As we head into a rainy fall, one discussion that came up recently on the BOB list was the question of bike bells not working very well in the rain. I recently bought a Crane Suzu bell, which was reported to work pretty well in the rain.
Does this photo remind you of any particular logo?
Since I also had a Spurcycle bell on the Brompton, it was time to do another comparison of the different bells I had. An earlier comparison looked at just the Knog Oi, an Incredibell, and a Cateye bell.
This video tells the tale:
When all the bells are dry, it is clear that the Spurcycle is the loudest and most resonant.
Once the bells are soaked, all are somewhat muffled, but the Crane is the loudest when wet, the Spurcycle still OK, and the other three are too quiet to be much use. The question as to why the Crane Suzu does the best in the rain is an interesting one, and probably has to do with the fact that it is relatively large and heavy, implying that it is not as affected by the damping effect of water droplets on the bell surface. However, the Crane Suzu is rather large, and takes up considerably more handlebar real estate than the others. Note that the Crane I tested was not one of their aluminum models, which I think would not do as well in the rain.
The other thing to keep in mind as the days get shorter is that you should have adequate lighting. I am one of the volunteers that is counting bikes and cars from a 24 hour video taken recently on the Danforth, and I was surprised to see that about half of the cyclists I saw between midnight and 1 am had no lights at all.
Be this person:
Not this one:
Ride safe, everyone!
bellsonbloor 