Air horn

[Fm]

Not been cycling long and having been thoroughly scared ****less to go back out on the road by this
thread, I'm beginning to think it might be an idea for bicycles to have a horn of some sort, rather
than a tinkly little bell. I wonder if the van driver would have noticed the poor bloke if he got an
air horn blast in the face.....

 

[Fm]

Sorry I meant the Today's Daft Maneouvre thread.

"FM" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Not been cycling long and having been thoroughly scared ****less to go
back
> out on the road by this thread, I'm beginning to think it might be an idea for bicycles to have a
> horn of some sort, rather than a tinkly little
bell.
> I wonder if the van driver would have noticed the poor bloke if he got an air horn blast in the
> face.....

 

[Dave]

"FM" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Not been cycling long and having been thoroughly scared ****less to go
back
> out on the road by this thread, I'm beginning to think it might be an idea for bicycles to have a
> horn of some sort, rather than a tinkly little
bell.
> I wonder if the van driver would have noticed the poor bloke if he got an air horn blast in the
> face.....
>
>
Nah...the van driver would merely have cast a glance in his rear view mirror in an effort to
identify the source of the horn he thought he just heard. This is of course assuming that he could
hear the horn over his ICE or phone of course. He wouldn't see the cyclist because of the 'cloaking
devices' that come with all bikes. Best not to think too much about it. As a member of this ng once
pointed out, cycling puts the sport back into transport (particularly liked that one ;-). Ride
aggresively defensively, i.e. don't be a victim, impress your presence on other roadusers and always
remember, you are not surrounded by a ton of metal / plastic / rubber / airbags etcetc with which to
make your point. Should be no problem ! Cheers, happy cycling, Dave.

ps - during my recent john o groats to lands end run <yawn>, I used a large variety of roads in a
very short time, covering a lot of miles. I found the fact that I was highly visible to be the
most helpful thing towards my survival...scrap the cloak of invisibilty and buy a hi-viz vest. At
the very least car drivers assume you might be the feds with a speed gun and immediately go into
'licence survival mode', driving like everyones favourite granny until they've fully assessed the
situation. But at least they'll have seen you. Never go out without mine now (on the bike!!)

 

[Jeremy Parker]

> Not been cycling long and having been thoroughly scared ****less to go back out on the road by
> this thread, I'm beginning to think it might be an idea for bicycles to have a horn of some sort,

There is a horn, but I would advise against it, because it is **too** good. It's awe inspiring. It's
called the "Air Zound". You pump up its reservoir (Schraeder valve)

If you are newish to cycling on the road, I would recommend reading, or even buying, John Franklin's
book "Cyclecraft". They say experience is the best teacher, but her fees are expensive.

There's an American rival to Cyclecraft, "Effective Cycling" by John Forester - actually the author
grew up in Dulwich. "Effective Cycling" is a general purpose cycling book, whereas "Cyclecraft"
covers nothing but cycling in traffic.

On the one hand, it's a bit intimidating to see a whole book about nothing but riding a bike down
the road, on the other hand "Effective Cycling" is one of those books that you either love or hate.
John Forester, the author, is notorious at rubbing people up the wrong way by saying exactly what he
thinks, which generally tends to imply that those with different opinions are idiots.

Jeremy Parker

 

[Smudger]

"FM" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Not been cycling long and having been thoroughly scared ****less to go
back
> out on the road by this thread, I'm beginning to think it might be an idea for bicycles to have a
> horn of some sort, rather than a tinkly little
bell.
> I wonder if the van driver would have noticed the poor bloke if he got an air horn blast in the
> face.....
>
>

Just get on your bike, get out there and enjoy it. Most fatal accidents happen in the home you know!
So get out of the house as much as possible.

 

[Fm]

that's great smudger, now i'm afraid to move at all!!

"Smudger" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "FM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Not been cycling long and having been thoroughly scared ****less to go
> back
> > out on the road by this thread, I'm beginning to think it might be an
idea
> > for bicycles to have a horn of some sort, rather than a tinkly little
> bell.
> > I wonder if the van driver would have noticed the poor bloke if he got
an
> > air horn blast in the face.....
> >
> >
>
> Just get on your bike, get out there and enjoy it. Most fatal accidents happen in the home you
> know! So get out of the house as much as possible.

