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6 best bicycle bells 2022 — make sure you're heard on the road

6 best bicycle bells 2022 — make sure you're heard on the road

Let people know you're there with a friendly 'ching!'
by John Stevenson
UPDATED Fri, Mar 04, 2022 08:10

First Published Feb 6, 2021

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Contents

A bicycle bell is the traditional way of letting other road and cycle path users know that you're there and it's doubly useful when there are lots of people on foot about. Bells may not be glamorous, but they're having a bit of a renaissance as accessory makers come up with bells that are more reliable and look and sound better.

You're not legally obliged to have a bicycle bell, but they can be a handy way to give a friendly warning of your approach. We favour a pleasant tone and the option to have the bell sound constantly

There's a huge range out there, from tiny, cheap pingers to spendy titanium units and even (allegedly) aerodynamic bells

Don't wait till you're almost on top of someone to sound your bell; startled pedestrians quite reasonably take umbrage

The 6 best bicycle bells you can buy in 2022

Best overall bell: Granite Cricket Bell — Buy Now for £16.95 from Triton Cycles

Granite Bell_1

The Granite Cricket Bell looks like a classic bicycle bell but has a handy cowbell feature so it can be set to ring continuously, and can be mounted to a range of bar sizes. It works flawlessly and is well priced. If you need to alert other folks on shared-use paths and the like of your presence, this is a solid option. Its versatility gets it our top spot.

Read our review of the Granite Cricket Bell
Find a Granite Designs dealer

Best posh bell: Spurcycle Original bell — Buy Now for £49.99 from SJS Cycles

Spurcycle Bell.jpg

Made in the US, the Spurcycle bell was successfully funded through Kickstarter. It’s an all-metal design with a metal strap fitting to any diameter handlebar and uses a brass dinger to create a sound that the manufacturer says is three times louder than a conventional bell.

We found the ring the ring to be really impressive, clearly cutting through external noise and resonating well after the hammer hits. It even managed to get the attention of people listening to headphones, which is something that doesn't happen too often with a regular bell. According to a sound meter phone app, the ring was consistently between 88-100 decibels, which is certainly enough to get people's attention.

Read our review of the Spurcycle bell
Find a Spurcycle dealer

Best for drop handlebars: Trigger Bell — Buy Now for £9.89 from Amazon

trigger_bell_-_drop_bar_2.jpg

The Trigger Bell is a small but very well-designed bell that works on a very broad range of handlebars, intended to allow you to work the bell without moving your hand from where it naturally sits to operate the brakes and gears. Effective and good value, it sets a high bar for other bells to reach.

Read our review of the Trigger Bell

Best space-saving bell: Acor Headset Spacer Bell — Buy Now for £9.53 from Amazon

Acor Headset Spacer Bell

If you don’t have space on your handlebar to fit a bicycle bell, this clever Acor Headset Spacer Bell could be the perfect solution. It simply replaces a 10mm spacer above or below your stem and will fit a 1 1/8in steerer tube.

Best aero bell: MKS Aero Bell — Buy Now for £15.69 (plus fees) from eBay

MKS aero bell.jpg

Got an aero bike and don’t want to fit a bicycle bell because it might generate unwanted drag? Here’s the MKS Aero Bell which has an aero shape. It has a simple aluminium body with a plastic ratchet strap to fit the handlebars.

Online this model currently only seems to be available from US vendors on eBay, so you may have to pay hefty delivery and customs fees if you want to make it your own. A titanium version costing £43.21 is also available, but it'll ship from Japan so, again, freight adds a big whack. Still, titanium!

Read our review of the MKS Aero Bell
Find an MKS dealer

Best money-no-object bling bell: Van Nicholas Bell Titanium — Buy Now for £78.00 from Van Nicholas

van nicholas bell.png

If you want to add a bit of titanium bling to your bike look no further than the Van Nicholas titanium bell. It would go well with a matching Van Nicholas bicycle but we reckon it’ll look good on most bicycles. It’s available in 22.2 and 31.8mm diameters.

