse hears it and turns its ears before you run the risk of giving it a fright. Works for pedestrians too!

[Captain Badger]

In fairness, I do similar

In fairness, I do similar when driving. Just outside Trimdon near Hartlepool, there is a particularly nasty corner on a two-lane national speed limit road. The corner is blind, at the bottom of a small reentrant, with a humpback bridge added for extra fun. I always sound pi-pip on the approach from either direction.

Were I to hear someone do the same it would be unlikely to change my action, as I always assume there’s someone coming. However, as the time-honoured Hartlepudlian phrase goes “It’s not me, it’s the others”…..

[hawkinspeter]

hirsute wrote:

Pics or it never happened !!

.

[Hirsute]

Pics or it never happened !!

Pics or it never happened !!

[hawkinspeter]

wycombewheeler wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

……. Anyhow, we ended up disagreeing about whether cycling was allowed on that bridge and the non-official signs, but shook hands and went our own ways. ……

happier times

Indeed. He even apologised for having a go at me when he realised that I’m not his enemy.

[mdavidford]

I would expect the other

I would expect the other person to proceed cautiously to avoid any collision, and would be doing the same. Of course, they ought to be doing that anyway, in case there was someone coming who hadn’t given a warning, but in reality there are often people who barrel through without thinking unless you’ve advertised your presence to them.

[Shades]

Bells are like mudguards;

Bells are like mudguards; sensible bits of kit that some people would rather be seen dead using (for some reason).  I’ve got a titchy bell clipped to the side of the shifter hood; never get any grief from pedestrians.

[wtjs]

A bell is a legal requirement

A bell is a legal requirement in Northern Ireland 

I’m happy to believe it, but equally happy to assert that there will be large numbers of cyclists there disobeying this ‘law’, just as we all used to disobey the law which I understand did, or does, prohibit flashing cycle lights or lights not affixed to the bike. The Filth, as we all know, can’t even be bothered to enforce the law against motorists crashing through red lights at 50 mph- so I’ll take my chance over bells and lights.

[Author]

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