CliffordK

Perhaps I should simply try to figure out how to make my brakes squeak.

This time of year, I have to settle for more of the sound of sandpaper on aluminum.

Deal4Fuji

This always seemed like a good idea to me for a space saving inconspicuous bell, but it's never seemed to catch on here

VCSL2015

Freakin hilarious because its true.

If i absolutely have to get a pedestrians attention, they are facing toward me. You can see the look in their eyes like they dont quite know which side of the mup they should move, left or right. In this case I extend my arm and sweep it to the right. This always works.

zowie

I had one of those bar end bells posted by Deal4Fuji, bought from LBS. Inconspicuous, rang nicely, not expensive, but wouldn't stay in place. May have gotten lost on the road someplace.

VCSL2015

yes, and it should come with prerecorded messages like: loud Scary Freak the Cat sound, "move right (please)!, and "On your left, and...now on your right"

Deal4Fuji

Did you do the expansion screw thing? Like all bar end plugs they can work lose. The mfg photo above shows a skinny insertion part and it may be, I don't really remember. I have thick cushioned bar tape tucked in for filler and it's always stayed tight and this is the bike I had my crash on last summer.

WalksOn2Wheels

Pro-tip: For a really cheap bell, hit up a shop that sells BMC bikes. They include cheap lights and a bell with every single bike including high end road and MTB bikes. The shop I was at usually had a box of the stuff. It was a basic tiny, black bell.

zowie

Of course. May work fine for different bars than mine.

Fly2High

how do you ring the bar end bell? I do not see the striker.

1989Pre 

Sorry, man: I love ringing my bell and screaming "room, please!!" as I am careening down swooping descents at 60 kph.

njkayaker

You twist the black part next to the bell.

CliffordK

Well, since the other Oi thread seems to be rambling... I thought I'd dig this one back up.

I do like the Oi design, although I'm not sure how much I'd use it. I hit the paths a bit so it should be useful.

Initially I missed the Oi-Ti option. One Aluminum, One Titanium bell, but that seems to cover what I'd like, so I decided to take the plunge.

I'll probably need the larger size, although the road bike bars seem to be a bit in between sizes (unless mounted in the middle). I am a little surprised they don't ask for sizes and colors up front. They may assume it will average out, and people may change their minds over the next 6 months anyway, but I do wonder if the large bells will outsell the small ones by a 2:1 margin. Colors?

For me, maybe one: Natural Titanium, & one: Black Aluminum??

Or, maybe by that time I'll be ready to start anodizing myself, so natural aluminum would also be an option.

oldbobcat

When I raced in New England in the '70s, the guys from Connecticut had bells. It was a state law.

The problem with bells and road bikes is 31.8 mm handlebars. This one works for about $8.



Your local bike shop should stock these, but most likely they don't. They can be ordered.

evrythngsgngrn

Only $560,000 over their goal amount with 13 days to go!

Doge

Yea, it takes the plug space where the mirror goes.

CliffordK

I wonder if the prices will fall after the kickstarter campaign.

$20-$30 for a bell still seems a bit on the high side, and I could imagine sales slumping once the novelty wears off.

Doge

A lot of people felt the Pet Rock was overpriced. But many had to have one.

ARPRINCE

I think it's the worst bell among all the others that has been brought up here in terms of ease of use/safety as a bike bell. So you basically have to take your hand off the handlebar and twist it to ring it? I'll pass.

Champlaincycler

I just got back from a trip to northern Florida, back north along the Ga., South and North Carolina coasts. Had to ride on Mups a bit, campground roads, trails, bike lanes etc. I was kind of looking forward to finally useing my Crane Bell as I never have cause to use it at home. Well, it seemed nobody cared to move aside, or even acknowledge that they'd heard it. I'd say the response rate was around 20%. I thought the beauty of bells was to gently let someone know that you were coming up from behind. Seems like the gentle part is useless and you'd have to ring it a dozen times to get people to react. Some people had Buds in, but I got the feeling others just didn't care to move or even turn their heads. Weird.

Chandne

The amount pledged is seriously impressive. I bet I will start to see a lot of this bell. I may have to get one for the MTB since I have the road bikes covered with Spurcycles mushrooms.

Deal4Fuji

Unless you're using 2 mirrors it doesn't - mirror left, bell right

You're not going that fast on a MUP or around walkers where taking a hand off should be an issue. Could see your point on a hill climb, but it doesn't take a lot of time for a quick twist, and not nearly as far as you have to go on downtube or even stem shifting if you ride a C&V bike. I'm not saying these are the be-all, end-all of bells, it's just a space saving option that never seems to be brought up on these bell threads.

CliffordK

3 days left on a half million dollar rollout.

American Euchre

All I care about is that the bell actually fits on and stays attached to the handlebar. I went through 3 or 4 before I found one which would actually stay put: a $2 eBay special which attaches via strap and is secured by tightening a plastic screw with a flathead screwdriver.

The bell itself kinda sucks. It rings even when it's not activated, and it's either not very loud or trail walkers are not very attentive. If this bell will actually fit on my handlebar (31.8 mm) and stay put, I will buy it. The design seems very cool, but I just don't get why bell designers can't make a bell which actually fits on and stays on the handlebar.

chaadster

Wow, Knog yanked in over $1,078,000 off the Kickstarter campaign! They must be some happy campers!

Goal was what, $15k? Amazing.

Knog just changed the bike bell game. I wouldn't be surprised if they get some OEM gigs out of this, too.

More than a million bucks...holy cow.

CliffordK

They may even turn over a little more because they are supposed to allow backers to adjust their orders shortly.

But, consider this to be a pre-order gig. So, they've sold sold somewhere on the order of 50,000 bells in advance, which is quite a few, but hardly a huge production run.

As far as the $15k "GOAL".
As far as I understand it, the Kickstarter rules are that if a company doesn't meet their goal, they get NOTHING. So, $15,000 (a little less than 1000 bells) would be the minimum that they'll accept to start a new production run.

Another Kickstarter campaign, the Coffee Brake Mug, has set their goal at $56,000
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...brake-mug-c-ds

They have only raised about 1/3 of their goal, which means the whole campaign could easily fizzle at the end, and it won't go into production with the Kickstarter pre-sales.