My good friends Dad who I ride with often gave me a road gremlin bell for my bike. Never knew about these until now, but I read about them and thought the idea is great.
Hes rode bikes since the late 60's (Had a few CB750s, a CBX and various other bikes) so not sure how many guys are still riding with a bell on but he said it was a popular thing when he was riding. Curious how many guys here have a bell on their bike.
And if you don't know about them like I did, heres a good article summing up the possible origins Why Motorcycles Have Bells: The History & The Legends – Motorcycle Habit
You're supposed to hang the bell as close to the road as you can, and my crash bar had a perfect spot for it.
'84 Honda Magna VF700 (Gone, but not forgotten)
'06 Yamaha VStar Classic 1100
'14 Honda CB1100 Std
Definitely seems to be an American thing. From the few legends in the link I posted in the first post, the WWII pilots coming back and using them makes the most sense to me.
Not saying other WWII pilots from other countries couldn't have done something very similar.
'84 Honda Magna VF700 (Gone, but not forgotten)
'06 Yamaha VStar Classic 1100
'14 Honda CB1100 Std
06-05-2025, 07:06 PM (This post was last modified: 06-05-2025, 07:07 PM by Gone in 60.)
I have bells on all three of my bikes, and have given them to friends who ride. The legend says that the juju only works if the bell is given to a rider as a gift.
The two bells on my Honda and Triumph are both inscribed with "Please ride safe, I need you home with me".
The one she gave me to christen the CB300R just reads "Don't F*@kin' Die". The sentiment there was appropriate, given the thought of a fully-grown American man riding a diminutive sub-30 horsepower bike on Southern California freeways. The bell is gold, to match the gold wheels that were on that bike. I transferred the bell to the Enfield, which has gold shocks, so it's still a good match, and as the theoretically least reliable bike in the fleet, possibly still an appropriate message.
(06-05-2025, 07:36 AM)MagnaRider Wrote: My good friends Dad who I ride with often gave me a road gremlin bell for my bike. Never knew about these until now, but I read about them and thought the idea is great.
Hes rode bikes since the late 60's (Had a few CB750s, a CBX and various other bikes) so not sure how many guys are still riding with a bell on but he said it was a popular thing when he was riding. Curious how many guys here have a bell on their bike.
And if you don't know about them like I did, heres a good article summing up the possible origins Why Motorcycles Have Bells: The History & The Legends – Motorcycle Habit
You're supposed to hang the bell as close to the road as you can, and my crash bar had a perfect spot for it.
