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[Closed] Bells that aren't total junk.
I use a bell a lot on my gravel bike- I ride it on tow paths, old railway lines and in a regional park so there's walkers everywhere.
They're popular cycle routes and having a bell is the standard etiquette rather than yelling - especially under bridges where the towpath narrows. It's a major commuter route so if I were yelling "bike" I'd effectively be shouting for five miles straight.
I've been having no luck with bells lately- I had a Spur copy and it was just too quiet and would go effectively silent in the rain. I had Knog Ois and they're cheap junk that falls to bits. I've had fake Knog Ois that are good but won't fit my bars and they go quiet when wet too. I replaced them with a BBB one with a plastic spring, assuming this would help with the quiet in the wet problem but that's lasted a month and the hammer has snapped off.
And, with all of them, despite the BBB one being rated at 95dB, ignorant folk above about 50 don't hear the things anyway.
So, can anyone help me find a bell that meets my criteria?
- must fit 35mm bars.
- it has to be on the bars, not the stem
- it must look discreet. While I'd love a big honking bell it'd look awful and I love how my bike looks.
- must work in the pissing rain because Scotland.
- it must be loud enough to be heard by a sixty year old woman whose unleashed dog is running about all over the place with enough notice for her to get the thing under control.
- is no more than £20.
Does such a thing exist? I'm half tempted to buy a Hornit if I could only find a way to mount it without you being able to see much of it.
Pretty pleased with the Timberbell got a few now...
apart from the price, timberbell, you don't even have to "ting" it yourself it's almost automatic
I'm surprised that you have found the Spur Cycle copy to be too quiet. I've used the Rock Bros bell and it has a pretty attention-grabbing ding.
I find my spur cycling is noticeably quieter in rain
Whilst this only fits 25.4mm-31.8mm if you mount it towards your grips as opposed to the stem it should be fine:
https://www.bricklanebikes.co.uk/Crane-Bells
I have one, it tings loudly.
you don’t even have to “ting” it yourself it’s almost automatic
Does depend on how good the surface is though. Smoother it is the less effective they are.
The spur was OK when new but I pass under 42 canal bridges that require a ding on my ride to work, and ding 6 times for each one - that's 250 odd rings before I've even got to ringing it when I come up behind someone! Its performance dropped after about a fortnight then after 8 months it was completely silent.
I also use it on tarmac a lot - would a timber work effectively on smooth stuff?
Qwerty- unfortunately they're 35mm drop bars with no taper. If I didn't throw my old spur away I'll see if I still have the long strap as that seems to fit in the same way and might be worth a go, thanks.
The real Spur bell has a lovely loud ping. The rip offs don't (or at least the one I got to replace the stolen real one).
The very latest Spur bells with the PVD coating are super dingy. Ive now got 7 Spur bells and 2 copies. The latest are the loudest, then the originals from the Kickstarter, then the copies. I’ve found the bell needs to be angled up by a few degrees on my commuter or rain can get in and stay in the dome, not much, but enough to almost stop it working.
The legit Spurcycle bells are so much louder than the copies.
Stem mount I know, but the brass crane bells are superb.
I'm a bit disappointed with my Timber bell to be honest. Seems to have to be pretty rough to get it going enough to be effective.
Get to work with some pliers on the Rock Bros - will improve it immensely. I have a Timbre too - not really load enough for urban use
Small descrete bells are high frequency, because of science. Unfortunately as you get older high frequency hearing deteriorates first, so you just need to be a bit more careful around old folks - they genuinely may not hear you.
I'm sure some of them are just being miserable old gits, but you won't know which ones they are.
I'm not sure why (apart from the obvious that it tingles lots), but the Timberbell* is really effective, people hear it from afar without jumping, or swapping with their other half to create a pinch point.
Yes it does need to be rough to work completely by itself, but you just give the bars a little shimmy to make it ring on command.
It's very easy to keep it going constantly whilst under a bridge or approaching a path hogging jogger with headphones, and it's brill not having to keep taking a hand off the bars to ring the bell.
I think the single pingers make such a brief sound they are easily missed and then you risk appearing angry as you keep pinging it!
The other option (not sure if it's 35mm as I have the stem mount option) is Lion Bellworks, proper brass job (UK Made). You can ping it on the edge of earshot and the sustain is so long you just need to observe for the cocked head to listen, or the 'Look left, right, up, oh it's behind me' action of walkers 🙂
There's at least 2x spur copies out there. One has a metal body like the original and the other is plastic. Make sure you get the metal one (or the real thing if you can afford/justify it).
I have two bells on my main bike
A timberbell, which is very handy but doesn't work in all situations, and a spur cycles copy. Slightly ridiculous that I have two, but I have a bell I can ding when I need to, and I do. And a bell I can unlock which dings by itself
The timberbell is a lot better than I thought, and you can ding it but unlocking it and then giving your bars a slight wobble, but I find a normal bell to be very helpful in certain situations
I sometimes ride in places where there are lots of people and the timberbell makes life a lot easier
The timberbell is a lot better than I thought, and you can ding it but unlocking it and then giving your bars a slight wobble
lol, that sounds a really convenient option!!
Not bars but not stem either, I use a PDW Alexander Graham Bell, seems very effective.
Hi
Recently got one of these for my gravel bike.... https://triggerbell.com/
BUT bell sound is probably not going to be loud enough for you given your criteria, saying that I think its one of the best I've had, easy to get to on the bars with a just in the middle sound not too loud not to quiet. I generally shout if its not heard (politely of course!), also I've yet to come across any bells of this type that will fully work in the wet.
On the other end of the scale there is this.... https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/bells-horns/samui-air-zound-3-rechargeable-horn/
My brother got me one years ago when I 1st got back into riding, very effective but I felt a bit guilty using it also the bottle tends to fail after a while.
I like the Timbrbell, though it does tend to get Peak grit on the inside, which needs occasional rinsing out to keep it ringing. The early ones wore so the lock-off slipped, but I think that's been fixed now. It has the major plus of being quite a friendly sound, so people don't get hacked off by it.
I think the problem with people who don't hear that, is simply that they won't hear anything short of a full-on fog-horn. I find casual joggers with ear buds problematic too.
Does depend on how good the surface is though. Smoother it is the less effective they are.
I just wiggle the bars a bit
Actually my MTB has a cheapo bell, I have a spur cycles copy on my commuter and my brompton. My commuter also has a proper old school honker, as pictured above. Sometimes you need a bit of volume to get people to here, particularly cars