Knog Oi Classic Bike Bells

First the pros:#1. Sleek design. Very low profile. Looks great.#2. The tone. It’s a very pleasant chime. Some bells I’ve had and or heard used can be a tad shrill. I have actually gotten compliments on the sound.#3. Easy to install. Seems like a no brainer, but, being able to install something without removing the grips is a good thing for many of us.#4. Color choice and materials. I just got the black aluminum one because I have shiny black bars and wanted a clean look. But the copper and titanium ones were on the short list too.#5. Volume. I ride on a shared used trail that run along a canal. It’s generally pretty quiet. It’s loud enough to alert pedestrians from around 50 feet or so. Unless they are wearing earbuds, then they are oblivious to anything.Now the cons:#1. Longevity. There’s a lot of reviews stating that they broke the hammer. I can see why. It’s very thin plastic at the hinge. Time will tell.#2. Volume. I know I just said that it’s got a good volume, but, that’s for my particular area. In a noisier place, it’s very quiet. If you ride primarily in areas with a lot of traffic, look some place else.I really like this bell. I just hope that it will last a while.I bought this, no incentive to review but I enjoy the bell.

I bought this bell in the summer of 2018; it's 2019 now and I'm giving my year-long tested review.The reason I got this - I'm in NYC, and in the last few years as biking has become increasingly popular with younger riders, specifically teenagers who get together in groups and do "ride-outs", which for those who are unfamiliar with the term, is dozens of people swarming the streets at once on their bikes and basically taking over all lanes of traffic. Because of this, the NYPD has been cracking down on bicycle safety, and people have been getting tickets for not having proper equipment, or the worst case scenario, getting their bikes seized for dangerous riding. I'm a BMX rider, so I set out to make sure I have all the proper items on my bike so I would not run into trouble. I know it is unorthodox for a BMX to have all safety gear required by NYC equipped on it (people usually strip everything down off these types of bikes for weight), but I'd rather have this cool looking bell than pay a fine for not having it.The bell itself - I absolutely love the design of it. I'm surprised it hasn't existed sooner. And even though I could have bought any random cheapie bell just for my bike to be street legal, I specifically got the Knog Oi. I know there are tons of counterfeits floating around since it came out, but I truly appreciate the design and engineering that went into this bell. The original creators deserve their recognition and should get the benefits. It has a pleasant tone that is clearly audible; although on a very noisy NYC street it can be easily drowned out. In more suburban or rural areas it should be fine though. The bell's ringer is very stable on it's springs and I haven't had any instance where it went off unless I hit a really rough patch or a pothole. The only complaint about the mounting is that the instructions specifically tell you not to overtighten the screw; so over time it will get loose and the bell will move. Not a big deal, so aside from invariable re-tightening of the screw, there's nothing wrong with this bell to knock any stars off it for.The packaging - The packaging looks great and there's no complaints there. However, I had no idea the bell came with it's own hex key (alan wrench). I found it inside the box only after looking around for special instructions about what hex size the screw takes after trying to use every wrench I had and none of them fit. I'm guessing the screw is either specific to the Knog Oi, or perhaps it is some kind of Australian metric size that isn't common in the United States. Either way, it's not a big deal, but there's nothing on the packaging that says the hex key is included. I had no idea it came with one at all. But if you're wondering, it is found under the inset holder that the bell sits in inside the box.Overall, this is just the coolest looking bike bell out there and perfectly compliments an aggressive looking BMX bike. If you're looking for a bell just to get your bike up to code to be street ridable and roadworthy, this is the one. Excellent invention and excellent product!

Sound:So I bought this because of how compact it is. I have a folding bike and I don't have that much room on the handle bar for accessories. I love the pitch of the ring, it has a polite and vibrant ring which is what I was looking for.The thing is, no one hears it. Everyone on the bike trail I ride on has earbuds in and are completely oblivious. The few that don't have earbuds hear it just fine, but those people also tend to be more alert and will just hear me coming anyway. No need to ding the bell. Not really much I can do about the earbuds, though, short of installing an airhorn.On the other hand, there are a lot of squirrels where I live and the minute I ding this thing once, they all scatter. They don't even do the run one direction and turn back like they do when they just see me coming. Once I ding the bell, they will just clear the path immediately. This is great because I've had times where I've lost control of the bike trying to swerve to avoid hitting them.Durability:The other thing about this is that my first one broke pretty early on. I unfolded my bike one day and I found it in pieces. Luckily, the company had accidentally sent me a 10 pack of these so I installed another one and that one has lasted years. It's very possible that I may have broken the first one it when folding the bike. I may have accidentally jammed the bike pedal into it or something.