Trail Bell Stations

i should have stopped reading this thread before my timberbell bell fell out

 

Jeopardy word there...

 

@Runs with Scissors - if they give it to you free, it cancels Einstein's "doing the same thing over expecting different results" maxim. I don't expect different results. I just get a lot more for my original $25.

Here's the answer from last night's unhappy email...

Hey Chris,

I have some interesting news for you. We are wrapping up designs now for the next version... It will feature a completely modular setup so that all of the parts can be replaced, especially the central cable, that can wear out over time.

Making the cable sensitive enough to ring on gentle terrain, while making the product strong enough to stand up to MTB abuse has been our biggest challenge. We’ve hired engineers and experts from all over the world and no one has been able to help us with it. I literally lose sleep every night over this issue.

In the end, we decided that making it a replaceable part was the best solution for now.

So hopefully the answer is near. We expect production to begin on these early in 2022. I’d be happy to get one of the first protos into your hands if you would like to help us test them.

In the meantime, I’d be happy to help you. Would you like a replacement bell, or something else?

 

One of my favorite bumper stickers...

Eschew obfuscation!

 

That's pretty wide open. I'd go big on the ask.

 

What you should do is ask for like 10 protos. I’ll be happy to test one for them.

 

Gesundheit

 

I just use one of these, because I'm a people person. No box required, and pedestrians move out of the way!

 

Great idea! Just found a use for the extra bottle cage on my Ranger.

 

Arggghhhhh! My eyes! The typos! I'll never buy from them again...


Oh wait... I've already stopped buying from them... They assured me that version 3 was the ticket.

 

The modular design is interesting... not interesting enough to make me give them more money, though. I saw that Wolftooth is doing the same with some of their gear. The dropper lever, for example, can now be repaired. Every individual piece is for sale.

That would have been nice to know before I binned mine...

 

I am pretty picky, but I'm not seeing typos. Some interesting sentence arrangement, but no typos. OK one. But I fixeded it.

 

Don’t loose any sleep over it like he did…

And the tense error in the next sentence…

 

Wow - pickier than @Runs with Scissors and me!

 

A dangling preposition is something up with which I will not put!

 

In the end…or at least for now.

I’d lose sleep too if my flagship product was a shyt design that I poured consultation $ into rectifying in lieu of designing one that works.

The Chinese haven’t put a person on the moon but they created a cheap bike bell that doesn’t self destruct. May some reverse engineering is in order.

 

This is why German is so much more elegant than English. Kafka’s “Up in the Gallery” is a couple pages long, but only two sentences in the original. Endless dangling- or “boxing” in German.

Although... Being trapped in an endless cycle of failing Timber Bells is more akin to Kafka's "Before the Law"... Or maybe "In the Penal Colony".

 

^^^This^^^Late to this Bell Party.
Timber bell sucks and I’m blown away that anyone would buy another, especially after reading this thread! Someone aught to send their customer service a link to this.

I bought a Timberbell and immediately transferred it to CJ’s bike. It’s a pretty sounding bell but the elastic strap allowed it to migrate on my bars.

I’ve had an Awareness Bell for years. Met the guy who made them on a @Tom the Bomb shuttle run over in Santa Barbara (the guy can ride a bike as well!). He was bragging about his Bell and I convinced him to give me one and I would do a product review (That's back in the day when there was an imtbtrails magazine section to the Forum).
I did the review and a few months later he contacted me and asked me to pull the article as he was overwhelmed with orders! Sweet!

Yeah… it’s loud. But that’s kinda the point. Like @Obsidian had mentioned, I angled the bell opening forward to project the sound more down trail. It’s a little more difficult to use, especially if you are trying to activate it after hitting the descent as you reach the edge of the bell opening and pull the spring loaded CNC’ed clacker off the edge of the bell to activate it. It would be great if he designed a better bar attachment as well. It’s clever as is. A custom stamped Velcro strap that wraps around on itself. It can wear in the sun and I have heard of some losing their bell on the trail. I zip tied mine for security but that makes it not very transferable from bike to bike, but this bell is a lifer.

I always get thank you’s from hikers and equestrians and that really is the bottom line. Trail advocates use bells. It projects to other users we care about them. It helps keep our tread on the trails.
Just my opinion!

