Rockbros

[nomm]

wow this thread got well out of hand

[Tangled Metal]

Is just a load of old bells!

What a bells up of a thread?!

A right little ding dong and that's for sure!

A right bunch of dingalings!

[simonineaston]

It's great when a topic gets right out of hand - a chucklesome read along the lines of Viz comic and also much work for the hypertension clinic nurse!
But to return to the Rockbros bell (whether legit or not) - I can report that it is highly effective! Although the sound made is not loud in a jangly obvious way, the purity of its tone appears to have the happy knack of a high level of audability! I have a short route into town that involves lots of tunnels, blind corners, shared use paths etc etc and the little Rockbros bell did sterling service over the week-end, with other users responding in the intended manner when I pinged away with gusto! I'm well pleased and it gets the SiE Gold Star Seal of Approval...

[reohn2]

Yes,like Simon I've found the Rock Bros bell(s) to be very good and loud enough to announce my presence when needed.
No need to spend £50 when £8 does a sterling job of work!
And of the six bought I haven't had one break on me yet.

[steelframe]

But to return to the Rockbros bell (whether legit or not) - I can report that it is highly effective! Although the sound made is not loud in a jangly obvious way, the purity of its tone appears to have the happy knack of a high level of audability!

Moral aspects aside: What I would recommend is a side by side comparison of the Rockbros and the Spurcycle in terms of sound. Each and every time in the past when someone praised the Rockbros bell it turned out he or she had not seen/tried the original in comparison. And each time when he/she did that lateron the report was: "Wow! What a difference!" It may still be that the Rockbros is ok enough for someone - but by comparing side by side (and only then) most people quickly seem to realize that there is a massive difference and how much better the Spurcycle is (needed or not) in terms of sound and quality of craftmanship.

[Tangled Metal]

Nice sounding bell compared with a nicer sounding bell at 5 times the price. I think I'll forgo the extra cost to get a sound that's actually nicer than I need for the intended use.

I mean quality of sound isn't about tonal quality it's about is it going to get the reaction from others i need.

Same goes with quality. Diminishing returns. Getting 80% of the benefits for 20% of the price. I'd still go for the cheaper version if it did what I needed reliably.

[steelframe]

Getting 80% of the benefits for 20% of the price. I'd still go for the cheaper version if it did what I needed reliably.

Well, that's classical pareto. Als always, the "reliably" aspect is a bit of a gamble - but in this case you could buy a lot of the cheaper bells before being at par with the price (and after the third you would probably still think about your strategy if the lifespan was only short). For me personally, apart from all other aspects, the Spurcycle is pure joy. It is something that pleases me each time I see, touch or use it and that alone is worth something to me. If on the other hand I would have gone for the imitation it would at best be "just another bell" with no emotions tied to it and - in the worst case - it would remind me on each ride that I was cheap and of questionable morale when buying it. I assume the Spurcycle will live longer than me, so, like good tools, it is a lifetime investment and the "bell problem" is solved once and forever. Over one, two or three decades of use the price does not really matter.

[simonineaston]

Oooh the punter loves a "Chibson" - great American Icon made by oriental kiddees, making two noodles an hour, bought - and shipped from - China on Ali Express for a couple of hundred bucks and then moan like fury when the headstock inlay is 1mm too thin or there's a scarf joint on the neck - which is ten times stronger than Gibson's original necks which were forever snapping off !!

[Cugel]

Getting 80% of the benefits for 20% of the price. I'd still go for the cheaper version if it did what I needed reliably.

(snip) For me personally, apart from all other aspects, the Spurcycle is pure joy. It is something that pleases me each time I see, touch or use it and that alone is worth something to me. If on the other hand I would have gone for the imitation it would at best be "just another bell" with no emotions tied to it ......

That's one way to describe the syndrome of product-attachment. There are alternative ways to describe it.

I'm a sucker myself for a tool made to ultimate standards, although for me it's an attraction to woodworking rather than cycling tools. I know, though, that Tangled is correct in suggesting that the law of diminishing returns is probably the most sensible criterion on which to base a purchasing decision for a functional item. Those fantastically-wrought and superbly functioning woodworking planes I have are actually not an enormous amount better at the function than are several wooden ones I made myself for 1/20th of the cost. ....

... But the expensive metal planes are ever so fondle-ish and look like the best man-jewels you ever did see! Also, they're now worth 5X what I paid for them. Not that I can bear to sell them. It must be that emotional attachment I formed to them. But I know they don't care that I have an unnatural love for their handsome inanimate selves, not working any better no matter how much I coo and stroke them in perverted admiration.

Cugel, often confused by the glamour of pretty things.

[Tangled Metal]

I bought a knogg Bell a few years back when it was getting good reviews, as good as spurcycle got at the time, and it was a nice sound. Then it wasn't that cheap neither at the time. However it lasted a couple of months before it disintegrated. I only realised when I got the recumbent out that it was on and there was a ring of metal hanging loosely on the USS bars. That was the last remaining part of the bell. That's without the bike and bell being used for some time.

Spurcycle is of course a more expensive and better engineered / manufactured bell but from what I've heard rockbros bell is actually a reliable bell too. So why buy the expensive one when rockbros works, is reliable and cheaper?

