triggerracing, good for you! I expect you'll enjoy the bell almost as much as the walkers will enjoy hearing it ring.

I always equip my bikes with bells. The brass ones sound great and ellicit many positive comments from pedestrians. Occasionally my bell goes unheard and I need to resort to a firm distint vocal "Passing" to get a walkers attention, but not often.

It's a very rare day indeed when "Thank yous" don't get exchanged while passing after warning of my approach from the rear. To my mind, the bells just make for a more enjoyable experience for all involved.

Here's a little story...This past weekend I was churning up a long gentle incline on an area MUP and found myself appraoching what appeared to be a family of four walking up the path. As I approached from behind I gently activated my brass incredibell and the two parents and one of the children immediately stepped over to the left giving me space to pass. Then I spied the father reach out and pull his other child, a 'tween daughter, over to the side of the path also. As I rode by thanking them, I could hear the father saying to his daughter, "What do you mean you didn't know he was coming? He rang his bell and everything!" as his wife and other daughter thanked me for ringing. Just goes to show that not everyone is programed to respond to unexpected sounds the same way I guess.

Enjoy your bell!!

I use the Incredibell also. My adult daughter makes fun of my bell, and thinks I should just yell out. But some of the MUPs I ride on have quite a few walkers and joggers on them and I get tired of yelling out for an hour or two. Plus it puts me in a bad mood having to yell to be sure I'm heard. I much prefer a pleasant bell sound, and I always thank people for making room for me to go by.

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

they work but I do not have one, I usually say"coming up" with plenty of time so whoever can look around and move accordingly. I also slow down when I do this.
There are times though when I will watch and see if they are holding a good line and slow some and just pass.

One of the great questions of the universe, I don't get it.

In the small town where I presently live there are no mups or muts so I do not have to worry plus even if there was a trail pr path the traffic is so light that there is no problem riding on the streets SO i have the fun of going as fast as I want or in my case as fast as i can...on the streets.
keep on biking

I use my bell if I'm riding on an MUP and I've stupidly come out when there are families with toddlers meandering around on the trail.

I slow to the safest speed required while dinging until all the toddlers on riding toys see me.

Even though I'm not going fast enough to scare anybody at that point, it's nice to have everybody of all ages make eye contact with me as I'm passing, to lessen the chance of them (especially the toddlers) from going right in front of me at the worst possible time.

Ok, I think I'm going to order a couple of these, even though I've never used them my whole life, it seems a good idea now because I'm totally addicted to mup's and I too am tired of making walkers and joggers jump out of their skin by quietly yelling "on your left". It sounds too much like the local bike police anyway.

I'm always amazed by the latest academy award winning overacting surprise move by pedestrians, it makes me feel guilty, as intended I suppose.

SPlKE has it exactly right. No sound making device of any sort can substitute for rider patience and skill when sharing a Multiple Use Path with pedestrians. Using a bell can be a courtesy but does not clear the way.

A bell is a 'nice' way of possibly alerting folks that you are behind them, but I prefer to be really specific! I always say 'BICYCLE passing on your LEFT'. Works pretty well...it alerts them to what is coming and (hopefully) they understand the 'passing on your LEFT' part and move right.

I usually will call out "rider back" and wait for some sort of response and then let them know what I'm intending when they've sorted themselves out. It always brings a thank you.

My MUP overtaking method: 1) Go slow. 2) Ring bell twice from a good, non-startling distance. 3) Call out a greeting like "Good morning" in a cheery, friendly but loud voice, followed by "I'm passing on your left." 4) Say thank you.
I like the bell because it's kind of friendly, compared to a horn or a shout, and it's bike-specific, so the pedestrian knows there's a bicycle coming. The bell and the greeting are really just to make sure you have the walker's (or slower rider's) attention before you tell them where you're passing. A simple "On your left" is interpreted as a request to move left about half the time, it seems.
The MUPs in my suburb are uncrowded, so they work well for riders and walkers.