 

Not really opinion - it's nearly incontrovertible fact! Awareness bells (the kind that jingle on their own) save me grief and preserve the flow of my ride EVERY time I use it. If you rely on a thumb actuated bell, you are missing the point. You have to see the other trail user first, then ringing it is basically saying "move over." Much more rude than just a constant jingle that lets someone know there's a bike in the area. OTOH - I have noticed some riders use an external speaker with music to accomplish the same thing. I HATE that, but it's hard for me to explain why a jingling bell is better than annoying music - even if it's a song I like.

As for Timber Bell, if you read my posts, you can see that I did indeed write to customer service to tell them my opinion of their inferior product, and they have made it as right as they can by giving me replacements for free, and pushing them to design a better product. If I ever found another type of bell that I could turn off when I wanted to, I would buy it. In the meantime, my 5th Timber Bell will be arriving Monday. I have purchased two.

 

I think the Timber Bell is a fantastic idea just poor structural engineering. I wonder if the product was tested with real mountain bikers prior to going to market. If they want to stay in business they are doing you right by replacing and upgrading. I also wonder if they don’t realize that Mountain Bikers “TALK” to each other. Let’s face it word of mouth advertising is by far the best advertising. Or, it can be your downfall. I’m really glad they took care of you. After all, you’re herzalot!

 

in order to understand bells one should understand the Doppler affects on the sound spectrum. I will be learning this again if and when I get back on my bike and ride a popular trail. Trails with switch backs above you are best for this lesson, three or more preferred. The laws of physics will not be violated on my single trac rides.
Happy trails in the still calm of the twilight

 

My Chinese Timberbell knock off is actually louder than the real Timberbell. I will keep using it until it breaks and keep my new Timberbell as backup. Like Herz said ... the on/off switch is why I keep using the Timberbell (at least until something better comes along). I don't want an always on bell and I sure the hell am not going to use a thumb activated bell. $10 for a replacement is not bad (not sure how Chris gets them free, LOL).

That said, I still gave the bastards a one star review on Amazon.

 

I have this weird ability to be treated like an industry insider when it comes to sporting equipment. I'm not sure how. I can always manage moderate to steep discounts on gear, free demos, better than normal warranty service, etc. I'm not quite sure how - mostly I just ask, or utilize some networking.

Example - Free Intense Tracer demo for a week. Bike brought to my door. Then industry insider deal on a new Tracer a year later. Just from asking a guy about the "Intense" label on his button down shirt at a college fair. I started with, "Do you work for Intense? I always wanted to try a Tracer, but I can't get a demo in my size..." The rest just happened.

Example - Free Never Summer 30 day snowboard demo on an unreleased model. Board shipped to my front door. Return shipping paid. I'm a horrible snowboarder. All I did was ask about which board they would recommend for me.

Example - Knolly Ambassador and ambassador pricing, just because I PM'd a guy on STR (@dustybottoms) about trying a Knolly. He brought me a couple of bikes to try for free, then when I decided to buy one, it was steeply discounted and brought to my place of work - and I was made an "ambassador" which meant direct access and discounts.

I have a pair of 2022 Blizzard Bonafides coming to me for $299.

Not bragging, just mystified as to why this keeps happening, just by having a conversation or two and asking. It's not like I own a prestigious MTB forum!

So - thank you Chris from Timber Bell for treating me well. I hope this next version of the bell is functional and reliable.

 

So, how is this bell holding up?

 

It is working well so far. I ordered two of the small rubber rings when I got my replacement Timberbell, and those work much better for holding it in place than the one that came with it. It still moves around too much, especially when riding chunky stuff.

 

4 Timberbells here and all work but I only turn them on when I expect people or see them coming up on the trail.

 

I bought the bolt on Timber Bell. Too freakin' loud in the wide open setting.

 

I just ordered a Timber from Timber direct. Hoping to get the latest generation. We'll see.

 

I don't think they are in production on those yet. They said they would send me a prototype when ready, but sent me a current one in the meantime. I'll be curious which they send you.

 

I think that defeats the purpose!

But I get it. I didn't feel I ever needed to turn it on last Monday - no one around and I wasn't in the lead.