Have I forgotten anything?!

[fossyant]

No you need the Fagh as primary lock and a cable as minimum to secure wheels. I carry a fagh and a Bordo (Abus solid bendy metal bar thing) as well as a small cable - weighs a tonne, but I put them in the panniers.

 

[kishan]

helmet,decent headlights and tail lights,slim inner tubes,puncture repair kit,pump,water bottle + water bottle cage and decent seal skin gloves

 

[lulubel]

Haha I can't think of anything more antagonising to motorists than an airhorn on a bike...if you get nailed by a crap motorist no amount of airhorning will get me out of that.

The point of an air horn is to attract the attention of a driver who hasn't seen you and may hit you or possibly kill you if you don't get their attention. I mostly ride on open roads, and through small towns, and I don't have one, but I definitely would get one if I cycled in city traffic.

A few years ago, when I was driving a bus, I had to stop behind a car that was trying to turn into a petrol station. He couldn't get in because it was very busy (arguably, he should have carried on and looked for another one, but that's not the point of this story). The driver in front of him decided not to wait and started to reverse without checking behind him. The second car driver tooted his horn, but he just carried on reversing, so I hit the air horn on the bus. It's amazing the attention an air horn gets! Everyone stopped and looked round, including the reversing driver. I prevented a minor bump that day, but if the car had been a motorbike, or even a cyclist, it could potentially have been very serious.

That's what air horns are for - not for "making a point" once the moment of danger has passed.

 

[caimg]

Yeah for sure, I didn't mean to scoff - I guess my point was that I'd rather react to a perilous situation by being ultra-defensive as a cyclist rather than hold my position, sound a horn and expect that to get me out of a sticky situation. I'm happy to be over-cautious, late to a destination, have to temporarily dismount or whatever if it means avoiding potential-death.

I'd still feel like I was antagonising motorists if I was in a chain of traffic parping a horn. Punching a car horn is fine because you're nowhere near as vulnerable inside a car, but I think I'd rather focus that extra thought process on defensive cycling. Like I say, surely a potential hazard as a cyclist is best avoided by you reacting ASAP rather than trying to convince a motorist to stop the hazard occurring?

 

[fossyant]

Who needs air horns when you 'should' have a good pair of lungs for shouting 'Oi' (cyclists lungs) - did that once to someone who pulled out on me from a shop layby, the driver physically jumped off her seat - scared the pants off her ! She then beeped at me a few yards later.

Forgot to add heat seeking missles to the list.

Oh and most importantly, forget gears, go fixed. !

 

[fossyant]

. Punching a car horn

I like !

 

[freewheelwilly]

The point of an air horn is to attract the attention of a driver who hasn't seen you and may hit you or possibly kill you if you don't get their attention. I mostly ride on open roads, and through small towns, and I don't have one, but I definitely would get one if I cycled in city traffic.

A few years ago, when I was driving a bus, I had to stop behind a car that was trying to turn into a petrol station. He couldn't get in because it was very busy (arguably, he should have carried on and looked for another one, but that's not the point of this story). The driver in front of him decided not to wait and started to reverse without checking behind him. The second car driver tooted his horn, but he just carried on reversing, so I hit the air horn on the bus. It's amazing the attention an air horn gets! Everyone stopped and looked round, including the reversing driver. I prevented a minor bump that day, but if the car had been a motorbike, or even a cyclist, it could potentially have been very serious.

That's what air horns are for - not for "making a point" once the moment of danger has passed.

I thought airhorns were used to watch pedestrians do the chicken dance

 

[lulubel]

Like I say, surely a potential hazard as a cyclist is best avoided by you reacting ASAP rather than trying to convince a motorist to stop the hazard occurring?

I totally agree. In the years I drove buses, I only ever used the air horn that one time (other than to get someone's attention at the depot, which is a different thing entirely), and it wasn't even to avoid a collision that I would have been involved in.

But, let's say you're cycling along in the left hand lane, minding your own business, riding defensively, a lorry driver passes you in the lane on your right then realises he's about to pass his turning on the left. He brakes and starts to turn without looking properly, not registering there's a cyclist on his near side, and it's all happened too quickly for you to stop and let him cross in front of you. There are railings on your left, and you've got nowhere to go. You'd have a very, very good chance of nothing like that ever happening to you, but if it did, being able to make yourself heard could be the difference between life and death.

If you're a careful cyclist, it isn't yourself you need to worry about, it's the other idiots on the road. That's why I'd get an air horn if I was cycling in a city, and then hope I never had to use it.

 

[cyberknight]

Go for a co2 inflator rather than a pump. If your clumsy like me you might rip the valve out of the tube with the silly mini-pumps available. Very glad I did, they're tiny as well and refills are dead cheap.

subway uses MTB tubes so its a bit sturdier and i found c02 to be very hit and miss, a good pump is more reliable and you do not have to worry about refills.

 

[caimg]

Yeah fair enough Lulubel, I guess you can never be too careful. The thing is where am I going to fit my horn alongside my iPhone mount and headlight?

Agreed on one thing...having to ride in accordance to the undeniable existence of rubbish / careless drivers is a must!