Any recommendations for a bell that I can ding repeatedly while braking and cornering on the hoods?
My commute now contains two “features" where I’m braking in preparation for meeting oncoming cyclists in a dark tunnel while making a 90 degree blind turn. A bell would seem to be the solution but I cant use one that stops me doing the more essential elements of avoiding oncoming riders.
Any success stories?
IDK offhand about bells that one can operate directly from the hoods. But a different way to address the blind turn would be to use a Timber! bell, https://mtbbell.com/, kind of a bear bell for bicycles. If you turn that on before the blind turn, you should be able to activate it sufficiently to warn oncoming traffic via movement of the bars.
Or, maybe a whistle?
Like a lot of folks, I love my Spurcycle bell. Since it’s mounted just inside the end of the bar tape, it does require a little hand movement, but it’s a small one: the hand moves but doesn’t rotate, since it’s the thumb that flicks the bell. A plus is that it sounds gorgeous and the tone lasts several seconds.
Osaka’s Roadie Clip On Bell (Products - OSAKA BELL CO. LTD.) lets you easily ring the bell while braking/cornering on the hoods. No need to move your hands at all. But it’s not the loudest that you will find by any stretch.
Spurcycle bell mounted just below the hood; I can ring it from the top of the hoods w/ my middle finger, index finger from the drops
I love the Spurcycle - I have 4 of them. Unfortunately I find that they’re not nearly loud enough and it has a pitch that older people seem to not be able to hear. I’ve started replacing them with RockBros - which looks to be a direct copy of Spurcycle - but it’s much louder.
I don’t really follow the bell market and unsure if RockBros is a counterfeit or not…
I backed Spurcycle’s original kickstarter and am a big fan of their bell. I put mine on the top of drop bars, and haven’t tried mounting to use from the hoods.
@wade_wallace - From searching Rock Bros website for “bell” (Search: 13 results found for "bell"), I think one of their products is a straight Spurcycle knockoff, and I’m 100% opposed to buying/owning/using that. No idea about the other designs.
Spurcycle for live! RockBros is a company dedicated to knock offs cheaply made in China.
I mount all my dropbar bells this way too so that I don’t have to move my hand at all to ring them from the hoods position. My Spurcycle sounds plenty loud; the only time it doesn’t is if I’ve tightened it too much or it’s too close to the hood cover and the sound is dulled. The Mirrcycle Incredibell doesn’t sound anywhere close to as nice, but is significantly cheaper and just as loud.
Ok! I’m copying this. Thankyou all for the advice and keeping money out of counterfeiters hands
Yes, I have one and use it for exactly that purpose. It has three settings, apart from locked (no sound) it has two intensity settings. I keep it on the middle one for the most part and it works very well (for humans and animals). You can also ring the bell by “nudging” your handlebars (you don’t need much).
I bought it as a first line of defense against monkeys and bears in Japan. But it worked (and still works) equally well with humans in the city center.
There’s another solution to OPs issue. Since the area for the potential issue is dark tunnel. In the tunnel the oncoming riders will likely see the strobing light flashing off the wall on this blind 90 degree corner. Anymore so many cyclist and pedestrians use ear buds, so often a bell is almost useless. The flashing headlight is also great from cars alerting left turning drivers and those leaving driveways to your presence. A light and a bell are a winning combo for happy safe commuting.
And yes, for the bell Spurcycle is the one.
The newest Garmins have a digitial bell. You can pair with DI2 extra buttons to ring.
Fair point, it’ll be easier too as it gets darker on my commute and my lights get more visible. I take your point too about strobe though I have never been a fan of how distracting it is. This post was largely driven by other cyclists using their bell at these bits to good effect whereas I couldn’t get to mine easily. Hopefully that will be enough!
A squeaky disc brake rotor is a very effective bell. Not sure how to achieve the desired level of squeak but I currently have a front rotor is that is quietly effective at low pressure but starts to emit a horrific squeal at high braking effort. If I pulse my brakes it alerts anyone even in cars to my presence. I then have to apologise for the noise and make my excuses.
It’s super effective.
I find that the Spurcycle bell is quite sensitive to the torque on the fastener. Too tight or too loose and the sound is disappointingly quiet, but just right and it’s as loud as its reputation suggests it should be.
Canyon makes a drop bar bell that mounts onto the bar end and I love them. I see rockbros started making some as well.
I use the CloseTheGap garmin/bell/gopro mount combo, I now have them on all my dropbar bikes, they are not cheap but they are awesome!
I have a Trigger Bell mounted just below the LH shifter - nice bright ping and easy to get to. https://www.triggerbell.com/
I find that a bell (mine are Procraft something, discreet but loud enough (and inexpensive)) next to the stem on the rear brake side is perfectly adequate. If you need to use a bell with both hands on the drops, you’re probably going too fast for the circumstances.
