Bells – bring them back?

I had a lovely solo bimble on Black Down and Rowberrow yesterday, just riding up and down various trails checking out the conditions, sawing/clearing fallen trees and helping lost people. It was busy with cyclists, walkers and horse riders and even some runners – all enjoying the sunshine.

I got chatting to one middle aged couple near Dolbery Bottom who were a little confused about the best way back to Burrington. They were from a Portishead-based walking club. Just then, a small group of MTBers (from John's bike shop in Bath as it happens) passed by and with a frown the fella says: "Why doesn't anyone ding their bells anymore?" … to which I had no answer other than and embarrassed: "It seems to be unfashionable to have them".

He explained that at 60yrs, his hearing isn't great and approaching cyclists tend to surprise/worry him and his fellow club walkers. They have no problem with cyclists being there, just don't like being surprised.

So in the interest of trail harmony, I'm going to put a bell on my bike this week. What do you think?

i don't use a bell, but a friendly 'hi there, on your left/right' as appropriate with some thanks. works better than a bell IMO.

surely a hope freehub is just as effective?

I've been riding with one for a few years. Put it on as compulsory kit for a race, and have just left it on since as I've found people smile at you when you use it.

Good idea. They seem to be registered better by walkers than a verbal warning, porbably something to do with the frequency of sound.

It's more difficult to take a bell warning as being "aggressive" , compared with a shout, too.

I'm more of a cheery "hello" kind of person myself

MILF Bells.

Me I usually say "Hello, can I be past please?"

Mind on my local trails not a problem as you don't get crowds up here.

I always put my bell on the bike whenever i go down the towpaths as it seems the best way to signal your approach without being given dirty looks. Virtually everyone responds nicely to a bell being rung rather than a shout or a locking up of the back wheel.

If i'm properly offroad then i generally don't put it on. I've got a groovy little bell i picked up in Holland that attaches with an O ring so it's a doddle to put on and take off.

I think a bell is almost a requirement if you know you will be riding near walkers and it shows courtesy to others even if it doesn't look too cool on your 5" full susser…..

I think there must be a market for a carbon fibre and Ti bell

Some of the XC cocks round llandegla need bells to match the end's!!

idiots cutting up and charging past people made me pretty cross and intimidated the female members in our group!

(i have a cheap bell on to ring when i want to go though or to warn ppl in my group of others coming though)

I've always had a bell – mostly because it annoys the militant red sock brigade when you use it. It also annoys the too-cool cyclists who think it is somehow degrading to have such a thing fastened to a bike.

Win win.

I've just spent a week in Wales and did the Mawddach trail with the kids a few times. Both kids have bells on their bikes to warn walkers, and both have been shown how to use them.

Due to the fact I run a Hope ProII rear hub on the hardtail, most walkers had already moved over to the side of the trail before we were in 'bell distance' and the kids only got to use their bells for the walkers who weren't going to move over for any reason.

One bloke was really upset about us using the trail on bikes, and passed comment about 'bloody bikers' as we came past (fairly slowly, as my 7 year old daughter isn't that fast). Just as he said it his dog, which was on one of those reel lead things, ran across in front of me and the lead got wrapped around my front disc.

I was going slowly enough that I didn't fall off, but his face was a real picture. I think he was going to have a right go, until he realised that I was a lot taller stood up than I was leant over the handlebars.

Anyway, I gave him a cheery 'no harm done' and went on my way. If I thought it would have made any difference then I'd have explained that we were on a shared trail and that maybe he should remember that in future, but it was obvious that he just wasn't interested.

To be fair to regular walkers, it did look like this was his annual 'holiday' walk and not something he'd be doing on a frequent basis.

I use a bell now. I used to think that saying hello was friendlier but walkers seem to much prefer the sound of a bell. See no harm in using it and it makes life more pleasant. Also good when approaching blind corners etc.

I've always had a bell on my bike. The only one of my bikes that doesn't have a bell is my road bike and thats only because I find shouting at car drivers is more effective!

