Help!!! Bell screw size?

[Jook]

Hello! First post, long time lurker learning from the forum.   On a ride recently my bell lever fell off.  I found the lever but not thuscrew that secures it.   Could someone identify the screw size so I can purchase one at the hardware store?


Thank you!

[Jook]

Fyi I emailed Rad and they didn't know the screw size because the bell unit is recieved by them as a complete part...

[JimInPT]

Below are two pics of the bell on my 2021 MiniST2 (one of two bells and an electric horn so the loud can match the circumstances), which also has a locknut on the bottom to keep it from working loose.  Before I go too far down this rabbit hole, disassembling mine, can you tell if yours uses the same bell?  I'm not sure I have a metric thread gauge, but if it's the same as yours it's worth finding out.

[handlebar]

These are photos of my Radrunner 1. They seem the same as Jim's.

The nut holds the bolt that's the pivot for the brake lever. The casting keeps the bolt head from turning. The head of the bolt is tapped for the bell pivot screw.

I looked up "bicycle bell" at Amazon. Lots of polite little bells, but I'm in love with the extremely rude squeeze bulb horns. Maybe I can finally get the neighbor's dog to bark.

https://amzn.to/3PvGxYp

[JimInPT]

These are photos of my Radrunner 1. They seem the same as Jim's.

The nut holds the bolt that's the pivot for the brake lever. The casting keeps the bolt head from turning. The head of the bolt is tapped for the bell pivot screw.

In your last photo, is the smaller bolt on the left, with the long shoulder (pivot for the bell handle?) the one shown in my first photo that is probably the one that went missing?  If so, that might not be an easy replacement to find locally, but I'm not sure having never had to go to my hardware store for a shoulder screw like that.

It looks similar to these on Amazon ( https://amzn.to/3pgsxXY ), but the shoulder in your photo seems much longer.  If the OP replies with the same bell assembly, I'll see if I can get a measurement on the thread pitch.

Edit: I think this looks closer to yours: https://amzn.to/3NKQobE

[handlebar]

I should have measured, but my caliper is on the blink. A couple of weeks ago the OFF button quit working. Now the ZERO and UNITS buttons are intermittent. I'll take it apart and see of contact cleaner fixes it.

When I saw that screw with the long shoulder and tiny threads, I figured I'd just get a new bell if I were the OP. With the spring in place, it was hard to get the lever lined up for the screw. I'll try to fix my caliper and take the screw back out. If I don't get it back in, who cares? I want a horn!

(Did Clarabelle on Howdy Doody turn out to be Captain Kangaroo, master of disguise?)

[JimInPT]

I should have measured, but my caliper is on the blink. A couple of weeks ago the OFF button quit working. Now the ZERO and UNITS buttons are intermittent. I'll take it apart and see of contact cleaner fixes it.

When I saw that screw with the long shoulder and tiny threads, I figured I'd just get a new bell if I were the OP. With the spring in place, it was hard to get the lever lined up for the screw. I'll try to fix my caliper and take the screw back out. If I don't get it back in, who cares? I want a horn!

(Did Clarabelle on Howdy Doody turn out to be Captain Kangaroo, master of disguise?)

Are you saying if I pull that little screw that the spring tension in the assembly makes it very difficult to reinstall?  Makes me a tad reluctant to mess with it, if so.

Here's one of many metric-thread charts to determine size, if you still have that little shoulder screw out and can get your calipers going:  https://www.maritimeherald.com/screw-sizes/


And yes, Clarabelle was the drag version of The Captain.  Like Superman and Clark Kent, there are no photos of them together, thus proving my case.   I watched the latter, Mr. Moose and Mr. Green Jeans religiously every morning well into my 40's.  Sheriff John, too; who once sent me TV greetings on my birthday - yay!

[handlebar]

It's M3. I don't know if the pitch is 0.5 or 0.35. The threaded section is 4.24mm long. The shoulder diameter is 4.0mm and it's 8mm long.

