no room on the bars with thumbies and lock out lever, so going to try my walker early warning system here, well for the ‘summer’ anyway

Is it not easier to just say excuse me?

Hmmm nice hidey place for dog turds, don’t pick yer nose after ringing yer bell

i find you are too close if they can hear you say excuse me, unless you shout it, and that’s not really friendly is it?, i found a bell works excellently and no one has ever got upset by it

Mine goes in a box in the garage,there’s about 7 or 8 in there now.Far easier just to shout “excuse me please” at people…..

pingy bells don’t work anyway. You need a ringadingaling bell like mine:

Far easier just to shout “excuse me please” at people…..

…And even easier to simply ignore some rude tw4t who thinks using a simple bell is beneath them, and that shouting at people is acceptable… 🙄

Can I have all your bells, then? 😉

a couple of ‘downhillers’ had big fat squeezy rubber things n their bars last week. although you could hear their bikes clanging way before you saw them or they saw you.

still. we had a laugh about it.

Slow right down, flick brake levers about a bit so you’re making bike-like noises, say “hi there, can I just get past? Thanks, lovely day, yes it is steep, etc.” ride past slowly, carry on.

Never been ignored yet & I always give a nice pleasant thank you afterwards.

GPS, big mountains and trails?

bells are much more gentlemanly, maybe i should get some tweed and start waxing my moustache 🙂

Hope hub works just as well

my hope is as loude as any bell

Hope minis too!

£1.50 tiny compact bell mounted facing downwards next to the shifter bracket, rung at 50 yards behind walker. They know instantly what is aproaching when they hear this. Invariably they stand to one side. You slow right down and thank them. No sudden panics from them thinking they are going to get hit by crazy out of control cyclist when they hear squaeling brakes. No abusive comments from them, or subsequent spreading of negative gossip about selfish wreckless yobs on bikes!

We cyclists need to make it patently clear that we are respectful of all other interest groups. So set an example every time so you don’t give the narrow minded few the ammunition to shoot us down!

i have both a hope SS hub and a pingy bell. Strangely some people seem to hear the hub, and others hear the bell but no-one seems to hear both!

A combination of judicious freewheeling and bell pinging generally gets a smile and a step aside. Shouting works OK but never seems to raise a smile like a pingy bell does!

I think that it is because when they hear a ping, most people expect to turn round and see a small child, not a fat bloke on a bright red bike 😆

This should get the blighters to move out of the way.

spongebob: I second that. A teeny bit of diplomacy works wonders.

fat bloke on a bright red bike

that is spookily accurate 😉

Absolutely agree, there’s no better way to let walkers know you’re there, and give ’em the chance to get out of the way without you having to slow to much!

I’ve had bells on xc machines, a 6″ full susser, and the long travel hard-tail I’m currently building? A bell was one of the first things I got (swiped it from ex gf’s bike!).

And yeah, a ring-ring is way better than a pingy bell, people recognise the sound as “bicycle”.

Glad to have got that off my chest,

Alex

Third the rind-a-ding-ling-a-ring bell, no one ever hears my flick type bell it’s rubbish and I end up shouting at them anyway, also lets face it, most walkers are old deaf and partially sighted anyway! (even when approaching them from the front I’m nearly putting my front wheel in their face before they notice me, why do they just look at the ground 2 feet in front of them!?)

😉

How do horses react to bells? I find that talking to the rider when passing seems to help the horse, as it makes you recognizable as a human, and not something scary to horses like a paper bag.

horses and bells don’t work IME

Here…..
(Wilkos, £1.99 & pretty loud. Louder than these gay flick-bell efforts)

miketually – Member

How do horses react to bells? I find that talking to the rider when passing seems to help the horse, as it makes you recognizable as a human, and not something scary to horses like a paper bag.

Horses react well to bells…….

but once the bell is mounted to a bike the horses will again go crazy go nuts. the rider will try to pass you at the most narrow section of the trail, then complain about bloody cyclists going to fast when you are stood still to let the poor horse passed. I dont think anything will make passing a horse on a bike a stress free action………

Cow bell under seat and hope hub works for me

Tracey

Sorry Tracey but anyone who rides their bike with a cow bell on it needs to be taken out by a crack team of sniper squirrels

Yeah you definately want a horn

Think I may be about to get flamed for this, but I have my nice pingy bell mounted on the end of my bar ends.

Have also found that round here the sound of a cycle bell spooks walkers. Usually the walk in tight little bands, heads down and grumbling to one another. The ringing of a bell then startles them into their meercat like defensive position of an impenetrable wall of goretex across the bridleway.

Where do people mount ring ring bells on their road bikes?

I have a ting bell, which is o-ring fitted, and goes at the top of the drops, but the ring ring bells I’ve found won’t clamp over anything other than a 25.4mm bar, so not in the middle of the oversize bars, or on the stem.

Joe

If you have steerer space, this thing, from SJS Cycles, is functional but unattractive. 🙂

As I keep saying to walkers…

I don’t need a bell, I’ve got the horn.

BD, is that a real beercap topcap? 🙂

oh no tracey, you’ve mentioned cowbells and thats started me off sniggering

BigDummy I have just been a little bit sick in my mouth.

Tracey, my mum used to have mini cowbells on her ski poles, she’d ring them whenever she was passing anyone as she thought it was awfully rude to shout. How can you run them on a bike though?!

nulli have a mounting system symilar to this…

I dont tend to here the bell as its been on the bike that long, it does let walkers your there and most comment that its a good idea. Both my girls have them fitted as well.

Tracey

*Readies squirrel black troop*

There’s more than one of them boys

Don’t have one on any except my hack bike, and even then it’s pretty useless.

I had someone step out on front of me today on the way to work. By the time I’d braked and got my thumb in the correct position to ring the thing it was easier just to shout “OY”!