Bells on bikes?

cyclinggirl

Is it now the law you MUST have a bell on your bike :?: Two people have said to me that it has just come in as the law. I have never heard anything about it.

redddraggon

I ripped the bell off my bike, no space for it, especially when it's illegal to cycle at night without lights.

Can't be true, a bell is not needed when you can shout loud.

cyclinggirl

I have been looking on the internet and all I can find is that it is being considered as a new law bt is not yet in place.
I haven't heard anything on the news.
I think it's ridiculous anyway.

nicklouse

it is law that bikes must be sold with bells.

as well as other safety equipment.

formerlyknownasbonj

bon****ne bikes must have broke the law when they sold me my road bike then 'cos it's never had one on. Neither has my mtb but it came from abroad.

spasypaddy

ill put a bell on my bike, ill attach it to my saddle bag

richk

spasypaddy wrote:

ill put a bell on my bike, ill attach it to my saddle bag

Inside or outside?

According to the Highway Code (online version)

"It is recommended that you fit a bell to your cycle."

So no compulsion there.

L60N

My LBS broke the law too, no bell fitted.

I WANT A BELL :shock:

NFMC

I'm not sure it's a legal requirement but I believe it's expected that all new bikes are fitted with a bell.

My new one had one. I took it off and stuck it on my 4-year-old's bike. He'd brooken his first one. If anyone's interested.

nicklouse

on the first of may 2004 it was law for all cycles to have a bell fitted at the point of sale.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3667513.stm

and

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4687

drenkrom

A few years back, I lived in Ottawa, Canada and there was a bylaw there that made bells mandatory. The competition with my cycling mates was as to who could have the least visible bell. I won hands down by buying one of the tiny one with a hammer on a spring and attaching it to the saddle rails, tucked neatly underneath my butt. Apart from a slight jingle when I bunnyhopped railway tracks, it was completely inconspicuous, yet I baffled the one cop who asked why i didn't have a bell. It might be worth checking if any law is worded as loosely as the Ottawa bylaw, which didn't specify the bell had to be usable in any way.

nicklouse

drenkrom
at the moment there is no law saying that you have to have one fitted fro use.

it only says fitted at point of sale. soon as it is out of the shop door it can come off.

drenkrom

how retarded is that? :roll:

rparkes

Required by law or not I fail to understand the problem of having a bell. If the weight worries you put a little less water in your bottle. If you are concerned about street cred. then sad.

redddraggon

rparkes wrote:

Required by law or not I fail to understand the problem of having a bell.

I'd rather use the space on my handlebars for holding onto, aswell needing the space for legally required lights, and adding the computer on aswell, means there's little space for a bell that would be rarely used.

cygnet

Would you rather I took my hands off my brakes to ring a bell to alert someone to my presence, or kept my hands covering my brakes and used my voice (whistle, shout, call) to do the same? I know which I feel safer doing. No street cred involved.

BTW, does anyone know if a bike under the 'bells fitted to bikes' law has to have pedals attached? My first recent bike (with pedals) had a bell, my second (without) didn't.

Cunobelin

All my bikes have a fully operating and efficient audible warning device ...........................#




ME!

drenkrom

The issue I have with a mandatory bell is not lack of space or appearance, it's simply that it's completely useless. Rules like these are put to paper by people who haven't had a bike between their legs for more than an hour in the last year. First off, most bells can not be heard from inside a moving car with closed windows and a working radio. Second, in the scenario in which a car is about to collide with you, the last thing you want to do is take a hand off the brake to go "dring dring". If you're going to make a safety equipment mandatory, make it the helmet. Having been a bike courier, I've rubbed shoulders with many many cars and can't think of a situation where a bell would've been useful.

Plus, I don't know of any bell with a "profanity mode". I would buy that!

alfablue

I have a small bell on the space between headset and stem, I use it often, especially on the Bristol to Bath Railway Path. I think it's use is much appreciated by walkers and slower cyclists, and those riding 3 abreast.

mea00csf

i think bikes sold without pedals are technically not counted as complete bikes and therefore don't have to have bells. They use that to get out of some other safety rule but can't for the life of me think what it is, it might be reflectors tho

Smokin Joe

mea00csf wrote:

i think bikes sold without pedals are technically not counted as complete bikes and therefore don't have to have bells. They use that to get out of some other safety rule but can't for the life of me think what it is, it might be reflectors tho

My understanding too.

redddraggon

To be honest I find a bell to be rather useless on the road most of the time, very few pedestrians walk on the road. When they are walking on the road it tends to be on the country roads, where I'm not going too fast and a polite greeting such "good morning" feels less like a bell saying "move out of my way, I'm coming through". I could understand the use of a bell more if you were cycling on the pavement - but then that's illegal anyway.

alfablue

The sound of a bell is synonymous with cycling - it enables much greater warning (i.e. ata greater distance) than voice, and gives people plenty of time to organise themselves. I am often thanked by peds on the Railway Path having used the bell.

Mithras

Why a bell? Surely in this electronically advanced day and age a more approoriate warning device should be fitted.
Like an Audible Voice Warnings system with 5 useful prhases and volumes attached.
1. "Excuse me please cyclist passing!" Medium volume
2. EXCUSE ME PLEASE" Loud
3. "ARE YOU F*****NG DEAF GGET OUT OF MY WAY. Louder
4. OI, W*****ER MOVE OVER YOU F***WIT. 150Dbs
5. OUCH! CALL AN AMBULANCE " low wimppering voice

Tri-Taffia

My Tri bike was sold to me with a bell and a free screw driver.

Walked bike out of shop and then used screw driver to remove said bell. The bell went to dublin with me and used to great affect to attract bar maids. :twisted:

Now my MTB has a foot long rubber chicken attached.
That shifts any one!

Dan67

hell sodd a bell get an air horn or something

Shadowduck

rparkes wrote:

Required by law or not I fail to understand the problem of having a bell.

The 'ping' bells that typically come fitted to modern bikes are a complete waste of time. You can barely hear the poxy things from the saddle!

I don't so much have a problem with having a bell fitted, but I do have a problem with having something utterly useless fitted.

richk

I've got one fitted to the bike I use on cycle paths / canal towpaths where I'm likely to meet peds & it does seem to be reasonably effective most of the time. I'm still amazed by some of the looks (to kill) I get when I do use it though. Given all the other extras I'm carrying (mudguards, lights, lock(s), an stone of overweight rider) a bell is rather insignificant.

However, I've removed it from my road bike as it's not much use when trying to attract the attention of somebody sat inside a ton and a half of steel box with 400 Watts of stereo going full tilt...

jedster

I'm still amazed by some of the looks (to kill) I get when I do use it though

good argument for just saying "excuse me" instead

Cunobelin

Excuse you....

Why?

What have you done wrong?

mtb.boy

Bikes sold in the UK need bells on to comply with a EU law. As soon as you take it out of the shop you can remove the bell.

But - bikes sold with no pedals do not need bells because they are incomplete.