Loud horn !

[bccap]

Has anyone ever installed one of these ? Yesterday on the freeway, a car in the right lane slightly ahead of me, shoulder checked and then pulled into my lane narrowly missing my front wheel. I hit the horn and shook my fist. But the polite beep beep of my Suzuki horn was not truly expressing my feelings. I think this one might.
http://www.aerostich.com/ear-cannon-air-horn.html

 

[Steve]

Don't have one on any of my bikes, but I have seen some mounted before.

They are LOUD, and they are shrill.

Yes, they do get attention, but they won't push anyone back into their lane.

.

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Ear cannon is a serious name.

So... It's even louder than FIAMM's freeway blaster? I guess you could try it out.

Post a video once it's installed!

 

[bccap]

I guess I was venting. I wouldn't install one on its own, without keeping the friendly Suzuki beep, to tell someone the light has changed. On the other hand, it would be nice to express my displeasure by scaring the living crap out of a thoughtless driver !!

 

[Roger P.]

Heavy, ugly, lousy mounting system, hard to install in a tidy manner and short lived. But they are loud.

The Fiamm Freeway Blasters are plenty loud as well. I have both types.

The air horn is taking up space in the trunk of my car. I might install it in my Focus.

On second thought, I have better things to do, like nothing...

Go to your local boneyard and get a couple of old car horns and a $3 relay and Bob's yer uncle.

On second thought, tally up the times you actually use your horn, and don't bother. I installed the originals on my GS1100 after cleaning and adjusting them, and they are actually pretty loud for stock horns. Like I said though, I maybe used them 3 times in 4 years of riding it, mostly to alert drivers that the light had changed.

 

[gearhead13]

I bought a set of horns from Z1, they look nice with chrome etc and they are quite loud compared to my stock horns

 

[Guest]

I've picked up a set from Canadian Tire, $25 a piece. I think the decibels are 115 if I remember right, farrrrrr louder than the 105 stock horns and they look almost stock, well fairly stock anyways. Cheap insurance and the cars sure hear those two sound off.

 

[Roger P.]

FWIW, you can get that air horn at Princess Auto for under $30. It's a Wolo Bad Boy in that incarnation.

 

[Motocrossx23]

This is my Stebel Nautilus air horn I put on my SV, $40 and super easy to install.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11XEPpZhQA0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[bccap]

Yeah after I looked around the Stebel seemed the best. According to other riders. Glad to see I'm not the only rider who wants to send a message.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Go to a junkyard and get some of the small Japanese car horns.
They will be plenty loud and more importantly the sound is synonymous with a small car or motorbike.

It is an audible clue as to tell the drive to guard against a small vehicle rather than ignore a very large trumpet horn.

A blast from too loud a horn will get a quick response and an equally quick dismissal of the noise as the driver notes there is no danger from a car.

Think of it as ignoring a horn after a cursory check and assuming the horn blast was a form of rude expression instead of a real danger warning.

Junkyard horns are dirt cheap. Do a relay to prevent harness damage and things will change.

 

[gs scott]

Go to your local boneyard and get a couple of old car horns and a $3 relay and Bob's yer uncle.

For someone like me - who is completely "electrically-challenged", is it preferrable to splice into the existing harness with the relay, or is that to get the stock horn button to work the horn for convenience? Could you just mount an old fashioned button (with a relay) on the handlebar?

 

[Roger P.]

(In the diagram, substitute the words Horn Button for Ignition Switch)


You take the leads from the stock horn and attach them to the relay contacts that actuate the relay itself (#85 and #86). Then you run a lead (with a fuse) from the + side of the battery to the normally open contact of the relay (#30), then run a feed wire from the other side of the normally open contact (87) to the + side of the horn. See the diagram below. Some bikes use the OEM handlebar switch to ground the circuit, others use the switch to send power to the horn. On my 1100, there were two wires, one + one -. On some bikes, there is only one wire to the horn, and it is grounded through the mounting bolt. If you have two wires to your horn, they go to contact 85 and 86 to actuate the relay. The horn power draw goes through contacts 30 and 87. If you use powerful horns with the stock switch you will burn the contacts with the heavy arc created by the high current. The relay is made to take the abuse.

