My commuter has a bell and its well worth having. Not everyone hears or pays it any regard but some do.

My mountain bike did have one and it was always fun ringing it when following a mate on a trail to add to the pressure of having someone right on your tail Might pop one on the Dyfi Enduro to aid courteous passing.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQXLvsVN0k[/video]

Plebs!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Andrew-Mitchells-Reflex-Westminster-Bike-in-aid-of-Nyumbani-UK-/230970160684?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item35c6e4f62c

not a bell but a horn.

I’m surprised anyone on here uses a bell, especially given all the self builds.

In London IME at least it just seems to be the norm to pelt past walkers at 30kph on shared use paths. If it’s busy you slow down a bit, or wait, or politely asked to be let past. Any where’s your bells would just get an eff off because it’s so obviously petty minded rather than genuinely meant.

My mate has a whistle (with a pea in it, like a referee’s whistle) hanging off shoulder of camelbak. Not sure it is great for bike/redsock PR but it is funny to see peoples’ faces when they realise who/what/why it is. Whenever I hear a whistle outside my kids’ school playground, my first instinct is that I am in some sort of school/footy/old fashioned gendarme related trouble. 😆

antigee – Member
PS i’ve had a horn on but not sure if clears my passage

fnarrr

got a horn a couple years ago, quite liked it, honk honk, but in cold weather it was no good. Got an ok ting ting bell on my new commuter and mostly it works better than “excuse me” used to. Plenty of headphone users don’t hear it but if they start complaining they’ve not got a leg to stand on. Got a proper cherching cherching old school type bell but it only fits on slim bars, got it on my SS where shifters normally go 🙂

After my snowdon experience from now on big groups of walkers will get a “CYCLIST!” which the rear most walkers usually shout anyway, I’ll just pre-empt them.

Hope hubs and a bell

love this rotary design

Used to always have a bell on my bike but within a year of moving to HK I gave up as the hikers here just don’t seem to respond to them either because they are just not paying attention or have sort of stereo system rigged up to their rucksack (honest!).
I found that simply shouting excuse me or the Cantonese equivalent is much more affective although a little exhaustive.

Another one with Hope hubs.

I purposefully freewheel when approaching folk and it works everytime 😀

Only on the commuter as it’s single speed and pretty damn silent.
Hate it when people hammer up behind pedestrians and scare the bejeezus out of them. And then moan that no one likes cyclists.
Tom KP

I find a bell very useul on shared paths. Sometimes people even thank me for using it. No negative experiences to report.

Yep even my enduro has a bell ( bob the builder)
A lot of local rides have parts on the canal path

Open access here, so bells on all bikes (even the one with Hope hubs). Gone through quite a few though to find one that lasts.

No need for a bell i’ve got hope hubs and a bellowing yorkshire accent

“bye-eck Scuse me ant dog comit through pleese”

“Ta luv” as i ride past 🙂

Bells on all our bikes.

mikewsmith – Member
He turned round an pointed shouting Bike Bike to all who could hear. Then said I should have a bell, as I was going slow I explained that I though Excuse me was more polite….

Just point back and shout “Rambler, Rambler!”

z1ppy – Member
Bells just make them turn round, still blocking the path, and just look at you… wtf is the point of that?

Yeah but then you can see the whites of their eyes and the look of terror as you plough into them,

Have a BBB Bellspace design that sits as a spacer on the headtube. Very understated and easy to ping. Strictly on the commuter, mind. Mounts 90 degrees to the picture. raises stem about 5mm.

where’s your bell?

The correct answer I find is always; “Where’s your bike?” with a suitably puzzled expression.

The PDW ‘king of ding’ from charlie the bikemonger is nice, and sounds pleasingly like those antique mantlepiece clocks you get in national trust houses.

+1, feking anoying on rough singletrack when riding in groups though.

I have a bell on both my commuter and my MTBs.

The commuter one is a £1.75 ‘I love my bike’ bell from Wilko, like this:

It’s the continual ringing type. Good and loud, the small single flick/ping bell type are useless on my commute, the sound just doesn’t seem to register with pedestrians unless you’re right on them.

The MTBs on the other hand, have ping bells, purely for the purpose of indicating to your riding group your rating of women, on a 1-5 ping scale as you ride past 😆

Got one on my HT and one on my SS as I use them on the
Local sustrans route now and then.

The trick is to ding twice, good and early and then twice more as they quizzically look up unsure if they heard anything, and cover the brakes…