For whom... the bell... tolls-aahhh

I'd like to take a moment of silence to observe the passing of my first bike bell.

I purchased it brand new from Bicycles South (R.I.P.) back when I was doing solo single speed so many hours around things sometime in the early mid-'00s.  Back then, I only ran the bell on my bike when racing, mostly because it was a clodgy looking hunk of plastic and metal.  Also, most of our local trails weren't as crowded as they sometimes are now.

It was the Incredibell Brass Duet Bell from Mirrycle (made in Japan), seen here in all its resplendent, non-broken glory.

Being that it was only a part-timer bell and purchased over a decade ago, I can't say whether or not I got my $12.00 out of it.  Once I got my Spurcycle Bell(s), the Brass Duet was moved over to the Misfit Meatplow V.5 for general tooling about town, trail, and greenways on a full time basis.

The details of its demise are somewhat of a mystery.  All I know is that on Black Metal Friday, I went to pull the lever and... nothing.  Once I got home, I tore into it to see if it would possibly be serviceable, but no.  The clapper had rotted/corroded/lost its will to live.

Or maybe it was sabotage.  Maybe.

Here's hoping that my much more expensive, made in the USA, full-time bells on my main mountain bike and my tarck bike have a lifetime that reflects the price that I paid for them... despite the fact that they never made the exact bell I wanted.

And for those that don't get the somewhat vague reference I made in the title of this blog, I give you Metallica, live in Mexico City back in 1993... before it was cool to say that they sucked.

When someone makes a cartoon about a Garfield you, let me know.