 

[Tony Raven]

Smudger <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Just get on your bike, get out there and enjoy it. Most fatal accidents happen in the home you
> know! So get out of the house as much as possible.

Too true. 37 hospitalisations due to accidents with tea cosies, 5,945 from trousers, 311 from
birdbaths and 165 from placemats in 1999.*

Tony

*DTI "Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance Survey"

--
http://www.raven-family.com

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George
Bernard Shaw

 

[Velvet]

"FM" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> that's great smudger, now i'm afraid to move at all!!
>
>
> "Smudger" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "FM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > Not been cycling long and having been thoroughly scared ****less to go
> > back
> > > out on the road by this thread, I'm beginning to think it might be an
> idea
> > > for bicycles to have a horn of some sort, rather than a tinkly little
> > bell.
> > > I wonder if the van driver would have noticed the poor bloke if he got
> an
> > > air horn blast in the face.....
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Just get on your bike, get out there and enjoy it. Most fatal accidents happen in the home you
> > know! So get out of the house as much as
possible.
> >
> >
>
>

FM. Take heart, there are others like you out there. Me, for one! Roads are scary places when you're
not used to riding on them! The one good thing is, you burn a hell of a lot more calories through
being permanently petrified of everything going on around you, which is good for people like me
who're definately in the catagory of being fatbirdonabike ;-)

Velvet

PS. I have an air zound on my bike. Great idea, not used it yet, due mostly to not having done
enough time on the roads to meet someone deserving on it (thank goodness) - and the small
matter of not being able to take hands off bars well enough to actually get finger onto button
for it....

 

[Richard Edgar]

In article <[email protected]>, "Velvet" <[email protected]> wrote:

On the Air Zound:

>and the small matter of not being able to take hands off bars well enough to actually get finger
>onto button for it....

If your experience is anything like mine, that won't help all that much. The times I most need to
give someone a quick blast are also the times I need my brakes most desperately :-(

Richard

--
Richard Edgar Robinson College All Opinions My Own etc.

 

[Andymorris]

Jeremy Parker wrote:

> John Forester, the author, is notorious at rubbing people up the wrong way by saying exactly what
> he thinks, which generally tends to imply that those with different opinions are idiots.
>

I tend to agree with him on cycling tactics, feel he goes a bit far on the anti bike lanes/path bit.
(after all they are handy for making traffic leave a big enough gap to let you pass) and worry that
his is probably a member of the NRA.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this: Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/

 

[Peter B]

"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Smudger <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > Just get on your bike, get out there and enjoy it. Most fatal accidents happen in the home you
> > know! So get out of the house as much as
possible.
>
> Too true. 37 hospitalisations due to accidents with tea cosies, 5,945
from
> trousers, 311 from birdbaths and 165 from placemats in 1999.*

Live life on the edge, stay at home

Pete

 

[David Hansen]

On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 22:13:40 GMT someone who may be "Velvet" <[email protected]> wrote this:-

>Roads are scary places when you're not used to riding on them!

Many people start off using cycle "facilities" as much as possible. With practice and "Cyclecraft"
they graduate to using the roads.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked
keys, unless the UK government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

 

[Velvet]

"David Hansen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 22:13:40 GMT someone who may be "Velvet" <[email protected]> wrote this:-
>
> >Roads are scary places when you're not used to riding on them!
>
> Many people start off using cycle "facilities" as much as possible. With practice and "Cyclecraft"
> they graduate to using the roads.
>
>
> --
> David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked
> keys, unless the UK government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

Unfortunately, the cycle facilities round here seem limited to very narrow cycle lanes marked on the
roads, and even they are patchy. Oh, and they take you right by the edge of long lines of parked
cars. Oh, and that's not counting the cycle lanes that bizarrely close into the kerb, leaving you
with no idea if you're supposed to swap to the pavement at that point, or continue on the road....
Having looked at sustrans, the routes here are either on-road, or on tracks off-road, which don't
appear to be suitable for anything other than a mountain-bike.

