I just strapped a couple of small PDW gizmos onto my bike, and I’m already pretty psyched with how well each works.
First, is the all-new Bingo Headset Spacer, a little problem solver that made it possible to securely strap a bottle bag onto a bike that had been a bit tricky before. Then, the Heads Up! Trail Bell was meant to smooth social interactions on mixed-use trails. But for me, it’s calming nerves and boosting safety after recently spotting wolves on trails just minutes out of our backyard.
Both are simple, no-nonsense solutions to real issues I was experiencing. And at less than thirty bucks a piece, both are super affordable. What more could I want?
Portland Design Works: Home of Bike Accessory Basics and Fun Little Surprises
In my mind, Portland Design Works, aka PDW, is two very different things at once. First, they are a company sneaking little playful details onto functional parts of your bike – like donuts, pizza, or tacos on bar tape; bottle cages shaped like cute animals; or even little smiley faces to cover up extra bottle bosses. And I’ve got a bit of those to spice up my next bike build, too.
But at the same time, they are also somewhere you can pick up solid, reasonably-priced functional accessories. Things like lights, fenders & racks. No-nonsense stuff. That’s mostly where both the Bingo and Heads Up! fall, although each is just quirky enough to make them unique.
On a side note, PDW is also a member of 1% For The Planet, meaning they support plenty of good causes that are making the world a better place to ride bikes. And they happen to have the best plastic-free packing tape, I’ve seen on a box of cycling gear in a very long time.
OK, now to the gadgets.
Review: PDW Bingo Headset Spacer is perfect for strapping on
First, the Bingo Headset Spacer launched just a month ago. I was going to share the news once I had tried it myself, but Ron also thought it was a cool idea, so shared the full details in case any of you wanted to buy one as a Christmas present for some fellow bike geeks.
All it is, is a 5mm tall CNC-machined 1 1/8″ aluminum headset spacer with two 20mm wide slots on either side. It weighs just 6g, and comes with two velcro straps that are another 2g each, for $25. Designed in Portland with Bingo Components and then made in Taiwan to keep costs low, it just adds a secure strapping point above or below your stem. The idea was simply to create a solid attachment point for small cockpit bags that would normally require running a strap around your stem
Why does it matter?
Like Ron mentioned, it’s great for any bike with a really short stem or a stem that’s not easy to loop a strap around. My old Canyon fatbike has a pre-internal routing Syncros Hixon iC SL one-piece bar+stem combo that I love for its nice ergonomic shape, light weight, and excellent vibration-damping characteristics. But not only does it not have an actual stem to wrap a strap around, its non-round shape near the steerer meant that any bag that I tried to attach only to the bar, just ended up rotating down to a weird, inconvenient angle.
And how well does it work?
But with the PDW Bingo spacer, I could angle it back a bit (to something like 8 o’clock, relative to the steerer) to perfectly align it with the angled edge of the ‘stem’. And now I have secure attachment of my PDW Swigamajig bottle bag on the bar, on the top of the ‘stem’, and a third strap that loops around the steerer under the stem to secure my long Apidura Backcountry Top Tube Pack. And no need for any strap down to the fork crown for stability.
Strapping it on tight was a little tricky since you need to pull the grippy double-sided velcro through both a webbing loop on your bag and the few mm thickness of the Bingo spacer. But I coiled one end of the strap up for a smooth transition between the two, and used a folded piece tape to keep the velcro from sticking to itself until I cinched it tight.
Parting thoughts combining the PDW Bingo Headset Spacer & Swigamajig
At first, I wasn’t so sure about the open bottom of the $30 Swigamajig, with its lower velcro strap for bottle ride height adjustability, as I tend to also use bottle bags to carry things like snacks and clothing spares on occasion. But my fat bike already has a 1.8L toptube bag that has room for the dry pair of gloves, extra cap, and shell jacket that I usually keep as backup gear for really cold winter rides. So I figured this 51g Swigamajig could be reserved for drinks. The 100% recycled EcoPak fabric bag maxes out for an 8cm diameter – not quite 1L Nalgene, but plenty for cans up to bike bottles that are usually around 7.5cm.
I’ve taken to dropping the 340ml stainless Rapha Black+Blum insulated coffee cup in. And even as slippery as it is, it’s held in place, even with several fun high-side crashes into deep snow banks. Plus, a lot of times, simply toppling over in soft, unexpectedly deep snow drifts.
So, I’m totally satisfied.
Review: The gentle jingle of a PDW Heads Up! Trail Bell
Now about that $28 brass handlebar bell. PDW says they made it for mixed-use trails, so hikers would hear you coming and not get spooked. We don’t really have any human trail conflicts in my neck of the woods. Instead, we have wolves.
I knew they were here when we moved to the mountains on the CZ/PL border a few years ago. But it was only this winter that we actually first spotted one on the trail while riding with our dog (a large mixed-breed trail dog that’s literally half a breed created by mixing German shepherds with wild gray wolves in the 1960s & 70s). That quick and uneventful recent encounter was just a mile as the crow flies (as the wolf roams?) from our house, which isn’t all that remote. And we soon learned that the neighborhood wolf pack is likely larger than we had initially thought.
Now the going recommendation from local forest & wildlife managers is to make yourself known, especially when out with pets. So yeah, bells on dog, bells on bikes, and some extra obedience training to be sure.
And this little 46g bell fits the bill for my bike side.
How does it work?
The Heads Up! Trail Bell has a bent steel clamp backed with a rubberized strap inside, held in place with a simple rubber O-ring. PDW designed the bell to fit over the 22mm section of your handlebar next to the grips. It does need quite a bit of space to keep it vertical for best function. I found it a bit tricky to position behind the latest brake levers from both SRAM & Shimano, whose master cylinders and brake hoses have trended closer to the bar. But with a little bending of the clamp, in the end I managed to fit the bell onto every bike I tried.
This is a simple brass bell with a steel ball clapper floating around inside.
Magnets inside the end of this flappy strap turn the bell on or off. Flip the strap down and it keeps the clapper from bouncing around inside the bell for silent running. It’s not a crazy strong magnet, but stayed in place – and quiet – even riding over quite rough trails. Only my crashes into snowy trees or snow banks seemed to disconnect the magnet, reactivating the bell.
Parting thoughts on riding with a PDW Heads Up! Trail Bell
You can also flip the flap up where it will stick to the clamp where the PDW logo is if you want to be sure that it keeps ringing. But so far, I haven’t needed to do so in my regular trail riding. I’m more likely to keep it easy to silence the bell quickly, if I want to distinguish my bell’s jingle from the one on my dog’s harness.
Once you figure out where you want it or don’t, the bell is super easy to take off the bike and transfer to another bike. Its soft, tinkly jingle is inoffensive, yet easy for other trail users – and hopefully wolves – to hear.
I’m happy to have it as a regular part of any ride I go on with my dog, especially those nearer dawn or dusk. A little jingle is a small price to pay for the added sense of peace when riding in the same mountains as wild predators.
Ding, ding!
