Is it rude to use a bicycle bell when biking on busy trails?
When Poseidon and I bike the trails in our city, I usually say, "Coming up on your left" or "Coming up on your right (for those dolts who don't know the basic etiquette of keeping to the right)" to alert walkers, runners, moms/dads with strollers, other bikers, etc., that I'm behind them. I always feel like I'm being rude, especially because I'm saying it in a louder voice than normal--so they can actually hear me--but I want to alert folks so they don't step out in front of me, causing either one of us injury, death, or worse, general annoyance.
I was told by a friend who used to live in Japan that the Japanese consider ringing a bike bell to be rude. They tend not to say anything either, they just speed by, which seems awfully dangerous to me. Personally, I would rather be presumed a bad-mannered meanie than risk plowing someone over.
So, the Pylones bike bell in orchid. I ordered it a few weeks ago. Will I actually use the bike bell though, that is the question? The dinging sound it makes is lovely, and seems promisingly less offensive than my voice.
Honestly, I'm usually too anxious and concerned about hooking someone with the handlebars of my bike, dragging them around the lake until they fall off in a swarm of angry geese only to have their eyes pecked out, to be concerned that they think me an abrasive boor. Ding-ding.
--Fortuitous Observer
