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Another Designey Bicycle Bell: The Plyke

By Rain Noe - July 28, 2022

in Bikes

This is the Plyke, an aluminum bicycle bell created by Estonian student Mihkel Annus and photojournalist Martin Pedaja.

It sounds like this:

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The duo says that bike bells typically contain unseen plastic parts, and they claim (without attribution) that "100,000kg of plastic end up in the oceans every year because of bicycle bells." I would love to see where they got that stat.

They also say that "the material carbon footprint of a Plyke bell is 97% less than a bicycle bell with plastic." I dunno though, I'm looking at the shape of this thing, and I assume it's got to be CNC milled or waterjet cut out of a billet. Obviously aluminum can be recycled, but I'm not sure how efficient this is as a production object.

In any case, the €25 ($26) Plyke has been successfully Kickstarted, with 7 days left to pledge at press time.

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John Kiernan-Lewis

2 years ago

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Looking at the profile, I'm guessing they're going to extrude that form then CNC post-process. So it might be a bit more efficient than CNC/water-jet alone.

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Christopher Geis

2 years ago

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Hmm. I'd have assumed mass production of these would be done by cutting pieces off an extruded aluminum profile.

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J C

2 years ago

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A nice design let down by the choice of fixings! A countersunk fixing into a non-countersunk hole and surely you want a nyloc nut with all the vibrations?

I would want to mount it the opposite way round to the video so you can push it with your thumb not pull it.

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Hans Marvell

2 years ago

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They should avoid making unsubstantiated claims about CO2 savings and plastic waste - They have a greta design that actually solves another pet peeve with bicycle bells - they often rust. I have have a whole variety of bells on my bikes here in Copenhagen over the past 23 years and nearly all fail at some time due to brackets or bells failing due to rust. Yes, some bicycle bells do have plastic components, but it is certainly not the majority. The sleek flat profile of this design which is also open to the elements means its easy to clean and really maintanence free. Aluminium is not really suited for making a nice loud "RiNG" or "DING" so most good bells are steel, but in this form factor it seems to work. I would love to test it in real life though. You really need a loud and obnoxious bell on the bike paths in Copenhagen to get any reaction. And those electric bike horns need to die, they are useless and definately not environmentally friendly. I hope they have success with this bell design and that they just focus on it being a great form factor. My only concern is if the aluminium will maintail its spring effect over longer time. Good luck from me.

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steve hassler

2 years ago

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why the square shape of the handlebar clamp? nothing worse than a bike bell that moves around.

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