Tangled Metal wrote:If phone use is a distraction to pedestrians then what about GPS / cycle computer use for cyclists? If a cyclist has an accident if he/she had a GPS charge them for using it. I wear a watch. If I look at it I'm distracted. Checking the gear or any number of distractions during riding could constitute a risk.
The closest I've ever seen anyone I've ridden with come to cycling straight into a parked car was when he was looking at the map in the pocket on top of his bar bag. Clearly both bar bag clear pockets and maps must be banned ASAP!
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Like Ian I live on a narrow country lane. There is a constant stream of tourists walking along it, enjoying the scenery chatting.
I am thinking of changing my bell. It is a single loud ping type. It tends to startle people to such an extent that they move to one side - sometimes causing a near miss as the step into my path. But normally the message I am giving is not "out of my way" but rather "just to warn you that IAM about to ride past you on a cycle.
Sometimes the ping results in nasty looks and shaking heads and much tut tutting.
I'm wondering if the old "brrring brrring" bells are more friendly and less startling.
A bit dated now, but an excellent article how the myth of the ]was created
It also puts the updated scare mongering in perspective
In 2013 it was the increase in phone use by children was the sole factor for an increase in children's road deaths. and almost 1600 adults a year killed by using their phones and being knocked over by cars....
[
Smartphones are blamed as death toll on our roads jumps by 13 per cent: 380 people were killed in first three months of 2014
Then there are the AA, whose opinion on the subject remains that
with official Government figures showing that 446 pedestrian deaths in 2014 were down to ‘lack of attention’.
Steve Blackdog wrote:Sometimes the ping results in nasty looks and shaking heads and much tut tutting.
I'm wondering if the old "brrring brrring" bells are more friendly and less startling.
I think so. The only ping bells I have that don't seem to annoy are very sonorous temple bells from Lion and Acor.
If you want a cheap test, Wilkinsons sell a plastic bringer for about £2 but decent Adie ones can be had for £6 in Anglia Motor Cycles here (joys of living in a cycling town).
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Steve Blackdog wrote:Like Ian I live on a narrow country lane. There is a constant stream of tourists walking along it, enjoying the scenery chatting.
I am thinking of changing my bell. It is a single loud ping type. It tends to startle people to such an extent that they move to one side - sometimes causing a near miss as the step into my path. But normally the message I am giving is not "out of my way" but rather "just to warn you that IAM about to ride past you on a cycle.
Sometimes the ping results in nasty looks and shaking heads and much tut tutting.
I'm wondering if the old "brrring brrring" bells are more friendly and less startling.
Cheers
Steve
I have a new drinnnganling bell. I have practiced a lot and can ring it quietly or loudly
What I hate is groups of walkers who move to right and left and expect me to go through a small gap in the middle, also groups of joggers who are reluctant to move over
I move to the side when approaching from behind so they can locate me by sound, then they often obey the HC
When walking I keep right as per HC unless this puts me too near the motons
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
Approaching a small group of elderly walkers on a shared path near Nant y Moel, I spoke to them from behind, exchanged thanks, then after I had passed them by only a few yards, there was this loud blast that nearly made me fall of my bike, quickly uttering "what was that?" Only my air horn to warn the rest of the group that you are coming, was the reply. The other group where so far away that you could hardly see them. What could you say, I just cycled away still feeling unsettled by the blast. Can you imagine the response a cyclist would get if he/she did that.
Bowedw wrote:Can you imagine the response a cyclist would get if he/she did that.
No need to imagine. There's plenty of airzound users posting videos on sharing websites who seem to think scaring others is good sport
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
+1 for the Lion Bellworks bells - in a league of their own in terms of loudness, sonorosity and sustain. The loudness means you can ping pedestrians from a lot further away to give them time to cross back and forth over the towpath a few times and arrange themselves inconveniently, or if pinging at close quarters you just mute it a little bit with your finger.
My brakes have currently developed a squeak (more a screech really). Handy for closing in on people, nobody ever complains about squeaky brakes.
For further away someone on here recommended a 'RockBros' bell (£8 on eBay, probably a copy) which I must admit is brilliant. Loud, clear and musically right. So good I bought a few. I can ding from 50m away and folk will turn round, see me and move over and at that distance I never get any grief. For those who can't hear, then there's the squeaky brake fallback - everyone hears that.
