Spot the difference: I refused to pay $60 for a bike bell, so I brought this $13 one, and you can barely tell

I would bet my hard-earned cash that most cyclists have seen a picture of a Spurcycle bell on Instagram at some time or another, and thought “oh, thats nice”, only to be met with a jaw-dropping realisation when they see the numbers 6 & 0 dollars.

I like cool things for my bike, and once I’d seen the Spurcycle bell, I wanted one. However, there was no way I could justify the cost, especially when $60 could get you a new tyre, chain, or even a cassette – something that could actually make my riding experience more enjoyable. So, I went looking for an alternative, and you can imagine my surprise when, a couple of years ago, I found this RockBros Vintage-style bell.

The purest will argue that the Spurcycle bell is handmade in the USA, and it is one of the best bike bells; there is no doubt of that. The RockBros is just a far eastern copy, but honestly, it’s a pretty good one, and it’s hard to see the difference. For a $47 saving, it’s worth the gamble. For $60, I could have purchased one for all my bikes.

I have had the RockBros Vintage Style Bell for a couple of years now, and as you can see from the picture, it is a little tarnished and has seen a few scrapes and ‘dings’, but it still functions perfectly.

It comes with two band lengths, which means it can be mounted near the stem like I have on a 31.8mm handlebar or further out at the 25.4mm end of the bar, mainly found for flat bar users.

I have never heard a Spurcycle bell, but I am told they are a little louder than the RockBros. However, I have never really had any issues with people hearing it. Early morning dog walkers with noise-cancelling headphones don’t listen to me shouting at the top of my lungs, so the decibels of my ding bell aren’t going to make much difference.

One negative is that it is a faff to fit, with lots of small parts, which, combined with my fat fingers, made it difficult to hold the bell together while tightening the Allen bolt. This makes it more of a ‘fit and forget’ bell rather than one you swap between bikes.