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
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    132 months ago

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

    • @Grass
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      12 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
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    62 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.

  • @SomeAmateur
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    32 months ago

    Once I heard a kind verbal “toot toot!” from some toddlers riding past their teeny tiny bikes

  • @[email protected]
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    32 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.

    • MrPasty
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      22 months ago

      I never thought I would be able to like a damn bike bell as much as I like the Knog Oi.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      32 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.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 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.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      12 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.

  • Ananääs
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    12 months ago

    Crane e-ne bells are neat with a nice sound and probably outlast the bike too

  • @[email protected]
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    12 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.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 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”.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 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.