I'm Going to Get Loud

San Francisco · Post by **San Francisco** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:38 pm

I use my LOUD horn quite a bit:

1. To wake up drivers at intersections who are not looking in my
direction when preparing to enter the road and into my path.

2. To alert drivers in the lane next to me whom I can tell are getting
ready to change lanes [aka slam into me]. How can I tell? I see their
heads tilt, sometimes can see their eyes in their mirror, tires start to
move, or the worst, the car starts to move into my lane.

3. When cars put it into reverse to do whatever. They can't see me or
did not look. The horn wakes them up.

4. To warn jaywalkers that an insane person on a scooter is about to
run them down, so better scurry out of my way [this happens a lot in SF.
Jaywalking is a right in this town and tourists don't know how to safely
do it].

I love doing about 35, appear not to be slowing down, and blasting the
horn. The jaywalkers don't know what is up except they see this scooter
hauling ass toward them. They bolt for cover like ants under a
magnifying glass. [I could stop if I had to, I have my brakes at
the ready. But they always run fast enough to get out of the way].

In this town I'd have to say one cannot go longer than about two minutes
without someone's horn going off. Downtown it's about 30 seconds, at most.

Bonus Comment: I also know where my horn button is. No need to look
for it. And there is no danger in pushing the wrong button [such as the kill
switch] because all the switches on the left side are harmless if pushed.
But the horn switch is pretty easy to find once you practice where to find it.

Use it as much as I do and one learns pretty fast where it is located.

krylonics · Post by **krylonics** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:39 pm

I use my horn quite a bit too. Never to avoid trouble but to keep it from happening. Quite often people who park in the street won't see a scooter (bike, moped, motorcycle) coming and have a tendency to throw their door open. So when I see someone in their car I cover the brakes move to the left and give a short polite honk. It saved me and their door many times in my car, moped, and already in the week I've had my scoot. With that I figure the louder the better.

BoneGirl · Post by **BoneGirl** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:53 pm

San Francisco wrote:I use my LOUD horn quite a bit:

Man! I'm glad I live in Cincinnati. It seems we don't have NEARLY the amount of idiots here as you do out in San Fran.

krylonics · Post by **krylonics** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:06 pm

Idiots.... they are all around us.

Tbone · Post by **Tbone** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:11 pm

OCCASIONALLY the idiot is staring back at you in the mirror!

krylonics · Post by **krylonics** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:26 pm

Occasionally? You are too nice.

San Francisco · Post by **San Francisco** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:49 pm

BoneGirl wrote:
San Francisco wrote:I use my LOUD horn quite a bit:
quote]

Man! I'm glad I live in Cincinnati. It seems we don't have NEARLY the amount of idiots here as you do out in San Fran.
Yes, San Francisco may not be the best example to determine proper
horn use.

The factors that contribute to such bad driving are many, including:

1. This is a tourist town. In fact, it is our biggest industry. Tourists are
unfamiliar with the City.

2. Tourists, justifiably, find it difficult to drive in unfamilar terrain that
includes: hills, stop signs at tops of hills, numerous one-way streets,
many short city blocks, loads of blind spots [especially at intersections],
and crappy roads.

3. Many tourists arrive in the City and think the rules of the road do
not apply. It's almost as if they put on their party hats, get into party
mode and say to hell with safe driving.

4. The City has too many distractions for drivers. Tourists drive in awe,
can't find parking [so cars double park and get in the way], and there are
cable cars, jaywalkers, lost drivers looking at maps as they drive, drivers
darting across traffic to get going in the right direction toward their
destination, drivers cruising through red lights and stop signs [as if the
signal is not even there, they just drive through it and keep talking to the
passenger, both none the wiser], etc., etc.

5. A lot of drivers think that the proper way to get around the
City is to act like they are in the movie Bullit or to act like they are
Clint Eastwood filming a Dirty Harry sequel. Added to that are drivers
thinking they are Dirty Harry and their response to anyone who complains
about their driving is "Stay out of my way." Question them and they are
ready to fight.

6. And sadly, because there are bigger fish to fry, the police do not enforce
traffic laws. Fact is, it's damn hard to get a ticket in this town. I guess
that is a good thing for me, but I would prefer some motor officers
enforcing the traffic laws full time, not just once in awhile.

Corsair · Post by **Corsair** » Sun May 20, 2007 7:05 pm

Hey krylonics are you still happy with your horn? How was the install? Did you have add an amp/fuse? Got a sound clip? Thanks for any help you can give.

krylonics · Post by **krylonics** » Sun May 20, 2007 8:18 pm

I love the horns. When I did my road coarse test they scared the tester during the bike inspection. Guess she didn't expect that kind of noise out of a little scooter. I did not add an in-line fuse yet, only because of laziness. The instructions said I need a 10 amp fuse and I plan on getting one my next trip to Autozone.

Corsair · Post by **Corsair** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:27 pm

So then install is pretty much the same as the Stebel? It didn't come with the fuse?! Even without the fuse you've been free of electrical problems?

krylonics · Post by **krylonics** » Mon May 21, 2007 12:23 am

The installation would be quite similar sans the mounting of the horn itself. I haven't had any problems. Nor can I see any problems arising with the way I installed them (accept for the fact that I haven't put in a fuse, that will be remedied soon). The only thing these horns came with was the relay. Considering the large load the horns have the only way that I could see installing them was to run a new and dedicated wire directly to the battery and through the relay. That way the only load on the horn button is the relay and thats probably a smaller load than the original horn. The fuse needs to be installed to prevent a direct short to ground which at the least would run down your battery but likely would be worse. Possibly burn the wire and some kinda scary battery asplosions. Hmm...... thats sounds kinda bad now that I think about it. I guess I ought to practice what I preach, tomorrow I'm going to get a fuse. Are you installing a horn soon? If you have any specific questions about it I'd be happy to help out.

JeremyZ · Post by **JeremyZ** » Mon May 21, 2007 1:00 am

Nice thread. I've bookmarked the horn, it is now on My List. (after the luggage rack, Givi trunk, rewire turn signals, and brake light modulator)

As an electrical engineer, I'd like to advise you folks against using wire nuts to make electrical connections in your scooters. Those were designed for residential wiring and other wiring that will not be subject to vibration. The electrical tape will make it more secure, but still not as secure as it should be in a scooter.

The fancy ones ericcalm suggested would be better. Better yet (from a perspective of vibrating off) would be simple crimp on connectors; either butt or cap type.

Here's a Gardner Bender (GB in the stores) one like I'm talking about.

krylonics · Post by **krylonics** » Mon May 21, 2007 2:25 am

I was able to do my install with out making any wire splices at all. That is until I put in the inline fuse. For that I plan on using crimp on butt splices and some small shrink tube that I can abscond from work. But if its difficult for some to get shrink tube some 3M Super 33 tape wrapped tightly (and I emphasize tightly for best results) around the butt splices joint should suffice. Those GB crimps should work well too but I would wrap those in a tape as well to prevent moisture and any road grime from getting in them and oxidizing the connection. I get kinda anal about connections, I'm an electrician who works in a waste water treatment plant where corrosion is a constant problem so I tend to pay extra attention to these things. Its just my way.