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I'm going to finally order a new horn for my RSV. I've used high power electrics but never the WOLOs and etc. that many of you go with. So my question, is there any significant difference between the WOLO and the Stebel? I know that Harbor Freight sells something similar also but I will most likely order one of those two.

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I'm going to finally order a new horn for my RSV. I've used high power electrics but never the WOLOs and etc. that many of you go with. So my question, is there any significant difference between the WOLO and the Stebel? I know that Harbor Freight sells something similar also but I will most likely order one of those two.

 

I have used both integral compressor horns on various applications, I think any real world difference is negligable at best. I had an unbranded version that was about as loud but lasted all of a year. I have a Wolo now on my Vmax and its plenty loud. Because of mounting limitations I had to seperate the integral unit and add a length of hose. The compressor and relay are mounted just forward of the air box in the pocket previously enjoyed by the front OEM coils and the horn, which now weighs very little, is mounted between the front downpipes. It would have been aesthetically tragic to try and mount the intact unit but grand if there is room on whichever bike its goong onto. What I feared about a train horn (mounting issues aside) or multi-trumpet design is that if it were really loud enough it might spook someone into running me down in a panicked bid to escapt the train. Im going to try the duel tone electric Hella (I think) horns on the Venture.

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The two stebels that I now have on my bike are definitely louder than the two wool horns that I had on it before.

 

Ron

 

Ron I heard something louder than both of your horns on the way home. I thought you and your wife were going to jump off the bike when that truck tire blew beside you. :yikes:

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Here is what Run and they get attention big time!!! I have had to use them 3 times now. One time in Walmart parking lot and everyone outside was trying to find the big rig!!:rotfl:This is just a short Toot and putting the phone down by the horn I should have got one in front of the bike somewhere.

 

 

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I have had the Stebel, current bike has a WOLO and I have 2 of the e-bay knock off jobs that are like $15. All of them sound about the same. Have not had a lick of problems out of any of them, even the Chinese ones. Shoot they are all probably made in the same place. Depending on what day it is as to what sticker goes on it.

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The two stebels that I now have on my bike are definitely louder than the two wool horns that I had on it before.

 

Ron

 

Ron,

You should attach some pic's and mounting instructions for the horns on your RSV. The position between the engine V looks good and is out of the way.

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Here is the horns that I mounted in the V of the engine on both sides. I just used 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum angle and cut it to fit around the end of the twinkie cover and used the end bolt to secure it.

 

Ron[ATTACH=CONFIG]112923[/ATTACH]15282906547391254226728175479338.jpg[ATTACH=CONFIG]112924[/ATTACH]

15282905776049033983650767634814.jpg

15282906210863670975039360921702.jpg

Edited by WIZ
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Don't have pictures with me but...

I originally mounted one Stebel using Larry's (CarbonOne) bracket where the OEM horn went but switched to Charles' (SlowRollWV) mounts which put one Stebel on each side of the bike below and behind the passenger floorboards. Put the OEM horn back in place in the original location. Technically I have four horns operating (can't hear the OEM horns over the Stebel's).

 

To power the two Stebel horns, I put a fuse block inside the passenger backrest and have separate power feed and relays for each horn. The fuse block also powers a USB port I put in my trunk to charge phones/cameras when riding and to power the trailer adapter.

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I still want to build this some day to have real train horns on my bike. The train horns that I have on my truck work REALLY well.

This will plug into my 1 - 1/4 inch receiver hitch, and has tie downs to also be used to carry a cooler for day trips. It contains the 4 trumpets, air compressor, tank and all valves and plumbing for the system. In a pinch the air supply can be used to air up the tires on the bike. I will also have a mini reciever to be able to attach this to the tongue of my trailer to give me a place for the cooler and a good horn.

 

Horn-Assembly1.jpg

 

 

Horn-Assembly2.jpg

 

 

Horn-Assembly3.jpg

 

The interesting thing with horns is the dB ratings, they are mostly all such BS. Most hons just give a dB rating and no other info. A dB rating without a distance is meaningless. Most car and bike horns that do give a distance have it well hidden because it is usually 4 inches. If someone is just 4 inches from the horn it is pretty much to late. When working with sound it is a logarithmic scale. This means that for every change of 3 dB you have doubled or halved the sound pressure level. The way sound travels thru air, every time you double the distance you loose 3 dB, or half of the volume. So if you are starting out at 120 dB at 4 inches, then you will have 117 dB at 8 inches. 114 at 16", and so on to get down to 99 dB (about 1/8 of the rated volume) at just 14 yards, Most people can yell at 100 dB and 14 yards is not very far away at driving speed. A train horn by federal specification must do 120 dB at 100 yards. That is LOUD. I used to work for a place that made parts for locomotives and the horns was one of our products. The test room was real interesting with a dozen train horns all blasting away at the same time. No one could possible survive in that room with the horns all blasting. There were many safeties in place to protect from the noise.

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Well, after riding a second gen for the most part of the past 19 years, I finally decided to give the air horn a try. I had dual Fiamm's mounted inside the fairing of the '99 and in spite of the fairing perhaps muffling them a bit, they were pretty loud. When a door prize ticket was pulled at MD with my number on it, I chose @Carbon_One horn bracket and wiring harness that was on the prize table. So, decided I may as well order a horn. Ended up going with the Stebel.

 

Installed it this morning and it was very easy with Larry's kit. It is indeed loud. Now to see how long it lasts. I'm happy with it though.

 

IMG_1069.jpg

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