Replacing Horn. Anyone know how many dB stock squeaker is??

[donaldcc]

  Have been planning this for a while, but haven't got around to it.  Yesterday at intersection car on right had stop sign and I had right of way.  He looked right at me and pulled right on out.  I gave a little courtesy "squeak" from stock horn before he pulled out that did not get noticed. 

  I was well prepared for him and had lots of time to slow. But . . . next time I want to make him sit up and notice.  I have been over all the threads on different horns and mounting positions, wiring, etc.  I think I like Stebel. All makers give the dB for their horns, Stebel at 139 from 4" and about 120 at 6'. 

  Just curious if anyone knows how loud the stock horn is??  I always wear earplugs as I have half helmet and Cobra 6 into 6 pipes.  When I use the horn I can barely hear it with the plugs. 

[F6Dave]

Don't mean to be cute but the stock horn is terrible.  It belongs on a moped.

On my Tourer I went with 2 car horns (powered by a relay) under the swingarm.  On my IS I mounted a Stebel (same as Wolo) in the original position up front.

The Stebel is really loud, but has some issues.  Now and then I need to squirt some lube through the intake (while operating the horn) to keep the compressor working well.  That can be loud in the garage!  I've also noticed that at really high altitudes here in Colorado the compressor has less air molecules to work with and can't create enough pressure to operate the horn properly.  This also can happen in cold weather.

The car horns on my Tourer are nearly as loud and trouble free.

[flatsixlover]

I looked at the Stebel and went with the Big BF Quad horn setup that mounts hidden under the bike in front of the rear tire.  Easy install and have scared the crap out of a couple of cagers on the beltway when they wandered into my lane!   Not sure of the db's, but very loud!

[Gator John]

If I had to pick an animal the Valkyrie most reminds me of, I would say a big old bull. However, once you hear the stock horn, you have to modify that to a big old castrated bull.

[R J]

I've had car horns, couple pair, we got out of junk yards, I've had Rivco, Stebel, and Molo air horns, I was used to 14"  to 16" trumpets in the air horn arena.   Couldn't find a way to mount them with a air tank and all the crap needed to make it function properly.

Wasn't pleased with any of them.   One time in California, BigBF got in behind me and let loose with his quad setup.

Setting on a seat, I'd of had a good sized pucker bite in the seat.  Just standing there, I almost wet my pants.

So guess what i have on MGM mounted in front of the rear wheel?   Yup, his quad setup......

It will get peoples attention, trust me.....

[Chrisj CMA]

but, no one answered the question.  Im guessing here..........Stock horn, 3db........maybe 2  

Single Stebil=139db......I chose this one to fill in the hole left after going to a pingel petcock

[MP]

Do not know, but I sure like the BigBF quads, sounds like a 56 Buick on steroids!

MP

[blackvalk]

Does BigBF's horns get in the way of jacking the bike up using the simple wooden jack bracket?

[flatsixlover]

Don't know about the simple wooden bracket, but I have the red metal bracket that bolts to the engine and the quad horns are free and clear when jacking with that adaptor.  The lift bracket came with the bike, so I don't know the manufacturer, but I see them on Ebay all the time.

[Jabba]

What I don't like about ALL the bike air horns is the pitch.  They are all too high pitched.

I recently found a compressor (Wolo 808C) that claims to provide 22-25 psi, without needing a tank.  Enough to drive double and triple horns.  I have an old set of truck horns that are sort of ugly... but I am planning to mount them in front of the timing cover.  I think there is room.  The compressor under the bike, wired thru a relay controlled by the stock horn switch.

I have not ordered the compressor yet... but will VERY soon.

I am looking forward to sounding like a dump truck.

Jabba

[Ricky-D]

I simply added an additional Valkyrie horn on the front like the other one already there and doubled the output.

It's plenty good now!

***

[98valk]

What I don't like about ALL the bike air horns is the pitch.  They are all too high pitched.

I recently found a compressor (Wolo 808C) that claims to provide 22-25 psi, without needing a tank.  Enough to drive double and triple horns.  I have an old set of truck horns that are sort of ugly... but I am planning to mount them in front of the timing cover.  I think there is room.  The compressor under the bike, wired thru a relay controlled by the stock horn switch.

