[caption id="attachment_1905" align="alignnone" width="497"]
That's so sweet. Click the image to enlarge.[/caption]
Two days ago, I was hauling a load of returnable containers to a bottle depot. This was on a narrow, but not very busy, quiet, side street, coming up on the very busy West Broadway Avenue. I distinctly heard a small metallic "ting," or "ping." It brought to mind the sound of a small, but important, piece of my bike bouncing off the road surface. I was slowing down, when the bike courier blew by on my left -- that sound had been the courier alerting me to his presence by ringing his bicycle bell -- an Incredibell, just like I had.
It's the law in these parts, that a bike must have a bell. Good idea. Sad, there doesn't seem to be any good ones to buy. The current fashion seems to be little brass bells, with pure little tones, that sound like the call to a church congregation of mice, or Tinkerbell farting. I chose an Incredibell as the best of a bad lot. It was simple and durable, The sound is strong, but too nice, with no attack. It will not make Pedestrians freeze with fear. The only thing that can do that, these days, is the squealing shriek of badly toed cantilever, or side-pull brakes. That sound just cuts through the background noise, and acts on a person's fear of being hit by a careening bicycle. Gotta love that.
I have the Incredibell literally to comply with the law; I rarely use it because no one has paid attention to it when I have. If I was in that courier's place, I would yell that I was "on the left." If I was going to use the bell also, I would thumb the ringer multiple times, rather than just once. Really though, If I was going to use the bell, I should first, get a better bell.
That's so sweet. Click the image to enlarge.[/caption]Two days ago, I was hauling a load of returnable containers to a bottle depot. This was on a narrow, but not very busy, quiet, side street, coming up on the very busy West Broadway Avenue. I distinctly heard a small metallic "ting," or "ping." It brought to mind the sound of a small, but important, piece of my bike bouncing off the road surface. I was slowing down, when the bike courier blew by on my left -- that sound had been the courier alerting me to his presence by ringing his bicycle bell -- an Incredibell, just like I had.
Sounds like Tinkerbell farting
It's the law in these parts, that a bike must have a bell. Good idea. Sad, there doesn't seem to be any good ones to buy. The current fashion seems to be little brass bells, with pure little tones, that sound like the call to a church congregation of mice, or Tinkerbell farting. I chose an Incredibell as the best of a bad lot. It was simple and durable, The sound is strong, but too nice, with no attack. It will not make Pedestrians freeze with fear. The only thing that can do that, these days, is the squealing shriek of badly toed cantilever, or side-pull brakes. That sound just cuts through the background noise, and acts on a person's fear of being hit by a careening bicycle. Gotta love that.
I have the Incredibell literally to comply with the law; I rarely use it because no one has paid attention to it when I have. If I was in that courier's place, I would yell that I was "on the left." If I was going to use the bell also, I would thumb the ringer multiple times, rather than just once. Really though, If I was going to use the bell, I should first, get a better bell.
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