Find a Van Nicholas dealer

Honourable mentions

Timber! Bell — Buy Now for £24.50 from Bikemonger

Timber quick-release bell.PNG

The Timber! Mountain Bike Trail Bell, to give it it's full name, makes a pleasant chiming noise all the time. It's designed for mountain biking to alert other trail users, but we've found the Timber! useful for adventure and cyclocross rides, round-town where there are lots of pedestrians, and on shared-use paths. It’s unique in that it can be switched off to keep it silent, or “unlocked” via a plastic lever on the top to allow a steel ball to ding in the cowbell-inspired cup. When it’s unlocked the ball will move freely provided you’re riding over rough ground, or if you give the handlebar a shake.

Crane E-NE Bell — Buy Now for £22.06 from Amazon

crane_e_ne_bell.jpg

This elegant bicycle bell is compact and available in a choice of colours, including matte black, polished brass or silver. It uses a vinyl coated stainless steel band to secure it to any handlebar between 22 and 31.8mm diameter. Crane bells come from Japan and are renowned for their musical tone and sustain.

Lezyne Classic Brass Bell — Buy Now for £12 from Chain Reaction Cycles

Lezyne Classic Brass Bell 2.jpg

Bike bells no longer need to be the size of a wagon wheel to be effective, like something you'd see on a Raleigh Chopper, and they don't need to break the bank either. This Lezyne bell is a case in point. It is a simple design that works well – a base with two hooks for a rubber band to hold it to the bar, and a spring attached to the hammer that, when flicked, hits the dome to ding – and comes in at a decent price.

Read our review of the Lezyne Classic Brass Bell
Find a Lezyne dealer

Upgrade Mini Bell — Buy Now for £10.00 from Upgrade Bikes

upgrade bell.jpg

Not requiring any tools for installation and not hogging any valuable handlebar space, this bicycle bell uses an adjustable clamp that can be secured onto a gear or brake cable, providing a wide range of fitting positions.

Bobbin Bell — Buy Now starting at £9.00 from Bobbin Bikes

bobbin-bicycles-small-brass-ding-dong-bell-gold-EV263672-1500-1.jpg

Usually sold with Bobbin Bicycles but available to buy separately, this is a classically-styled bell that will suit any vintage town bike. It uses a conventional ring paddle and sounds like a traditional bicycle bell should.

Find a Bobbin dealer

Palomar Nello — Buy Now for £6.99 from eBay

nello.jpg

Created by a Milan-based designer, the Nello is a magnetic bicycle bell that is apparently capable of emitting 90 decibels of sound with every ring. It’s a pretty little thing and fixes to the handlebars using a magnet and plastic bracket, so it’s easily removed. Unlike most bicycle bells, this one is powered by batteries and there’s no manual dinger, instead, you simply tap the top of the bell.

BBB Easyfit Bell — Buy Now for £6.09 from Bikester

bbb bell.png

If you want a simple and cheap bell, the BBB EasyFit Bell doesn’t require any tools for installation. Instead, you get a selection of rubber bands to wrap around any size handlebar. At around a fiver it’s one of the most affordable bicycle bells in this roundup. It comes in a choice of colours to match your bike.

Find a BBB dealer

Things to know about bicycle bells

“Where's your bell?!” It’s a line you’ve probably heard many times, usually after you’ve shouted a cheery hello. But do cyclists have to have bells? In the UK a bike has to be sold with a bell fitted, but there’s no legal obligation to keep it on your new bike once you get it home from the shop. Other jurisdictions have different rules. In New South Wales, Australia, under its legal principle of Treat Cyclists As Vermin So They Stop Riding, you can be fined AU$106 (£57) for not having a bell.

The Highway Code only recommends a bicycle bell be fitted. “Be considerate of other road users, particularly blind and partially sighted pedestrians. Let them know you are there when necessary, for example, by ringing your bell if you have one. It is recommended that a bell be fitted.”

Bicycle bells can be a sensible addition to your bike though, whether cycling along shared-used paths or quiet country lanes with horse riders and dog walkers that might not hear a cyclist approaching.

If you do want to fit a bicycle bell, there are now many choices on the market as plenty of bike brands have responded to the challenge of designing a compact and stylish bell that is highly audible. 

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Road.cc buyer's guides are maintained and updated by John Stevenson. Email John with comments, corrections or queries.

Bells
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John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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