Like some other people here I find a bell gets a better response from walkers.

Would this be considered excessive?

"The new T28-D Law Enforcement has been developed and tested in cooperation with the US Police and is the technologically most advanced law enforcement bicycle system today. The light combines a daylight-visible blue-red LED cluster with an extremely bright triple LED emitter and a 115 decibel siren. Many properties of our other battery lights, like the innovative and reliable control unit are derived from the experience gained with this lighting system."

They have no problem with cyclists being there, just don't like being surprised

Would a bell not surprise them then? I'm not taking issue with what they're saying, but whether it's your Hopes, a friendly shout or a ringing bell some noise is going to make them aware of you when previously they weren't, and I don't really see what difference it makes which one it is.

onewheelgood – Member

I think there must be a market for a carbon fibre and Ti bell

Like this?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/MKS_Titanium_Racing_Bell/5360043405/

I'm a 'bike behind' shouter, most responses are positive, either way it seems reasonable to slowup and alert people that you're coming.

I find either (bike or bell) seems to genuinely startle some people and I know from my 82 year old mum (stick and new hip) that she gets really upset by people flashing past a few inches away.

I find bells are a little anti-social when a friendly hello and excuse me work much better on trails followed by a thank you and a comment about the weather.
My commuter bike has a bell which I use with liberal abandon when picking my way through crowds of pedestrians ignoring traffic lights etc in the city though.

Not a fan myself. They "ping" ones aren't loud enough – they certainly don't work with iPod-wearing joggers – and the "dingaling" ones tend to jingle annoyingly when you're riding off-road. Old people like them but your die-hard MTB hater is not going to have his views changed by a pinging bit of metal.

Also be warned, I used to have a bell with a metal bracket, like this one. Wheel span while riding over slippery log one day, knee made contact with pointy metal bracket, fell to ground in agony feeling like a particularly unlucky IRA informant. Took about a month before it stopped being painful.

I go for hope hubs plus a bell – good thing about a bell is that a ting carries some way ahead and so when the walkr turns around to see where you are you're still some way behind and so less of a fright and more time for them to get in/grab the dog etc, but I also slow right down

I have a bell on my bike and find walkers respond better to this than a shout. I do get the 'frightened rabbit' leap occasionally but generally they just move aside. A lot of my local trails include a trip along the canal towpath and this can be busy and a bell gets the smiles.

I also walk with my wife on this same canal and bikes do come behind suddenly without warning. Riding the bike I think I'm making enough noise for walkers to hear but this isn't always the case. Also being an oldgit means I have duff hearing 😉

The key to much of this is the amount of warning you give to people – if you twang your bell just behind them, they'll jump; if you say nothing and zip by, they'll jump; if you holler "Beeeeehiiiiind yooooouuuuu" immediately prior to running them over, they'll jump.

Give them a combo of the hub, bell, shout, SSer's exploding knees with enough time for them to turn and look at the snarling towpath conquering beast bearting down on them, and they'll love you forever.

The problem I find with bells is that people do not hear them. I recently had the standard "in my day we rang bells to let people know.. blah" rant. the guy was flabbergasted when I showed him the bell I'd been ringing, and that I'd only called to him when I realised the bell wasn't working.

The other issue is that many take the ringing of a bell as "GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!" and not "I'm letting you know I'm approaching on my otherwise quiet bicycle".

So many people now (including the olds) have iPods or suchlike in; they have set themselves up to be spooked. Like the lady this week walking on the cyclepath from Brynmawr to Abergavenny who shouted "YOU frightened the life out of me!" to which explained that she was walking down the middle of a cycletrack with her ears blocked and should not really be shocked by the presence of the occasional cycle.

I don't think there's one definitive answer to this one.

I find a bell certainly tells people that a bike is coming as they associate the two together but that doesn't always evoke a better response. When i had a bell I could be ringing it half a mile up the path to where the walkers were and there would be some particularly beligerant ones who would deliberatly ignore me *because* they knew I was on a bike.

