+1

(a) on Kickstarter, the customer isn't billed until the scheduled end-date of the campaign (and the campaign is successful). For your thingum, the customers front the money by pre-ordering. (b) looks like a nice improvement to the shiftmate. (c) why don't they have any closeup pictures showing cable routing?

sure. Then expect to pay more. The old school way is higher risk. Higher risk translates into higher prices. The best market research you can possibly ask for is when someone agrees to buy your product prior to your preproduction run. With most medium to smaller size companies outsourcing their manufacturing to Asia, this reduces their risk substantially.

J.

With an established company, I really don't see it as anything but just putting in an order and having to wait awhile for production. If you got there early enough, there were also early bird pricing specials. if you don't like it/agree with it, feel free to not use it. No skin off of anyones back

(a) Pre-ordering is only if you want it right away. They are producing regardless, whereas Kickstarter, they put feelers out there and then decide if it's worth making. Shows a lack of confidence in the value of the product, which leads to lack of consumer confidence.

(b) We'll see

(c) There is a picture on their website of the Tanpan in use (assume it is a pre-production test model)

All products are priced competitively. In my example of the Tanpan, the nearest competitor is Shiftmate 8, which is almost the exact same price. Comparable bells, OTOH, cost much less then the proposed product. If the Kickstarter bell was $8-10, it would be a worthy competitor.

Question: Do you have a background in Marketing/Sales and/or manufacturing?

J.

(a) "...leads to a lack of consumer confidence", well obviously it leads to a lack of Alan S confidence, but if it led to lack of confidence generally, then kickstarter as a website would have flopped, and other crowdfunding sites would not have opened up shop (indiegogo etc)

(c) The link you gave has 7 nearly-identical close-up pictures with no cable, and 3 pics on a bike, too far away to see what's going on. I want a close-up, with cable.

competitive price? market value is determined by the market. If you think the knog bell is overpriced, you should tell the 11,000 people who pledged to buy them. Or tell Knog, by not buying one. Oh wait, you already did.

This has been sidetracked into a thread about love/hate (or I suppose indifference) to kickstarter...

I have only ever bought one thing on kickstarter, but I wish I had bought a Volagi Viaje frame for only $600 instead of $1200 in production. Or even better, a Viaje SL with Columbus Spirit tubing for $900 -- in production they ditched the SL and instead moved straight to Ti.

Yes

Call them and ask for a photo or try zooming in.

OK, yeah, the zoom in is better, but still -- seven cable-less closeups and none of them is a side-view with a clear picture of the cable enter/exit holes?

That kind of marketing fail would never fly on kickstarter...

Perhaps you are right, but I don't see anywhere on Kickstarter any measurements to show how loud it is compared to an $8 Incredibell or whether it works in the rain. My number one and number two criteria for a bell.

Well in the "bell-off" video it does sound better, but they don't label the competitors.

Does any bell stop working in the rain? With the thickness of the metal bell element, I'd think it has more ringing mass than most other thin bells, and would deal better with extra mass due to attached water.

The video above the bell-off about the sound being a 'chord', not just a note, that's nonsense. All sounds have overtones, the relative strength of various overtones is what makes different sounds sound different.

I like the look but I also have bells already.

I prefer a more objective comparison, or at least an opportunity to try it out, before plunking down cash. It better be at least as loud and work in the rain if they want me to pay a steep premium for looks, which is all it really offers. And I better be able to ring it easily with winter gloves on. And it must be accessible from multiple hand positions. All of which the Incredibell does incredibly well for a mere $8.

I suspect the majority of pledgers are in it for the bling factor, it is nice bit of modern design that looks nice on a bike, and they want a not-too-expensive, and somewhat utilitarian, way to accessorize their bike. And taking it on faith that it sounds good enough compared to a few others (the bell off). I doubt most have rain performance as a consideration (relatively very few cyclists ride in the rain on purpose)

Skinny jeans don't look so great when they are soaked through.

fify

I can't speak to other pledgers but I pledged because of the design of the bell. I'm not a fan of bells in general mostly because of the look and where they have to mount. A round bell on drop bars doesn't look right and mounting it on the stem makes it inconvenient. I have a bike with a bell that mounts inside the end of the handlebar but that one is mounted on a straight bar and my hand is right at the bell...when I remember to use it:rolleyes: Mounting the bell in the end of a drop bar would put it way out of the way and I'd use it even less than I use the one I have now.

As for the sound, I've heard lots of people complain about the sound quality of the Incredibell. They say some sound okay while others of the same model are muted. The Oi! can't be much worse and, in the event it doesn't work, I still have a voice I can use.

Posts like this make me wonder where all the defensiveness of other posts comes from. I have a Knog Frog that wasn't Kickstarted and I am not impressed. I don't even use it anymore. I don't think it works, it certainly isn't reliable. I don't think they could mess up a bell and the design is undeniably cool. Just build it. End of story. Put an MSRP on it and let the dealers market it and let the Market work as it has done for hundreds of years of human commerce. Or not. I was just voicing an opinion.

I have a knog frog as well (or my wife does, picked it up cheap I suspect because it was pepto-bismol pink), it is only a be-seen light (and not especially good for that).

Probably in this window of time (few years), kickstarter is able to generate a lot more sales than just "let the dealers market it". If all that same information (design process, Bell-Off, pretty pictures) were just on a webpage at knog.com, what's the chance that it would be picking up steam? Kickstarter is a platform that right now has the potential to make a new product go viral.

Getting ready for cherry blossoms again. Can't wait. What's wrong with an Incredibell mounted on dropbars?

http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/...C7E7A64A74.jpg

It's a matter of personal taste. For me, it just doesn't look right. I may not like the Oi! either but I'm willing to take a gamble. It looks better...or at least less obtrusive...in their literature.

I can't quite tell whether or not you like my post, or just what you're saying about it exactly.

The only problem with this bell is it's too low! Seriously, you need a louder bell to attract walkers on a bike path or it can get ugly or dangerous.. This cheap $5.00 dollar bell from Bell is way louder than the Kickstarter project.

Bell Sports 7015983 Dinger200 Chrome Bike Bell

Less obtrusive, allows you to grip over it and looks like it can be used while your hands stay right on the brake lever. Worth a try imho.