i was a backer of the initial kickstarter campaign & mine came through about 2 weeks ago, so here’s a brief review:

it’s cheaply made, mainly plastic, crap. (i could end the “review” there tbf)

the bell is so quiet it’s pretty much pointless, the striker hammer has no weight to it to smack the chiming part (i’m sure the’ll be a better technical term for it – bell maybe?!) and is made of plastic with the flimsiest spring ever holding it in place. so much so i’ve had to fold it back into place to keep it working. surely a heavier hammer and stronger spring would have been better you may think… well, no, because whilst the chime is quiet when going over rough ground the hammer strikes the bell very, very lightly, so there’s a ever so slightly annoying “tring” as a constant accompaniment to any kind of riding on anything other than a smooth riding surface.

if you’re thinking of getting one, don’t bother, save your money and get a spur cycle one instead, it’s what i wished i’d done… christmas is coming, and that’s on my list

i paid £16 for this, was promised delivery initially from april ’16, arrived late october ’16, and is rubbish.

another thing that’s kinda annoyed me, Knog are an established company, why did they use kickstarter to fund this… surely kickstarter is for people just setting up in business, and as the name suggests, need a “kick-start” to get them going… i’m as much to blame here to be honest, i fell for the schmultzy ad campaign and paid my money, i feel a bit daft now 🙁

Yup, lots of whingeing about these on my club’s FB page. We ride in NSW where a bell is a legal requirement. These looked really good – stylish, minimalist, legal… but have been a disappointment it seems (personally I was too late for early bird so then didn’t bother)

I’ve also wondered why they used kickstarter… maybe they knew they were going to be shit so got people to pay up front before they received them

A little reading

Knog halts PWR campaign; What that could mean for all Kickstarter backers

Knog are an established company, why did they use kickstarter to fund this… surely kickstarter is for people just getting up in business, and as the name suggests, need a “kick-start” to get them going

I thought the same when I saw the recent kickstarter page for GoCycle

I’ve got the large one (original backer).

Plastic seems the same as any other bell / handlebar mount. Mine seems to be well constructed for a bell and has a good ring to it.

Re: the ringing over rough ground, they sent a mail about not over-tightening the screw as it could hit the bell bit (causing symptoms you describe).

Agree with you on established companies on Kickstarter though – I don’t think it’s “fair”.

Yeah, lots complaining that it isn’t nearly as loud as the video originally on kickstarter. The small ones and Ti ones seem to be the worst.

See this message on the kickstarter page

Knog 2-time creator on October 20

Hi Backers,

Thanks for your comments.

If you are a backer who hasn’t received any recent email communications then an email will be sent out to you later today with an update. This includes anybody who placed a preorder after the campaign closed. Please also check your inboxes and junk folders as some tracking emails have been sent out over the past few days.

If you have received your bell but it is not performing as it should then please either send us through a direct message with a link to your video (via Google Drives, iCloud, Dropbox etc.) or email support@backerkit.com and attach the video file. We will then get on to these straight away and organise for a replacement bell to be sent if needs be.

Furthermore, if possible hiccups in the pick, pack & send process have left you with the wrong order then please contact support@backerkit.com and we’ll fix this up for you.

@Adrian R: You should have been sent your tracking details on October 17. IF you can’t find them then please send us a DM and we’ll message these through to you.

@Norvern Munky: We’ll look into this for you and see why you haven’t received any tracking info.

Thank you.

Mine seems ok thus far..

But I agree re. established companies & crowd-funding..

i saw that email jimdubleyou, and mine is tightened correctly… and my point about the cheap plastic is; it cost £16… not £5 like on other cheaply made bells.

does yours trrrrrrring loud enough to alert people to your presence, mine doesn’t until i’m too close to them where they still get spooked at my apparent sudden arrival from nowhere, and if i’m doing anything above 10 mph, they usually get rather flustered too. the Oi! bell initially replaced one of these:

which is ugly by comparison, but works far, far better and has gone back on my bike

Yup – I’ve not had anybody look scared so far, just the usual “what’s that bell, oh it’s a bike, oh am in the way? oh, sorry”. So, not amazeballs but ok.

I’ve had those little bells before, I usually find the ringer breaks.

Here’s hoping the oi! lasts 3 times as long…

Don’t do things by halves! 😆

https://www.merlincycles.com/hornit-db140-cycle-horn-56101.html

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ul9DYnZM8[/video]

Was going to buy one of these but I think I’ll pass after reading so many poor reviews.

i can see the Hornit ending in fisticuffs 8) 😆

I’m not unhappy with mine, I liked the design and it’s no worse construction or sound than the crappy ping bells but looks a lot better. Perfect for the road bike for the odd time I’ll want to warn a horse rider or something. Commuter and MTB both have rockbros (spurcycle clone) bells though.

