This may be the most exciting cycling related development you see today so I hope you're seated.
I recently purchased a cheap Knog Oi bell to try and on receipt I can echo what others have said about its quality, function and volume. None are all that good and for $20.00 I would have returned it. But for half that the return shipping made it impractical so I gave some thought on what might improve it some. In it's original form, beyond its the functionally no better than the $3 bell that came with the bike. Part of the problem as I see it is the plastic striker. Better and louder bells all have metal strikers. The plastic on metal contact can't help but be a bit muted. So how to improve. Because I do a lot of guitar set up, repair and modification work I have a decent assortment of tools and odd hardware available. And the idea of a small screw head or similar as a metal striker seemed viable. And here is how that went:
Flattened the top of the original nub a bit and drilled a small hole to accommodate said small screw:
Cut small screw to length:
Insert small screw into hole:
See how things fit and function:
And voila! It works. And works very well. Two distinct areas of improvement. First is the volume and clarity. Crisp and louder. How much? I don't know, but it's a better sound. Second, because the screw head is a bit taller than the nub it replaced the striker to bell distance is reduced just enough that you don't need as long a pull for the striker to make contact with the bell so it's a more efficient and controllable. And to do again I would be more careful on the depth or the screw hole as there is not a lot of material there to work with. There is plenty but not as much as I had though as my drilling did work into and just under the thumb depression and that is visible. So shorter screw and less deep drilling. Otherwise a fairly quick and easy upgrade.
Exciting right? Told you...
I recently purchased a cheap Knog Oi bell to try and on receipt I can echo what others have said about its quality, function and volume. None are all that good and for $20.00 I would have returned it. But for half that the return shipping made it impractical so I gave some thought on what might improve it some. In it's original form, beyond its the functionally no better than the $3 bell that came with the bike. Part of the problem as I see it is the plastic striker. Better and louder bells all have metal strikers. The plastic on metal contact can't help but be a bit muted. So how to improve. Because I do a lot of guitar set up, repair and modification work I have a decent assortment of tools and odd hardware available. And the idea of a small screw head or similar as a metal striker seemed viable. And here is how that went:
Flattened the top of the original nub a bit and drilled a small hole to accommodate said small screw:
Cut small screw to length:
Insert small screw into hole:
See how things fit and function:
And voila! It works. And works very well. Two distinct areas of improvement. First is the volume and clarity. Crisp and louder. How much? I don't know, but it's a better sound. Second, because the screw head is a bit taller than the nub it replaced the striker to bell distance is reduced just enough that you don't need as long a pull for the striker to make contact with the bell so it's a more efficient and controllable. And to do again I would be more careful on the depth or the screw hole as there is not a lot of material there to work with. There is plenty but not as much as I had though as my drilling did work into and just under the thumb depression and that is visible. So shorter screw and less deep drilling. Otherwise a fairly quick and easy upgrade.
Exciting right? Told you...
