Does your bike have a bell or a horn?

[CassidyAce]

A gentle prod with the lance usually gets folk out the way. Drivers seem a little more wary too.

 

[longun]

Bell on a few of them and a very loud tone haha.

 

[Woz]

Bell on the city warrior hack build and ride aggressively in traffic.

On the others for off road a few sharp clicks on the brake levers, or just shout "INCOMMMMMINNNNNG!!!!!!!!!"..

 

[Kona-Ian]

Bell, you need to as some of the walkers are a bit thick.
I'm sure some of them pretend to be deaf just to cause a problem.
But, you get the sensible ones that move and we say thanks.

 

[widowmaker]

I often get people, usually dog walkers getting offended when I use the bell, you can't win.

 

[Kona-Ian]

Don't do much riding on busy roads but if a driver waits I always put hand up.
It's the ones that have cars on their side of the road but just fly through about 2 foot from the handlebar.

 

[Woz]

I often get people, usually dog walkers getting offended when I use the bell, you can't win.

I've had the opposite, walkers saying "why don't you put a bell on your bike". You can't win.

 

[hookooekoo]

I suppose some people interpret a bike bell as being the cycling equivalent of a motorist blasting their horn at someone that they consider to be in their way, rather than just a friendly warning that there is a cyclist approaching. Bikes can be almost silent, and a lot of pedestrians lack any awareness of their surroundings. I'm not sure why a pedestrian wouldn't appreciate an audible warning. I guess some people just lack any kind of hazard awareness. They probably open car doors without looking too.

 

[Peachy!]

Just put a bell on one of my bikes for the very first time, our recently finished Tandem.
I hadn’t felt the need before, but at 44lbs + 2 good sized riders it’s like a juggernaut when it gets going!

 

[Raging_Bulls]

I've installed one on my city/shopping bike last month, but it was a cheap rubbish one I found in a bin somewhere. Gotta sort that out sometime soon.

Unfortunately I'm very sensitive to noise (and light, but that's irrelevant here), otherwise I'd go for this approach :