Air Horn Mount Method and Location

[Guest]

I am contemplating one of those ear-destroying compact air horns. Can anyone share how and where on a Roadster?

[rph802]

the Internet BMW Rider web page (http://www.ibmwr.org I think) and go to the technical pages. I know someone had a set of instructions for doing this there.

Craig

[DJ Downunder]

Can anyone share how and where on a Roadster?

Do you have ABS on your bike???

DJ

[Guest]

Do you have ABS on your bike???

Yes. That space is full.

[FGanger]

Once on one of my R69S’ I installed an air horn. Same problem - no place for the compressor, etc. What I did was to place the compressor in one of my saddle bags. The bags I had at the time were similar to what Al Jessie makes now, so I had plenty of room. Then I ran the air hose up to where the horn itself was.

I’ve heard of people doing the same but only mounting the compressor in the bag and the horn outside the bag, on the bottom. They report that it works the same has having it in front - I’ve not heard the sound so I can’t give my opinion on that mount option.

Just giving my front fender a look, I wonder about hiding the compressor under the beak. Perhaps if it had an inner liner? Or replacing the charcoal canister with the compressor painted black?

Good luck and please let us know what you finally do and how it works.

Frank

[Guest]

This is the compact air horn. I had it in my hands at Lima. Now that I see the specs, that seriously high decibel rating is discouraging me from putting it on a motorcycle - too damn close.

[MikeCam]

Here's what I did...

Compressor hung from existing horn bracket. Wiring harness installed with extra relay to protect horn button from overload.

Air tubes routed down fork legs under beak. Trumpets mounted under the beak using zip ties. Good fit, good performance, blew fuses like crazy!

My version was the Fiamm compact, dual trumpet model.

[RatBastard217]

I replaced mine with the low tone Fiamm. Just a simple swap out in the same place. Not perfect, but much better.

[kjax909]

I actually purchased the smaller of the two stebels pictured at Lima ($35). On my '02 R1150R, it fits in the same space at the stock horn. I removed all of the bracketry for the stock horn, down to the lug cast into head stcok. I then just had to use a a simple flat bracket to hang the new horn on, about 2" long, that I had from a FIAMM I had mounted previously. It's a tight fit, but nothing touches or rubs.

You will not BELIEVE the volume. It's a good thing that the natural way the horn fits into the 1150R space is with the plugs to the back (less chance of shirting out from rain) and the horn outlet pointed away for the rider. It is MACK truck level!

You WILL be heard. I'm very impressed w/ the quality to date given that I see air horns advertised at over $200. We'll see how it's longevity is.

[rdsmith3]

I actually purchased the smaller of the two stebels pictured at Lima ($35). On my '02 R1150R, it fits in the same space at the stock horn. I removed all of the bracketry for the stock horn, down to the lug cast into head stcok. I then just had to use a a simple flat bracket to hang the new horn on, about 2" long, that I had from a FIAMM I had mounted previously. It's a tight fit, but nothing touches or rubs.

You will not BELIEVE the volume. It's a good thing that the natural way the horn fits into the 1150R space is with the plugs to the back (less chance of shirting out from rain) and the horn outlet pointed away for the rider. It is MACK truck level!

You WILL be heard. I'm very impressed w/ the quality to date given that I see air horns advertised at over $200. We'll see how it's longevity is.

Joe

Did you add a relay? Which Stebel is the smaller one?

Are you saying this is much louder than even the FIAMM?

I also added the low tone FIAMM horn, which is a big improvement over the stock horn.

However, your horn can never be too loud.

[rdsmith3]

Here's what I did...

Compressor hung from existing horn bracket. Wiring harness installed with extra relay to protect horn button from overload.

Air tubes routed down fork legs under beak. Trumpets mounted under the beak using zip ties. Good fit, good performance, blew fuses like crazy!

My version was the Fiamm compact, dual trumpet model.

Mike,

Isn't there already a relay in the horn circuit? Why do you add another one?

[DJ Downunder]

You want to know where to stick your air horn???

I'll show you where you can stick it... ...bad luck if you want to sit down..

Yes...just kidding...

DJ

[Guest]

...and the pillion passenger if riding two-up?

[MikeCamm]

RD,

I couldn't see the existing relay and I am/was a stickler for knowing what was what electrically. So I installed my own.

Frankly, I don't remember the details of the wiring harness. I had previously installed an extra fuse block powered from the starter lug. From that I ran both auxiliary lights and the horn circuit, each on their own switched line. It was onto that hot switched line that I added the extra relay. I took the power feed from the back (load) side of the horn button line to cycle the relay.

Overkill? Probably. Still blew fuses (in the base fuse block line) until I reached 30 amps.

[jamming]

DJ..is that what they use to call the sheep in from the far pasture?
I'll bet every guy just giggles when they light that bad boy up.
Rog

BTW..my entire office was howling at that pic, thanks

[Optimus Prime]

I actually purchased the smaller of the two stebels pictured at Lima ($35). On my '02 R1150R, it fits in the same space at the stock horn. I removed all of the bracketry for the stock horn, down to the lug cast into head stcok. I then just had to use a a simple flat bracket to hang the new horn on, about 2" long, that I had from a FIAMM I had mounted previously. It's a tight fit, but nothing touches or rubs.

You will not BELIEVE the volume. It's a good thing that the natural way the horn fits into the 1150R space is with the plugs to the back (less chance of shirting out from rain) and the horn outlet pointed away for the rider. It is MACK truck level!

You WILL be heard. I'm very impressed w/ the quality to date given that I see air horns advertised at over $200. We'll see how it's longevity is.

I just bought that horn, any chances on some pics of the install?

Thanks,
Jason

[kjax909]

Reply to RDSmith3,

In the link displaying a picture of the Stebel horns earlier in this post, mine is the one on the left. I still have my packaging, and it refers to this model as the "Nautilus Compact". I can't see any model # designation on the packaging beyond that. The horn included a relay which I definitely used. The guy I bought it from wrote up a quick wiring diagram (not sure why as a very small (font/picture) one is included w/ the horn. But i used his and it worked fine. He may have done that as I stated I already had two wires (only) to my existing aftermarket horn (a FIAMM) and I'm wondering now if the stock BMW horn had some kind of other (harness?) connection. I've had it on there so long I don't remember what I did to wire it up.

Regarding my FIAMM, I had the relatively inexpensive one sold by Rider's
Warehouse. It was better than stock, but trust me--in NO way does it compare to the Stebel. I haven't had to use it in traffic yet, but everyone I've demo'd it for, is blown away--figuratively and (practically) literally.