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Would you ride your bike if your horn did not work?

  • Yes

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  • No

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Ride w/o horn?

1K views 22 replies 17 participants last post by  firecat 
#1 ·
Circumstances dictate that I consider riding my bike w/o a working horn. One guy I talked to said it wouldn't phase him as he never uses his horn now. What about you?

Story: While trying to install a new/louder horn, I inadvertently pulled the wires that connected to stock horn and I guess snapped something in them as new horn when hooked up does not work AND hooking old horn back up does not work now either.

I get a solid "1" on the multimeter doing a continuity test from either of those wires to the negative post on the battery. I get "0" on voltage test of either wire (although, I must admit I'm not entirely confident I'm putting wires in the right spots to check for voltage).

Anyways, I want to get my bike back together tonight...and possibly ride some tomorrow (been down all week). When I had it apart trying to locate those wires, I figured I'd check my air filters. Since one was...lightly dirty, and the other (rear carb) was filthy, I thought I'd wait until new filters arrived to put her back together. Gave me another day or two to try & find the bad wires. Still no luck.

Got one danged screw that holds the side covers on that has stripped out and I can't get anything to make it twist. Might try something else if somebody has an idea? I'm sure if I can break it loose it'll back out easy enough...and I'm still not entirely sure that it'll help. I've been told the horn wires go up in a big bundle of wiring so I'd have to try & locate them there as well and, to be honest, my skillset isn't up to that task. Also, with the amount of labor involved (couple screws here, couple there, move this outta the way, etc) I'm sure I could never afford to get the damn thing fixed at a shop.

So, that leads to my poll: would you ride your bike if the horn didn't work (and/or you could never get it fixed)?
 
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#2 ·
The little scooter tooter on this thing is more of an embarrassement than anything. The only time I use the horn is when I accidentally hit it when I'm trying to cancel my turn indicators. I'm waiting to do the mod on a new horn, but financially limited right now, so the bike has to have the stock horn for a while longer.

:cop: :bigthumbsup:
 
#4 ·
i like my 109 said:
I use my horn all the time (really). I bought one of the extra-loud horns from the auto parts store. When I ride out in the country I like to honk at the cows and watch em' run !!!!
Well, yeah, I've been known to do that as well. Plus...when I ride with my wife, I let her take the lead and it's easy to use it to get her attention. Not that it isn't difficult to just pass her and signal/whatever...but still...I think I'll miss the horn.

I did find a wiring diagram on bikebandit that shows connectors from the horn wires to the wiring harness...and I suppose they could have come off. Hopefully I can figure out how to get that one lasted danged stripped screw out, remove it all, and rewire those connectors to some longer wire/better connectors.
 
#6 ·
I bought the stebel nautilus first: no place to mount it. Even the compact 'mini' is too big to hide on my bike. Then I picked up the stebel magnum. Looks much better than the stock I was using, but have yet to hear it.

My problem, however, lies in the fact that the wiring to the button doesn't work :swear: :cus: more than likely cause I pulled/broke a wire.

Maybe tonight will yield a solution to remove the neck covers so I can get a better look into where the wires disappear.
 
#8 ·
With the Cobra Dragsters on my bike,Iam basically riding without a horn.That weenie horn on this bike is a joke. The kid down the street has a 50cc Scooter,and his horn sounds like mine.(maybe a little louder). I'm glad this subject was brought up. Now I'll add that to the list of things to remove-replace on the bike this winter. :D
 
#9 ·
Horns are great, but I have never been able to use it when I needed it. To bussie swerving or something to avoid rather than looking for the horn. ::) Usually just ride up along side and lay on it afterwards. Not as affective but they get the point and I feel better. ;) Without a horn I might just kick the drivers door, Hey that could be an Idea. :evil:
 
#13 ·
Animal said:
Horns are great, but I have never been able to use it when I needed it. To bussie swerving or something to avoid rather than looking for the horn. ::) Usually just ride up along side and lay on it afterwards. Not as affective but they get the point and I feel better. ;) Without a horn I might just kick the drivers door, Hey that could be an Idea. :evil:
Animal thats because of the speed we ride here in Germany, that 0,00009 of a minute it takes us to reach for the horn switch is the 0,0009 of a minute we could be swerving to advoid hitting the sorry MF :bigthumbsup:
 
#15 ·
I find it hard to believe that anyone out there would
park the ride because of that. ::) hell I road one whole summer
with out any breaks on the chopper I was putting together.
it was only around town (Yakima) :cop:
 
#20 ·
The wiring from the horn button is under a headlight cowling. Look for the connector block that has the Black with White tracer (ground or return) wire and then the other wire is the Black with Blue tracer. The Black wire with Blue tracer goes back to the horn and when you complete the path by shorting the horn button you are connecting the ground side of the horn. I installed wiring from these two back to a spot below the key and installed a small switch there so I can switch between the two horns (the small one behind the radiator and the new one I installed under the battery box). I’m old school some times and I love the sound of the old ahooga horns. I installed one of these, it just fits under the battery box.

Sorry no pictures.

When I was installing all the mods I did, I bought a nail puller at a hardware store to help remove the plastic hangers, you might be able to get one of these under the screw and then carefully pull outward while unscrewing the bolt.
 
G
#21 ·
I absolutely love our wimpy horn. I loved beeping it in traffic on Atlantic this weekend on the members of the opposite sex. It certainly contrasts the note of my exhaust. I know that I could beep my wimpy horn and then white smoke my tire. Good fun.
 
#22 ·
cbxer55 said:
I dont personally care about horns, But if I could get a horn that went "Meep-Meep" like the Road Runner, I would. Kinda like the okd Mopars (Mostly Old Parts And Rust) from the 60s and early 70s. Robert Hill Midwest City, OK.
Humm..have you not tried our horn?...that's exactly what it sounds like...oh..if the bike's NOT running...haahaha :evil: :doorag:

Devilish
 
G
#23 ·
rammer1 said:
The little scooter tooter on this thing is more of an embarrassment than anything.

:cop: :bigthumbsup:
Ya I did the mod however never use the horn because I was mentally damaged by the old one (embarrassment just scratches the surface, I couldn't even hear it over my pipes and when my bike was being quit and you could hear it, ears would turn purple with embarrassment, got used to not using it at all.) now I just shake my head side to side when they are looking. I'm sure it has a huge impact :joke: :joke:
 
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