It’s amazing how different the energy from other users can be when you have a bell mounted to your handlebar. When local trails are flooded with users on a busy day, things can easily go sour unless you announce yourself in advance. However, there are times I don’t feel like shouting out a warning when I’m cranking along, preferring to stay in my head. Having a bell mounted on the bars can go a long way in keeping the vibes pleasant. Unfortunately, we’ve found most bells to be on the cheap side, and look sorely out of place on a nice ride dripping with carbon and ti bits. The Spurcycle Ringer on the other hand, is a sleek addition, worthy of a place in your cockpit.
We first became aware of the “better bike bell” during their phenomenally successful Kickstarter campaign. Just about every major bike blog and publication covered it, praising the extraordinary attention to detail the designers put into it. We too were sold, and I added myself to the list of their supporters.
When the bell arrived, it was packaged in a nice looking box. Installation was simple as well, only requiring a single allen key.
It can be mounted in a vertical or horizontal orientation, and includes bands to fit just about any standard bar diameter. Although it is supposedly carbon safe, I added a bit of black electric tape for a bit of insurance.
It looks great, and is a minimal addition to what can be a crowded area on your bike. More importantly, it functions very well, and the sound is easily modulated from a small polite ding, to a loud DING.
In fact, the only thing I would like to add is an version of the bell that has a “cowbell” setting for those busy descents and blind turns where you don’t have the time to move your thumb over to warn potential conflicts of your incoming presence. Obviously this would require a ground up redesign, but maybe a mountain bike specific version could be in order?
Check it out: Spurcycle
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