Bah! (Bike horn)

[lethargic_man]

Bah, got to my bike today and found that someone had nicked the horn. (Probably whilst it was standing outside the supermarket on Tuesday, rather than whilst it was in the back garden, behind a locked door, since.) At £11 (IIRC) a shot, and with me already having had to replace one (after the bulb fell off my first and vanished, after it was damaged when I came off my bike earlier in the year) I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth replacing it again...

Comments

[iddewes]

Check on this, but I was told you have to have a horn or a bell on your bike by law in Germany. I was telling Dirk that is the case in Canada and he said it is also true here.

[lethargic_man]

I'm told by law you have to have dynamo-driven lights too. Bugger that for a game of soldiers; I'm not putting extra effort into pedalling for lights which will anyway put me in danger by going out the moment I stop at traffic lights, when I have got perfectly serviceable battery-driven lights which won't result in my cycling wearing me out more.

As for having a horn or a bell, I think it's more important to have a pair of serviceable lungs. When someone steps in my way at the last moment, there isn't time to reach for a horn or bell.

I don't know about Germany, but certain bits of cycling law are widely flouted in the UK. I've blogged before about how UK law requires you to have at least one non-flashing light, but I think flashing lights are more noticeable, and after the up-turn in people cycling to work after the 2005 London bombings, a major UK newspaper ran an article giving advice for new cyclists, explicitly recommending using flashing lights are than non-flashing.

In any case, I've only got thirteen more cycle-commuting days here after today before I return to the UK.

[iddewes]

I don't know how much they enforce laws like that, I would have assumed they enforce them more than they would in the UK, but then I'm not sure. The dynamo driven lights sound really stupid.
I know the laws are flouted a lot in the UK - in Guildford in particular I noticed a LOT of people riding with no lights at all in the dark, including kids who also had no helmets - I really did want to go to those kids' parents and ask them if they actually wanted their sons to die.
I still have some Canadian programming which is rather like German in that you tend to follow laws like that and get outraged when others don't - Canada doesn't have the same level of bureaucracy as Germany but that is almost made up for by the amount of anal retentiveness. Although there is probably less of that where your friend lives cos les Quebecois are different than the rest of the country.

[lnr]

UK law doesn't require you to have non-flashing lights any more - the flashing ones are fine. I think the law changed about 4 or 5 years ago. I prefer a steady one, but there are pros and cons for both.

Modern dynamos tend to have a standlight built in which stays on for a minute or so after you stop pedalling, rather than going out at junctions. Apparently this is really annoying when you park your bike as people keep warning you that you've left your lights on, as they think you'll run your batteries down. I gather a decent hub dynamo doesn't add much (if any) noticeable drag either - but they *are* very expensive. I look into it occasionally.

The UK rule is that all bikes must be *sold* with an audible warning device I believe, but you can remove it. And I too think a decent yell is better for emergency use - definitely much quicker. A bell is handy for a polite "excuse me" on shared paths though.