hotbike

There are many cyclists who swear by the Zounds Air Horn. It almost seems like you only have to use the thing once, and forever after the drivers remember it, and they don't cut you off anymore.

I managed to repair a Zounds Air Horn yesterday, and I want to share a few tips. The biggest drawback to the air horn is that it stops working when the air temperature goes below 40 forty fahrenheit .

I opened up the diaphragm with two pairs of slip joint pliers. On one side of the diaphragm is a small piece of foam-rubber. I surmised that this piece of foam had lost it's resiliency and was too stiff to allow the diaphragm to vibrate.

So I took out the foam. Actually, there are two pieces of foam, I left the one in and removed the one that touches the diaphragm. I put the small piece of foam (about an inch square and a quarter inch thick) on the window-sill and trimmed the edged with a sharp knife. Put the foam back in, tightened the cover (but not with the brute torque that the horn left the factory with) , pumped it up, pressed the red button and TOOT ! TOOOOT ! , it works fine now.

Okay, I have two Zounds air horns, and now I might try to repair the other one. One has a hose between the air tank and the horn, the other has the horn mounted directly on the air bottle. I like the one with the hose better.

The Air Horn is a great Safety device. It can get the attention of an inattentive motorist. I've said this before and I'll say it again, but some equipment prevents accidents. The stupid thing about helmets is they don't do anything until the accident already happens.

SlimAgainSoon

I'd love to give one of those a try.

I don't really want one ... but it would be fun to blast a few drive-too-close motorists, at least once.

coffeecake

This is on my list of stuff to buy, eventually. Along with one of those motion alarms with a fob that beeps when you arm it. I live for startling others!

Greyryder

The alarm needs to be an announcer voice, that when set off loudly proclaims "Silent alarm activated!"

coffeecake

that's great. I was looking for one earlier that made the "chirp-chirp" noise, similar to what some newer cars do when locked. I think it would be especially effective after I declaim loudly, "Car? This is my car."

SCROUDS

I bought the zounds horn. Its mounted on the left side, haven't had to use it yet. I'm actually itching to use it, almost did yesterday, but the old guy in the buick finally decided that he couldn't cut me off entering the road.

I did accidently light it off in my apartment, that hurt. I figure one day it might come in handy. Mine has the hose and detachable bottle. I used the zelcro and zip ties to mount it to the top tube. The zip tie nipples scratched me a couple times until i realized they had to go under the set up and away from my leg.

The older one has a red button? Mine is white.

powers2b

By buddy has one.
Some kids yelled something at him when they passed by.
He caught them a couple blocks later at the light.
He rolled up next to them and set it off.
He said they nearly went through the roof of the car.

Enjoy

chandltp

I have been really tempted to do things like that with mine, but I keep reminding myself that I got it to alert motorists when I think my life is about to be in danger. Besides, if I use it too much, it won't have air when I really need it.

I used it once when I didn't really *need* to, since I didn't really even need to slow down when the cut me off. It was a group of teenage boys. If they had stopped because they were ticked off, it could have been ugly for me. So I try to avoid intentionally making people mad.

SCROUDS

So I actually used my horn yesterday. Used it exactly how I would have a car horn, to suggest the car in front to proceed through the green light. I thought briefly about filtering forward going in front, but didn't want to chance the front dude jack rabbiting through the intersection without warning.

Also let off a loud burst when I was fiddling with the headlights and leaned on the button at a traffic light, but that doesn't count.

Jonahhobbes

I've got one on the Salsa, I tend to use it to "toot" courteous drivers or people that know me more than for warning people or anger. I need to get another one for the surly. I have used it on a group of kids who wanted to block my way at night, the jumped about five feet in the air!