loud bell

fred2 said:

Personally, I found just saying "ring-ring" or "Ding Dong" followed by a
gentle "dink" on the bell after passing, quite effective.
Fred

My usual is saying "excuse me" or "at your back" as a bell tends to get
ignored/not heard/not equated with something that may hurt them .
I remember one time (I wasn't at my best) I had done the "at your back
chief" bit and went past this guy he made some comment about "should
have a ******* bell" couldn't help myself I dinged the wee bell(was on
sons bike and we had just bought this bike from EBC so it had a (cheap,
ping) bell fitted) repeatedly as I cycled away .

--
www.cheesesoup.myby.co.uk

fred2 said:

A bell of any description is a no win situation!
1.) You ring it gently - you get ignored

Don't ring it gently, then.

Quoted message said:

2.) You don't ring it - and make some noise ( changing gear or cough or
polite remark, you will be asked why you haven't got a bell!)

That's never happened to me, but then I've always had a bell.

Quoted message said:

3.) You slow down and ring your bell and they jump out of their skin and
you end up apologising .

No I don't.

Quoted message said:

4.) You end up gently following someone lost in their thoughts, until they
notice you and you will be accused of nearly having giving them a heart
attack

Never had any complaints doing that.

Quoted message said:

5.) you ring your bell and it is ignored, you wait for a suitable
opportunity to pass and then you overhear "They really shouldn't be allowed
on the path without a bell!"

That happened to me once. In 1993.

Quoted message said:

6.) If you use a loud bell, you are told to "slow down!"

Or, far more likely IME, you get a "thank you".

Quoted message said:

Personally, I found just saying "ring-ring" or "Ding Dong" followed by a
gentle "dink" on the bell after passing, quite effective.

Yep, I've found that works quite well. I tend to do it when I'm on a
unicycle.

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"Daddy, put that down. Daddy, put that down. Daddy, put that down.
Daddy, why did you put that down?" - Charlie Colyer, age 2

Tony Raven said:

Ben wrote on 16/06/2007 13:49 +0100:

Quoted message said:

The problem with shouting at them is that by the time they've heard,
turned round and stepped out of the way, I've reached them and had to
come to a near-stop anyway. My aim is to be heard (and identified as a
cyclist) in plenty of time so I don't have to slow down.

Well prepare to slow down then. You would not appreciate a car driver
bearing down on you, horn blaring and expecting you to get out of their
way so why should you expect it from pedestrians?

I'll tell you why, because the bloody cycle path is so wide there's no
reason 2 or 3 people should be obstructing it. 5 or 6 people walking
abreast (as they always do) would need to reconfigure themselves, and I
expect to have to stop and wait while they do it, 1 person is incapable
of obstructing the path so is not an issue, but 2 or 3 people can easily
walk abreast, perhaps with a dog or child or shopping bags, without
being all bunched up and still leave plenty of room for a cyclist to
pass. In such a situation I'm always tempted to make a comment to the
effect that other people use the cycle way too.

In summer when we have a lot of tourists I find the same thing walking
through town. The inconsiderate [censored] spread out 3,4,5,6 (however
many it takes) abreast and make the locals walk in the road. The same
thing happens in the park, visitors in walking boots spread out and make
locals in ordinary shoes walk in the mud. If you stopped and stood your
ground you'd just be stopping every few yards and never get anywhere.

fred2 said:

A bell of any description is a no win situation!
1.) You ring it gently - you get ignored
2.) You don't ring it - and make some noise ( changing gear or cough or
polite remark, you will be asked why you haven't got a bell!)
3.) You slow down and ring your bell and they jump out of their skin and
you end up apologising .
4.) You end up gently following someone lost in their thoughts, until they
notice you and you will be accused of nearly having giving them a heart
attack
5.) you ring your bell and it is ignored, you wait for a suitable
opportunity to pass and then you overhear "They really shouldn't be allowed
on the path without a bell!"
6.) If you use a loud bell, you are told to "slow down!"

You're not wrong there (I've never tried 6)

Quoted message said:

Personally, I found just saying "ring-ring" or "Ding Dong" followed by a
gentle "dink" on the bell after passing, quite effective.

