GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
I'm a bit of a fan of bells on bikes, even if all that seems to happen when you ping one on the streets of the UK is the pedestrians you wish to alert to your presence, if they respond at all, react by looking up in the air.
Here in sunny/windy/rainy* cph the bell is the main tool of cyclist-to-cyclist communication. Before I warm to my theme (I'm on a very tedious conference call at the moment) let's just unpack the statement "cyclist-to-cyclist". I wanted to write person-to-person but honestly people on two leg don't use bells. But the people awheel in this fine sunny/windy/rainy* city are not, for the most part, readily identifiable as belonging to what we in the UK regard as the tribe of cyclists. Riding a bike here is so normal, ordinary, & natural that it seems utterly ridiculous to identify folk by their chosen mode of human-powered transport. The best parallel in the UK would be something like a situation if people who choose to wear shoes on their feet when travelling to and from their workplace suddenly decided to call themselves "shoeists". Riding a bike in central cph is as normal as wearing a pair of shoes. Off peak you can even take your bike on the metro, provided you buy it a child ticket! Never before in my adult life have I ever felt more comfortable with my self-proclaimed manifesto of "I am not a cyclist, I just ride/build/buy/repair/fettle/own/sell bikes a lot" than here. I've managed to clock up several hundred km in the last few weeks and not once I have felt a need to don lycra &c. My one concession to cycle clothing, other than the practicality of totting a Timbuk2 messenger bag at all time (for which affectation I blame @crockofgold) is wearing gel mitts. They were cheaper than swapping the cheese grater grips on my current local ride, which were giving me blisters and sore hands.
So, anyway, the primary means that one person riding a bike in cph makes other people riding bikes around them aware of their presence is by using a bell. cph bike shops have whole walls of the tings (fnarr) from tiny O ring mounted thumb-bells to side-plate sized monsters that almost need a handcrank to operate them. Their use is almost as varied as their design; it ranges from "OI! Idiot on the go-bike!** Get out of the freaking' way!" through "Hello, Mr Visitor to our lovely sunny/windy/rainy* that is not how WE turn left here" by way of the loud repeated ringing of the "GET OVER TO THE RIGHT NOW!" to the gentlest, almost inaudible tinkle of "You are about to be overtaken."
In cph your choice of bell, and how you chose to ring it, says far more about you than your choice of bike. The crane is a bell for the connoisseur, a bell for the well mannered tolerant person on a bike, a bell for the rider who never rings it in a fit-of-pique, or angrily or with irritation at their fellow rider. It is simply a bell incapable of expressing negative emotions. Its tone is mellow and of very long sustain. Even the normally lethal anti-pedestrian in the cycle lane double ping - "The Horror!" they cried at the very idea of such an invasion, I blame the tourists - even this rapid double-ping merely caresses the offender's ears in such a delightful way they smile gratefully at the generosity of the Crane's luscious tones and, smilingly, step aside.
Crane bells - you know it makes sense.
*delete as applicable although in the case of the wind that will be very difficult
**go-bike = cph's successor to the old free bike rental scheme. Introduced in 2014 they are electric assist hire bikes, costing pennies to rent if you subscribe, with sat nav, docking station availability and other user-friendly doodads built in.
Here in sunny/windy/rainy* cph the bell is the main tool of cyclist-to-cyclist communication. Before I warm to my theme (I'm on a very tedious conference call at the moment) let's just unpack the statement "cyclist-to-cyclist". I wanted to write person-to-person but honestly people on two leg don't use bells. But the people awheel in this fine sunny/windy/rainy* city are not, for the most part, readily identifiable as belonging to what we in the UK regard as the tribe of cyclists. Riding a bike here is so normal, ordinary, & natural that it seems utterly ridiculous to identify folk by their chosen mode of human-powered transport. The best parallel in the UK would be something like a situation if people who choose to wear shoes on their feet when travelling to and from their workplace suddenly decided to call themselves "shoeists". Riding a bike in central cph is as normal as wearing a pair of shoes. Off peak you can even take your bike on the metro, provided you buy it a child ticket! Never before in my adult life have I ever felt more comfortable with my self-proclaimed manifesto of "I am not a cyclist, I just ride/build/buy/repair/fettle/own/sell bikes a lot" than here. I've managed to clock up several hundred km in the last few weeks and not once I have felt a need to don lycra &c. My one concession to cycle clothing, other than the practicality of totting a Timbuk2 messenger bag at all time (for which affectation I blame @crockofgold) is wearing gel mitts. They were cheaper than swapping the cheese grater grips on my current local ride, which were giving me blisters and sore hands.
So, anyway, the primary means that one person riding a bike in cph makes other people riding bikes around them aware of their presence is by using a bell. cph bike shops have whole walls of the tings (fnarr) from tiny O ring mounted thumb-bells to side-plate sized monsters that almost need a handcrank to operate them. Their use is almost as varied as their design; it ranges from "OI! Idiot on the go-bike!** Get out of the freaking' way!" through "Hello, Mr Visitor to our lovely sunny/windy/rainy* that is not how WE turn left here" by way of the loud repeated ringing of the "GET OVER TO THE RIGHT NOW!" to the gentlest, almost inaudible tinkle of "You are about to be overtaken."
In cph your choice of bell, and how you chose to ring it, says far more about you than your choice of bike. The crane is a bell for the connoisseur, a bell for the well mannered tolerant person on a bike, a bell for the rider who never rings it in a fit-of-pique, or angrily or with irritation at their fellow rider. It is simply a bell incapable of expressing negative emotions. Its tone is mellow and of very long sustain. Even the normally lethal anti-pedestrian in the cycle lane double ping - "The Horror!" they cried at the very idea of such an invasion, I blame the tourists - even this rapid double-ping merely caresses the offender's ears in such a delightful way they smile gratefully at the generosity of the Crane's luscious tones and, smilingly, step aside.
Crane bells - you know it makes sense.
*delete as applicable although in the case of the wind that will be very difficult
**go-bike = cph's successor to the old free bike rental scheme. Introduced in 2014 they are electric assist hire bikes, costing pennies to rent if you subscribe, with sat nav, docking station availability and other user-friendly doodads built in.
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Something about Janet & John on Wogan.
Both pretty common activities for bike riders and have seen a few doing both simultaneously whist they are riding along!
)
