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I'd much rather hear someone's podcast or ebook than a bell on a bicycle. Those cyclists must be ding-a-lings.

rcorfman wrote:I'd much rather ... than a bell on a bicycle.

Would you rather the biker come up behind without any warning at all?
Or have the biker listening to a podcast/ebook loud enough without earbuds to provide a warning?

Frankly, over the years I had many hikers thank me for a soft bell warning when I came up from behind while mountain biking. I saw it as a courtesy... a heck of a lot better than a loud COMING THROUGH! warning which been given by bikers on a few occasions.

@CannondaleKid
Warnings are fine, ringing a bell is fine, hearing a jingling bell when the rider is 200 yards or more away is just annoying. I'm talking about the bells that ring whenever the cyclist goes over a bump or a rock, which on the trail is constant. I'm not talking about the bicycle bells that are rung by the cyclist on demand. Those are fine, My wife and I had one on our tandem, they work great. I've listened to a cyclist's bell well over ten minutes as I caught and passed him on a hill. Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling...

@rcorfman
Although I've only heard a constantly-ringing bell like that one time I'll admit it was annoying... thankfully he was out of hearing range pretty quickly.

I try to avoid places where there are going to be bikes. Most riders are courteous and have common sense, but it only takes a couple to ruin everything, one if you're really unlucky.

@rcorfman
As an occasional mountain biker, I've learned not to warn hikers when I was passing, because when I did, I had more hikers turn into the trail than get out of the way. So I just pass or say, "excuse me" if I cannot pass.

Also, don't go to Glacier Nat'l Park if you dislike bells. Many hikers use them and other noise makers to let bears know they're in the area, even though it's more dangerous to hike with bells. Bells can be too noisy. It's best to keep your ears open for bears or moose rustling in the area.

What about something similar to a bike bell for trailrunners? Little jingle bells on their shortie shorts?

I rarely see mountain bikers but those trail runners are everywhere now. It doesn't matter how remote I am, at some point I'm going to be surprised by some neon clad runner flying past me with no warning.

Several of us were riding bicycles along the trails near Woods Canyon Lake last summer. Bells and shouts would only cause the hiking and walking folks to pause, turn and block the trail. One of us while we approached the foot plodders would yell out Bear! Bear! They would scatter like chickens chased by the Colonel.

gummo wrote:I had more hikers turn into the trail than get out of the way.

... then they just stand there gawking instead of moving, and then when they do move, inevitably it's one person on each side so they still aren't out of the way. But that was pretty much a given when I was biking the trails at Usery Park.

@Nighthiker that would certainly be an effective alarm in bear country... around here Rattlesnake! would probably work well.

As a former serious MAMIL I can say that cyclists just can't win. If you don't use a bell, everyone dings you for it. If you do use a bell, you're doing the dinging but the dinging seems to ding right back at you. And then if you ding a ling a ling all the time then I really can't help you because you've got bigger problems than being dinged for using your ding a ling.

Bikers and runners should be banned to pavement (track and velodrome are ok too)

Don't recall constant or annoying bike bell ringing on a trail. Have encountered far more asshole hikers than bikers ever.

A courtesy ring by an approaching biker doesn’t annoy me at all, although I’ve usually stepped out of the way before ringing the bell was necessary. Incessant ringing would be annoying, but I’ve only heard that a couple of times, and the time spent within hearing distance was brief.

I know some people hate even hearing the bell ring once. I have a family member who would actually yell at the poor bikers about ringing. I finally told that family member to knock it off and asked if they preferred to instead get hit by a bike. They at least stopped the yelling while I was around.

I think on a percentage basis, I’ve encountered more unpleasant bikers than hikers, but in absolute numbers, more unpleasant hikers. Encounters with cranky bikers are usually a few seconds, while being around annoying hikers might take a few minutes to get out of earshot. While bikers may tear up the trails a little more, hikers tend to cause more damage/vandalism to areas adjacent to the trails.

