Horns / bells / sirens



D

Doki

Guest
What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?
 
I have a miniature type of siren which makes quite a noise-trouble is people
seem to ignore it.
I think bell=bike to most people!

"Doki" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
> removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?
 
Doki wrote:
> What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
> removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?


Your own voice at full blast!
 
On 14/11/2006 20:05, The Blue Frog said,

> I think bell=bike to most people!


Not round here it doesn't. Bell = "What's that funny jangling noise?"
to most people. :-(

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
Doki wrote:
> What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air,


Air Zound (as long as you don't bash it against anything).

> and isn't easily
> removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?


Glue the horn to the bracket, then tie it to the handlebar with a foot
or two of garden wire. It won't be easily removed then (it's what I
usually do after I break the q/r).

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
 
"Doki" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
> removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?


I run both my bikes with a halfords "curly horn" very effective. Bells of
all kinds I have tried just do not work ----but the most effective in all
situations is a bl**dy loud shout!
Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.
www.tapan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
 
"Paul Boyd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 14/11/2006 20:05, The Blue Frog said,
>
> > I think bell=bike to most people!

>
> Not round here it doesn't. Bell = "What's that funny jangling noise?"
> to most people. :-(


Same here for many.

Was out on towpath at weekend and my wife rang bell chap looks round and
before we reached him we slowed down and he exagerates a startled jump and
swings his walking stick out to the side my wife was passing him just
missing her.

If it had been genuine then fair cop but he had seen us, and worse still he
had done the same to me a few weeks ago so he got a mouth full from me.

A woman a few weeks ago made the comment "Oh sorry, I heard a bell but
didn't know where it was coming from".

As nobody was in front of her she could have made an assumption that someone
was behind.

Another walking her dogs one on a short lead one long, wife rings bell, then
again, then again, then "Excuse me please". Reply "I have heard you but am
walking my dogs so will move when I am ready".

Dave
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Doki wrote:
> > What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
> > removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?

>
> Your own voice at full blast!
>


Round here they want to hear the bell but take no notice when you do.

"use your bell, if you have one then I will move", but they don't.

Dave
 
Dave said the following on 15/11/2006 10:16:

> Another walking her dogs one on a short lead one long, wife rings bell, then
> again, then again, then "Excuse me please". Reply "I have heard you but am
> walking my dogs so will move when I am ready".


I've not had that yet, but if I did I think my blood would reach boiling
point rather rapidly! What part of "share" don't they understand? I
suppose the legal experts on here will say that cyclists have to give
way to peds, but I though deliberate obstruction was an offence as well.
Shame there aren't laws enforcing good old-fashioned common courtesy.

At least hereabouts an "Excuse me please" usually works where a bell
doesn't. In any case, I wouldn't use a bell when coming up behind
horse-riders! Despite the alleged incompatibility, horsey types and
MTBers tend to get on in my local woods. It's walkers who think MTBs
shouldn't be there at all that cause the problems!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 10:17:29 -0000, "Dave" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Doki wrote:
>> > What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
>> > removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?

>>
>> Your own voice at full blast!
>>

>
>Round here they want to hear the bell but take no notice when you do.
>
>"use your bell, if you have one then I will move", but they don't.
>
>Dave


You have to learn to treat the peds and dogs like moveable bollards and the
MUP as a parcourse! It's actually an opportunity to improve your bike
handling skills.

They're also there to teach you to be calm and unperturbed in the face of
irritation - to not let anything they do affect you.

Obviously if someone pulls a gun, then sure, but anything else short of
mugging - no big deal.

It might also be nature telling you to ride on the road - not sure.
Sometimes the fates are hard to read.
 
Doki wrote:
> What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
> removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?


I use Air Zound for motorists and any rude pedestrians (not many around
here), and a bell for non-rude pedestrians (the majority). Works OK
until I get them mixed up, giving the innocent pedestrian a full blast
from the Zound. She jumped out of the way, saying "sorry".

I've had the AirZound for a year, and apart from an occasional pump-up,
it works well; it holds pressure extremely well. I leave my bike at my
local station 3 days or so each week, and it has survived.
 
On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 12:20:16 +0000, Paul Boyd wrote:
> At least hereabouts an "Excuse me please" usually works where a bell
> doesn't. In any case, I wouldn't use a bell when coming up behind
> horse-riders! Despite the alleged incompatibility, horsey types and
> MTBers tend to get on in my local woods. It's walkers who think MTBs
> shouldn't be there at all that cause the problems!


I used to find a quick greeting of "Morning" or "Afternoon" as appropriate
worked well on country bridleways, its also probably less likely to spook a
horse then a bell.

