When we were kids, you may have had a honky-horn with a bulb on the end, perhaps you had bells with gears that strike multiple times as they unwind like one of those self-propelled matchbox cars. Maybe you unscrew your bell halfway so the cracks on the trail ring it as you weave through a crowd of other trail users. Or maybe you ride a folding bike through the airport with a little electric horn. Perhaps you’re the best kind of DIY redneck and have fitted a literal tugboat horn to a bike trailor so you can scare the bejeezus out of a coalroller after they dump a load of black smoke on you.

Whatever it is, I want to know about it and why you chose it.

  • teft@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I just use my lungs. I’m loud from my time in the army so shouting has always worked.

    • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      I tried a few but I can’t find any as good as the one my grandpa used to have in the old old car.

  • drail@fedia.io
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    5 months ago

    When I was a kid, it was playing card rubberbanded to my chainstay so I could pretend I was riding a motorcycle from the noise

    Nowadays, I prefer to just let out wolf whistle. Pierces even the best noise cancelling headphones and busiest traffic noise.

  • BigPotato@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’ve got a little Knog bike bell. You press it once and it lets out a “ding” once. I’ll press it two or three times if I see someone wearing headphones who won’t hear the “On your LEFT” as I come up on them.

    Bonus, I can put my thumb on the bell real easy and it shuts up.

    It was cheap, does the job, and is really small.

    • njordomir@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      Very reasonably sized. This looks like the exact bell that came on one of my two bikes. It works, the sound is okay, though I find the bell binds with the mounting sometimes and muffles the ring.

  • Wahots@pawb.social
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    5 months ago

    I have one of those modern bells that basically hits a little tuning fork, and a modern electric bell that is essentially just a motorcycle horn if there’s a blind turn or dangerous situation.

  • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    I’ve got a tiny bell installed upside down on my handle bars so that it’s barely visible. I almost exclusively ride on forest trails but people clearly don’t seem to hear me coming as I constantly sneak up on them so I had to give in and buy one.

  • AchtungDrempels@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Just a random small bell that was already on my bike. I don’t want to annoy pedestrians and i ring it from way far away. Not interested in having a bell that “works against cars”.

  • GrindingGears@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    With everyone using those god damn earpods now, I think you could literally have an air horn attached to your bike, and they still wouldn’t hear it. I just have a little plastic bell attached to my bike, and I have about a 20% success rate with it. It always gives me pause when someone acts startled, and shocked, yet I’ve rang my bell 4 times, and my 108 tooth hub freewheeling is literally roaring like a swarm of bees. Yet it’s naturally my fault I’ve startled them.

    • njordomir@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      I love loud freewheels/cassettes. The sound difference between a normal and high engagement hub is fascinating too. Just like driving a car, I use audio feedback a lot while biking.

  • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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    5 months ago

    I like those classic ring ring one as it doesn’t sounds aggressive just to tell people i’m approaching, but sadly i couldn’t find it in market near me. On the other hand, i almost had a collision with someone who wear earphone and stare right into their phone while on their evening stroll, where after i ring my bell, he proceed to shift his direction onto my path. Have to move out of the way to not hit him, and he only see me after i went pass him.