Does anyone know of anything like some nice tow-paths (suitable for a tourer/racer) within a
reasonable distance of croydon/redhill? Have the ability to get me and the bike there without
cycling on the roads (and I don't want to hear sucking of teeth and tutting from that back, thankyou
very much) ;-)

Velvet

 

[David Pipes]

In message <[email protected]>, Peter B <[email protected]> writes
>
>"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Smudger <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> > Just get on your bike, get out there and enjoy it. Most fatal accidents happen in the home you
>> > know! So get out of the house as much as
>possible.
>>
>> Too true. 37 hospitalisations due to accidents with tea cosies, 5,945
>from
>> trousers, 311 from birdbaths and 165 from placemats in 1999.*
>
>
>Live life on the edge, stay at home
Just be very careful with that loaded tea cosy, they can kill in the wrong hands....
--
DP

 

[J-P.S]

On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 23:38:38 +0100, Richard Edgar scrawled: ) If your experience is anything like
mine, that won't help all that much. ) The times I most need to give someone a quick blast are also
the times I ) need my brakes most desperately :-(

What you might need is a switch embedded in a false tooth. Then, when you clamp down your jaw and
start grinding your teeth in frustration, the air horn blasts away like a mad thing.

I'm sure they had something similar on the Ipcress Files. Or was it Twelve Monkeys?

J-P
--
It is redundant to punish a girl who dyes her hair multiple colors. But if you feel it's absolutely
necessary, I recommend a tattoo.

 

[Richard Edgar]

In article <[email protected]>, "j-p.s"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>What you might need is a switch embedded in a false tooth. Then, when you clamp down your jaw and
>start grinding your teeth in frustration, the air horn blasts away like a mad thing.
>
>I'm sure they had something similar on the Ipcress Files. Or was it Twelve Monkeys?

There was a variant of the idea in Dune, but that would be a little extreme ;-)

Richard

--
Richard Edgar Robinson College All Opinions My Own etc.

 

[James Hodson]

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 18:26:15 +0100, [email protected] (Richard Edgar) wrote:

>There was a variant of the idea in Dune, but that would be a little extreme ;-)
>

Good old Dr Yueh.

Naturally, I'll have now to read the entire series yet again.

James

--
A credit limit is NOT a target.

 

[Dave Kahn]

"Peter B" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Live life on the edge, stay at home

If you believe the death notices most people seem to die peacefully in their sleep. Stay out of bed
at all costs!

--
Dave...

 

[Tim Hall]

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 08:09:57 GMT, "Velvet" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
>Unfortunately, the cycle facilities round here seem limited to very narrow cycle lanes marked on
>the roads, and even they are patchy. Oh, and they take you right by the edge of long lines of
>parked cars. Oh, and that's not counting the cycle lanes that bizarrely close into the kerb,
>leaving you with no idea if you're supposed to swap to the pavement at that point, or continue on
>the road.... Having looked at sustrans, the routes here are either on-road, or on tracks off-road,
>which don't appear to be suitable for anything other than a mountain-bike.
>
>Does anyone know of anything like some nice tow-paths (suitable for a tourer/racer) within a
>reasonable distance of croydon/redhill? Have the ability to get me and the bike there without
>cycling on the roads (and I don't want to hear sucking of teeth and tutting from that back,
>thankyou very much) ;-)
>

The sustrans route south from Redhill is fine for tourers, I use mine on it. First part is on the
main road, but then zips into Earlswood on residential roads. Then on a cycle track (tarmaced) past
the Royal Earlswood. A bit of lane work, followed by a track and byway and you're in Horley. Follow
the road through the town then onto a nice path alongside the River Mole past Gatwick (where I saw
the kingfisher the other day).

The bit north of Redhill (round Mercer's park) is also just fine for tourers. The bit between
Redhill town centre and Nutfield Marsh (Inn on the Pond) is pretty much a muddy track.

Tim
--

fast and gripping, non pompous, glossy and credible.

 

[Tony Raven]

Dave Kahn <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Peter B" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>> Live life on the edge, stay at home
>
> If you believe the death notices most people seem to die peacefully in their sleep. Stay out of
> bed at all costs!

Especially hospital beds! Its also a statistical fact that over 99% of people who die have eaten
either potatoes, pasta or rice in the previous 24 hours. Stay clear of these dangerous foods!

Tony
--
http://www.raven-family.com

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George
Bernard Shaw