Random Thoughts on My R1150R

[Keppelj]

Can't resist, Rich, what's the installation like for the SN horn? Same spot, wiring?

[Ol' Jeffers]

+1 on the Stebel Nautilus Compact!!
Installation is fairly simple and straightforward but must include
the supplied relay as the horn pulls 20 amps. I used the existing wiring to
trigger the relay and a new length of heavier gauge cable to the horn and
from the battery via an in-line fuse holder to the secondary side of the relay.
The horn is mounted where the old one was. There is also a Stebel wiring kit
available with all the stuff you'll need if you don't already have suitable materials.

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/pr ... tAodlB5cvg

Hope this helps...

<EDIT> On the subject of indicator switches: I hated them for the first year! I always had to think about
which button to press! Now I have it down pat and don't even think about them so, Yes! you
will get used to them!

[Sunbeemer]

Ol' Jeffers is right about this air horn needing a relay since it draws more current than the OEM horn and the stock wiring can't handle it.

Some have shoehorned it into the OEM horn mounting location, but it's a tight fit and might hit stuff when the forks completely compress going over a bump. I think if you're real careful you could make a bracket to tuck it up underneath the triple tree and it would work without interference. But since I don't have ABS brakes I mounted it in the spot where the servo would have been under the tank (as well as a compressor to fill tires). Here's a pic:



It is plenty loud enough to move cages out of my lane. In fact, they usually over-correct and fishtail down the road at 70mph, which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in their driving...they probably think there's a freight train bearing down on them It freaks 'em out so bad sometimes they even hang up their phone and drive

To hear what the horn sounds like, crank up your speakers and go to this website and click on "HQ AUDIO":

http://www.stebel.it/stebel2009/product ... PNEUMATICS

This horn rocks!

I also left the OEM horn in place, so it's a very effective tritone 139 dB+ blast!

My apology to the OP for hijacking his thread, but this is such an important bit of safety gear I just thought you should know.

[Ol' Jeffers]

In my everyday commute a horn is a necessary piece of safety equipment. People in this city don't (and quite possibly can't) see me most of the time, so I ride like I'm invisible all the time. But when cages try to shove me off the road, I announce my presence with a 139dB blast. More often than not it freaks them out so bad they overcorrect, scaring the bejeepers out of me, so I use it only when absolutely necessary, but when I do, it saves my ...

Of course your riding area may be different, but developing the muscle memory to use the horn button might help keep you healthy.

Ah yes the joys of driving in FLA!! 25-30 year old gas guzzlers driven by the 'blue rinse brigade''! They can't see to the end of the hood and so when they're entering from a side road they stick 10 feet of their car out in
front of you to see if there's anything coming! You need to be LOUD!!

[ron prior]

If the "Rockster" comes with self cancelling turn signals?....how is it wired?....is it just the flasher? that's different. If so, it would be worth making the change to a Roadster.

[slowtorque]

very intrigued by this air horn. My 1150r has abs so I am not sure where I could mount the compressor. Any suggestions?

[Ol' Jeffers]

very intrigued by this air horn. My 1150r has abs so I am not sure where I could mount the compressor. Any suggestions?

Look at the link above.....you'll see there is no separate compressor the whole thing will
mount where the OEM horn is. For an air horn it's very compact, hence the name!

[bmwdave52]

The roadster does it all.

[mcmarcia]

Love the sm-5 signal minder. hate the horn location, in addition to accidentally hitting the horn when turning left, there is the embarrassing times when the fully loaded bmw tank bag hits the horn when making tight parking lot turn to the left.

[Bluehenrider]

I am a cautious rider and often times have my hand on the clutch and its impossible for me to hit the horn with my thumb without taking my hand from the clutch.

I just dropped my bike off at Eckenhoff Motorcycles in Cherry Hill NJ for maintenance. So far they have been very helpful and have showed me a lot of things I did not know about my bike. I heard about Eckenhoff and Rob the certified BMW mechanic there from this forum. I can't wait to get it back. I took my first ride across the Delaware Memorial Bridge on a motorcycle in order to reach Cherry Hill. That was an exciting experience.

[grwrockster]

@ Ron Prior

If the "Rockster" comes with self cancelling turn signals?....how is it wired?....is it just the flasher? that's different. If so, it would be worth making the change to a Roadster.

Afraid I have no idea how they are wired - I've never been bothered to look ! I generally cancel them myself, so don't pay a lot of attention to the fact that the feature is there, but at least I know that if I did forget to cancel then they'd switch off on their own.

As in the UK indicators are either flashing to indicate an intention to turn, or they are off, then I'd guess the supply to the circuit is just interrupted like the cancel button does it. Don't some US States have the indicators illuminated like running lights, and then they flash when a turn signal is actuated? If so, then (assuming Rocksters outside of the UK also have self-cancel feature) then I can only guess that in the US the flasher unit would be switched off by the self-cancel circuit.

But..... I think they probably work on a simple countdown timer that is built into the cancel button circuit, so that the indicators cancel after X amount of seconds. Yamaha (see below) had a system that I was told worked on time-elapsed as well as distance travelled, so it might be a bit more complex. I'm sure one of the all-knowing Sage's lurking about will know for sure !

I'm no auto-electrician, but adjustable DC timer relays are a common enough device for industrial control panel circuitry (e.g. they are used in a lot of older electro-mechanical type generator control panels my work comes across), so it can't be that difficult to incorporate a self-cancel feature onto an R1150R if you want one (without buying a ready-made kit even)?

Interestingly my 1980 Yamaha RD250 had an excellent self-cancelling indicator system, which Yamaha later stopped using - word was that they were afraid that a turn signal cancelled early by the system (i.e. if you got held up at a junction too long, or if you indicated early approaching a motorway off-ramp) could be blamed for an accident and Yamaha could get sued. By taking off the cancel system, they put the onus of responsibility back onto the rider.

[Rog(UK) - Yorkshire Dales]

I think that the Rockster indicators self-cancel on distance; not time. At a standstill they will go on forever. Frustratingly however, if you indicate at the 300x marker at a motorway exit, they will self cancel before the exit.

Rog