bicycle car horn for beeping

PurpleBee

Someone told me I should put a bell on my bicycle, but no one that can crush me is going to hear a bell.

I won't get a bell, I can just shout at pedestrians, but I was thinking of getting some kind of car horn fitted to my bicycle. does anyone know how possible this is without including the steer wheel etc?

ciotog

PurpleBee wrote: »

Someone told me I should put a bell on my bicycle, but no one that can crush me is going to hear a bell.

I won't get a bell, I can just shout at pedestrians, but I was thinking of getting some kind of car horn fitted to my bicycle. does anyone know how possible this is without including the steer wheel etc?

I think http://deltacycle.com/Airzound-Bike-Horn is what you're after

triggermortis

That looks the biz! When I was at college (1984!) my mate and I cycled everywhere and we put air horns on our bikes. They were the full can type ones with a big red horn. We clamped drink bottle cages to the forks and kept the horn in place with elastic bands. Several car drivers nearly had kittens when we let them off!
This looks much easier to use everyday!

kenmc

it's very handy indeed, cars really can hear you just before they try to squish you. just make sure to keep it pumped up.

moby2101

Cool! But its a bit cumbersome having the air bottle attached..There must be battery powered gizmo out there?

Keep_Her_Lit

OP, it always pays to think ahead when modifying your bike. Instead of messing about, making trivial incremental changes here and there, why not be a little more ambitious?

Shouting at other road users becomes tiresome, agreed. So does pushing those damned pedals, espeicially when it's windy ... or hilly ... or both. So why not kill two birds with the one stone?

Fit a small engine which can drive both your rear wheel and an on-board compressor. Believe me, people are going to get the *#@! out of your way now. Yessssirreeee!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkVgesG7ukE

el Bastardo

Started reading this thread and thought, what kind of tosser would bother with horns, bells and whistles: Get a loud hub and yer sorted (but I'd really love a pair of thse train horns - just without the compressor/engine ****e! - to get the wind up the bastard-type motorists).

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

OP, it always pays to think ahead when modifying your bike. Instead of messing about, making trivial incremental changes here and there, why not be a little more ambitious?

Shouting at other road users becomes tiresome, agreed. So does pushing those damned pedals, espeicially when it's windy ... or hilly ... or both. So why not kill two birds with the one stone?

Fit a small engine which can drive both your rear wheel and an on-board compressor. Believe me, people are going to get the *#@! out of your way now. Yessssirreeee!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkVgesG7ukE

greenmat

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

OP, it always pays to think ahead when modifying your bike. Instead of messing about, making trivial incremental changes here and there, why not be a little more ambitious?

Shouting at other road users becomes tiresome, agreed. So does pushing those damned pedals, espeicially when it's windy ... or hilly ... or both. So why not kill two birds with the one stone?

Fit a small engine which can drive both your rear wheel and an on-board compressor. Believe me, people are going to get the *#@! out of your way now. Yessssirreeee!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkVgesG7ukE

Thats brillant, the fun you could have with them.

Lumen

I have a loud dingdong bell. It has several limitations.

The biggest one is that the pedestrians towards which I need to direct my dingdongs are usually fúcking morons who will often continue to walk on a red man, slowly and deliberately, either looking at me or not, possibly assuming that I will stop or else completely oblivious because they are listening to music.

The other problem is that I can't use the bell when braking hard, as I need both hands on the levers, so I have the choice of warning and hitting the ped, or doing neither.

I do like the idea of a foghorn/train bell thing, but unfortunately it would annoy/terrify the 95% of people in the vicinity who it is not directed at.

As for warning drivers, I don't think that will work at all. If you make a sound like a train they'll look for a train, not a cyclist.

Some kind of directional subsonic****yourpantssoundweapon is more appealing, but I've not come across one on DealExtreme yet.

The bell is useful when overtaking cyclists and peds in the Phoenix Park, or to warn hidden pedestrians who are crossing whilst I filter through stopped traffic. It certainly beats shouting.

Jawgap

I was going to get one of these



....and record the wife shouting "Hey, daft arse!! Get out the f&kin way!" That way when the impeding ped looks around they'll think it wasn't me hurling abuse at them:)

purethick

Lumen wrote: »

I do like the idea of a foghorn/train bell thing, but unfortunately it would annoy/terrify the 95% of people in the vicinity who it is not directed at.

As for warning drivers, I don't think that will work at all. If you make a sound like a train they'll look for a train, not a cyclist.

I use the airzound horn on both my bikes - it's incredibly loud - and car/van/truck drivers can hear it no problem. It's saved my ass loads of times, a common use is where a car starts veering to the left squeezing me against the kerb cause they don't know a cyclist is there.
As it's very loud I try and only give the button a small tap which is usually plenty.

