Chris King Bell

I do like Chris King products but this???

£7 eBay bell

Or

$69 King bell[/url]

😯

Got a Spurcycle bell couple of years ago as a b’day present. It’s nice…..not 55 quid nice though!!

You could get Chinese rip-offs of the basic Spurcycle before it got to Kickstarter backers (as you could with the Knog Oi!).

They’re functionally identical, we all know that. Loads of the stuff most of us buy is functionally identical to something vastly cheaper. 🙂

There seems to be a fair old market for things that are about fifty quid, but are quite nice. It’s tricky to justify in any sane way, but it’s a quality item, easy to lust after for a week or two, not disappointing when you get it. No-one’s buying a bling bell instead of feeding their kids, everyone knows it won’t make you a better rider.

I’ve got a rather silly bike that can’t readily be improved upon for what it is. Things like bells, nice bottle cages, quality tools, custom headset top-caps do call to me rather. 🙂

But they are not indentical, that is the point: https://cyclingtips.com/2016/08/a-tale-of-two-bells-spurcycle-vs-the-counterfeiters/

I don’t know why you would buy a copy, buy a cheaper bell if the price is too much

They both go “ping”, but yes, I’ve got a Spurcycle and it is a thing of bizarre and wonderful beauty and I felt vaguely dirty when I first saw the rip-offs.

That’s a really pleasing article – thanks for linking 🙂

I don’t know why you would buy a copy, buy a cheaper bell if the price is too much

I bought a few of the Rock Bros ones from eBay, bfore I knew there was such a thing as a Spurcycles bell. I bought them because I was browsing on eBay for a nice brassy/goldy coloured belly to replace a duff one on an old vintage bike and saw it them in amongst the other (crane type) bells that I was actually looking for, but thought ‘oh that looks quite nice, and small so wont get in the way’ so I bought a couple to try, they fitted well and went ping in a pleasing manner, so I bought some more for other bikes. then found out that they were a copy of the Spurcycles ones.

It’s kinda annoying as I feel a bit bad for buying them, but then they go ping in a good way, look nice and were cheaper than crappier bells from the LBS, so on their own merits they are a good buy. I don;t know if the Spurcycles one goes ping better, nor am I going to buy one to find out. If the Rockbros one had actually been crap at being a bell, then things might be different.

I know someone with a Spurcycle bell and it is a great present for the man who has everything. Very well made and a distinctive sound, I can certainly see the pleasure in receiving one as a present that will last.

Too classy for me though, I’m still wondering how big a battery I will need to carry for a set of air horns that will play ‘el cucaracha’ 🙂

I don’t have one, but personally I really like it when people make things really, really well. When someone goes “Right, how can we make this the bestest?” I do however have one of these.
And it’s totally awesome.

the copy seems to fail at performing its rather simple task…

i’ve bought myself a spurcycle this morning… i’ve been “uming and ahing” over whether or not to get one for months… i bought a Knog Oi! (as a kickstarter backer) and was bitterly dissapointed with it, and this little sprinkling of turquoise will go on my Yeti a treat…

I got one of the cheap copies from ebay for a couple of quid – works fine, if it breaks it’s no big loss & I probably wouldn’t buy another – I wouldn’t however spend £50 on the original one, so from that point of view it’s never been a lost sale to Spurcycle, i’d have picked up the least offensive looking cheap-ish alternative.

On that article linked up there ^ they sold 10000 on kickstarter at $50 each = half a million dollars, why they didn’t spend a couple of grand on a simple patent that would have at least prevented Amazon selling the knock offs is beyond me… the partnership with Chris King is a good ideal for them though – if they started knocking them out full scale with colour co-ordinated bits like the rest of the CK range everyone with £1k worth of perfectly colour matched hubs/headset/bb etc. would be falling over themselves to pick one up.

The article also emphasizes Spurcycle’s proud claim that all of their parts are sourced / machined / assembled in the USA, as though the entire continent of Asia is incapable of producing quality manufacturing. At least none of the components in the knock off bells have been touched by a gun toting, climate change denying, white supremacist, flag waving Trump supporter (probably) 😆

in much the same way that *some* British people like to buy British products because it means British people have been employed and your money is being spent in Britain… Spurcycle is an American company touting it’s Americaness i guess (probably)

Some old biddy had a go at me on the Quantock’s yesterday, she said the riding without a bell was “dangerous”, I’m still not going to get one though because I like to live life on the edge. 😉

I have a couple of the Rock Bros – does require a bit of ‘tweaking’ with a pair of pliers and a tiny spot of grease to stop it sticking – I’d never pay $50 for a bell. With a bell, it’s often damned if you do or don’t – don’t ring the bell when passing wide on a dual-use path and they’ll complain, likewise give them a ‘ding’ and they jump out their skin or complain, or simply ignore you.

dovebiker – Member
don’t ring the bell when passing wide on a dual-use path and they’ll complain, likewise give them a ‘ding’ and they jump out their skin or complain, or simply ignore you

Used to get that a lot. Now I use a Timber bell (www.mtbbell.com) and as long as I put it on in advance it seems to work ok. Took me a while to get used to putting ‘on’ early enough. But it’s fine as long as it’s used offroad and therefore bumpy enough to make it ring.

Mine is the QR version but can move a bit on the bars when turning on/off on rough ground. But the newer clamp version looks like it’ll cure that.

robgclarkson
in much the same way that *some* British people like to buy British products because it means British people have been employed and your money is being spent in Britain… Spurcycle is an American company touting it’s Americaness i guess (probably)

Yeah I get that, i’d actually rather pay slightly more & get something that supports local business / suppliers etc etc, what I meant was that the article kinda reads like “it’s made in Asia – so it’s shit” irrespective of the fact the Asian factories are knocking them out for 1/10 of the price, there’s probably not a huge difference in quality of materials / manufacturing skill.

The Japanese “Crane” branded ones are supposed to be extremely well made, they do one with a topcap mount which is snazzy

As well as the Spurcycle-esque polished brass one for £20 (they also do an exact copy I think, for about £17)

I’d bought the eBay one a few weeks back for use along the canals. Works well, doesn’t rattle and I think looks good. I was just surprised when the king popped up looking identical

I’ve got both the Spurcycle genuine bell and the Rock Bros knock off. The knock off works well enough. Spring hammer can stick but it just needs a squirt of WD40.

The spurcycle one is louder, sweeter and more resonant. It is a gorgeous thing which brings a smile to my face and makes me want to ding it as much as possible! Not worth £42 difference of course but there you go. A thing of beauty – file under unjustifiably expensive nonsense that makes life a bit less shite!

Rockbros is cheaper because they are using cheaper materials and have bypassed the design process – even the packaging is a wonky rip off. Spur cycles is not expensive, it just might be more than you can afford