One of the characteristics of fine bikes is a lack of stuff clamped on all over. There are brazed-on fittings for everything required.
I often take a busy bike path out of town on my rides. So I decided to mount a bell on my new bike to warn pedestrians and slower riders. Of course, I chose one of those lovely Japanese brass bells. But how to mount one without a clamp? The French constructeurs tapped the bike's stem and screwed in the bell. I wasn't willing to do that to my Nitto Pearl stem.
My solution was to tap a headset spacer. I also added a small brass washer under the bell, all very elegant.
Perhaps this will be Velo-Orange's first commercial product. Would you buy one? Please e-mail or leave a comment if you want one or have any suggestions.
UPDATE
Since a few folks have asked to buy a spacer bell mount, I've decided to make a small run of them. I'll need to make a jig to ensure that the hole is centered, so they should ship within two weeks. The kit includes a 10mm tall spacer for either a 1" or 1-1/8" fork, two of the special brass washers, and instructions (not that there's much to it).
The brass bells are available at RBW and Jitensha Studio for under $10; I'll try to get some bells for stock. The first batch will cost $5 each. Shipping is $2 for any quantity. Let me know if the price sound reasonable; I'm new at this. I thought that a bell plus mount would be under $15, which is what cheap aluminum and plastic clamp-on bells cost at my local bike shop. Is this how GM got started?
They also make this bell in a deeper copper-colored finish -- to my eye, it's far more attractive than the regular brass finish. Is it possible to obtain them easily?
ReplyDeleteI bought mine from Jitensha Studio, but he no longer has them.
Here's a bunch of photos of mine.