--
Stephen Patterson :: [email protected] :: http://patter.mine.nu/
GPG: B416F0DE :: Jabber: [email protected]
"Don't be silly, Minnie. Who'd be walking round these cliffs with a gas oven?"
 
Stephen Patterson said the following on 15/11/2006 15:56:

> I used to find a quick greeting of "Morning" or "Afternoon" as appropriate
> worked well on country bridleways, its also probably less likely to spook a
> horse then a bell.


That's why I don't use a bell when coming up behind horses. :)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
Dave wrote:
>>Another walking her dogs one on a short lead one long, wife rings bell, then
>>again, then again, then "Excuse me please". Reply "I have heard you but am
>>walking my dogs so will move when I am ready".


and Paul Boyd responded:
> I've not had that yet, but if I did I think my blood would reach boiling
> point rather rapidly! What part of "share" don't they understand?


There was a woman I used to encounter frequently on my morning commute
who used to let her two dogs run all over the place and made no effort
to control them. I always ring my bell well in advance when I see a dog
walker ahead, to give them plenty of time to take control of the animal,
but this woman simply didn't care.

The first time I encountered her I used the Air Zound on one of the
dogs. On another occasion, when I had a great deal of difficulty
getting past, I stopped and had a few words with her. I pointed out HC
rule 42 (dogs should be kept on a short lead), and the signs at every
major access point to the cyclepath instructing dog walkers to keep
their animals under control.

The next day, both dogs were on short leads. She walked down the middle
of the path, with one dog on either side, leads stretched across so that
they were taking up the entire width of the path, and refused to move
when I rang my bell.

I know I wasn't the only cyclist to have words with this woman, because
I've spoken to others who had. Eventually she seemed to get the message
and I didn't see her for a couple of years. I now see her occasionally
in the evenings, but thankfully she's become a little more considerate.

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
 
Doki wrote:
> What's the best horn, preferably durable, runs off air, and isn't easily
> removed from the bike so I can just bolt it on and forget?


I can recommend the brass bell sold by Alex Moulton (of small wheeled
bicycle fame), simple design, pleasing note, but just like the bikes
expensive

because bells = bicycles

Mark T
 
"Stephen Patterson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 12:20:16 +0000, Paul Boyd wrote:
>> At least hereabouts an "Excuse me please" usually works where a bell
>> doesn't. In any case, I wouldn't use a bell when coming up behind
>> horse-riders! Despite the alleged incompatibility, horsey types and
>> MTBers tend to get on in my local woods. It's walkers who think MTBs
>> shouldn't be there at all that cause the problems!

>
> I used to find a quick greeting of "Morning" or "Afternoon" as appropriate
> worked well on country bridleways, its also probably less likely to spook
> a
> horse then a bell.
>

Funny things, horses. Drive a 30-year-old noisy double deck bus with an
extremely rattly 8-bike trailer around the New Forest, and the Forest ponies
don't bat an eyelid. 50 yards later, drive past a "domestic" horse with
Jemima aboard it, and it's jumping all over the place .... (even though
you've slowed down, etc) [1]


[1] which is usually the moment when the automatic air pressure relief valve
decides to blow off...
--
IanH
 
Response to ian henden:
> [1] which is usually the moment when the automatic air pressure relief valve
> decides to blow off...



I think you'll find there's a reason horses do that when you're passing
them.


--
Mark, UK
"One of the gigs was in Kidderminster at a venue called Frank Freeman's
Dancing School. This was in the days when groups were called things like
Creedence Clearwater Revival or New Riders of the Purple Sage, and one
of the band said to me: 'Hey, that's a really groovy name.' 'Not
really,' I told him. 'It's a dancing school run by a man named Frank
Freeman'."
 
"Mark McNeill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Response to ian henden:
>> [1] which is usually the moment when the automatic air pressure relief
>> valve
>> decides to blow off...

>
>
> I think you'll find there's a reason horses do that when you're passing
> them.
>

:eek:)

--
IanH
 
ian henden wrote:
> Funny things, horses. Drive a 30-year-old noisy double deck bus with an
> extremely rattly 8-bike trailer around the New Forest, and the Forest ponies
> don't bat an eyelid. 50 yards later, drive past a "domestic" horse with
> Jemima aboard it, and it's jumping all over the place .... (even though
> you've slowed down, etc) [1]


I noticed this in the New Forest too. The ponies there are less easily
spooked than the riding school horses in Hyde Park.

Perhaps it's because they don't have to be ridden by the kind of person
who'd ride horses in Hyde Park ...


-dan

--
http://www.coruskate.net/