Knog Oi Luxe Bell Brass

Knog has brought out a new posher version of its unique Oi bicycle bell. The original was launched via Kickstarter and I was one of the backers, buying two (my first Kickstarter purchase, in fact). The new model keeps the same form factor as the original, but replaces the plastic mount and dinger with some nice metalwork. The tone, when you ring it, is similarly charming: a semi-tone higher and with long sustain. If you ride somewhere in traffic or with other background noise, it's still not really as loud as you'd want.

• Pros: Super-discreet on the handlebar, looks cool, nice long tone
• Cons: Not any louder than the original, expensive

Most bikes sold in the UK come with a cheap domed dinger bell fitted. Here's the bad news – spending £35 gets you a bell that offers no real functional improvement over the one that you got free with your bike. But the new Knog Oi does looks great, and it fits more easily on a handlebar alongside a GPS unit and a light than any conventionally designed alternative.

> Find your nearest dealer here

I still have the original Knog Oi on one of my bikes. It is very pleasingly unobtrusive and easy to fit on the bar, plus it makes a lovely sound. But it is too quiet to be of much use in the majority of situations when I might need a bell. If you are pottering along the towpath then you can leave it until you are close to pedestrians before ringing the bell, and then there's a good chance they'll hear you. If you are going quicker and hence need to alert people when you are further away, or you're approaching a group that is deep in conversation, the volume available is really not sufficient. In an urban environment among traffic, it rarely gets people's attention.

If, like me, you paid cash money for the first Oi bell then you can get an exclusive 25 per cent discount on the new Oi Luxe via a code available by logging into Kickstarter and visiting this page, although by the time you factor in shipping this might not save you that much compared with buying from your local retailer.

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The Luxe version costs more than twice what the original "Classic" version is now selling for, positioning it – as the name suggests – at the upper end of the bell [careful! - road.cc public decency editor] market. Construction is quite different to the original design, which was all plastic except for the metal resonating bar.

Now the clamp mechanism that attaches it to the bar is made of nicely finished cast metal, and the dinger is formed from wire and machined brass, with a similar mechanism to that seen on the Spurcycle. There is an inner layer which fits around the handlebar, made – unusually – from what Knog describes as vegan leather. With neat stitching, it's a primo nod to a leather watchstrap, and does a decent job of gripping the bar without creating scratching. Would a rubber shim do the job just as well? Of course, but so would that free bell that came with your bike, remember?

Ringing the Classic and the Luxe side by side, I struggled to detect any consistent increase in volume thanks to the new metal dinger. The pitch of the Luxe is a semi-tone higher, and it does make a very pleasant and lengthy ding. Which is all well and good, but it is still just not loud enough.

In fairness, when George tested the original Classic bell, he found that even in central London it was loud enough to attract people's attention. It does depend on what your expectations are, and my primary need is to be able to alert people while still a way off, giving them time to react before I'm upon them.

The comparison with Spurcycle is a key one here. It's also – in many people's view – a ludicrous amount to spend on a bell (even more than the Oi Luxe), also beautifully made but significantly louder than this bell. If I was going to buy a primo bell, loudness would be an absolute requirement, and that's my only real reservation with the Oi Luxe.

Some other notes: the cast back half of the bell has recesses to accommodate cables. This works if your cables exit the bar tape in the right place, but it will also depend on bar shape. On my flattened bar, the bell needs to be installed close to the stem where the bar is still round, and that made it impossible to route the cables through it.

One of the annoyances of the original Classic version was that the screw and the spring rusted over time. Here, the hardware is stainless steel so that shouldn't be a problem. The Luxe is available in suitably luxurious gold, as well as silver and a stealthy all-black to suit your bike.

In terms of competition, I've mentioned the Spurcycle quite a bit, but at £45-50 it is priced higher than the Knog. The Crane E-NE has a pronounced resemblance to the Spurcycle, but at a lower price. There are no bells on the market that look anything like the Knog Oi range, though.

Verdict

Sleek and stylish bell with a unique shape – posher than the original Kickstarter model but no louder