 

[bakalorz]

Go to a junkyard and get some of the small Japanese car horns.
They will be plenty loud and more importantly the sound is synonymous with a small car or motorbike.

It is an audible clue as to tell the drive to guard against a small vehicle rather than ignore a very large trumpet horn.

A blast from too loud a horn will get a quick response and an equally quick dismissal of the noise as the driver notes there is no danger from a car.

Think of it as ignoring a horn after a cursory check and assuming the horn blast was a form of rude expression instead of a real danger warning.

Junkyard horns are dirt cheap. Do a relay to prevent harness damage and things will change.

I strongly disagree.

If they are going to dismiss the loud horn they will also dismiss the less loud one for sure.

The louder horn has two advantages:
It will cut through loud music, traffic noise, or a well insulated car better.

It has a psychological intimidating/startle effect.

I have direct experience with the effectiveness of these horns vs japanese car horns.
I have a wolo bad boy (the same horn as this thread) on my GS 650 motorcycle and my corolla. I also recently inherited my wifes camry when she got a minivan, it has the stock horn. The stock horn is ignored MUCH more often than the air-horn on the corolla, despite the corolla being a smaller car.

The air horn on the motorcycle is VERY effective.

If you pay attention you can often tell when a driver is considering a risky move, they make small precommitment motions (start drifting over or forward before a gap actually opens)
A blast on the horn usually makes them to reconsider.

And of course for the driver that just doesn't see you.

Will an airhorn magically clear a path for you ... of course not.

Will an airhorn increase your odds more than any other horn you can put on the bike ... I'm absolutely convinced by personal experience that: yes it will, sometimes dramatically .

 

[AJ]

Don't forget that weak stock horns can sometimes be brought back to life by twiddling the small adjustment screw. Just work slowly, running the horn while you adjust, or you risk going too far in one direction and halting oscillation. Not a catastrophe, as you can usually get it going again, but it's easier to do while running.

 

[pkbjamn]

I will agree with the posters who have installed and used the LOUD horn with success. I, too, have installed the above mentioned horn, albeit, on my Goldwing. The difference in the recipient's response is dramatic. As one of the posters stated, it cuts through the background noise and wakes them up. It is usually even enough to momentarily stop the idiot from texting and insure that you pass by without getting squashed!

 

[Alan Schlosser]

I just need to replace my existing horn. It's a little on the weak side. Does anyone know what the draw is on the stock unit? I was thinking of just getting one of these:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Nikko-Horn-12V25A-Black--Chrome-8.aspx

 

[1_v8_merc]

I have twin airhorns on my 650, run to a seperate compressor.

You have to use discretion with these...you can literally cause accidents or have unintented consequences in high traffic situations.

I've honked at people near-by, then 10 seconds later I came around the corner and cars were stopped in the middle of the road or slowing down....
I bet they didn't expect a little GS to make that kinda noise.

But as long as it saves your life, that's what is Important.

 

[gearhead13]

I just need to replace my existing horn. It's a little on the weak side. Does anyone know what the draw is on the stock unit? I was thinking of just getting one of these:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Nikko-Horn-12V25A-Black--Chrome-8.aspx

I bought two of those to replace my old stock horns, MUCH louder and they look nice too. Probably louder than new stock, way louder than my old stock ones.
No idea of the amp draw on stock horns.

 

[Steve]

Does anyone know what the draw is on the stock unit? I was thinking of just getting one of these:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Nikko-Horn-12V25A-Black--Chrome-8.aspx

Like gearhead, I don't know what the draw is on the stock horn, but the one you linked there is a great replacement. In fact, if they have a "high" and a "low" available, get both of them, they sound great together.

Just so you know, you can get similar horns from Auto Zone or any of the other auto parts stores. They are cheaper, too, at only $14 a piece.

.