Get a bell! Twice riding my bike today, even with brakes, I narrowly avoided collision only by giving a little ring on my pleasant bell and came to no harm. The first time, a Jefferson Hospital ambulance without sounding its sirens made a left hand turn from the right lane on a one way street with no signal, nearly smashing me into the curb by doing so. I rang my bell and shook my fist at them, and emerged unscathed.
And later, an elderly woman nearly crossed the street in front of me (I had the green) but for my triple ring, which saved us both a sorry meeting. She even smiled at me and said thanks.
So as I said, get a bell! It will hardly cramp that bad-ass swank you've been going for, and will rather endear you to motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists alike. Especially if you spring for this one. See exhibit A:
Have you seen the Crane Bell? That thing is off the hook...we think you would trade your in. Merry Sales is importing them from Japan.
ReplyDeletehttp://store.somafab.com/crbefrja.html
ReplyDeleteActually, I do have a large Crane bell on our tandem, and it has served us rather well in the "hello there, here we are on the tandem" capacity. So large and brassy. They also have those over at Velo Orange, which I believe is where we found both of ours, but thanks for the heads up on alternate vendors. Lord knows I'm not trying to play faves.
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