Ding, ding....ding, ding, ding.

snooks

Ding! ding! at pedestrians on the side of the road. Who "might", but didn't cross

Ding! ding! at someone in front of them. Who was filtering up the cycle lane past stationary traffic, who he wanted to over take

I could only stand 30 metres behind this habitual dinger before I had to overtake the line of traffic on the right and get away from the ringing in my ears

I have a bell, but only use it when I'd use my car horn...to alert someone who might be in danger, not people I'm going to overtake or people on the pavement who are looking to cross.

Am I the only one?

dirk_van_gently

I only use audible warnings as I would if driving or motorcycling, certainly not persistently.
I guess it's a bit like folk who drive around with fog ights on all the time, it's the "look at me I'm so important" attitude.

C0CKS all of them.

dondare

I have found a bell to be completely useless. If I really need to give an audible warning I use my voice, but I find that riding sensibly, being attentive and appreciating that others have the right to use the road makes even this unnecessary most of the time.

dirk_van_gently

dondare wrote:

.... I find that riding sensibly, being attentive and appreciating that others have the right to use the road makes even this unnecessary most of the time.

That's a bit radical," Looking where you're going" :-)
"Others have the right to use the road too" You some sort of subversive ? :-)

snooks

dondare wrote:

I have found a bell to be completely useless. If I really need to give an audible warning I use my voice, but I find that riding sensibly, being attentive and appreciating that others have the right to use the road makes even this unnecessary most of the time.

Me too. The only time I might have to use my bell on my commute is on a road where a lot of pedestrians cross (which isn't a crossing) along Upper Ground behind the Southbank. But I wouldn't dream of dinging someone that I wanted to overtake....after all, it's not their problem when I overtake, but mine

spen666

snooks wrote:

Ding! ding! at pedestrians on the side of the road. Who "might", but didn't cross

...

Not sure what is problem with this one :?:

Surely its warning someone of danger. Isn't that what the bell is for?

Its a bit late to do so if they have stepped out

secretsam

dondare wrote:

I have found a bell to be completely useless. If I really need to give an audible warning I use my voice, but I find that riding sensibly, being attentive and appreciating that others have the right to use the road makes even this unnecessary most of the time.

Yup, with you there, shouting much more effective

The fad of dinging seems to have passed lately round my way. Maybe the Phantom Dinger-swiper of olde London towne has nicked all the bells.

snooks

spen666 wrote:

snooks wrote:

Ding! ding! at pedestrians on the side of the road. Who "might", but didn't cross

...

Not sure what is problem with this one :?:

Surely its warning someone of danger. Isn't that what the bell is for?

Its a bit late to do so if they have stepped out

Sorry, should have been a bit clearer....Pedestrians were not likely to step out when cars were still moving (at speed) on the right of cyclist...actually you're right, they probably are

I like to give people some credit for using the green cross code, and looking when they are at the edge of the pavement...if they are walking to the edge, on the phone, reading a book etc, then beep, ding, shout...but standing looking in both directions, shows they have some awareness.
.

spen666

secretsam wrote:

dondare wrote:

I have found a bell to be completely useless. If I really need to give an audible warning I use my voice, but I find that riding sensibly, being attentive and appreciating that others have the right to use the road makes even this unnecessary most of the time.

Yup, with you there, shouting much more effective

The fad of dinging seems to have passed lately round my way. Maybe the Phantom Dinger-swiper of olde London towne has nicked all the bells.

Give him the no-bell peace prize then

snooks

spen666 wrote:

Give him the no-bell peace prize then

You can tell it's a Monday morning can't you? :roll:

dondare

Funny.

karl j

completely useless bit of kit,

on the few occasions i've dinged (should that be dung ?) it no-ones even heard it let alone acknowledged my presence (precence / prescense ? .... oh, me being there. however its spelt)

dirk_van_gently

On the subject of actual bells. One of my colleagues who also cycles, has a bell that is not only loud, but gives a very melodic almost church bell type tone, however the bell itself is enormous, must be 3 times the size of a conventional bell.
Does sound good though.

dang65

karl j wrote:

Completely useless bit of kit.

On the few occasions I've dinged it no-one's even heard it, let alone acknowledged my presence.

There's a shared use path through my local park which I take the kids through sometimes. I've used my bell there a few times, just to give friendly warning to people walking along ahead of us. As you say, people just don't seem to recognise the sound of a bicycle bell these days. When they finally realise there's a bike right behind them, they leap out of the way as if they're about to be mown down by a juggernaut. I've even had people tutting and muttering about giving them some warning!

Another time, I dinged my bell a couple of times at a group of people who were spread out across the path, backs to me, and as I went past one of them said, "Blimey, it's like Amsterdam round here!"

