LOOK OUT! These bikes for rent in Central Park had no safety bell, putting riders at risk of a $90 fine from cops. (Robert Miller)
What a bunch of ding- dongs!
Kiosks operating in and around Central Park are renting tourists bicycles that don’t have bells — a state-mandated piece of safety equipment.
One shop The Post visited, Bike Rental Central Park, even had the gall to charge $10 extra for a bell — essentially forcing customers to pay to abide by the law or risk a ticket.
Not that it would cost the kiosks very much to provide bells — they go for as little as $1 on eBay.
A bell-less bicyclist faces a $90 equipment-violation fine.
Pedal proponents Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan note in their “Bike Smart” brochure: “Your bell alerts drivers, pedestrians and other cyclists to your presence. Bells are required by law.”
And last year, when the NYPD launched the “Operation Safe Cycle” crackdown, a list of bike offenses circulated among precincts had “No bell/signal device” typed in bold.
But try telling all this to the salesman at the Central Park’s Loeb Boathouse, who was renting bikes without bells when The Post visited.
“What do you need a bell for?” he asked a reporter.
That company, which answers to the Parks Department, will be investigated and any violations corrected, a department spokeswoman said.
Asked how he warns pedestrians, a worker at Central Park Bike Tours, at 203 W. 58th St. — where bikes come with helmets and locks but no bells — said, “I usually just scream at people.”
“We were here last summer, and we rented from another place, and they had bells on the bikes,” said Alison Bertin, 45, a photographer from New Orleans.
She, her two nephews, a niece and a co-worker were all cruising on bikes from Central Park Bike Tours.
“We had to use [the bells] for pedestrians or people walking their dog.”
Additional reporting by Gillian Kleiman