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As a result, this helped the ping bell result more than the others. With a single ring, the slow rise-time of the analogue meter missed the peaks. I think it's reasonably representative of what you might do if you were really trying to get someone's attention. Each bell was rung a few times in succession, as you might if you thought you were about to collide with someone. However, because this was done indoors and with reflective surfaces (the wall and table) nearby, you would get different figures if you measured out in the open.
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These tests were all done in the same way, so they are directly comparable with one another. Each bell was held one metre from the SPL meter. I used my old Radioshack sound-level meter to find out how loud the bells were. The Classic Brass bell has a remarkably pleasant tone due to the brass, and 96 dBa is still very loud.Īnd for the geeks amongst us, this is how it was done. The Ping bell, which is smallest and weighs just 20 g, is best for those with limited handlebar space or who are concerned about weight, but while the sound is loud, it has little sustain so is not really as effective as a traditional bell. It's rather subjective, but to me it also gives by far the best sound of the bells. Note that there are many copies available of this bell, often painted in different colours, and all that I've heard sound dull in comparison. If you have space for it on your handlebars, the Ding Dong bell gives the most sound. Gazelle handlebar grip bell (€25 for pair of grips with bell) Click on their pictures if you'd like to buy them: And here are the results, ranked in order of how loud they are from one metre away, and with recordings of each bell. Let's test them to find out how loud they are, and also have sound samples so that people can hear what the bells sound like. However, rather than just listing the bells, I decided we should do this well. I've got a bunch of bicycle bells here at the moment as we've wanted for some time to have these available in the webshop, and as with other things in the shop, I've specifically bought in those that we like. In other countries, such as the Netherlands, a bell is a legal requirement on a bicycle. In some countries, such as the UK, the human voice is considered to be adequate. In most countries of the world it's a legal requirement to have a method of warning people that you are approaching on a bike.