The reason I left the big cities ;)

I gave up on "on your left, or "passing" and just yell "Behind ya" from way back. If they look sketchy or have kids I just slow way down. Last year 80 yr old women was stuck and killed by a 56 yr old rider on my favorite MUP. A week after that the town Mayor was on the trail and was hit too. Now half the trail has a 10 mph speed limit. If I really want to hammer I ride roads or accept what I am dealt on the MUP.

I have seen way too many riders going way to fast on the MUP. Many of them claim the roads are too dangerous :rolleyes: However to put it into perspective: Average walking speed is around 3mph, if you have a cyclist going 15 mph that is a factor of 5, that would be like riding at 15mph on a road where the cars were going 75mph average speed! Yes I know there is more to it than that, but I bet if you talked to some of these MUP speed demons they wouldn't have any interest in riding on a road where the speed was that average, but they have no qualms about riding on the MUP at equivalent speeds.

When on an MUP I stay around 10-12 mph unless it is very empty, then I may ride faster, if it is crowded I ride even slower.

Aaron :)

I think a combination would work best on a MUP, ring bell, then call out, "passing on your left". The bell gets their attention, so they actually hear you. "BICYCLE passing on your LEFT" also makes an assumption, and that is that everyone you come upon has a decent understanding of English, this is not a given in a lot of major cities.

Bells are certainly more effective and more pleasant than yelling. But beware the increasing number of multi-taskers walking the dog and strolling the twins while texting and enjoying the sounds of nature on their headphones. It's safer on the street!

Marc

I do the same, but modify it with "Passing on your left". On occasion when someone is on the wrong side of an MUP (actually in my area they are labeled as bike trails) I call out "Passing on your right." Seems to work as long as I do the "passing" bit first. I think the other thing I see if people waiting until they are too close before calling out. This can easily startle folks. I always try to call out early enough that I have time to stop should this misunderstand and move where I'm headed.

Right.... where drivers are drinking coffee, changing radio stations, talking on a cell phone, and/or trying to text message as they drive. I ride both paths and streets. I find that either can be made much more dangerous by the irresponsible or uninformed behavior of a few.

I did a ride on the SDW and at about mile 70 as we were going west to East- We met a large organised walking group going East to west. The walkers were spread out over about a mile and we met them on a downhill. The walkers were 4 or 5 abreast across the trail and you had a steady array of Knackered riders meeting them head on. I had the horn working overtime and we could not make all the walkers notice us. In the end we took to the fiels alongside but had to rejoin the track just as the trail narrowed and went uphill. Still bibbing the horn and a group of walkers were having a chat in the gateway. Bibbed the horn- no response- Yelled out "Clear the Path" no response- in the end I did the Tandem trick of me getting off the bike and opening the gate---Into them. Bit of response then and one said "You ought to get a bell"--Her second response was-"No need to use language like that"

In my experience one is much more likely to crash on a MUP than on the street, but much more likely to die on the street than on the MUP.

I'm wondering how many of those who ride without a bell/horn & mirror (somehow i have a feeling many of those same riders also roll mirrorless) travel that way in their cars?

Seen all of those behaviors by bike riders, whether on MUP, street or sidewalk.
Sometimes simultaneously (last week a no-hands rider emailing or texting; more frequently, phone conversations).


Too many bike riders don't seem to know it's a warning to be heeded, much less what it calls for, so not likely it'd be generally understood by non-bike users.

I have a matching set of Bambi/faline bells, but I can't find the Faline one. The Bambi bell is on my touring bike, I need the other for my commuter

If I say anything, it is "passing" This lets the quick witted know that they shouldn't stray from their current path and makes the dull-witted look over their shoulder and let me know which side to pass on

[QUOTE=Seamless;13198414]Seen all of those behaviors by bike riders, whether on MUP, street or sidewalk.
Sometimes simultaneously (last week a no-hands rider emailing or texting; more frequently, phone conversations

yea,me to,had some DS on the platte path was so busy talking that he was coming right at me and I had to go off the side so he wouldnt hit me head on,,,, what a d head!!!
Bud

Picked up my Bell bell at Wally World and used it yestereday. Liked it a lot better. Folks didn't have the "jumpy" reaction to it and the toddler who was walking with Mom and Dad really got a kick out of it. I would ching ching at him each time I passed, he got a kick out of it.