Are you Leslie Philips?

Tony Raven said:

Ben wrote on 16/06/2007 13:49 +0100:

Quoted message said:

The problem with shouting at them is that by the time they've heard,
turned round and stepped out of the way, I've reached them and had to
come to a near-stop anyway. My aim is to be heard (and identified as a
cyclist) in plenty of time so I don't have to slow down.

Well prepare to slow down then. You would not appreciate a car driver
bearing down on you, horn blaring and expecting you to get out of their
way so why should you expect it from pedestrians?

I wish I'd had my AirZound when I met this lot.

John B

On 16/06/2007 16:08, fred2 said,

Quoted message said:

A bell of any description is a no win situation!
1.) You ring it gently - you get ignored
2.) You don't ring it - and make some noise ( changing gear or cough or
polite remark, you will be asked why you haven't got a bell!)
3.) You slow down and ring your bell and they jump out of their skin and
you end up apologising .
4.) You end up gently following someone lost in their thoughts, until they
notice you and you will be accused of nearly having giving them a heart
attack
5.) you ring your bell and it is ignored, you wait for a suitable
opportunity to pass and then you overhear "They really shouldn't be allowed
on the path without a bell!"
6.) If you use a loud bell, you are told to "slow down!"

I think you've summed it up quite neatly! I have a great big
old-fashioned bell on my commuter bike, but people these days just
simply don't seem to understand what the clanging jangly noise is as
they're minding their own business walking along a cycle-path :-)

Like many others, I'll ring my bell when approaching peds. I tend not
to ring it if they're walking towards me because for some bizarre reason
I *still* assume they will see me coming towards them!

If the bell fails, then it's a polite "excuse me please", at which point
number 2 above applies :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd said:

Like many others, I'll ring my bell when approaching peds. I tend not
to ring it if they're walking towards me because for some bizarre reason
I *still* assume they will see me coming towards them!

I'll tend to ring it unless I've made eye contact. Although I
discovered on one occasion that even making eye contact doesn't
guarantee that I've been seen!

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"Daddy, put that down. Daddy, put that down. Daddy, put that down.
Daddy, why did you put that down?" - Charlie Colyer, age 2

I thought that clicking your brake levers was traditional. It often works
for me. If it doesn't I slow down as necessary and cough or something. One
Welsh Sunday I came up behind a group of elderly black clad gents who I
guessed were coming from Chapel. I slowed to their pace whilst summoning up
my best Welsh for "Excuse me." Whether or not I got it right, they moved.
I once used an Air Zound to gratifying effect on a bunch of lads who were
inclined to jeer at our tandem.
I dragged my old Air Zound of the shed yesterday and found the connecting
tube had perished. Does anyone have an idea from where I might get a
replacement?
Mike Sales

On 16/06/2007 12:03, Danny Colyer said,

Quoted message said:

I would never dream of using a ping bell, they're just a waste of
handlebar space.

I have a ping bell on my mountain bike (very uncool, but so are the
bar-ends!) because the particular bell I have is the only bell in
existence that doesn't ding continuously every time you hit the smallest
off-road pebble!

(No, I don't use it to alert horse-riders!)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Danny Colyer said:

Since I've been using this bell, it's been very rare for peds to fail to
hear it. The only peds who don't hear it tend to be groups of teenagers
oblivious to the outside world, and after multiple rings I feel no guilt
about using my AirZound on them. In fact, groups of teenagers seem to
quite enjoy being AirZounded.

I have AirZounded a ped once, I cannot remember why.
I have AZed cyclists twice, once an ejit who pulled off a
footpath in front of me and started pulling wheelies. The
other time was someone on a bent on kellaway avenue going
the opposite way to me.

Martin.

Tony Raven wrote:
The last time I used a bell like yours on a ped stepping
into the road,

Quoted message said:

they tried to answer their phone!

I am very nervous about peds blindly stepping into the
road, sometime they look several paces in. I have had them
step backwards once they see me when I am already swerving
behind them.

Martin.