I don’t agree with the gripes about “established” companies doing crowdfunding. It can be hard with new products to figure out how big a production run to do, and the split of colours/sizes. The traditional way you’d just guess, and probably do a conservative initial production run. You do some press and advertising, get it to distributors/shops then wait to see what sells. Some of it might languish until it gets discounted to dispose of it, some might be popular but then you have to wait until the next run to resupply.

Some people are willing to commit early based on drawings, pics and a video and wait for the product later. They usually get a discount, the company loses a bit to the kickstarter platform but they get a much better idea of demand – in some cases a “is this worth producing at all?” but usually “how many should we make?”.

If you don’t like it, don’t support it, wait until the crowdfunding is over and it’s just a regular product you can buy. But at the other end of the spectrum, the scrappy start-ups doing their first big project have a much higher chance of burning through your money and giving you nothing at the end of it.

the scrappy start-ups doing their first big project have a much higher chance of burning through your money and giving you nothing at the end of it.

I don’t disagree with anything you wrote, I guess the platform has moved on from it’s roots which is ok if everybody understands that.

I’ve been burned by a couple of projects – Zano for one took a fair chunk of cash, never to be seen again.

It also brought home that fact that despite what the KS terms say:
You won’t ever see that money again
You won’t get anything in event the project fails
You might not get a working product

Basically, you need to treat the money as disposable.

Yeah, lots complaining that it isn’t nearly as loud as the video originally on kickstarter.

Didn’t know one could judge a bell’s loudness over the Internet.

I generally agree with the OP. They’re a bit meh.
No better quality than the bell my Sequoia was supplied with. The ring is a bit nicer but not as good as the PDW bell I’ve got on my TdF. They’re OK, look fine, but about double the price they should be.

16 blabs for a bell? I’d put that in the same category as private number plates. IMHO of course 😉

It made a nice noise. Mine lasted for an hour and half and 3 rings before the spring and striker bent then fell off. herself had ordered them via kickstarter months and months ago – it reinforces what utter shit anything made by knog is – I had previously vowed never to buy anything made by them again.

I was thinking about getting one of these for the commuter, lovely the minimalist design and I hate bar clutter. I won’t bother now though.

Hmmm. Mine seems fine though I agree it’s overpriced

I was going to buy one, but someone pointed these out.
Ringadingding

And to be fair? They’re pretty good IMHO..

Had mine for a week or so. I like the design, I like the sound (as far as bells go), but agree that it’s not very loud and that the strike hammer doesn’t have much oomph.

Mine are lost… by courier. They have both left China or not left China depending which tracking service I use.

I bought a Knog bell and was a bit disappointed particularly after waiting such a long time. Ordered a similar looking one from China, it arrived quickly, was cheaper and considerably louder.

Dogsby

I also backed it on KS, got the bell, and had been thinking similar things. The design is quite cool, and I like the concept. The plastic hammer (specifically the hammer moving through the plastic flexing) is a little disconcerting.

But above all the big issue is functional: it’s just too quiet. Sure, it sounds good, with a nice clear ding, but it needs to be significantly louder to be really useful commuting.

I’m not angry about it, but it does reinforce my belief that everything in life is just a bit disappointing, especially things you hope might be halfway decent…

edit to add: For something called OI!, it’s really a bit of misselling. It should be more “oi, erm, excuse me, hello, do you mind awfully? Thank you so much”

I don’t agree with the gripes about “established” companies doing crowdfunding. I

Not so much a gripe – more an expression of surprise. (Similar to the surprise about the number of people from other countries who appear on “Britain’s Got Talent”)

I bought two. I quite like the design, but despite buying the 31mm clamp option it still won’t fit on the bars of one of my bikes. Anyone want to buy one off me – it’s the black one, still in sealed box, £15 posted??

Nick

Glad to see this thread s I was considering one. Won’t bother now…

Glad I went for the timber! bell instead. Costs more, but I’m very happy with it.

still waiting for mine * 2 – keep finding update emails in my spam folder!! both for road bikes so i’m hoping they’ll be up to it…

+1 on the Timber bell.

I’ve had really positive comments about mine. I should be able to sort a discount on them too. 😀

£2 of every sale of a Timber bell goes to Peak District MTB http://alliancemtb.com/shop/uncategorized/timber-bell/

Nickb

YGM ref bell.

A

I have these on my drop barred bikes.
https://triggerbell.com/

It’s be re-designed a couple of times and is much more ergonomic in my mind.

Great sound, much louder than most bells, people actually jump if I need to ding them, even with headphones on.

I thought it looked like a brilliant idea, but decided it was a bit pricey. I’ve bought a RockBros which seems well made, nice loud ring and I think looks good.

Amazon link

I have big Dutch ding dong for half the price and knocking on 3 years.
amazon vavert ding dong

Not had any issue with mine… you could argue not the loudest!!

My bell still works well
I simply say “ding ding” when approaching

I simply say “ding ding” when approaching

To which people reply “look out dear, there’s a simpleton on a bicycle approaching” presumably, right?

overhyped crap al-la knoggle? knever