Cycling UK Forum

My only bell, the one I had in a bag with my last new bike - along with all the other garbage you get with a new bike - reflectors etc, has just this evening gone into the bin as my voice is louder and quicker to react than any bell.

Yeah, my bell is under my nose and above my chin!

cyclistjohn wrote:

byegad wrote:On my recumbent trike the Air Zound switch is under my wrist, as I brake I just need to angle my hand down slightly to sound the 'Zound'.

Can you post a pic' of how that's mounted please?

I bought an air horn like the boat folk use, but I haven't found a suitable mounting within reach yet. I'd really like to get it going, as bells are useless for motor drivers as has been pointed out. Air horns'd probably be effective for mp3 player users too
I also find voice works well for pedestrians.

I was riding in a forest park at the weekend, & most people were oblivious to the bell. I might as well not have had one, but occasionally people hear it around town, & yes, there are some very odd folk walking around in their very own world.

I used to have an air horn. Mounted it at the join of stem and bars with a couple of jubilee clips. It sounded like an Intercity Express had jumped the rails and was bearing down on the errant ped/motorist. Unfortunately, the bike got pinched and I never replaced it.

I actually used my bell this lunchtime to disperse crowds of teenagers on a school trip walking on the cycle path. It worked quite well. About the only use for them IMHO.

They are amazing those, often known as Airzound; always makes me smile when a customer has a blast on one in the shop (uses plain old air so we just pump it up again ready for the next day.... )

Paul Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk

Mick F wrote:This one is GOOD.

Dkmwt, the recumbent rider from Plymouth has one.

http://www.twowheelsgood.co.uk/index.ph ... HR021.html

Sorry I haven't posted a photograph.
I've tried to take a picture of my Air Zound mount, but the camera is U/S so I'll try to explain. On the Trice Q the handlebar sticks up vertically. There is an extention mounted horizontally under the grip for a mirror. My Air Zound switch is on that right up against the vertical bar. Easy to brake and drop your wrist to hit the switch. The air reservoir is under the back of the seat.
If there was no mirror mount a bar end would mount in the same place.

Am I to presume you are using bar end shifters with the additional mirror mount? How do you find the room when steering? I'm still using the twist changers and have squeezed my airzound horizontal underneath the bar-end mirrorcycle mount - but I'm not happy about this. Any advice welcome!

Hi Wildduck

The way I have my Airzound is to use the mirror mount that ICE can supply on the top of the handle bar above the grip. To do this you either need to move the grip shift and handle bar grip down or cut off some of the grip. then just use one of the mirror stems and mount the horn on the mirror mount right upo tight to the grip so that the button is right by your thumb. I'll get some pics to show you.

My mirror mount is not the standard ICE accessory seen in the accessories pictures as I have bar end shifters. It's the mirricycle Mirror as shown in the Custom accessories. mounted to stick out just behind the Mudguard. The Switch for the Zound fits hard up to the upright grip, if I remember correctly I needed to wrap some tape around the mirror mount to get a good fit.
If you look in ICE's custom trike accessories you can see how the mirror fits the bar.
edit
I would have gone for the standard mirror mounts (as they give a bit more height) but with bar ends I had no choice but to go for the Custom mount. While I use my lower wrist to parp the horn, mounted on the standard mirror bar you'd use your thumb! I don't think the extra height would have made that much difference I can see very well in the mirror as is.

The custom mirror mount is the one that I was refering to. My Airzound fits it perfectly. They are actually the same part just you have mounted yours under the grip and I have it on the very end.

byegad, how do you find it with the mirror mount on the handlebar in that position? The reason I ask is when I was setting my trike up I tried it there and found it to jamb against the mudguard. I am tempted to try the bar end shifters as I've ridden the Micro and the Monster with bar end shifters and it's a lot easier, especially in the wet.

gaz wrote:

JohnW wrote: "Ah @#*% off" was the reply.

Meaning the third word was off and the second word wasn't clear?

Well actually gaz, the second word was only too clear. All that he said said more about himself than about me.

Nil illegitimum and all that.

JohnW.

dkmwt
The mirror sits outside and behind the mudgaurd. On full lock left it is very close to tapping the gaurd. As It sticks well out I can see around my shoulder with no problems.

Thanks for the mounting tips folks.

I see a proper bike air horn has a tubular handlebar mount for the push button. I bought a generic boat horn that even came with a small hand pump to refill it, but it has the button at the narrow end of the horn, so in fact, not so easy to operate from the bike. Probably a modified bottle cage will be best, if I can arrange it so I can reach the button quickly. It's certainly loud; far too loud for pedestrians I think, but fine for inattentive cell phone using drivers.

It's a similar problem for the mounting of a camera, in that I can easily mount a digicam, but operating the shutter isn't easy. I've only found Canon cameras with a "remote" option so far, but that's USB, rather than a simple shutter button.

byegad wrote:I can see around my shoulder with no problems

I have no problems seeing around my shoulders, it's my panniers that I can't see around especially when they're full of shopping

I use the Trice Radical pods and can stuff them with a surprsing amount of things without impinging on my mirror's sight line. I cant recommend them too much. So light when empty that I leave them on, easy to take off when parked and so far I've never run out of space even when returning from a day's run out and collecting the shopping!