Quick Stebel Horn Mount

[S.D.Willie]

I was worried about finding a place to mount it after reading a gazillion threads here but someone said they used the existing horn mount and thats exactly what i did. It was cake to do and i dont personally think its an eyesore PLUS its actually facing the proper way which is unlike the way i mounted the stebel on my vulcan. Judging from the pics its a bit crooked which is easily fixed with an open end wrench.

On a crappy note i was all set to do the wiring and had the tank propped up with a handy wine bottle. Out of nowhere i smell all this gas(not from me) and i realize fuel is coming from the overflow hose onto the ground. Crap. I guess i shoulda ran the tank down like i did last time. DOH!. ill have to do a bit more riding before i wire this sucka up.

 

[RJ2112]

You might want to grab a big handful of front brake and ensure that horn doesn't hit your fender........... pump the front suspension full stroke. You can see the 'high water' marks on the fork tubes, where the suspension oil is reaching to from the upper seals in fork legs.... and that's about half way 'up' your horn..............

Pic # 3 looks like you have about 3" of suspension travel available before the bottom of the compressor hits the fender.

 

[Erci]

Or just measure the distance from the fender to the horn. If it's less than 130mm (that's the total fork travel), you're going to have to relocate the horn.
Just lock the rear brake first and pull back on the handlebar a bit to make sure the fork is fully extended before you measure.

 

[RJ2112]

Please excuse the extremely filthy bike.... this is a 'front on' shot I took of my '05 on the centerstand to show the full compression of the fork. You can see the typical compression and just above that the fainter clean area that is the max the fork would go... I believe that's the bump stop.... freaking weak arsed OEM springs.... about 1/2" below the lowest point of the OEM horn.

Point being, you can see how little clearance there is with the OEM horn on the mount... the crown of the fender is about 1.5" below the wiping ring that sweeps the crud off the fork leg. If your Stebel extends more than about 2" past the lowest point of the OEM horn...... I do believe it will make contact with the fender at some point.

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[S.D.Willie]

crap, and here i was thinking i did a good thing. Damn. I'll measure the horn to the fender tomorrow. 130mm=about 5" i guess.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

That's where I have my horn mounted for the past couple of years and I have had no issues hitting the fender. I would have to double check and see if it's mounted exaclty the same way, but I may have mounted mine a tad differently. But it's pretty much the same way as SD's.

 

[RJ2112]

I'd be very interested in the pic, VR. Especially if you can show one from the side.

I've wanted to mount an extra light on the horn mount, and have not done so due to potential impact with the fender. Moving a Stebel into a fairing pocket seems like a good way to clear that space for such use.

Do you have OEM springs in your bike?

 

[Andz]

I think that apart from the potential mudguard collision potential, hanging it out in the elements like that is going to shorten the life of the horn as well as exposing it to potential theft.

I mounted mine inside the left side of the fairing and that seems to be the preferred place.

 

[S.D.Willie]

I think that apart from the potential mudguard collision potential, hanging it out in the elements like that is going to shorten the life of the horn as well as exposing it to potential theft.

I mounted mine inside the left side of the fairing and that seems to be the preferred place.

Potential theft? Here in NY they steal expensive cars not horns off motorcycles. I would think a 35 dollar horn isnt worth the trouble.

 

[chimneydoc]

The horn looks OK to me. The only thing that matters is CAN THEY HEAR YOU. The air horn will most likely be my next mod. Thanks for the pics.

Doc

 

[Andz]

I would think a 35 dollar horn isnt worth the trouble.

The thing is, mounted like that it isn't any trouble, it will be gone in seconds. I guess I'm just thinking about what would happen here.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I think that apart from the potential mudguard collision potential, hanging it out in the elements like that is going to shorten the life of the horn as well as exposing it to potential theft.

I mounted mine inside the left side of the fairing and that seems to be the preferred place.

Ditto. I mounted mine out of sight under the left side fairing. Made a bracket and bolted to the steel fairing stay...

 

[S.D.Willie]

The thing is, mounted like that it isn't any trouble, it will be gone in seconds. I guess I'm just thinking about what would happen here.

Yeah thats def. nuts that someone would steal a horn. I figured they would just get a few friends and pick the bike up and throw it into a truck instead. then you get much more than the horn!

 

[RJ2112]

S.D...... have you tried pumping the front suspension yet to see if the horn 'clears' the fender? You could do that pretty easily and resolve this. If you put a piece of masking tape on your fender, and use a marking pen to wet the bottom of the horn where it MIGHT make contact... then grab the front brake, and romp on the front suspension -- you'd get a mark on the tape if it touches. No mark, you're good to go.

 

[S.D.Willie]

S.D...... have you tried pumping the front suspension yet to see if the horn 'clears' the fender? You could do that pretty easily and resolve this. If you put a piece of masking tape on your fender, and use a marking pen to wet the bottom of the horn where it MIGHT make contact... then grab the front brake, and romp on the front suspension -- you'd get a mark on the tape if it touches. No mark, you're good to go.

Nah havent had the chance to do this as of yet but i plan on it. Good idea, thanks.

 

[S.D.Willie]

So after messing around with the way its mounted and grabbing the front brake a bunch of times i dont like the way it wedges up against the brake hose. Every time i grab the brake hard i hear the plastic of the horn which i dont like. Turning it any other way doesn't really work. And i DONT want to put it inside the fairing at all. Hitting the fender wasnt really a problem. I love the stebel on my Vulcan but the hell with it, this thing is going sadly. I will try out the FIAMM. I have put it up on craigs list since i dont want to pay the lame restocking fee. I might also put it for sale here in the for sale section incase anyone here is interested. This was obviously never even wired up.

 

[Boneman]

So why are you so oppsoed to putting it up inside the left front faring???

I didn't even make a monut for mine. I just 'hung' it on the backed off head of an exisitng faring screw and added a few cable ties. Presto. nice and clean and out of site. Too easy.

 

[S.D.Willie]

So why are you so oppsoed to putting it up inside the left front faring???

I didn't even make a monut for mine. I just 'hung' it on the backed off head of an exisitng faring screw and added a few cable ties. Presto. nice and clean and out of site. Too easy.

But yours in an 05. Is that even an option on the 09? Reason i didnt want to put it in the fairing was i really wanted it in the front of the bike so the sound is projected as far forward as possible. I looked at your pics and not sure but it looks like you took the whole front fairing off? Is that correct?

 

[Boneman]

But yours in an 05. Is that even an option on the 09? Reason i didnt want to put it in the fairing was i really wanted it in the front of the bike so the sound is projected as far forward as possible. I looked at your pics and not sure but it looks like you took the whole front fairing off? Is that correct?

Oh sorry, forgot yours was an 09. So I'm not sure if you have enough phsyical room inside as I'm unfailiar with how 'cavernous' the inner farings are on an 09.

Trust me, it PROJECTS it's 139db just fine!!

You only need to remove the inner faring piece. The photos of mine are from when I had the entire front off when I did my HID conversion (I took a few photos for clairity of it's position inside the faring).

 

[RJ2112]

S.D., I'd seriously take a look at mounting it inside the 'cheek' of the fairing. I agree 100% with Boneman.... that thing is so loud it won't matter which way it's pointing. You could probably futz around with it enough to get the horn end to point more forward than down in that space you'd have available anyway.