Delta Airzound Bike Horn Review
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Delta Airzound Bike Horn Review
I wrote a nice full review about the Delta Airzound Bike Horn. I have enjoyed it, and hope this might help people when they look up the product on here.
You can see the whole review HERE. There are photos on the site, And I plan to add a video later.
You can see the whole review HERE. There are photos on the site, And I plan to add a video later.
I ordered the Delta Airzound Bike Horn back in February. I have had a good 8 months to try it out now. The Airzound is a great accessory for a cyclist that does anything more than recreational cycling. The basic design is a plastic bottle (it looks just like a single use bottled water) full of compressed air. Leading off of the bottle is a plastic hose that meets up with the horn itself. The horn has a button over a schrader valve that you can refill the bottle with air through. The bottle can hold up to 80psi (claimed to be about 30 blasts). This is a closed system, so if the hose gets pinched, or punctured, it won’t work. Delta doesn’t offer any repair kits.
Placing the horn on the bike took me some time before I got it mounted where I liked it. There is little space on my bars for accessories, but I still figured out a good way to mount it. The bottle and hose are another story. The bottle is a smaller diameter then the average cage, so it’s hard to fit it in securely. It might have been nicer if they had made it out of thicker plastic and made it fit like a cycling water bottle should. The bottle is wrapped in velcro and it comes with another velcro strip to zip-tie onto the frame. Different kinds of bike frames will have different set ups for the Airzound. The tube that leads to the horn can also be hard to route. Make sure not to crush the tube under a zip-tie; that will cut off the air, or worse, break the tube. The easiest thing to do is run the tube alongside the cables.
The overall manufacturing quality is good, no flaws. The sound from the horn is extremely loud. It really works when you’re trying to get a car’s attention. The drivers seem to get surprised when there is such a loud sound coming from a little bike. But that is what this horn is all about. I must warn you though, this horn is not to be used towards other cyclists or pedestrians. Please be cautious about using it around people who aren’t in cars. It is claimed to be up to 115dB. This falls in between a car horn (110 dB) and a jet engine (120 dB). There is a volume control, but I haven’t experimented with that feature. I prefer to leave it on the loudest setting, just in case. Even when I know I’m about to use the Airzound, the noise that comes out of it startles me sometimes. I try to warn whoever I’m riding with before I use it, so they are prepared.
I haven’t had any problems with mine yet, but have read cold weather will dampen the sound. All in all, this is a great horn for cyclists, whether you are bike touring on country roads or your daily commute involves a lot of traffic. This horn lets you be heard when needed.
The Delta Airzound Bike HornMSRP is $39.99. I bought mine off of Amazon for around $25, and I have seen them in most LBS for around $25-30. There is nothing else out there on the market to really compete with this product. So bottom line is, if you want a horn to make others aware of your presence when necessary, this will do the trick.
Placing the horn on the bike took me some time before I got it mounted where I liked it. There is little space on my bars for accessories, but I still figured out a good way to mount it. The bottle and hose are another story. The bottle is a smaller diameter then the average cage, so it’s hard to fit it in securely. It might have been nicer if they had made it out of thicker plastic and made it fit like a cycling water bottle should. The bottle is wrapped in velcro and it comes with another velcro strip to zip-tie onto the frame. Different kinds of bike frames will have different set ups for the Airzound. The tube that leads to the horn can also be hard to route. Make sure not to crush the tube under a zip-tie; that will cut off the air, or worse, break the tube. The easiest thing to do is run the tube alongside the cables.
The overall manufacturing quality is good, no flaws. The sound from the horn is extremely loud. It really works when you’re trying to get a car’s attention. The drivers seem to get surprised when there is such a loud sound coming from a little bike. But that is what this horn is all about. I must warn you though, this horn is not to be used towards other cyclists or pedestrians. Please be cautious about using it around people who aren’t in cars. It is claimed to be up to 115dB. This falls in between a car horn (110 dB) and a jet engine (120 dB). There is a volume control, but I haven’t experimented with that feature. I prefer to leave it on the loudest setting, just in case. Even when I know I’m about to use the Airzound, the noise that comes out of it startles me sometimes. I try to warn whoever I’m riding with before I use it, so they are prepared.
I haven’t had any problems with mine yet, but have read cold weather will dampen the sound. All in all, this is a great horn for cyclists, whether you are bike touring on country roads or your daily commute involves a lot of traffic. This horn lets you be heard when needed.
The Delta Airzound Bike HornMSRP is $39.99. I bought mine off of Amazon for around $25, and I have seen them in most LBS for around $25-30. There is nothing else out there on the market to really compete with this product. So bottom line is, if you want a horn to make others aware of your presence when necessary, this will do the trick.
Last edited by amckimmey; 10-12-11 at 03:25 PM.
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Thank you for the review. Do you fill it through the shown Schraeder valve? Does the horn come with the metal frame that's around the air reservoir bottle (shown in the last photo)?
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I'm still looking for an air horn or electric buzzer that works well with brifters/drop bars. It kinda defeats the purpose when you'd have to reach a fair distance for the horn in an urgent, emergency scenario.
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The metal frame is just a planet bike cage reversed just to help hold it. It is that way because the frame size is a 50 and the fenders run in to the bottle the other way. So by putting the cage on reversed it sits farther back.
I had drop bars and bar end shifter and it works well right next to the stem. Just make sure the cables don't run out in it's way.
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Airzound FTW! I zip-tied a cheap water bottle cage underneath my downtube and loosely routed the line around the frame. It sure gets cager's attention!
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from your images it looks like we mount them just about the same. My bike has mounts for a cage, and I don't wrap my hose around the down tube. just run it along under. I did use to have it mounted on the seat tube and run it right along my frame pump and TT, I was always afraid of mashing it. down tube seems a lot safer.
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FWIW I've had mine for over a year now. It's completely useless in cold weather, below about 25*F (about -5C) it doesn't make any noise at all, it just hisses a bit.
I've also found that a horn (any horn) is only really useful if you see a driver getting ready to do something stupid ahead of time and are prepared to warn them. In the two cases of unexpected pull-out in front of me that I've encountered since getting the horn, I didn't use the horn either time because I didn't have time to move my hand to the button.
I like the thing and will leave it on but I may take it off in the winter since it's useless anyway. Probably when I put the studs on I'll take the horn off.
I've also found that a horn (any horn) is only really useful if you see a driver getting ready to do something stupid ahead of time and are prepared to warn them. In the two cases of unexpected pull-out in front of me that I've encountered since getting the horn, I didn't use the horn either time because I didn't have time to move my hand to the button.
I like the thing and will leave it on but I may take it off in the winter since it's useless anyway. Probably when I put the studs on I'll take the horn off.
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#8
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I've had mine for a couple of years. The bottle fits firmly in my bottle cage with the tubing routed under the top tube. Don't use it too often but it has come in handy on a number of occasions. I can even get the attention of semi drivers with this thing.
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I have been using the version without the tubes for close to a year with great results. I place it in one of the waterbotle cages and can quickly reach with my right hand fingers. I use it all the time - mostly people who pass me with no turn signals which is like 5 times a day!
I fill mine up to about 100 psi and it has never leaked air much less exoloded.
It works great even at 0-10 degrees F (the coldest I have ridden)
I fill mine up to about 100 psi and it has never leaked air much less exoloded.
It works great even at 0-10 degrees F (the coldest I have ridden)
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