Tony Raven said:

Ben wrote on 16/06/2007 13:49 +0100:

Quoted message said:

The problem with shouting at them is that by the time they've heard,
turned round and stepped out of the way, I've reached them and had to
come to a near-stop anyway. My aim is to be heard (and identified as a
cyclist) in plenty of time so I don't have to slow down.

Well prepare to slow down then. You would not appreciate a car driver
bearing down on you, horn blaring and expecting you to get out of their
way so why should you expect it from pedestrians?

Really? If I was gormlessly wandering down the middle of the road I'd
expect a horn blast from a car fairly quickly. Why should it be
different for cylists?

fred2 said:

A bell of any description is a no win situation!
1.) You ring it gently - you get ignored
2.) You don't ring it - and make some noise ( changing gear or cough or
polite remark, you will be asked why you haven't got a bell!)
3.) You slow down and ring your bell and they jump out of their skin and
you end up apologising .
4.) You end up gently following someone lost in their thoughts, until they
notice you and you will be accused of nearly having giving them a heart
attack
5.) you ring your bell and it is ignored, you wait for a suitable
opportunity to pass and then you overhear "They really shouldn't be allowed
on the path without a bell!"
6.) If you use a loud bell, you are told to "slow down!"

Or (7) they'll have a walkman on so loud you've got no hope of
attracting their attention unless you kick them in the [censored] on the way
past!

Seriously, the only collisions of any sort I have had have been with
walkman-clad pedestrians walking out into the road without looking.
Good job for them I was on a bike and not driving a bus.

Quoted message said:

Seriously, the only collisions of any sort I have had have been with
walkman-clad pedestrians walking out into the road without looking.
Good job for them I was on a bike and not driving a bus.

I know peds can be hard to predict, but if you've found it impossible to
avoid something moving at walking pace you may like to consider adjusting
your riding style.

Ben said:

Tony Raven said:

Ben wrote on 16/06/2007 13:49 +0100:

Quoted message said:

The problem with shouting at them is that by the time they've heard,
turned round and stepped out of the way, I've reached them and had to
come to a near-stop anyway. My aim is to be heard (and identified as a
cyclist) in plenty of time so I don't have to slow down.

Well prepare to slow down then. You would not appreciate a car driver
bearing down on you, horn blaring and expecting you to get out of their
way so why should you expect it from pedestrians?

I'll tell you why, because the bloody cycle path is so wide there's no
reason 2 or 3 people should be obstructing it. 5 or 6 people walking
abreast (as they always do) would need to reconfigure themselves, and I
expect to have to stop and wait while they do it, 1 person is incapable
of obstructing the path so is not an issue, but 2 or 3 people can easily
walk abreast, perhaps with a dog or child or shopping bags, without
being all bunched up and still leave plenty of room for a cyclist to
pass. In such a situation I'm always tempted to make a comment to the
effect that other people use the cycle way too.

if it's a shared path then yes you will have to slow, speed = road.
shared paths are slow. the idea of a shared path is to share.

Quoted message said:

In summer when we have a lot of tourists I find the same thing walking
through town. The inconsiderate [censored] spread out 3,4,5,6 (however
many it takes) abreast and make the locals walk in the road. The same
thing happens in the park, visitors in walking boots spread out and make
locals in ordinary shoes walk in the mud. If you stopped and stood your
ground you'd just be stopping every few yards and never get anywhere.

um chill dude.

roger

Cheeky said:

Tony Raven said:

Ben wrote on 16/06/2007 13:49 +0100:

Quoted message said:

The problem with shouting at them is that by the time they've heard,
turned round and stepped out of the way, I've reached them and had to
come to a near-stop anyway. My aim is to be heard (and identified as a
cyclist) in plenty of time so I don't have to slow down.

Well prepare to slow down then. You would not appreciate a car driver
bearing down on you, horn blaring and expecting you to get out of their
way so why should you expect it from pedestrians?