I have not ordered the compressor yet... but will VERY soon.

I am looking forward to sounding like a dump truck.

Jabba

fully compress the forks, there is not that much room.

[Dudlydoright]

The best description I've heard for the stock horn loudness is that it's equivalent to that of a mouse farting into the wind.  I also went the two car horn route.....one high frequency, one low.....with relay.  Plenty loud.  Most car parts stores carry them for ten bucks give or take.

[Challenger]

I had the dual stock horn set up on my STD, Had to shut the engine off to hear the horn, My I/S had stebels when I bought it and it was a huge difference, I have a Wolo air horn from JC Whitney, mounted by the kick stand support on the STD now and I like it better than the stebel (stebel is higher pitched)

[Hoser]

Wolo chrome.  needed to fill the gap when I replaced the stock petcock with a pingel. Works well.  Hoser 

[Ricky-D]

A little trickier to get to the petcock I would surmise!

***

[FLATSIX]

I like these , they make a lot of noise and they look good too !

[Earl in Pensacola]

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE LOUDNESS of a pair of IS OEM beeper type horns.  Believe me!  I changed to "Wolo" air horns several years ago, but they aged and started having problem and the chrome finally went south.  I mounted a PAIR of IS OEM beepers using the relay I had already installed for the Air horns and mounted them both facing forward at the OEM position with one on each side of the engine.  I can tell you that if you'd care to stand in front of my bike and let me light them, you'll swear that you just blew out your ear drums.  I'm still not wild about the actual beeper sound, but they are every bit as loud as the WOLO or Rivco air horns. 

[hubcapsc]

  I gave a little courtesy "squeak" from stock horn before he pulled out that did not get noticed.  :

BigBF horns get noticed even on I85 through Atlanta... they seem like they're "just" four car horns,
but it sure was nice to pour them out of the bag and mount them up without fabing any brackets
and having a nice wiring diagram to follow...

-Mike

[Hoser]

A little trickier to get to the petcock I would surmise!

***

Not bad, after a few practices and muscle memory kicks in, it's really not a problem, mounted it as close to the engine as I could, to allow access.  Hoser

[gordonv]

I just saw a horn for my stock ACE Tourer, and it had the db printed on it, which was 105. Maybe if you look closely at the Valk horn it will also have the db printed on it?

[sugerbear]

came across this just now. maybe it will shed some light on your question.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-horns/motorcycle-horn-comparison.htm

disagree with some of what was said but...........

[donaldcc]

  Hey thanks sugerbear, interesting comparison.  I still haven't picked out or installed horn yet as on days off I have preferred to go out riding. I have read a lot of hype on the net about the different popular models and looked at different forums to see what most like.  Sort of like picking oil and tires, lots of opinions.  I also stopped by local autozone to look there and they had several models of airhorns and regular electric horns.

   I may just try this one that comes with 2 high/low horns that are cheap ($19.99 for the two) and loud.  I have black tourer, so I might just get them, paint the red part black and see if I can hook them up to fuse and relay and mount one horn on each side where OEM horn is located and see what I think, they may look OK with chrome forward just outside radiator.


http://www.autozone.com/autozone/catalog/accessories/accProductDetails.jsp?itemIdentifier=6074_0_0_&skuDescription=Blazer+/+Highandlowtonereplacementtwinhorns&brandName=Blazer&displayName=Highandlowtonereplacementtwinhorns&skuDisplayName=Blazer&categoryNValue=10099999&navValue=100530&categoryDisplayName=Highandlowtonereplacementtwinhorns&parentId=00-10&itemId=530-10&store=5567&productId=6074

  If I do not like the looks I can try a mount under bike.  If I just don't like horn   then at that price, just off and on the shelf.  Will post a note and pic when I get around to it.  

  

[YardBoy]

Just installed a set of BIGBFs quad horns.  I have now used the horn more in the last two days than I did during the past two years.  Its loud and doesn't have the high pitch of the air horns. 

[MP]

Love my BigBF Quads!

MP