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Jack(Lazyrider) installed a Stebel airhorn on his bike a few weeks ago and it is loud! Today, since I am electrically challenged, he helped me install a couple of Fiamm Freeway Blasters on my bike. They are LOUD. The low frequency(according to Fiamm) carries a longer distance. The high frequency is loud in the immediate area.

Although we haven't had a 'honk-off', I think both the Stebel and Fiamm are an order of magnitude improvement over the stock horns and will get most any drivers attention. Subjectively, they seem equally loud.

The Stebel is neater looking. The Fiamm's are normal plastic shells and can be mounted using the stock bolt. The Fiamm's cost about $20 with shipping and $5 for a relay. I'm not sure exactly what the Stebel cost but it was a little more.

You can't go wrong with either horn and would be a great safety improvement for any bike.

The Stebel is a whole lotta bang for the buck.
Less than $40 w/relay.
It's LOUD!

Stock horn? Ya might as well just toot a kazoo everytime someone cuts ya off. I love having a horn the cagers can really hear now.

Speaking of which, I narrowly avoided being squeezed onto the shoulder of I35 on my way home today. About the same time I realized the cager was two feet into my lane on my left, he heard my TORS and swerved back.

Man, it's a jungle out here!



Jack

Are the stebel horns a simple swop out or do you need to wire through to the battery. anyone got the destructions??

Definitely wire thru the battery (with the supplied relay). Not sure if there are good instructions on here, but check out the "how to" section of the tech vault. If nothing else, there's a link to Sandman's site with lots of electrical stuff. Once you understand how the relay works, it's real simple.

If you have removed your air box it is extremely easy, I mounted ours under the seat.Even easier if you have the Freak ,I mounted our horns to an existing hole in the Freak bracket behind the right carb. The illustration on the Stebel package is very clear and easy to use.The relay works like this hot from the battery to the relay ,then hot from the relay to the horn ,cut your 2 horn wires and 1 is pos. and 1 is negative there are corresponding posts on the relay. To determine what wire is what on the bike just turn the key on and touch 1 wire to the connection on an auto bulb and the other side to ground. The one that lights the bulb when you press the horn button is your pos.

Tips:

I mounted the Stebel in the same location as the stock horn using the stock horn bracket. I added a lug to the positive battery terminal and installed an inline fuse under the seat. The relay is mounted on the forward-most threaded hole where the AI controller was previuosly installed. The relay lugs face forward, and the stock horn wires/lugs reach back to the relay and fit the relay lugs without modification. The rear AI hole holds the new ground lug for the wire trunning to the Stebel. All the wires that I ran up the harness are black for a neater appearance. All added wires are tie-wrapped (black ties) to the harness and routed so that they don't rest against any metal surfaces. I slid a length of heat shrink over the two new wires where they are routed through the opening between upper and lower triple tree on their way to the horn.

Next time I have the seats and tank off, I'll try to photograph the work.

Jack

I didn't mount mine up front because I didn't want to hinder air flow to the oil cooler. Not that it is a problem, I have seen plenty of them mounted there just for my own piece of mind. That being said it is possible to split the Stebel up and mount the horns themselves up front and the compressor remotely.

why cant a better sounding, more effective horn just be spliced into the existing wires for the horn. Electricity is my downfall! I can pretty much make anything else work.

A normal horn with a low draw can be but with the Stebel you are drawing current to run a small compressor so you need a little heavier wire and wouldn't want to put that much juice through the stock horn switch. (not sure what the switch looks like inside) The relay allows the current to be drawn directly from the battery and all the horn button does is activate the relay avoiding blown fuses or over loaded wires or switches.

I split mine up. I already had the relay from my previous aftermarket horn, so I also mounted it on the forward AI post. The rear post holds the relay for my driving lights. Then I mounted the compressor vertically under my seat. I have so many wires now (gerbings plug, battery tender, and the two relays) that I also mounted a buss under the seat. Now I just have the two wires on each battery terminal instead of 6. Only difference from Lazyrider's setup is I ran the ground back to my buss, not to the frame. I used some 1/4" clear tubing I got from work to connect the compressor to the horn.

Installed the stebel, horn this afternoon, WOW!!! is that a big difference to the stock, installed infront of the radiator so not happy with the position got a mate coming round to have a look at making me some kind of a bracket to drop it down below the radiator tomorrow....

10/10 for Stebel

You could make something to come off the bolts that hold the foot bracket on to mount it.

stainless steel boat horn pretty darn loud, pretty darn cheap, looks good, 2 wire install

I have installed the Triumph OEM crash bars, and they bolt to either side of the frame, so the Stebel cannot go up any further. I was thinking of putting it inbetween the fron forks, as my tool roll will hide the horn anyway. Going to have a look tomorrow round at my mates whose got all the tools to play from welding to a machine shop to see if we can come up with something...

Will let you know what I come up with...

FWIW, just tested a new Fiamm Freeway Blaster horn and it draws 4.45 amps direct from my spare boat battery, and IS loud, lo tone. The BA horn fuse is 10 amps, which tells me that the stock wiring should support a single Fiamm horn quite well. Dual horns will absolutely need a relay circuit, though, as will any compressor type horn.

Quite right. That circuit (#7) also powers the brake light and turn signals. Never had the horn switch apart, but if it ever gets above thirty degrees up here in Jersey I will measure the draw of the stock horn and report back here. I guess it is possible to burn the brake lights, turn signals and horn all at once, but the fuse should carry that load - can't imagine the brake and turns to be five amps total. But the horn switch, dunno.....

I went to Pepboys and bought the generic, 125dB auto horn for $9.95.
It's the loudest horn out there OTHER THAN the specialty horns, direct change out, no mod's required, and Sounds like an old Olds 88!, and IS MORE THEN ADEQUATE!
If you want anything louder, why settle for anything LESS then an air powered Freight Train horn? (I mean, if you REALLY must be the badest dog on the block)

Hey erie, do you have a part #.

Thanks

No. It was last year sometime. But just check ANY auto parts store, they all have them. Just check the dB info., usually largly displayed right on the front of the package.

an Olds 88...yowsa, Rocket V-8, Hydromatic, just add tuck and roll seats and....sorry, Drive-In Fever relapse. The stock BA buzzer is a Nikko unit rated at 3 amps, 105 dB, and draws an actual 2.04 amps and still sounds like a July locust in an empty water pail. The wires going to it are kind of small tho, and to be dead nutz certain of a loud and robust blast, a relay is the way to go, maybe #14 or 16 stranded wire, direct from the battery as the diagrams show.
That said, I fitted a single Fiamm straightaway, and the devil take the hindmost. Prolly rework it in the Spring. Or not.

Blah, blah, blah.
Talk is cheap. The PROOF is in the pudding!
I've HAD mine for over a year. It IS VERY loud, as anyone I've exposed to it could attest!
Current draw? True to life experiences I've had show me that I probably don't hold the horn button even two seconds.(One thousand one, One thousand two),and probably not used even once a month.
I have had NO issues what so ever, I have a very loud horn, It replaces the factory horn with nothing additional needed, and again, ten bucks.
Kudos to anyone who likes to make mountains out of mole hills, I have other places to spend my time and money.

I opted for the Stebel but had thought about a car horn off of a similar car. I would have used both the high and low with a relay triggered by the original button but liked the air horn idea better. The idea is to be heard so either way works fine and the car horn will probably last longer.

I think Erle's point regarding "125db" was to help ID the package of the horn that he bought.

Erle's just obnoxious.

I just pull in the clutch and give them a shot of my long cannons