Stock Horn Question/Observation

[EdMat]

I know the stock horn is rather anemic and I have compared it to the sound of a squeaky toy. In regular city traffic it sucks.

But, has anyone else noticed that animals seem to pay more attention to it than a normal car or truck horn.

A lot of my riding is on back country roads so deer, vulture, crow, dog, etc sightings are common. A quick beep of the horn, at distance, seems to send them on their way. Do the same with a car or truck and it's ignored.

Am I just imagining this or has anyone else noticed it.

[troop]

The horn on my 2019 F3-S works better than any oem horn I had on any of my m/c's....

[ARtraveler]

I know the stock horn is rather anemic and I have compared it to the sound of a squeaky toy. In regular city traffic it sucks.

But, has anyone else noticed that animals seem to pay more attention to it than a normal car or truck horn.

A lot of my riding is on back country roads so deer, vulture, crow, dog, etc sightings are common. A quick beep of the horn, at distance, seems to send them on their way. Do the same with a car or truck and it's ignored.

Am I just imagining this or has anyone else noticed it.

Interesting question. I am going to give that a test since that is mostly the roads we are doing at the current time.

[Revalden]

I had SPYDERPOPS put on a Bad Boy Horn and it's pretty loud, but I kinda miss being able to Beep, Beep at kids waving as we go by. I might try to put the beeper back on perhaps with a button on the left floorboard.

[2dogs]

I know the stock horn is rather anemic and I have compared it to the sound of a squeaky toy. In regular city traffic it sucks.

But, has anyone else noticed that animals seem to pay more attention to it than a normal car or truck horn.

A lot of my riding is on back country roads so deer, vulture, crow, dog, etc sightings are common. A quick beep of the horn, at distance, seems to send them on their way. Do the same with a car or truck and it's ignored.

Am I just imagining this or has anyone else noticed it.

Animals are used to cars or trucks sounding their horns at them, not motorcycles. That's as good a guess as i can come up with. They'll get used to us if we keep beeping our horns at them and they'll begin ignoring us too.

[Little Blue]

They think we are 'Giant Eagles' and get out of the way.

That being said, l too, have noticed that my OEM Spyder horn seems to make most animals move.
The horn seems to have little effect on the people driving Cars or Trucks. .... .....

Ryde Safe and Enjoy your Ryde Time......

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I know the stock horn is rather anemic and I have compared it to the sound of a squeaky toy. In regular city traffic it sucks.

My experience doesn't line up with the general consensus of how weak the OEM horn is. Several years ago while I still had my 2005 Goldwing I bought a Stebel Nautilus, "the loudest horn you can buy" to put on my GW. Well, I ended up not doing that for two reasons. I couldn't find a good spot to mount it and when I tested it compared to the OEM horn it wasn't any louder, at least not close by. I installed it on my ATV. Fast forward a few years. I decided to compare it to the Spyder horn. I parked the ATV and Spyder side by side and went across the street. Using a decibel meter on my phone I blew both horns. There was no significant difference in loudness.

So when I decided to make my horn louder I mounted two trumpet horns outside of the tupperware and left the OEM horn in place and working. Is this setup twice a loud as the OEM? No, but it is louder. The BRP OEM horn isn't all that bad. The reason it sounds wimpy when you're riding is because it's behind tupperware and the sound is projected forward, away from you.

[EdMat]

The reason it sounds wimpy when you're riding is because it's behind tupperware and the sound is projected forward, away from you.

Now you have me in the wanting to experiment mode. Will have to set aside a little time and get some help and do some testing this spring. Thanks

[2dogs]

Stebel and the Bad Boy both are about as loud and sound about the same as OEM. Very little difference. Save your money and buy more gas. I will never ware out my horn. i seldom use it. But, it's MHO that if you rely on your horn it will be blaring right until the impact occurs.

