retractable whistle
 

Hello ... I've read of bike messengers in New York and San Francisco attaching whistles to key ring retractors fastened to their bikes. Only I can't seem to figure out a good way to attach the retractor to my bike close enough to the handlebars to make it easily accessible. The retractor has one of those long hooks that you slide down over your belt, and I guess I could attach it to my clothes, but, has anyone seen one of these attached to a bike or can you think of a way to do so?

Thanks for any help suggestions.

Loop a big ole piece of wire over the bar and clip to that.

Or wear the whistle on a short lanyard around your neck. It would be quicker to get to.

When in doubt, zip ties.

So, they use a whistle to avoid putting a nice and practical bell on their mean, clean fixie machines? How practical... :rolleyes:

A whistle is no use in an emergency unless it is in your mouth. You should have both hands on the bars when doing emregency manoeuvres.

That's true Andrew. I've taken DMF's advice and put the whistle on a lanyard around my neck, but I know I won't be able to grab it in an emergency. I've gotten to where I try to anticipate emergency situations in order to have it ready to blow, like dicey intersections and the like. It feels too unfriendly to use to warn pedestrians. So I guess it wasn't such a good idea after all.

I find bells rather too quiet, especially when the pedestrians are wandering about with ipod earphones in. As for cars.... they'd never hear a bell. I'm thinking some kind of heavy caliber gun mounted on the crossbar might get me noticed, but failing the availability of that, maybe a loud whistle would work.

Any sporting goods store that sells fishing gear has small pin-on retractors with nylon cables fishermen use to pin small tools (pliers, line clippers, etc.) to their vests. These things are cheap, small and light and could be pinned to the shoulder of your shirt or jersey. The whistle won't bounce around but will be easily accessible.

Or office badge retractors. These retractors are about the diameter of a quarter, maybe 3/4" thick, made of plastic and relatively light/small. And are usually worn in order to swipe an access card in front of a reader, yet hang exposed on the employee for identification. There is often a small clip on the it, to allow it to clip to a shirt pocket or pant loop. These items are often free give aways at tradeshows (always bearing the sponsoring company's logo) or at company offices. I assume office supply stores (Office Depot, et al) sell them.

I use a Fox 40 Micro whistle on a lanyard around my neck and use it to warn pedestrians and cars. To my pleasant surprise, this whistle can be heard by both IPod wearing pedestrians and stereo-playing drivers.

Or ski shops sell retractors for season passes.

I use a http://www.stormwhistles.com/ with great results.

This may sound a bit strange, I ride in NYC and I carry a whistle, but I have yet to use it or have seen messengers use it. Your natural reaction is to yell or just get ready to avoid it and take an impact. Besides that, I went to Babies R' Us and while shopping for my niece i got the idea to use the pacifier holder. It's a strong plastic clip with about 9"-10" inches of string. It long enough to reach my mouth but short enough that it stay out of the way.

I have one of these. I actually had some pedestrians cover their ears once when I had to use it. They have them at many bike shops in urban areas for MUCH less, so don't pay $40 plus shipping for it.,,,,BD

http://www.airzound.com/product.php?g=1

Check local laws. Ohio Law says whistles are illegal.
4511.56. Signal devices on bicycle.
(C) A bicycle may be equipped with a device capable of giving an audible signal, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle.
Doubt you would ever get in trouble unless something really bad happened.

What do you do with the air horn's resevoir? It's not clear from the ad on their website?

Also,

Thanks, sumguy, for telling me about the ohio law against whistles on a bike. Seems a little draconian to me but hey.

the horn resevoir come with a Velcro casing and 2 zip ties. You can either choose to zip tie to the frame in any location or run the bottle to a water bottle cage.

I use a a bottle cage most of the time. Since I mostly ride urban areas, you can stop almost anywhere and buy a gatorade or water. If you get one, be sure to put your hand over the horn if you fill it from a compressed air source. Otherwise it will blast away the entire time you're filling it. Not sure why.,,,,BD