Ald feckers.

I prefer a cheery hello from way back nowadays.

as all of our trails up here are shared use, a bell is a must IMHO. a wee ding-ding seems to work better than a shout and marks you out as an approaching bike. horses get a "hello" first, then asked if it's OK to pass. rarely encounter any trail grumpiness.

I took my bell off after the umpteenth walker ignored it and then said "oh I wondered what that noise was" and still didn't get out of the way. Now I just politely shout "excuse me" up to 5 times before they realise a cyclist is actually behind them. In their defence my local trails aren't used by other cyclists too much.

My local LBS actually "lost" one bell when they fitted a BB once…I don't think they approved 😕

i think they should invent one of those air raid sirens for bikes.if they didn't hear that,a quick slap on the backs of their heads,should suffice. 😉

still didn't get out of the way

Just as we expect cars to GAS about us, so we need to remember to GAS about walkers – they have priority, and so aren't obliged to "get out of the way".

so aren't obliged to "get out of the way".

Bollox they aren't obliged sorry!

I never need to ask people to move .. they hear my brakes well before I get there, they squeel like a B1tch! 🙂

I'm a 'excuse me' type meself. My old Dad was 'tone deaf', like he could hear people talking but couldn't hear the phone ringing, so he like probably lots of other folk, maybe wouldn't hear a bell.

Always ring my bell so I don't startle people.

I end up getting stick from other cyclists taking the mickey.

Thing is I never get stuck behind ppl as do roadies without a bell.

Would a bell not surprise them then? … upset by people flashing past a few inches away.

I think you answered your own question: a bell is less surprising than the feeling that you were inches from being mown down.

iPod-wearing joggers

Deserve what they get 😉

die-hard MTB hater is not going to have his views changed

Very true, so I'm ignoring them.

What I want/need is a remote override to interrupt the iPod tunes of nordic walkers. Why do they always use the entire width of the track? At least joggers tend to be alone (except the one the other day accompanied by a unicyclist in the forest).

It'll be conker and acorn season soon. Plenty of projectiles to fire as you ride over them. That's often plenty enough to get attention.

What you need is a horn[/url] – louder than a bell, so they can hear you, and who can possibly object to you using one of those as a warning device?

Maybe some sort of bean bag bazooka?

If it's non-lethal what can anyone moan about?

Would a bell not surprise them then? … upset by people flashing past a few inches away.

I think you answered your own question: a bell is less surprising than the feeling that you were inches from being mown down.

It's not either/or though is it? My remarks were in the context of letting them know you're there by making some sort of noise before you go blatting past them. My point was that I don't see that it matters what that noise is.

BTW I'm talking about slowing down and loudly saying "excuse me" from some way back, not yelling "COMING THROUGH!" half a second before you're on them at full pelt.

"loudly saying "excuse me" from some way back"

🙂 I'm usually too out-of-breath. They get a cheery/gruff thank you if they step aside.

BTW One of the riders was that Vicky from John's Cycles – nice lass.

Ever been a victim off cyclepath rage ? On a canal towpath i like to use a bell from way back until i get a reaction, "was once knocked off by a drunk" , accompanied casual walkers never hear it, or blank you until you get so close you would then need both brakes to stop , you then get the where,s your bell rant ? wtf !!! I do find myself shouting aggressive lately and the loud "excuse me" approach works best, In my opinion casual walkers like to "switch off" and hate bikes using duel use family paths , i have often met lost walkers on dedicated MTB downhill/single track sections,(after ignoring all the signs and walking towards you) horse riders are great and tend to be more aware, maybe all casual walkers should KEEP OFF OUR BIKE/BRIDLE PATHS and stick to footpaths for their own safety, or should we all use/have a bell for any liability claim ? after all the law requires one on a new bike.

( I,m now off to buy another 4 bells and refit all the naff reflectors ).