Horn upgrade

Mmshul

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Will be moving to a much more populated city shortly, and I can see where a good horn could have some value. Any suggestions as to make and a model of horns to replace my existing?
Thank you.
 

Simufly

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Try some Maserati air horns. Period and loud. They draw a large current so use a relay. You can use the existing horn feed to trigger the relay which is positioned behind the Left headlight. The compressor and horns are also hidden behind the left headlight. A bit of a squeeze but a neat way of changing the rather asthmatic originals.
 

rsporsche

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Will be moving to a much more populated city shortly, and I can see where a good horn could have some value. Any suggestions as to make and a model of horns to replace my existing?
Thank you.
so you are in the same town as Scott Jordan - aka scottevest ... are you moving away or moving there?

i think you will find that new horns will make a difference. here are new Hella horns for BMW on Amazon
 

JayWltrs

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so you are in the same town as Scott Jordan - aka scottevest ... are you moving away or moving there?

i think you will find that new horns will make a difference. here are new Hella horns for BMW on Amazon

I installed these. Mine were dead & needed them in my first drive into office—helpless feeling. These seem plenty loud, but not as loud as the ones M5bb posted, which a friend installed & scared the bejesus out of me. The ones they sent me had a 3-pin connector, which I had to cut off & work around, but that was probably just a one-off shipping error.
 

Mmshul

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Thanks everyone for some great suggestions. Sound is subjective, they all have some merits, Simufly got me to thinking about those Maserati Air horns, but are rather pricey, what I did find was: https://www.stebel-usa.com
Has that Italian blast sound. Though I heard their quality may not be all that, but I will give them a go just the same.
 

Mmshul

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Try some Maserati air horns. Period and loud. They draw a large current so use a relay. You can use the existing horn feed to trigger the relay which is positioned behind the Left headlight. The compressor and horns are also hidden behind the left headlight. A bit of a squeeze but a neat way of changing the rather asthmatic originals.
Nice suggestion, got me thinking about that Italian sound. Ended up going with https://www.stebel-usa.com
 

rsporsche

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the downside of air horns ... is you can't tap them ... only blast them. i remember Harmon Fischer's pumpkin 2002 ... he had switches on his gear shift to hit the air horns. the horn button on the wheel drove the normal horns.
 

mulberryworks

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I am using these Hella horns in traffic crazy Atlanta. Not exactly the same sound as BMW but do sound European.


Woot.com (Amazon owned) has these horns on close out for $13.99 while they last. Picture shows one, but the text says dual tone horns. Prime members get free shipping too.

 

Honolulu

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Stebel brand "Nautilus" is used by many bikers including myself. The "blast not toot" is certainly applicable. I wired it through a 30 amp relay and fuse, using the original horn button and wires to trigger the new horn.
 

Mmshul

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Stebel brand "Nautilus" is used by many bikers including myself. The "blast not toot" is certainly applicable. I wired it through a 30 amp relay and fuse, using the original horn button and wires to trigger the new horn.
Thank for that confirmation of Stebel...I heard of some QC issues, have they been issue free for you?
 

Honolulu

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Yes I've heard of QC issues too. I got my horn from someone on Amazon.

The horn is quite loud because a) it IS loud and b) on a bike it's only three feet from my head.

The install was issue free for me, once I was forced to realize that adequately crimping the ground wire was essential. I was irked when the horn didn't work after two days, because it's behind the fairing and the fairing is a humbug to remove. But I've gotten better at both fairing removal and crimping, and had no trouble since. Note that in traffic one seldom has time to use the horn on a bike.

Sometimes it seems like everything has to be done twice at minimum, but after that it goes much more quickly. That's why I clean things "while I'm there" so that the next poor jerk, usually me, has a nicer work space.
 
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