Phil (ascentale)Feb 26

Hey all, it's call for questions time for the next BikeNite coming up this Friday:

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Next #BikeNite is this Friday at 4pm Pacific standard time (UTC-8)!

This is our weekly call for questions. Reply with any you'd like me to add to the discussion on Friday. Please add the BikeNitePQ hashtag so it's easier to find a Proposed Question. There is room for more!

(BikeNite is a Q&A type discussion on the Fediverse.) #BikeTooter cc @bikenite

Show threadMark Connolly moved to @[email protected]Feb 26

@ascentale @bikenite When you’re cycling, how and when do you alert others to your presence? Others can be people walking, other people cycling, or people driving motor vehicles. A bell? Your voice? A bulb horn? An air horn? Something else?

#BikeNitePQ

Show threaddr2chase

@uxmark @ascentale @bikenite I try to play inoffensive music on a bluetooth speaker so that people can hear me approaching. I also aim to pass with such wide clearance that I don't need to signal, otherwise I slow down, a whole darn lot. At walking speeds, I may say "excuse me".

A bell has a 50% chance of making someone jump out of their skin. Too many people use "onYerLeft" like a magic phrase that only needs to be mumbled to gain passage w/o either slowing down or leaving room.

Feb 26 at 1:52pmWeb
Show threaddr2chaseFeb 26
@uxmark @ascentale @bikenite also-also, this time of year, lot of people walking in the bike lane because lazy fucks in snow plows block the crosswalks so the sidewalks are useless. In that case, I ride in the street, in the center of the "car lane", because this is a car problem, not a pedestrian problem. I am large, male, white, privileged, on a big weird bike, I am more able to make that point than anyone else on the road.
Show threadKimFeb 26
@dr2chase @uxmark @ascentale @bikenite Yep, I always say that a third of people don't hear the bell (and optionally complain at you for not ringing your bell), a third will shoulder check and do something sensible, and the remainder will panic-leap in a random direction without looking. On one occasion, ringing my bell caused a pedestrian to answer their phone. A minority of pedestrians will be accompanied by sensible dogs or small children who are paying more attention to their surroundings than they are.

By far the best way to notify pedestrians of your approach is to have studded tyres on tarmac. The rest of the time, I deliberately make a mechanical noise (loud freewheel, deliberately crunchy gear change, flick brake levers, clipless pedals, that sort of thing) that says "bicycle" but not "there's a speeding lycra lout about to run you over", as squeaky brakes tend to be assumed to mean.

Failing that, I'll slow right down and ask politely.
Show threadDavid Mitchell Feb 26

@ascentale @dr2chase @bikenite @uxmark @kim

As someone more likely to be on foot, I appreciate a polite ping or two from far enough back that I have enough time to understand and respond appropriately, as opposed to those who ping just before passing or having to slam on brakes to avoid hitting me.

Show threadKimFeb 26
@DavidM_yeg @ascentale @uxmark @dr2chase @bikenite I think part of the problem is those 'Ping!' bells are actually quite hard to hear, unless you ring them repeatedly, which risks being interpreted as "GET OUT OF MY WAY!". A short high-frequency noise that sounds a bit like tinnitus and a bit like builders clanking things around is easy to miss. I prefer a bring-bring type bell for that reason.