I prefer a warning...but on a recent SoMo hike i had a biker and later a runner pass me so fast (from behind) that all I could do was freeze and hope they knew what they were doing. Made no sense to be moving at that rate on a busy weekend. Frankly I can't remember if either gave a warning but they shouldn't have been doing what they were doing.

@Hansenaz Yeah, I’ve encountered bikers moving so fast on busy trails they wouldn’t have been able to avoid an accident if someone didn’t move out of their way fast enough—ringing a bell wouldn’t have mattered. I’ve had to yank my kids out of the way of fast moving bikes before. Seeing bikes flying down Lost Mine is cool to watch, but could be a bad accident if a hiker is in the way—there’s not much room to get out of harm’s way on that trail.

@joebartels
Bikers don’t leave baggies on the trail....

I had a really close call with a Biker on the Mormon Loop Trail. I was doing the Mormon Loop Clockwise and there's a spot east of the Devastator where the Trail takes a really hard right and it's a blind corner. The Biker was hauling pumpkin the other way and hit the corner at the same time. He almost completely lost it, but despite slamming on the brakes, he stayed on the bike and missed me by a mere foot. If he had had a bell, I would have at least had a warning, stopped short of the corner and gotten out of the way. If he had hit me at the speed he was going, it would have been very bad.

Just in case it's not clear to all, there are bad actors in every scene. I dislike the implied connotation that one bad actor represents them all. When I was a serious cyclist, there was serious dislike by many cyclists about hikers that wear earbuds in both ears (shoutout to the other thread... represent!). Now that I am much more hiker than cyclist, I notice there is a lot of shared dislike for the actions of (some) cyclists by hikers - frequently referred to in out groups as "bikers". But last time I checked I don't wear leather on my Specialized (at least not with tassles, because they get caught in your spokes). Now, I think the one area we can bridge this gap and come together on this is our shared dislike of those cat damned post holing horse riders.

wildwesthikes wrote: ↑Mar 11 2020 8:14 pm Just in case it's not clear to all, there are bad actors in every scene. I dislike the implied connotation that one bad actor represents them all. When I was a serious cyclist, there was serious dislike by many cyclists about hikers that wear earbuds in both ears (shoutout to the other thread... represent!). Now that I am much more hiker than cyclist, I notice there is a lot of shared dislike for the actions of (some) cyclists by hikers - frequently referred to in out groups as "bikers". But last time I checked I don't wear leather on my Specialized (at least not with tassles, because they get caught in your spokes). Now, I think the one area we can bridge this gap and come together on this is our shared dislike of those cat damned post holing horse riders.

Meh, I don't really mind a 'torn up' trail. I usually have 170mm of suspension travel to soak up the excess =)

Also... 'cyclist' (to me anyway) implies more of a spandex-clad roadie, or at best, an XC racer wannabe. And I have an entirely different list of terms for the leather-clad bikers you refer to... thanks to one specific episode of South Park, lol.

But just to chime in (hah, see what I did there? It's like a bell, but not!) I've more or less completely moved from backpacking to hiking, to mountain biking and the last few years it's been pretty much nothing but two wheels and a trail for me. Not once have I used a bell (continuous, or on-demand style) and never will I. I rely on two things to prevent what bells supposedly help with... 1) a loud rear hub (industry 9 hydra... only the morons with headphones on can't hear me coming from pretty far away.) 2) Not riding faster than my sight line can allow me to ride safely. Hasn't failed me yet.

And I've been on rides with both bell types and have seen pretty much the same thing others have mentioned.... the 'deer in headlights' effect, the 'group splits and now takes up both sides of the trail', and the 'completely oblivious and probably wears the same earbuds while driving home.' But if you want REALLY annoying, try being on a group ride through some nice twisty and chunky trails and someone in the group has a non-stop ding dong bell going... it's ALMOST as much of a cardinal sin as the jackwagon with a Beats Pill in the bottle cage at full volume with slayer/reggae crap blasting.

/rant =)

@Thoreau
On what trail do you do most of your riding