Why do bike bells stop working when they get wet?

[Levo-Lon]

Move to sunny Englandshire...
Never rains here..honest

 

[Drago]

Is t it something to do with the raindrops acting as a damper, preventing the bell from resonating? Or am I just and old fool who should go back to chewing his gums?

 

[mudsticks]

I've not noticed that Pat..
Maybe I cycle so fast the raindrops never touch me.

But I've always had a yearning for one of those squeezy rubber ball, and horn arrangements..

Like in the cartoons.

Did they ever really exist???
if so I might have to hunt one down.

 

[DCBassman]

Is t it something to do with the raindrops acting as a damper, preventing the bell from resonating? Or am I just and old fool who should go back to chewing his gums?

Exactly that! Acting as a damper, I mean...

 

[Venod]

Another good reason for not having a bell, my voice voice still works in the rain.

 

[MikeG]

......But I've always had a yearning for one of those squeezy rubber ball, and horn arrangements..Like in the cartoons.Did they ever really exist???.......

Yes, I've got one, and it works really well. It's loud. Do you want it?

 

[mudsticks]

Don't you use it??

I might get a perverse pleasure out honking down that group of pedestrians who meander along the shared cycleway, elbow to elbow, as if they're still waiting for the bicycle to be invented

 

[MikeG]

Don't you use it??......

No, it sits unused in my spares box.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Is t it something to do with the raindrops acting as a damper, preventing the bell from resonating? Or am I just and old fool who should go back to chewing his gums?

Are those two questions mutually exclusive?

 

[mjr]

Water dulls the ringing but the first ring shakes it off a good bell like my old English bring or lion clone temple bell. Just ring twice. I'm not sure if the widespread little pingers hit hard enough to shake the water off.

 

[mudsticks]

No, it sits unused in my spares box.

Cool.. Well if yr serious I'll pm you my address, and you might send it

In exchange for a donation to a charity of your choice* perhaps??

Just so long as it's not "The Donkey Sanctuary" ... We all have lines we won't cross .

 

[mudsticks]

Water dulls the ringing but the first ring shakes it off a good bell like my old English bring or lion clone temple bell. Just ring twice. I'm not sure if the widespread little pingers hit hard enough to shake the water off.

So a preemptive tw*ttING

To clear the moisture, before the main event.

Is that what you're suggesting ?

 

[classic33]

I'm surprised manufacturers dont combine a bell into a helmet.

Never heard of Bell helmets?

 

[MossCommuter]

All of the ones I tried, sorry I can't be more specific.
The latest one is my extravagant purchase (£10 for a bike bell???) a CatEye brass (don't know if real or fake brass) that is already fit for the recycling heap.


Thank you, great answer!
Will look into Knog Oi bells!


I do live in Scotland: very, very wet!

Knog Oi! bells rock but beware of the springer dinger thing; I have ruined two by getting gloves, mitts, other clothes caught in it and stretching or bending it

 

[DCBassman]

I have a Knog Oi knock-off in my spares box somewhere. Didn't know that when I got it. Utterly pathetic...