Airzound

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

I suggest human voice for first approach.

This can successfully imitate emergency sirens, animal sounds and even
say 'Excuse me'...

I have experimented with all sorts of audible warning devices (except
the Airzound, must get one) and I have found that calling out the word
'attention!' complete with exclamation mark to be very effective.

Recently I was cycling along and the usual thing happened, pedestrian
stepped out without looking. I shouted "Attention!" and he
automatically stopped very quickly and stood bolt upright; he must
have been in the army or something. I thought he was to salute at any
moment. Rather amusing it was, we exchanged smiles and went on our
ways.

- Mike

LSMike said:

Yeah, I'm averse to using it on peds, it's a tad too loud and rude.
Though from prior experience there are the odd muppets who deserve a
little toot. The thing was well useful today, persuaded several cars
to back out of my personal space.

I installed a powerful horn on my motorcycle to wake car drivers up
with. Worked very well. Its best moment was when I came alongside a
car driver who was drifting across lanes while shouting down his
mobile phone. A quick blast of the juggernaut impression caused him to
reflexly stamp on the brakes, grabbing the wheel with both hands, and
dropping the phone on the seat. Then everyone behind him starting
honking at him, and in a panic, still wildly looking around for the
juggernaut, he stamped on the accelerator. Nothing happened. It was
wonderful to watch his face as after a few more violent stamps on the
accelerator he realised why it wasn't responding. Something was
trapped behind the pedal. His mobile phone. It had slid off the seat
into the footwell when he did the emergency braking :-)

But I discovered I needed to retain a polite stepped-on-frog electric
croak for pedestrians when I tried using the air horn on a pair of
obliviously ear-plugged teenagers who walked out in front of me
nodding to their "music". They both panicked, couldn't decide wich way
to run, ran into each other and fell in a heap on the ground. Right in
front of me.

For peds nothing beats the bicycle bell. It's polite and immediately
identifies you as a bicycle.
--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Chris Malcolm wrote:
<snip>

Great post, I'm still chuckling! Absolutely right, I still use my
voice for most peds. I still maintain there are instances where the
airzound is appropriate, though with my riding style and conditions
they are few and far between.

I'm tempted by a ding dong bell though. Anyone here got one and have
experiences to share?

LSMike said:

I'm tempted by a ding dong bell though. Anyone here got one and have
experiences to share?

I have one that makes a loud 'ding dong' (fiver from Halfords). It's
nice in that (with practice) it is possible to modulate just how loud it
is. The sound confuses the occasional ped, though. A 'dring dring'
bell says "bike" much more clearly than anything else, so is probably
the best thing to use for alerting peds to your presence.

I use the 'ding dong' bell instead of a 'dring dring' bell mostly
because I can ring it very easily with the heel of my hand without
having to move my hand too far (the bell is mounted at the curve of the
handlebar on my USS recumbent:
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/stable/helga/03061414helga.jpg>😉.

I have a nice loud 'dring dring' bell, but I wouldn't be able to ring it
so easily in that position.

I have no time at all for those nasty little 'ping' bells that are so
fashionable these days.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

LSMike said:

I'm tempted by a ding dong bell though. Anyone here got one and have
experiences to share?

On the Brommie I used to have one of those little ping bells and it was
less than useless. I often use a shared path and it was hardly ever
heard. I had to ping it so hard taht teh spring dinger fell off.
I now have a standard derrrring derrring 'ILove My Bike' Bell which
works much better.

I was quite taken by a Dutch style bell, where the 'lever' is a notched
circle that revolves around the outside of the ringy bit (sorry not sure
how to describe it better). It gives lots of seperate but distinctive
dings.
Its about to go on the trice for polite ringing, together with a new
AirZound for the occasional blast.

John B

Danny Colyer said:

<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/stable/helga/03061414helga.jpg>😉.

Quoted message said:

I went all wobbly looking at the pictures of your bike, very tempting!

Quoted message said:

I have no time at all for those nasty little 'ping' bells that are so

Quoted message said:

fashionable these days.

Me either, don't like them at all. I tossed the one that came with my
bike almost immediately.

On 21/2/05 8:26 pm, in article [email hidden], "Danny

Colyer said:

I have no time at all for those nasty little 'ping' bells that are so
fashionable these days.

I really like them. I have, however, been sorely tempted to fit a small
ships bell (3" or so) to the handlebars for ringing.

" Pedestrian to starboard"
"I am manouvering to port"
"Four bells of the middle watch"
"said the bells of St Clement's."

...d

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:37:54 +0000,

David Martin said:

On 21/2/05 8:26 pm, in article [email hidden], "Danny

Colyer said:

I have no time at all for those nasty little 'ping' bells that are so
fashionable these days.

I really like them. I have, however, been sorely tempted to fit a small
ships bell (3" or so) to the handlebars for ringing.

Whatever next, a set of bells like morris dances have on their legs?
I'm not sure whether they require a shake or whether the pedalling motion
would cause a sound, but if they did work everyone would know that you
were coming.

--
Andy Leighton => [email hidden]
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

Andy Leighton said:

Whatever next, a set of bells like morris dances have on their legs?
I'm not sure whether they require a shake or whether the pedalling motion
would cause a sound, but if they did work everyone would know that you
were coming.

My cheapo triing-triing bell works like that - it constantly plings when I
ride over bumps (and that currently means almost all of my commuting
route).

Roos

LSMike said:

Danny Colyer wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have no time at all for those nasty little 'ping' bells that
are so fashionable these days.

Me either, don't like them at all. I tossed the one that came
with my bike almost immediately.

That's what they're for. The shop knows that most customers will remove
them and throw them away immediately so they fit the cheapest ones they
can get. It's a safety initiative apparently.

--
Dave...