Bell Recommendations?

[OtterSpace]

Mixed pedestrian and bike use is just the worst.

If you let them know you are coming they will do the wrong thing, freeze up, or do the correct thing in roughly equal chance regardless of if its bell vs voice even if your statements are succinct. I take froze's approach for this riding situation provided they seem to be moving fairly predictably as you close up to them. Some will be caught off guard and get mad at you but there is no perfect solution as some get mad if you kindly alert as well.

I try and avoid such riding as much as possible regardless of what bike I'm using.

I ride some bikes with a bell and some without.

I find the bell useful for kindly alterting the rare pedestrian in a more mixed bike car situation if they are putting the trash out in the street, walking a dog, or running in a non protected bike lane next to car traffic. Same goes for parked delivery drivers with their hazzards on that dont have doors (USPS, UPS, FedEx, Amazon, etc.) Coming up with something specific to say for these rare and variable situations is harder than it seems and wastes time compared to ringing a bell. The bell is also very useful when ebiking as most cyclists are not used to being passed with the gap between you and them closed so quickly even if you slow down for the pass. Because of the low closing time most are not aware you are even there much like mixed usage trail pedestrians. Due to this even solo riders often don't leave sufficient space in bike lanes to pass well without being alerted. I also find bells are much more efficacious for wild life like deer or turkeys over voice.

At this point I consider a bell very nice to have for commuting but not essential like I would a radar. For riding in the hills away from pedestrians there are times it is nice have but I wont be running one on all my bikes and will keep it just on the ebike.

Also a bell, or voice, shouldn't be considered at all for alerting drivers. Sometimes it works but it certainly should not be relied on for that purpose. Also installing something that would get a driver's attention would create more problems than solutions. Many are drivers are quick to anger at bikes already and they can really cause some damage to you with their vehicle if they want to. Best to just be quietly mad at their dangerous actions and let them go rage at whatever next mildly inconveniences them, hopefully far away from you.