Hells Bells

[ravenbait]

I put a Knog Oi on Hamish a while back. I ride mostly rural roads and don't have much use for a bell most of the time, but there has been an influx of new people to our village, and most of them have dogs, and I thought it would be helpful for the short stretch of time when I'm passing through into more out of the way places. A friendly "Hello! Coming up behind!" doesn't always turn out as I'd hoped.

It's a nice bell. It's discreet. It tucks out of the way. It doesn't jangle. I like the tone. But it's also not very loud. So when I had yet one more encounter with Angry Old Lady from the nearby farm, who doesn't like even the friendliest "Excuse me!" (I suspect she might be suffering from hearing loss), I thought I'd put a different one on Shackleton, my work horse who gets used around people way more.

I was feeling pretty down in the dumps and needed cheering up, so I treated myself to a Spur Cycle bell. This is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on something that goes ping, even if it is the loudest, most sustained, crystal clear, musical ping, which Mike Oldfield could have put to use had there been one available. Even better than I'd expected.

What item of ridiculous bling (but not too ridiculous -- I don't mean nanofibre elf fart bottle cages that cost 3000 ailing molluscs and are made pointless by a single mini melton mowbray) do you have that has made you happier than a thing has any right to? Tell me about it so I can share vicariously in your bling satisfaction.

Sam

[bhoot]

A bell for me too, but a beautiful Lion one made in the UK with my name engraved on it.

[yoav]

Agree with you about the Spurcycle bell. I didn't realise how good they were until I bought a secondhand bike that had one fitted. I also have a Lion bell.
Other cycle bling that are ridiculously expensive but once used, are worth every penny:

1. Oakley prescription varifocal sunglasses. Twice the price of other prescription sunglasses but they are super comfortable, light weight and really well-made lenses.
2. Rohloff hub/Gates belt combo. Stupidly expensive but once ridden, never bother with derailleur and chain again (probably)
3. (Any) Rapha jersey. I can only justify to myself buying from Rapha during one of their (many) sales.

[ravenbait]

A bell for me too, but a beautiful Lion one made in the UK with my name engraved on it.

Oh nice! I looked at Lion, too, but they were a bit big for my limited cockpit real estate.

Sam

[ravenbait]

Agree with you about the Spurcycle bell. I didn't realise how good they were until I bought a secondhand bike that had one fitted.
Other cycle bling that are ridiculously expensive but one used, are worth every penny:

1. Oakley prescription varifocal sunglasses. Twice the price of other prescription sunglasses but they are super comfortable, light weight and really well-made lenses.
2. Rohloff hub/Gates belt combo. Stupidly expensive but once ridden, never bother with derailleur and chain again (probably)
3. (Any) Rapha jersey. I can only justify to myself buying from Rapha during one of their (many) sales.

Lovely.

I confess to a bit of a thing for Rapha myself. I love the little stories they put in sublimated print on the inside of their shorts.

Sam

[Cudzoziemiec]

I like my Lion bell too. In fact I have two of them. Not on the same bike, that would be silly – unless they were in different keys? I thought it was expensive, until I just now checked out the Spurcycle bell.

As for bells and people hearing them, something that I've found works surprisingly well is saying "Ping ping!" Or even "Ring ring" or "Ting ting" or similar.

[Kim]

I don't rate ping bells, no matter how well made, because I reckon the pure tone is inferior to a bring-bring in terms of both expressiveness and directional audibility.

I have a Widek bring-bring bell on my tourer, chosen for its left-handed operation, but the brass construction gives a superior tone to the usual steel.  It wasn't particularly expensive, which gives a high pleasingness to cost ratio.

I quite like that enormous ding-dong one that Wowbagger has.  If you can afford the space on the handlebars.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The most attention grabbing bicycle bell I've ever heard was driven by a cable off the front tyre (or possibly rim). It sounded like a tram bell both in tone and volume.

[Jurek]

A USB rechargeable, plasma cigarette lighter.
I don't need one, but Adam (OTP) should've known better than to post about their existence.
Prior to which, I did not know that they did.

[Kim]

A USB rechargeable, plasma cigarette lighter.

*googles*

Cor.  I don't need one either.

[perpetual dan]

I have a ping bell, but mostly people respond to my freehub clicking before I use it.
In any case, I'm not sure the bell is better at cutting through high end hearing loss and headphones.

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

[ravenbait]

A USB rechargeable, plasma cigarette lighter.