I highly recommend them :thumbsup:

monument

A lot of people criticise the limitations of bells without using them. I use my bell effectively to let motorists, people walking and other cyclists know I'm there. And mine isn't the loudest of bells.

That's not to say it's 100% effective, it's not and noting is really.

A bell is a legal requirement, while a horn on a bike could be seen as legally questionable. Which does not matter most of the time, but could a small bit in the event of you hitting someone.

tomasrojo

I wonder whether the requirement to use a bell is not a dead letter at this stage. I've never heard of anyone being even reprimanded for not having one, let alone fined or prosecuted.

DePurpereWolf

I can yell louder than any bell I've seen for sale so I don't really see a bell as being useful. I also can't remember the last time I heard a bicycle bell.
A loud 'excuse me' gets most pedestrians out of the way (with a smile, always be polite). The ones who don't are listening to their mp3 player, and nothing short of a firecracker can get their attention.

My wife has been backed up on twice. In two seperate occasions the car driver didn't see her waiting behind him and just started backing up. She did have a bell but at that point you just start screaming.

So I'm curious if you would yell loud enough wouldn't drivers hear it.
It would be cheaper and more portable.

Ray Palmer

monument wrote: »

A lot of people criticise the limitations of bells without using them. I use my bell effectively to let motorists,

How does that work? No way my bell can be heard inside a car when the driver has a radio on and I don't know how he is going to hear it over the traffic sounds when I can 't even hear it then.

No way can a motorist hear your bell in normal city traffic. I keep flip flopping on whether to get the air horn or not.

nomdeboardie

I downloaded sound files for "squealing brakes" and the "beep beep beep" used by reversing trucks, and put them on my mobile. I'd intended to try them out in "dozy pedestrian" situations, but never got around to it, then lost the phone. The logistics of having the playback ready-to-go at high volume and near enough to hand to press at the right moment were a bit much. Might give it a sporting try again, though. As someone commented elsewhere, having actual squealy bike brakes can be advantageous in these situations, but unfortunately my own are impressively quiet.

Update: this looks like the business all right (pity it uses button batteries (can't recharge), though)

Jawgap wrote: »

I was going to get one of these ...

kenmc

moby2101 wrote: »

But its a bit cumbersome having the air bottle attached.

How so? the horn part is attachted to the bike anyway, so how would this be "cumbersome"?

purethick

kenmc wrote: »

How so? the horn part is attachted to the bike anyway, so how would this be "cumbersome"?

+1
The horn part is attached the handlebars and the bottle part slots into the bottlecages on the down tube. No problem at all. It's also very light

moby2101

I spose I should have clearer ..
I don't use a bike for commuting..
My bike is solely for racing/training..Both bottle cages are used for drinks.,
I couldn't see myself using this with the air unit velcroed to the frame.

This would be cumbersome for my use!
Would be fine on a commuter bike tho'.
Would love to try one out

I've an airzound. On my most recent bike, I got a bell with it too. I was going to take it off but I kept it, so I've both on the handlebars now - airzound for those who can't hear a bell (vehicles), bells for cyclists/pedestrians.

They're great yokes. The main downside is that you don't use one when you need to, as in you will always grip the brakes first and beep second, otherwise you won't last long on the roads. But I've still used it a few times which have definitely been handy.

monument

Ray Palmer wrote: »

How does that work? No way my bell can be heard inside a car when the driver has a radio on and I don't know how he is going to hear it over the traffic sounds when I can 't even hear it then.

No way can a motorist hear your bell in normal city traffic. I keep flip flopping on whether to get the air horn or not.

My bell isn't your bell?! And as I was saying, there are even louder bells then mine.

I just tested the OH's bell with a free / crap iPhone decibel counter -- it reached 97dB. I don't trust the iPhone app, but then again there's still a bit of a ring in my ear. Repeated ringing is louder.

Her bell is like these, but I picked it up somewhere else in Dublin.

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

I can yell louder than any bell I've seen for sale so I don't really see a bell as being useful. I also can't remember the last time I heard a bicycle bell.
A loud 'excuse me' gets most pedestrians out of the way (with a smile, always be polite). The ones who don't are listening to their mp3 player, and nothing short of a firecracker can get their attention.

My wife has been backed up on twice. In two seperate occasions the car driver didn't see her waiting behind him and just started backing up. She did have a bell but at that point you just start screaming.

So I'm curious if you would yell loud enough wouldn't drivers hear it.
It would be cheaper and more portable.

At some point you're going to shout bell, or no bell. I would / do if I need to or just when my finger is off the bell.

purethick

ivygan wrote: »

http://www.geminideal.com/60W-Mini-Vehicle-Bull-Horn-Loud-Speaker-and-Siren-System_p114414.html this horn may be fit for you.

...if you have a 12V battery strapped to your bike

Air horn using compressed air gives you 115dB and it weighs next to nothing (45g)