Elly Blue posted a pretty nice article about the usefulness of bike bells over at the Bike Portland blog here:http://bikeportland.org/2006/12/12/passing-etiquette-in-defense-of-the-bike-bell/
Now if you're a serious racer or spend all your time in the back country with nobody else around, a bell is probably not high on your list of bike accessories. But if your commute is anything like mine and you wind up spending at least part of your time on paths where you'll be interacting with other humans, a bell is a handy thing to have. And they don't all look quite as dorky as the one at the top of this post. Velo Orange has some nice ones here:
http://www.velo-orange.com/bellsdingding.html
Kent-
ReplyDeleteI agree, I dig bells very much but I have Bell-User Fear Syndrome. Seriously. I always feel like ringing mine while approaching a Ped is somehow rude or inconsiderate, and that it will scare the Ped and make them lash out at me.
No, instead I have Chloe ring hers... and while riding by the Ped mumble, "Chloe, you shouldn't have..." look at the Ped and say, " ...so sorry she did that".
Help Me...
-Me
I read the Bike Portland post yesterday as well. It finally motivated me to swing by my LBS and pick up a small $6 bell. I tried the "on your left" solution for a while, but I found I often wasn't projecting my voice well enough to be heard in an urban environment. The bell should do the trick.
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