silly design challenge
 

I have installed some unneeded Simplex retro-friction shifters on my fixed gear.
They are currently just a nostalgic reminder of my love for their effectiveness.
Our local multi-talented frame builder suggested that I deploy them for some other function.
My hope is to use them to ring my Crane stem bell.
I'm pretty sure that I would have to go thru as many iterations to find an elegant design as Edison did with his filament.
Here's a pic.
Have at it if interested.
My preference is for my right hand to ring the bell.
My left is a fused Frankenstein-ish-thang.
Thanks
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...25a7f7b76c.jpg

You want to reach down to ring the bell? Now you'll have shifters that don't work and a bell that requires you to move your hand off the bars to ring.
Instead, why not convert your frame pump into a lighter? It would be more practical.

You could set something up with a cable and a spring, probably...but it being a fixed gear I think the end product would look ungainly.

A Rube Goldberg competition? Subscribed! :thumb: :popcorn

Doesn't sound pretty and certainly won't look practical. And vice-versa.

Fixie? Remove that front brake and route any cable to resemble the housing. Stealth.

Wirelessly actuated bell ringer? Each click on the ratcheting shifter delivers a different bell ringing sequence?

Silly is beyond understatement. Stem shifters would make the job easier. Carrying a decent bell ringer would be more expressive. 2nd bell for a ringing duet? - 2 shifters already installed. A horn more effective, 2 horns even louder.

Hiding wires inside tubes & stems is a thing these days, tough with a quill - but I'm not a silly machinist.

The only sillier 'invention' I know of is [MENTION=159681]Bianchigirll[/MENTION] 's spork on a fork, for bikepackers prone to forgetting their eating utensil.

A turnbuckle, spring and an "S" hook. You do the rest

How about if the levers deployed a "Flick-Stand" type of device with the levers? Maybe put them on backwards so the swing down and prevent the front wheel from turning at the headset when parked.

Do you want the shifter to stay in place and have the bell move? Or do you want the bell to stay in place and have the shifter move? Is drilling holes into things acceptable?

A few of the SS/FG guys have done that. Some bells can thread onto a downtube shifter boss. I looked for pictures on BF but links are broken. :(

For a taught enough connection to flick the bell, seems like you’d need to move the bell from the stem onto the frame somewhere - maybe where the FD would mount. Otherwise, you’d need some sort of connection that allows for the stem rotation. Would it work to go ahead and mount the bell upside down in the FD location and just route a cable from the lever back up to the right shifter with enough tension so you could just flick the shifter lever to ring the bell.

Good luck, I had fun rigging dummy thumb shifters (concealing the rapid fire shifters) to cheat my way to Cino stamp last year.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8151bf711.jpeg

I'd leave as is as long as you don't have the issue of brushing them with your leg as you climb out of the saddle. (I do and most of my shifters have gone DT top mounted on my derailleur bikes.)

Big plus - when you get on this bike after time on your other bikes, when you reach down to shift, there will be something there! Plus you have all the benefits of those clean DT shifters, the looks, the light weight and now, no exposed cables to scratch that beautiful paint when you pick the bike up.

Turn them into Turn signal actuators!

Fabricate a perch for a small parrot attached to a downtube bottle boss.
Run cable from shifter to Parrot's tail.
Activating shifter pulls cable, tugs parrot's tail. Parrot squawks!
Who needs a bell?
Brent

If we're going to the trouble of all this work, I'm not settling for anything less than a Toucan.

Nah, it’s gonna need at least a Threecan.

I was thinking the same thing, like old VW semiphores

^ See what happens after someone mounts Super Record on a Huffy. It's a domino effect, y'all!

I'll be in Saddam Hussein's desert hole waiting out a solution, or perhaps riding around dinging my Crane bell mounted on my stem like it is on all my bikes.
I'm a little saddened by the true lack of bike geekiness here in response.
Back down in the hole.
Later.
By

I like the quirkiness and going against the C&V ethos.

Instead of rigging the bell to the shifters, I'd rig up some Roman candle launch tubes and sparker from Bic lighters to the shifter levers as ignition sources. Plenty of times I'd be awful tempted to retaliate against hostile drivers with some fireworks.

My new favorite use for Di2 technology.

Thank you, Wildwood.

First of all can we see more of that Medici?

Second it reall needs to turned back into a “10Speed”.

as to the shifter ringing a bell….. I think you need a rotary style bell that chimes as you push the putt on/lever and again when you release it.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...185b65e56.jpeg

This might top the “fork spork” and I wish one of you crafty gents would try and produce them.

.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...57dabf61e6.jpg
Here is mine mounted that way. I'm now using it with Ultegra 8000 levers. Not any problem reaching down to ring the bell...

Happy to buy those shifters off of you and use them for their intended purpose, them being so good at it (and me regretting selling the pair I had several years ago when I lost my job).

I do like the Di2 electronically activated bell. Use an Alfine setup since only one lever has button functions (keeps it simple) and Di2 Alfine is not exactly the most popular thing (aka discounts on new/low prices on used).

Who would do such a thing? These people are to be avoided at all costs.