*googles*

Cor.  I don't need one either.

Neither did I. I got one anyway. I figured I can use it to light my camping stove if the igniter fails.

Sam

[Kim]

I have a ping bell, but mostly people respond to my freehub clicking before I use it.
In any case, I'm not sure the bell is better at cutting through high end hearing loss and headphones.

Yes, for actually warning pedestrians I greatly prefer to make a mechanical noise.  It doesn't have the same GETOUTOFMYWAYness as ringing a bell, so they're more likely to look and react appropriately rather than leap in random directions.

I mostly use my bells for:
a) blind corners, particularly on towpaths
2) ringing at small children gawping at the unusual bike
iii) detecting potholes on my Brompton

[phantasmagoriana]

I had an Oi, years ago when they first came out. I was underwhelmed - the tone was neither particularly loud nor clear, and the ringer part seemed to unalign itself too easily.

The last bell I bought was a nice big Basil traditional style one. No understatement for me.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The last bell I bought was a nice big Basil traditional style one. No understatement for me.

Did you get it when you popped out for a pint of milk?

[Canardly]

2 x Lion here.

[Jurek]

Back in the days of my regular commute, my habit was one of loudly shouting 'Ding! Ding!' when circumstances dictated that I should.
It never failed to raise a smile.

[Kim]

Back in the days of my regular commute, my habit was one of loudly shouting 'Ding! Ding!' when circumstances dictated that I should.
It never failed to raise a smile.

This is the approach I have adopted for towpath adventures on my Reasonably Priced Mountain Bicycle™, where usable handlebar space is at a premium.

[ravenbait]

Clearly the various voice options are not succeeding as hoped or I wouldn't have bought a bloody bell. I've done without for more decades than I'd care to mention.

Any more ridiculous but nevertheless oh-so-satisfying bling? Let's all share in the "this was expensive but I am so happy I bought it" glow.

Sam

[redshift]

My Hewitt Cheviot SE with disc brakes (from before disc brakes on tourers were A Normal Thing).
Windcheetah No.176 from the mid-to-late 90's (just 'cos).
A 1991 PRS CE24 guitar (plain black with the thin neck) which I bought 2nd hand in 1994.

All ridiculous (for a person of my meagre capacities) and not really bling, but I like to get a thing and make it last.  All of them induce ear-to-ear happy face.

[Ian H]

I found a bell on a shelf in the garage the other day.  I've no idea where it came from.  It's still there.

Bling?  I suppose buying a complete bespoke bike (as distinct from just the frame) from Mr Hallett* might count, especially as I was fussy about the components - and then a second one, but stainless steel, lighter, more esoteric bits, used mainly for club-runs and the occasional 200.

I came off at speed a few months back, on the  way home from the pub, and damaged myself somewhat.  Speaking to said Mr Hallett on the phone, I mentioned this.  His response was - "I hope you weren't riding one of mine" (I wasn't).

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Elementary screwdriver   https://tinkerandfix.co.uk/collections/elementary-screwdrivers
I have no real need for it, but it is so well designed.

[mrcharly-YHT]

My Jantex paddle

Bought 5 years ago, after much deliberation, trying out lots of paddles.

It cost twice what a chinese or other cheaper version would have cost. A friend was astounded; it is literally half the weight of his chinese copies (that he paid half the money for, but ended up buying two).

The only problem is that I can't stand paddling with anything else.

[drgannet]

I have Crane bells, which look and sound pretty similar to the Lion. Both brass and copper versions, and the large ones not the minis; size really does make a difference in both tone and volume.

Most pedestrians on shared paths hear a double ding from the bell on the recumbent trike, apart from the ones with over-ear headphones. There is always the Airzound mounted under the seat, but that is reserved for cars...

[Kim]

Any more ridiculous but nevertheless oh-so-satisfying bling? Let's all share in the "this was expensive but I am so happy I bought it" glow.

Yoav mentioned Rohloffs, which I've been sighing wistfully about every time I tweaked the indexing on my tourer.  I now have one and it's so satisfying I can almost overlook the grip shifter^[1], but it's sufficiently practical I don't think it qualifies as ridiculous unless you actually install one on a Brompton.

Similarly, I have a SON Delux which just ticked over 50,000 miles.  It's bling by today's standards, but at the time it was the only proper dynamo hub for small wheels.



_{[1] Anyone want to lend me a high-end Bosch e-bike and a canbus adaptor?}