[RICZ]

I fell for the Stebel Bad Boy too. After installing it on my ex bike, and trying out, I found it no louder. Some think it is because it has a high pitch. I removed it and installed a pair of high dB car horns - wow, what a difference. They really got the attention of errant cagers.
Some think the BRP horn wimpy because it is a single tone, not the dual tone we are accustomed to. I find it more penetrating than dual horns.

[campermac]

Anyone now where the horn is located on a 2019 F3L?
Has anyone changed their out on a 2019 F3L and if so what did you use?

[RICZ]

Using a powerful flashlight, look behind the suspension for the right front wheel. My horn is red.

[EdMat]

Was going to follow up on this a couple days ago but got sidetracked. Not sure if it was a rain event or a series of ruff roads that made the change?

Nice country back road, buzzard way up ahead, honk the horn and out comes this monotone midrange sound and the buzzard pays no attention at all. Somehow I have lost my squeaky toy sound.

Tried several times since, no more squeak. I'm kinda missing it.

[Eranical]

Wow, this thread makes me rethink the whole bad boy horn idea. It was one of the first mods on my earlier Honda VTX, ironically installed in a “Tupperware” mounted under the bike.

[Snoking1127]

When we purchased our 2020 Ford Edge ST in June they had gone from dual horns to a single in 2019. The forums all said order 2018 dual horns and replace the single one. So when we return to Az next fall I will bring that single horn and mount and tie it into the existing horn and play with the adjustment on it if needed to get and good tone out of the two.

[EdMat]

Interesting that this thread would pop back up today of all days. Just finished installing the Bad Boy horn. I like it.

Sadly when the squeaky toy sound of my stock horn left, it never returned. Sure did like it on the back roads.

[Eranical]

Interesting that this thread would pop back up today of all days. Just finished installing the Bad Boy horn. I like it.

Sadly when the squeaky toy sound of my stock horn left, it never returned. Sure did like it on the back roads.

“Mea culpa” I was researching the options and though I know the bad boy made a real difference on my Honda, I am going to wait before I do it on the Spyder...

[RICZ]

Not liking the high pitched sound of the Wolo Bad Boy alone, I opted for dual, loud car horns. In spite of their location behind the frunk bin, the sound gets out loud and clear. I do have a Wolo on the cage, in addition to its stock horns. It gets attention because the Wolo comes on a split second after the stock horns, giving a bit of a two tone effect.

[pauly1]

Double Wolo units, mounted and exposed on the large tube's on either side of the engine on both of our F3s. Driven via a 30 amp relay directly connected to the battery. Definitely louder than stock and gets attention.

[RICZ]

Double Wolo units, mounted and exposed on the large tube's on either side of the engine on both of our F3s. Driven via a 30 amp relay directly connected to the battery. Definitely louder than stock and gets attention.

Got photos? I'm intrigued.

[RayBJ]

I installed a Denali split airhorn last weekend. Head unit mounts in original spot after bending OEM bracket to 90 degrees. Couldn't find a good hiding place for the compressor so I mounted it in the frunk. It is clearly louder than the better than average 2020 RT horn.

[EdMat]

Since I had it off I started playing with the stock horn on the bench. shook it, hit it on the bench, just about everything short of getting out a hammer. No joy, Just the stock horn sound. Guess the squeaky toy sound is gone forever.

[Peter Aawen]

Since I had it off I started playing with the stock horn on the bench. shook it, hit it on the bench, just about everything short of getting out a hammer. No joy, Just the stock horn sound. Guess the squeaky toy sound is gone forever.

But did you try pouring water &/or a mud slurry into the 'noise outlet' end of the horn??

That usually changes the 'stock horn sound' a fair bit..... at least until it dries out again!

[EdMat]

But did you try pouring water &/or a mud slurry into the 'noise outlet' end of the horn??

That usually changes the 'stock horn sound' a fair bit..... at least until it dries out again!

Nope, and I know you said it as a joke, but before I take it apart I may try a squirt of water just to see.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Nope, and I know you said it as a joke, but before I take it apart I may try a squirt of water just to see.

It takes very little dirt to mute a horn! It should be easy to take apart, clean, and put back together.