Bike Forums - To Ding or Not to Ding?

Bike Forums (https://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php)

- General Cycling Discussion (https://www.bikeforums.net/general-cycling-discussion/)

- - To Ding or Not to Ding? (https://www.bikeforums.net/general-cycling-discussion/764072-ding-not-ding.html)

I use a bell; it's brass and has a pleasant sound. I think it cuts through headphones better than OYL. Also, for whatever reason, pedestrians here are very well trained and move over smartly.

Unlike the dude in Kentucky Fried Movie, who's no ding-a-ling, I prefer to use teh bell.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JusticeZero (Post 13218978)

I'm not maimed, so i'm fine with how I am. If I stopped dumbly for a moment to try to figure out if "Left" meant 'Go left or don't go left?' where chainsaws and falling trees and such were involved I might have been.
I wasn't the one who's brilliant idea it was to embed a request to do a thing into a request not to do that thing. It's a bad phrase at a psychological level, and so I don't like it and find it seriously irritating.

As noted, "Passing" works fine with less confusion and time, and a simple greeting usually gets better results from pedestrians.

I agree. I have bells and I use them, but every now and then I wind up without one - give one to one of the kids, it breaks, I changed handlebars and forgot to reinstall - and I use my voice. WHen I use my voice I am always very cautious when passing because it is not totally beyond comprehension that someone would not know what to do when someone say's 'On your left.'

For that matter, riging a bell can cause any number of unusual reactions in the people in front, so I am always cautious.

T o avoid an accident when I am on the road, I don't use my bell or my voice... I use my brakes.

I was casually (i.e. slowly) riding a MUP last week and was approaching four teenagers walking abreast in the same direction as I was going... I called out "Passing on your left" when I was about 25 feet from them and they all sort of jumped and ricocheted off one another and I had to slow down even further to miss them. It's one of the few times I have not used both bell and voice warning. I was on very loud, crunchy pulverized granite, and was amazed they couldn’t hear me coming from a hundred yards away. I've now resolved to use bell and voice all the time.

I use the bell on blind, twisty corners while on the single tracks in the local parks, also.

I went to the MUP yesterday afternoon, which I usually don't do because of all the people there (usually ride it in the morning), but I wanted to try out a bike I had just repaired. Of course, I end up approaching four teenage boys, jogging sided by side taking up the whole path. I slowed down but it was obvious they had no concern for who might be around or behind them. I passed them in the gravel on the side of the path (path is paved), and one of the guys just about jumped out of his skin and shouted "Oh my God!" as I passed by.