[steelframe]

I bought a knogg Bell a few years back when it was getting good reviews, as good as spurcycle got at the time, and it was a nice sound.

I assume you are talking about the Knog Oi? This thing was utter crap from day one on. I wonder where you did find a single good review, let alone one that said is was as good as the spurcycle.
I backed the Oi on Kickstarter and - like many others - had high expectations, based on the promises of the makers. After the bell arrived like most others I came to the conclusion that that thing looked nice but as a bell it was completly useless. And basically none of the promises Knog made were fulfilled.

Then it wasn't that cheap neither at the time.

Interestingly enough with the Oi the cheap Chinese copies hit the market even before the original.

However it lasted a couple of months before it disintegrated.

That's what happened to a lot of users of the Oi. As said before: This thing was utter crap.

Spurcycle is of course a more expensive and better engineered / manufactured bell but from what I've heard rockbros bell is actually a reliable bell too. So why buy the expensive one when rockbros works, is reliable and cheaper?

There are a lot of points that you may find valid or not. They have been outlined in this thread, ranging from morale over quality to support for inventors. You may find them not valid for you - but at least you should recognize that there are reasons.

[Tangled Metal]

They did not invent anything. They put together a good metal bike bell but that does not mean it was invented.

I liken it to Dyson that had patent pending on the cyclonic tech they brought out. They never went further than pending because it would never get past the novel threshold. I once read a victorian book that fully described the technology and equations that allowed design of the Dyson cyclone system. All Dyson did was apply existing technology into a nice package and market the hell out of it while charging premium prices to make buyers think they're buying something special.

Don't get me wrong, spurcycle is a nice product with one big problem, it's too expensive. You can claim all you want about the sound, build quality or whatever but its still too expensive when you can get a similar type of bell for a lot less that's still a good bell.

[steelframe]

Don't get me wrong, spurcycle is a nice product with one big problem, it's too expensive.

I don't think you are right here. The spurcycle is expensive - but is ist too expensive? I don't think so. It has been and still is a huge success. The price is justified, you probably can't build the exact thing cheaper under the same conditions (made in USA). You can at a cheaper price build something that looks more or less similar - but does not have the same level of quality. It is simply not the same thing. If you think it is too expensive than you are not their customer. Easy. It was never intended to be cheap. It was intended to be top notch. It is a bit of a luxury item. But given the sum we are talking about: People buy cheaply made t-shirts for much more, just because there's a name printed on the front. And many more silly things that neither don't last as long nor are they as well made nor do they deliver relevant value (and the makers earn a fortune with it).

[Cugel]

Don't get me wrong, spurcycle is a nice product with one big problem, it's too expensive.

I don't think you are right here. The spurcycle is expensive - but is ist too expensive? I don't think so. It has been and still is a huge success. The price is justified, you probably can't build the exact thing cheaper under the same conditions (made in USA). You can at a cheaper price build something that looks more or less similar - but does not have the same level of quality. It is simply not the same thing. If you think it is too expensive than you are not their customer. Easy. It was never intended to be cheap. It was intended to be top notch. It is a bit of a luxury item. But given the sum we are talking about: People buy cheaply made t-shirts for much more, just because there's a name printed on the front. And many more silly things that neither don't last as long nor are they as well made nor do they deliver relevant value (and the makers earn a fortune with it).

A bell is not just for the bell-dinger but for those who hear the ding. I wonder if the various folk you warn of your presence with the upmarket dinger notice the difference in ding to that of a Crane, Rocker or even the smaller ten quid version I found that's now used by the ladywife? (It's German and has a higher ladylike pitch). Do those ding-hearers stop you to comment on the lovely tone of your Spur? I suspect not but I'm sure you'll let us know.

When is a price "justified"? Some will make a calculation based on cost of materials, amount of labour, overheads and the like. Others will suggest the shortcut of, "A thing is worth what someone is willing to pay for it". Another group will go on about the innovative design, the genius of the "inventor" and so forth. Another reason given is simply, "I love it and fondle it as much as I can". Then there's the imagined cache of owning and displaying one's upmarket thing; or rather, its label. Some even buy particular things and not other versions of it because they've been recruited to the copyright/patent scam ideology party!

Personally I've made buying "decisions" (or my subconscious has) then used all of those excuses. I suspect that they're all "rationalisations after the fact" and only the aforementioned dark subconscious knows the real reasons we buy things. The "reasons" we offer to other humans (and ourselves) are all just a means to pretend that we're "rational consumers" like those imagined long ago by Adam Smith. In reality, we felt a deep urge to acquire one, driven by who-knows-what set of well-buried motives.

Cugel

[simonineaston]

Well there's a thing... until recently, I've tended not use a bell under certain circ.s ie on approaching a group ahead, one tings the bell - no response. As the gap closes, one tings again - no reponse. Closing fast now, one tries one more time - the group fractures, with some going left, some going right and one - always one - dithering & unable to decide where exactly to go. The way is blocked...
However, with the new bell and its mellifluous & magical posh ping, someone in the group always seems to hear it in good time, the group steps neatly to one side and the way is free for the pinger to proceed - now isn't that worth paying extra for (unless of course one has opted for the cheap Chinese knock-off... )