New Bell
 

Well it had to happen, On today's commute, the bell died on me. Nothing I tried would work. Now I'm in the market for a new bell. Something load and Brassy Any ideals? What works and doesn't work in the real world?

I love my big brass Velo-Orange bell; a beautiful loud chime, and it doesn't cost a lot.

https://www.mirrycle.com/product-category/bells/ I have 3 grip bells

and a couple of these.. https://www.mirrycle.com/product/incredibell-original/


Loud ? a big Chinese rotary double gong bike bell https://www.ebay.com/i/283552717473?...8bd0a5c9348318






...

I just got a friend the Electra chrome bell-- the big one that goes "ding-dong," not the smaller, quieter one that is more of the "brinng brinnnng" type. It's pretty loud, and the sound isn't bad.

I had one of those for a while on a previous commuter. I wonder what happened to it, must be in one of my boxes of bike parts

Can't go wrong with a Crane bell. Lots of materials/striker type/sizes and mounting styles to choose from. Polished brass always sounds and looks best to me.

I use a Crane Riten bell. Sounds lovely.

My Spurcycle bell makes a piercing high-pitched irritating chime, which pleases me

Really like the sound of mine too. Really well made and very compact.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...90086eb7b8.jpg

Crane bells! The Suzu on the Riten are the most popular. Suzu is more of a “dingg!” Riten is the more traditional “Brrringg bringg”. Both beautiful but I prefer the hammer look of the Suzu.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...055f50bf9.jpeg

another vote for a crane bell. they make a beautiful chime that's plenty loud.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4297a7e9a5.jpg

I made a post a while ago with a link to an Instagram video of mine that shows the sound of a couple of different bells in my possession (or surrounding bikes):
C&V Bell post

I find the ding-dong bells are frequently ignored.

The spurcycle works surprisingly well. Both its tone and its duration are effective. The long duration let the pedestrian know my rate of speed and if I'm pulling over to pass. Subtle, but very effective.

Of course, nothing works like squeaky brakes...

It depends a lot on the location. In Europe bicycle bells are recognized by most people and as such people only use them to warn them they're passing when they are close by.
It means "I cannot pass you, get the **** out of the way!"

I have found my Spurcycle for example to be wonderfully loud but often aggressively so, causing people to get scared or look over their shoulder annoyed.

The Crane E-ne for comparison is a much gentler bell and gets the point across just as well.

Some fun background info:

• The Meaning of Bicycle Bells - German joys
• Bicycle bells in the Netherlands (bell part at 0:49)
• You Tube

It depends a lot on the location. In Europe bicycle bells are... treated differently by different people in different locations. Europe is a big place with a variety of countries and cultures.

For example, bike bells are pretty much ignored in Paris. That place is Chaos. Contrast to Germany - I don't think I ever really needed to use one there. In much of the US, the seem to be still kind of a novelty for pedestrians.

I bought a Spurcycle clone off of ebay. Sounds great!

Tomii Cycles is putting his golden touch to the VO brass bells and reselling them; https://www.tomiicycles.com/product/...-brass-bell-2/
Looks amazing

Spurcycle for me

My choice is also same buddy

Cheers

Ya, its true nothing works like squeaky brakes

Wow, talk about value added; they're gorgeous!

The important thing, I think, is to get one with a proper striker, not that goofy little spring that mounts underneath. Those just aren't loud enough.

I have a couple really nice old English bells. One is a Miller from about 1950. It makes a wonderful "bong" sound.

The one on my Holdsworth is similar, 3" chromed dome. I think it's a Lucas. But the striker is really sensitive. On the last day of my ride around Lake Ontario a couple years ago, after 60 hours nearly continuous riding, every expansion crack on the Ontario State Parkway made the bell ring every ten yards. By, and my that time the bell wasn't the
the only thing that was sensitive! My bell rang just at that moment when my saddle kicked my butt. Miles and miles going
Bong! Ow! Bong! Ow!​ ​​Bong! Ow! Bong! Ow!

Yeah!

I wonder what the finish is-- did he coat it with something or is that just tarnished brass?

Patina and tarnish, different words for the same thing.
​​​​​​​

This from the December 2019 Radavist article; "As the tedium of framebuilding tires Nao’s cerebrum, he takes to customizing Velo Orange bells. First, he disassembles them, then he strips the hard finishing, exposing the brass. At which point he hand hammers each bell in a 360º manner before wax coating and reassembling."

A follow-up question about Spurcycle bells, if I may:

I've watched a few videos about how to install them, but none showed how to remove one and if the metal "strap" is re-usable.

I'm not looking to move one between bikes regularly or anything, but just wondered if they're as easy to remove as they seem like they would be. If so, I may buy one. If not, I might look at other bells instead.

Thanks.

Yes, the band is reusable. I have moved mine between bikes. To remove you just loosen the screw and squeeze the ends of the band together to release them from the slots in the bell.