Bell? Or Voice?

[RoadRaven]

Voice.

I have no bell and am too vain to put one on any of my bikes.

I yell "bike back"

[Bron]

I have a bell on my moutain/commuting bike as it´s required by law here. It´s one of those bells with a compass in it, but it´s not very easy to reach with my thumb so I end up just yelling "Grüss Gott", "Hallo" or "Oi", depending on how much time I have.

[crazycanuck]

Same as roadraven, no bell.

I normally just say "on your right" or "rider"or "beep beep"..They all work.

I believe i've mentioned what i say if you don't move out of my way

C

[SheFly]

Like Raven, I am far too vain to put a bell on my bike .

I used to call out "On your left" when passing on the bike path, but that often moves people TO the left, and into my path! I now have taken to calling out (from some distance behind) "Passing". Seems everyone knows what this means.

On the roads, however, I still call out "On your left". Not sure why I differentiate - maybe because on the path there is such a variety of people that it makes more sense. On the road, I expect riders to be a little more savvy.

SheFly

[Crankin]

The only path riding I have done has been in other countries. I have found that saying/yelling "bike left, passing" and also saying thank you helps. I slow down, but it requires a lot of attention.
Two weeks ago I went on a club ride in the middle of the week. There were 50 people and the last 8 miles of the ride were on the Nashua Rver Rail Trail. I have passed this trail on many of my road rides and it is always filled with people on the weekends. It was fairly open at noon on a Wednesday, but there were 2-3 slow riders and one little kid who we told "Just stay there ujntil we pass." I was at the front, with about 8 people and we were flying, going about 20-22. The group was really spread out and some people didn't get back for an hour after we did, but I don't think as a leader I would have taken a group on a path. Just too many things could happen.

[Jo-n-NY]

Yup me too, bell, too vain.

It all depends who I am passing on what I say. If it is another cyclist or a jogger I say on your left. If I am passing a child or people walking, bottom line, none cyclist I will say excuse me. No matter what, I say thank you when passing. When passing a child, I tell them they are doing a good job

~ JoAnn

[KnottedYet]

I don't understand.

How is having a bell a vanity thing?

Is that an image thing, like motorists not wanting to give a lane to a bike, because they're too vain and don't want other motorists thinking they're polite wusses? Is a bike with a bell a polite wuss in the eyes of some mythical "other biker"?

Or is it that you can't find a bell that matches your bike? My "Incredi-Bell"s are quite small and elegant looking (and LOUD). Take a look at pictures I've posted of my various bikes. Are the bells glaringly obvious? They come in black, brass, and silver.

REI doesn't have all the bells my LBS has, but they do have a few: http://www.rei.com/category/4500869?vcat=REI_SEARCH

[Pax]

Knot - I use an Incredi-Bell too, it works very well. I have one on my commuter but not on my roadbike, it only gets used for long out-in-the-country rides so I never bothered with one on it.

[VeloVT]

We have a local bike path that I frequently run on, and sometimes bike on when I'm pressed for time/need something easy and flat/want to get to the nice road route that is most easily accessed via the path.

As a runner, I never wear headphones and try to keep an ear out for bikes so I can move over before they have to alert me -- but when the path is busy that doesn't always work, and I have to say I prefer as a pedestrian to be alerted by voice rather than bell. I find it easier to place exactly where the bike is coming from/how close it is from "on your left!" or even "hi there" than from a quick ding-ding.

As a cyclist, I use my voice (can't see putting a bell on my bike). I used to say "on your left" (and under certain circumstances still do), but I started feeling like I was still startling people and sometimes families with six people, grandmother and dogs spread across the path would not be able to figure out what to do in time even when I slowed to a crawl, so lately I've extended the length of my warning to something more like, "hi guys, I'm coming up behind you on a bike on your left." This seems to get lots of appreciation. And I thank people too. Even when they aren't ACTUALLY being very consciencious .