Bells are a legally required fitting on all new bikes, of course, so someone must think they're useful. Trouble is these days, most the people you want to alert to your presence are sealed away inside cars, so a bell is pretty much useless and it's air horn or nothing (nothing in my case).

dirk_van_gently

dang65 wrote:

... Trouble is these days, most the people you want to alert to your presence are sealed away inside cars,

Or walkers/cyclists listening to iPod/mp3.

snooks

Dirk Van Gently wrote:

Or walkers/cyclists listening to iPod/mp3.

Ah, but you can creep up silently behind those pedestrians and shout BOO! :twisted:

Only joking

I do ding when going along shared foot paths...but unfortunately they aren't part of my commute
.

boybiker

I got shouted at for dinging my donger at a guy who was walking his dog down the middle of a cycle path, as he was standing shouting at me he was stood on the symbol painted on the path showing the cycle symbol. I pointed to it and asked him if he thought it looked like a picture of a moron walking his dog.
It made me smile as I rode off.

DevUK

I hate bells. I think I have an ingrained "they're for girls" thing going on. I do however use my brake levers, clunking, as an audible warning for pedestrians sometimes which seems to work quite well without sounding really girly (no offence to those who use bells!)

will3

Don't work huh?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rtv2_-2mHck

FWIW I think they're essential if you use any kind of shared path.

snooks

will3 wrote:

Don't work huh?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rtv2_-2mHck

Excellent...I'll get a bell for when I'm not commuting by bike!!...and I think its use will be fully justified on escalators!!!

JoeSoap76

I do use mine on occasion. There's a foot/cycle bridge I use which is covered and has a couple of right-angled corners. Always give a little ding when I'm getting close to one of the corners because there's really only room for one bike at a time.

Also ( :oops: ) I do give a quick ring if I'm on a joint pedestrian/cycle lane and dog-walkers/joggers/walkers are walking four or five wide so I can't get by. I never ring when I'm right behind them - a quick ring a hundred meters back gives them enough time to sort themselves out and then I always (always) give a heart 'Thanks!' as I pass.

dondare

will3 wrote:

Don't work huh?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rtv2_-2mHck

FWIW I think they're essential if you use any kind of shared path.

One place he didn't try it was on a shared-use path, which is the only place in Britain where a bell would have any use at all.

lost_in_thought

Dondare, you're an ornery fellow aren't you?!

On the subject of places in Britain where a bell would have any use at all, I find a bell very handy for cycling amongst the buses nad hordes of pedestrians on Oxford street. They do often leap half out of their skins when they notice me, but I do think it's more polite than the alternate method of shouting 'Oi!' or similar.

The problem with bikes is that when well-maintained, they're effectievly silent, unlike most other vehicles which you can hear coming to give an audible clue. And having been taken out by a couple of peds who weren't paying attention, I am much happier to 'ding' than to not.

Also, DevUK, I am a girl! I also have no objection, and slightly agree with you. Maybe Dondare is having the same manly issue.

pst88

I used to just change gears in the hope the sound would alert pedestrians in my path. Now I'm riding single speed this is no longer an option so have to resort to a good old fashioned "excuse me" or "OI!!", depending on the situation. I have an airzound on my 2nd bike but haven't yet decided where to mount it on my bullhorns (plus I don't wanna ugly up my bike with it). There's a few times recently where it would've come in useful (mostly people turning right and only looking left).

biondino

I ding my bell occasionally - it's of minimal but occasional use (like my brain).

dondare

lost_in_thought wrote:

Dondare, you're an ornery fellow aren't you?!

On the subject of places in Britain where a bell would have any use at all, I find a bell very handy for cycling amongst the buses nad hordes of pedestrians on Oxford street. They do often leap half out of their skins when they notice me, but I do think it's more polite than the alternate method of shouting 'Oi!' or similar.

The problem with bikes is that when well-maintained, they're effectievly silent, unlike most other vehicles which you can hear coming to give an audible clue. And having been taken out by a couple of peds who weren't paying attention, I am much happier to 'ding' than to not.

Also, DevUK, I am a girl! I also have no objection, and slightly agree with you. Maybe Dondare is having the same manly issue.

I am a very sweet-natured bloke, considerate, patient and law-abiding, which is why I give pedestrians crossing the road the time and space they need rather than using any kind of audible warning to hurry them along. (Actually, in Oxford Street I'll be a pedestrian myself, not a cyclist.) As far as bus drivers are concerned they won't hear a bell so there's no point in ringing it at them.
I have been brought down on several occasions by pedestrians running out into the road from behind stationary vehicles but a bell wouldn't have saved me here unless it was both loud and constant, like a 1940's fire engine. And probably not even then. So these days I simply take a lot more care if there's the slightest chance of a ped in the road; keeping well out from the kerb, riding wide of parked vehicles and slowing right down when filtering past lines of stationary traffic; and this works for me.