not sure how this thread will go but anyway... last week end i have to ride back on the canals. I do not have a bell because it will be very noisy when riding rough stuff - I came with the idea that maybe my gps on my handlebar could have a button i can push to make the sound of a bell and warning people i'm about to overtake. Is it too geeky? Can somebody write such a widget as i can't find it in Connect IQ.
thanks.
Sounds like another job for the Timber bell.
Anyway… ConnectIQ app? Won’t sound like a bell, and it’s massively overthinking the problem. Why not just say “morning, excuse me”?
Why not just say “morning, excuse me”?
Because no matter how cheery and polite you are, some miserable twunt will always say "where's your bell?" It gives them some sort of perverse satisfaction, a feeling of superiority I think. I had it on Monday night on my canal commute so I've fitted a bell for tonight's ride. I bet I get admonished for ringing it in the wrong way.
I do not have a bell because it will be very noisy when riding rough stuff
Just need a better bell
Can your Garmin even do proper noises? My 820 is still beeps only
Just need a better bell
+1
I ride with someone who's got one of those electronic hornit's, none of the options sound like a real bell which mostly confuses people!
Because no matter how cheery and polite you are, some miserable twunt will always say “where’s your bell?” It gives them some sort of perverse satisfaction, a feeling of superiority I think.
If I don't have one I get that, and when I do I've had a sarcastic "at least you've got a bell!"
I only ever need it for the canal and it's the afternoon crowd miserable bunch who have a sense of self entitlement to the entire canal path, dawdling along, refusing to let me pass or glaring and tutting. That's on shared access paths and despite me giving easy, being polite, slowing down.
I've had a crappy bell for ages that I sit under the bars to avoid impaling myself on it and breaking it in crashes, but if not on the canal I usually remove it. Except last week, left it on, had a semi OTB after an argument with a tree stump and impaled my leg on the lever bit which snapped off. So no bell now.
Doesn't solve 50% of canal users who have headphones in, are deaf or pretend to be deaf.
Knog Oi classic bell is what you want. It doesn't go off unless you flick it and doesn't look like a bell either.
I have a cheap generic bell on my MTB, it has never gone off by accident (and it's a rigid bike so it gets its fair share of hits)
Knog Oi classic bell is what you want. It doesn’t go off unless you flick it and doesn’t look like a bell either.
Somewhere in my spares box, I've got one of these that I don't use anymore because it's the quietest bell on the planet and no use at all in noisy urban environments. Might be ok on a canal towpath (as long as users don't have headphones in).
+1 on the Timber Bell, I quite like that.
Just need a large cheery voice. For those who say you need a bell point out that they heard your voice...
I just came to say
Knog Oi classic bell is what you want.
It bloody isn't, but jimdubleyou beat me to it. I also gave mine away. I've never had a bell that goes off on rough stuff. Currently have one of those Rock Bros. Knock off Spur cycle bells, not bad, still a little bit quiet.
Spur Cycles.
Stupidly expensive, but they're great.
APF
i have a an actual bell that i ring... still the number of people who tell me i should have a bell is somewhat amazing... and if/when they do moan at me; i stop, give them a demo of said bell, and with a cheery smile and a whimsical eye roll advise them there's only so much i can do and they have to pay attention too....
It's only a matter of time before some smart-arse canal walker tells you that you should have a bell app on your phone.
More useful however, would be some sort of über-powerful electronic gizmo that hacks a bell sound into bluetooth and other headphones with a choice of sound effects from blues and twos type emergency sirens through to a gentle fairy tinkle complete with a volume choice. Mine would be exploding bombs turned up to 11.
If only.
I've got a bell on our tandem for when we ride along our local canal, but nearly everyone ignores it. After I've said "Excuse me" and waited for the obligatory panic, most people explain that they thought it was a mobile phone.
I have a Hope Pro 4 rear hub on my mountain bike. When I'm on that I generally slow down and get to within 10 metres or so of most walkers then stop pedalling, let the rear hub do the job of a bell, if that fails I resort to a cheery 'excuse me'. Still get snotty folk saying 'you should have a bell', but then a heck of a lot of folk are so engrossed in their phones or wearing headphones on the towpaths that you could be hovering behind them in a Harrier Jump Jet and they'd be oblivious.
This thread reminded me I was going to get a Timber mk2… though for Amazon voucher reasons I've now got an Alpenhupe on the way.
(Personally I can't stand normal bells: to my mind anyone on a bike coming up behind me on foot ringing a bell goes into the same pigeon hole as anyone in a car coming up behind me on a bike and honking their horn, ie the pigeon hole marked "arrogant doglobber". The cowbell style seems infinitely more sociable.)
Hmmm... I'm not convinced by the silencing mechanism compared to the Timber Bell, though the mark 1 version of that used to fail gradually. I like the sales spiel though.
most people explain that they thought it was a mobile phone.
there is no hope then...crazy time.
thanks everybody - some cool options