Canyon Ring Bar End Bell

The Canyon Ring Bar End Bell differs from almost every other bicycle bell in that it fits in the end of a dropped handlebar rather than clamping onto the outside by the stem. Its light weight and position make it beautifully inconspicuous, but its distance from other controls could make it inconvenient for some, and price with p&p is a little teeth sucking. Lovely ting to it, though.

Fitting the Canyon Ring is a two-minute tool-free job, tops: pop out a bar-end plug, left or right, it doesn't matter*, insert the Ring into the hole and rotate the brass alloy body clockwise to tighten an expanding wedge into the inside of the bar. Bosh. You'll need a bit of handlebar tape folded into the bar to help it stick. (*Unless you have a Di2 E-Tube junction box on the right bar end, or a mirror, blinky light or streamers.)

Canyon says the bell emits 85 decibels, which, referring to the noise chart, means it's usefully louder than busy traffic and about as loud as a screaming child, so wherever you are it should get the attention of other people.

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The ring from the brass alloy body is high pitched and light hearted, like an angel gaining its wings, and it's easily audible from a distance so it's simple to let walkers and suchlike be aware of your incoming presence from a way away. The tone of the bell feels like a polite warning rather than a threatening get-out-of-my-way and it always got a smile in return.

Thankfully, it doesn't rattle or tinkle annoyingly when riding over bumpy tarmac or rough tracks if you're on your drop-barred off-road machine, although in the latter case it can catch on overgrown undergrowth when you're speeding through and ping intermittently, which is actually kind of cute. Sometimes you need to let rabbits know you're coming.

The wire mechanism for pinging the bell sits hidden under your drop and doesn't get in the way during normal riding, but there's definitely a knack to using the Ring.

Because of its position, it's easy to rest a bit of your palm on the body of the bell, thereby deadening any ping to a dull inaudible thok, and the lever needs a positive flick to get it to rebound into the bell with enough force to elicit a good ding, but these are easy issues to overcome with thought and practice. The wire lever can be rotated into a different position rather than straight down, which might help with your flicking ergonomics.

On a drop bar there's nowhere you can put a bell that's always going to be in exactly the right place for where your hands are, so wherever you mount one is going to be a compromise. The end of a handlebar works for me, mainly because it looks unobtrusive and doesn't get in the way of anything else – it can get busy with things mounted up near the stem, which is the most common place to shove a bell on a drop bar.

That said, the Ring sits a long way from the tops of the bar and even the hoods, which is where a lot of people spend a large percentage of their bar time. Seeing something worth warning up ahead and ringing the bell and braking to a polite passing speed at the same time takes coordination, and the reach down to the end of the drops from handy controls could be a stretch too far for some.

Bell ends

I'm not pro bell, I'm not anti bell, but I am definitely anti being told I should have a bell on my bike, especially by a walker I've slowed down for. Feel free to fill the comments with your views on bells on bikes as opposed to any thoughts you may have on the Canyon bell in particular.

I used to run a bell on my bike and slow down and ring it and people would jump out their skins claiming it shocked them, or they'd totally ignore it, so I took it off. Now I slow down and say a polite, friendly and personable 'Hello' or some such, often several times, in a variety of 'Hiyas' and 'Mornings' and people tend to either smile, totally ignore me or complain that I haven't got a bell. I've come to the conclusion that whatever you do as a cyclist, some people are just going to hate you and are quite often happy to make a point of it, and I don't let them ruin my day.

The Canyon Ring does a very good job as a bell, its ring is high pitched for easy audibility but it's also cheerful enough not to alarm anyone. It helps if it's backed up with a nice 'Hello' to show you're a human being as well, I think. I never had anyone leap sideways in fright when I used it.

At £20 it's expensive for a bell; add the Canyon standard shipping charge of £10 and it elevates it into something quite expensive indeed for what it is. Canyon is an online-only retailer so you won't be able to walk into a shop made out of bricks and avoid that extra. If you're keen on one, perhaps try to find a friend or two who are also desirous and bulk buy – that will ease the sting of postage.

Compared with other bells that also don't spoil the beautiful lines of your road bike, it's still cheaper than the Knog Oi Luxe Bell Brass at £34.99, though the non-Luxe Classic is £16.99. They do a similarly discreet job but up near the stem, which makes ringing them a bit easier, though both suffer from not being terribly loud.

Both the Lezyne Classic Shallow Brass Bell and Lezyne Classic Brass Bell are a fraction of the price but fit by the stem, and the former takes up quite a lot of space, even if it does look quite classy and sound nice.

The Canyon Ring bell wins a lot of points for being different and mounted in the end of a drop bar; the only other example could be the Incredibell Bar-End Bell, if you can find it to buy anywhere, so the Canyon bell could be unique. It also does very well in being light, unobtrusive and having a really lovely tone to the ring that's just loud enough without being aggressive. The downsides are that it's a bit of money for what it is, especially when you include postage, and what makes it special in its bar end position might make it out of each for some people.

Verdict

Lovely little thing that sits quietly out the way until you want it to make some noise, but that position might be awkward for some