Back to Contents

BELLS      Question: Name something found on the modern bicycle that it doesn't necessarily need?      Answer: A 21 speed gear with rapid shift.      Question: Name another thing on the modern bicycle that it doesn't necessarily need?      Answer: A triple clamp suspension fork.      Question: Name yet another thing on the modern bicycle that it doesn't necessarily need?      Answer: A handlebar-mounted computer with speedometer, auto trip meter, odometer, auto trip timer, clock, freeze-frame memory and speed comparator.      Question: Name one thing on the modern bicycle that it does need?      Answer: A bell.      And does a modern bicycle have a bell? It does not. You would be just as likely to find wings on it. However one thing is certain and it is this - if bells were still fitted today they would come in very handy. I know of at least one cyclist, who I met very briefly yesterday, who now wishes very much that they were still fitted.      I'm fortunate enough to live in an area which has a canal running through it and like many other people I enjoy a walk along the canal's towpath from time to time. Cyclists too make use of the towpath, offering as it does an undemanding ride in pleasant surroundings.      Up until the time that cycle manufacturers stopped putting bells on bicycles walkers and cyclists got along in perfect harmony - a cyclist approaching a walker from behind would signal his approach well in advance by ringing his bell and the walker, without having even to break stride, would move a little to one side, away from the canal, in order to give the cyclist a bit more room to pass. However nowadays, with no bell to warn him, the first that a walker knows of the approach of a cyclist is on hearing the 'whoooosh!' of the cycle's slipstream as it passes within inches of him. The shock to the walker's nervous system when this happens, depending upon his age and state of health, can result in anything from a slight increase in his pulse rate to the urgent need of a clean pair of trousers.     Returning to the cyclist who I met briefly yesterday, the situation was that I was walking along the towpath minding my own business and hoping to catch sight of a kingfisher I'd been told was about, and the cyclist was coming up behind me. Now had we been living in an age when bells were fitted to bicycles the cyclist who I met briefly would have rang his bell, I would have known he was coming, I would have moved slightly to one side away from the canal to give him a bit more room to pass and all would have been well. In the event I didn't know that the cyclist I met briefly was coming so I didn't move to one side away from the canal. Worse, I moved towards the canal, for when he must have been no more than a yard or two away from me I spotted a one pound coin on the left hand edge of the towpath and in one motion stepped towards it and bent to pick it up. Obviously taking instinctive avoiding action the cyclist who I met briefly rode into the canal, as clean as a whistle, quickly disappearing underwater along with his cycle, which is of course the reason I met him only briefly.      He emerged from the depths a second or two later, coughing and spluttering. The canal isn't too deep, only about four feet or so in the middle, where his impetus had propelled him, and he was able to stand up, although somewhat unsteadily.      "What did you move in front of me for?" he demanded, red-faced.      "I spotted this coin," I said, showing it to him. Then I tossed it to him. "Here you are, you have it, put it towards a bell."