This looks close if the pitch is right.
https://amzn.to/3pjOTaZ

The shoulder is 2mm too long, but if the bell won't work that way, washers could fix it. The threads are 2mm too long, but maybe the hole is deep enough. If not, it needs to be ground and filed. I'll bet Amazon sells universal files what will work on SAE or metric threads. 

The lever is non ferric, but the OP knows where he found it, and a magnet would pick up the screw and spring. Here's a plan. Hire a roofer to reroof your house even if it doesn't need it. While he's on the roof, tie his magnetic nail sweeper to your bike and take off. If he's not a good sport, he'll call the cops. You should be able to outrun them on PAS 5, but it's illegal to speed to elude arrest without an adequate warning device. This should satisfy the judge, especially if you appear in your Clarabell costume.

https://amzn.to/3NM2ReZ

[JimInPT]

It's M3. I don't know if the pitch is 0.5 or 0.35. The threaded section is 4.24mm long. The shoulder diameter is 4.0mm and it's 8mm long.

This looks close if the pitch is right.
https://amzn.to/3pjOTaZ

You're a good, and devious, man Handlebar - thanks for piling in to save me some work.  I wonder when the OP will wander back over to benefit from it?
Remember Maynard G. Krebs?   "Work ??"  I think he and Clarabelle used to fill their flasks, light up and look for a game of craps after work.

[handlebar]

You're a good, and devious, man Handlebar - thanks for piling in to save me some work.  I wonder when the OP will wander back over to benefit from it?
Remember Maynard G. Krebs?   "Work ??"  I think he and Clarabelle used to fill their flasks, light up and look for a game of craps after work.

I liked Krebs but for some reason I usually wasn't available when "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" was on.

This is my idea of a work saver:
https://amzn.to/3Js5vnx

If the OP lost the screw he probably lost the spring, and they must be near where he found the lever. Finding a lost piece saves the trouble of trying to order and fabricate a substitute. In the 1980s I put a 4-pound magnet, 6" wide, on a stick. It has often saved me, but waving it around to search 100 square feet is slow and inexact.

When I had a roof installed, one of the crew went over the ground with a device like this. It was so fast that I was sure I could find lots of nails he'd missed if I took my time with my magnet. I found only one. I guess I'm in the market for a wheeled sweeper like this.

[JimInPT]

When I had a roof installed, one of the crew went over the ground with a device like this. It was so fast that I was sure I could find lots of nails he'd missed if I took my time with my magnet. I found only one. I guess I'm in the market for a wheeled sweeper like this.

When the exterior construction was essentially finished on a house I built 25 years ago, I used a wheeled magnetic sweeper to pick up all the nails and other junk left from the burn piles we used to dispose of the bits and pieces we couldn't find any reuse for.  We'd burn off a pile when it got too big and you can imagine the many hundreds of nails, pieces of joist hangers etc. left in the ashes - we treated it like a minefield no-mans-land to avoid losing body parts to hidden sharps.  When it came time to start leveling out and seeding the lawn, that sweeper cleaned it up nicely.

Not something used often, so I rented it, but very fit for purpose.

[handlebar]

And yes, Clarabelle was the drag version of The Captain.  Like Superman and Clark Kent, there are no photos of them together, thus proving my case.   I watched the latter, Mr. Moose and Mr. Green Jeans religiously every morning well into my 40's.  Sheriff John, too; who once sent me TV greetings on my birthday - yay!

He should have worn his Clarabell suit when he told children with a straight face, "Schwinn bikes, the quality bikes, are the best!"

By 1932, Schwinn was a dime-store brand that was pretty dominant through restriction of trade. That year, the factory retooled because the president had discovered a way to make bicycles out of cheaper steel. As long as they were styled like motorcycles, parents would buy them.

In 1958, Captain Kangaroo began peddling them. (If he pedaled them, I'm sure he didn't get far. Nobody could pedal a Schwinn far.) He increased Schwinn's stranglehold on the American market. In 1971, the Federal Trade Commission said it was unscrupulous for a trusted host to hawk wares to gullible children. Captain Kangaroo responded by introducing his audience to his trusted friend, Mr. Schwinn Dealer.