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Path: utzoo!decvax!harpo!whuxlm!whuxl!houxm!ihnp4!cbosgd!cbdkc1!tjs
From: tjs@cbdkc1.UUCP ( Tom Stanions)
Newsgroups: net.cycle
Subject: Re: after market horns - query
Message-ID: <1025@cbdkc1.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Jul-85 13:56:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbdkc1.1025
Posted: Wed Jul  3 13:56:55 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 4-Jul-85 04:25:24 EDT
References: <682@rlgvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: tjs@dkc1.UUCP ( Tom Stanions)
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 42

In article <682@rlgvax.UUCP> toml@rlgvax.UUCP (Tom Love) writes:
>i'm in the market for a set of after market horns for my 83 honda nighthawk
>650.  i have ruled out the silly-looking bugle horns;  that leave two
>basic categories of horns:  the electrics (usually sold in pairs), and the
>air horns.
>
>i've looked at fiamme horns of both varieties, and i've heard of bosch
>and strebel, but haven't seen them.  the fiamme's seem to cost between $30
>and 35 retail, but none of the discounters seem to carry them.
>
>does anyone have experience with fiamme's or other brands?
>does anyone have insight into the electric vs air decision?
>do air horns require maintenance, frequent or otherwise?
>which are louder?
>can i get them discounted?
>what about the other brands?
>any tips on installation and wiring?  (a friend recommends using a relay
>to isolate the stock horn switch;  he says the current drawn by the after
>market horns will fry the stock switch.)
>

I have used Fiamms on my Honda 750 for 11 years.  I did have to replace the
first set when one of them stopped working (after ~9 years).  They are loud
enough for anything I've ever needed and are easy to  install (if no relay is
included you will need to buy one, the horns do draw a high current).  The air
horns are probably louder, or they carry farther, but when I blow my horn I
want a car driver to turn his head and look for a motorcycle, not a truck.

The air horns are more difficult to install and their plumming makes them more
likely to fail.  Also there is a delay as air pressure is build up before the
horn sounds.

You might get a deal if J.C. Whitney still carries them.  If not then $30
sounds like a fair price.  I paid $20 for my first set and ~$30 for the
second.

If you should go for the Fiamms be sure to mount them so that the rain will run
out of them (that is with the horn section down and the electronics on top).  I
mounted my first set wrong and when I went to use it in the rain it sounded
like a drownding cow until it pumped the water out.

{allegra|ihnp4}!cbdkc1!tjs