Really? If I was gormlessly wandering down the middle of the road I'd
expect a horn blast from a car fairly quickly. Why should it be
different for cylists?

because most cycle paths are just shared paths. they are not roads but
paths.

roger

Paul Boyd said:

people these days just simply don't seem to understand what the clanging jangly noise is as
they're minding their own business walking along a cycle-path :-)

A policeman once stopped me (whilst I was on a motorcycle) and
questioned my use of arm signals to indicate turns (the moto had no
indicators). He complemented my correct use of the old arms, but then
advised me that "..no-one knows what hand signals are all about these
days, so you may as well not bother". !!!

Bygone times eh?

Meanwhile, back on topic, I favour a cheery "scuse me!" or if I'm
following a choice filly and feeling a little Leslie Philips then DING
DONG! gets the nod, every time...

T

Roger Merriman said:

Ben said:

Tony Raven said:

Ben wrote on 16/06/2007 13:49 +0100:
> The problem with shouting at them is that by the time they've heard,
> turned round and stepped out of the way, I've reached them and had to
> come to a near-stop anyway. My aim is to be heard (and identified as a
> cyclist) in plenty of time so I don't have to slow down.
>
Well prepare to slow down then. You would not appreciate a car driver
bearing down on you, horn blaring and expecting you to get out of their
way so why should you expect it from pedestrians?

I'll tell you why, because the bloody cycle path is so wide there's no
reason 2 or 3 people should be obstructing it. 5 or 6 people walking
abreast (as they always do) would need to reconfigure themselves, and I
expect to have to stop and wait while they do it, 1 person is incapable
of obstructing the path so is not an issue, but 2 or 3 people can easily
walk abreast, perhaps with a dog or child or shopping bags, without
being all bunched up and still leave plenty of room for a cyclist to
pass. In such a situation I'm always tempted to make a comment to the
effect that other people use the cycle way too.

if it's a shared path then yes you will have to slow, speed = road.
shared paths are slow. the idea of a shared path is to share.

I take your point, but they need a noise behind them that they can hear
before they'll step aside and share!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In summer when we have a lot of tourists I find the same thing walking
through town. The inconsiderate [censored] spread out 3,4,5,6 (however
many it takes) abreast and make the locals walk in the road. The same
thing happens in the park, visitors in walking boots spread out and make
locals in ordinary shoes walk in the mud. If you stopped and stood your
ground you'd just be stopping every few yards and never get anywhere.

um chill dude.

Fair enough ;-)

I'm just glad you didn't get me started on the ones that move here
because they think its so nice and then join the local council and it
becomes their mission in life to make the place exactly like where they
came from and left because they didn't like it.

Ben said:

I've noticed recently that pedestrians walking along the cycleway don't
hear my bell, even at close range, although they invariably hear the
(much quieter) sound of barely-gripping rubber as I brake hard to come
to a stop behind them. One of them even helpfully commented "where's
your bell?". It is, in point of fact, one of those small ones with a
little flicky rubber hammer thing that goes 'dink'. Can anyone recommend
a louder bell? I don't really like the huge old fashioned type that
spring back slowly, but if they're loud enough then I'll consider them.
Similarly, I'm a bit wary of horns as they may not say 'cyclist' to
pedestrians, but if its loud enough then I'll consider it!

Well, I have a bell and I find that if I come up behind cyclists and ring
it, they invariably look over their shoulder and in doing so, steer
directly into my path.
I only use it when I have no option.

--
Mike
Van Tuyl titanium Dura Ace 10
Fausto Coppi aluminium Ultegra 10
Raleigh Record Sprint mongrel

in message <[email hidden]>, Danny

Colyer (') said:

fred2 said:

A bell of any description is a no win situation!
1.) You ring it gently - you get ignored

Don't ring it gently, then.

Quoted message said:

2.) You don't ring it - and make some noise ( changing gear or cough or
polite remark, you will be asked why you haven't got a bell!)

That's never happened to me, but then I've always had a bell.

IME you ring the bell gently, then you ring the bell loudly, then you ring
your bell very loudly, then you say 'excuse me'; and it is then that they
say, in magisterial tones 'you should have rang your bell'.

Redsocks are the worst, of course.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Our modern industrial economy takes a mountain covered with trees,
;; lakes, running streams and transforms it into a mountain of junk,
;; garbage, slime pits, and debris. -- Edward Abbey