10 Wheels

Small marine horn



https://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/st...r+horn&Ntk=All

bikepro

And, your point is?

01 CAt Man Do

Sorry, but most people aren't going to necessarily slam on the brakes when they hear a horn BUT they are certainly going to exercise caution of some sort particularly if they were planning a lane change or pulling out into what was believed to be a clear intersection.

I just played the Youtube video of the hornit. Not at all what I was expecting. Very, very high pitched whine similar to a car alarm. Since it's just a video I have no idea how loud it is in real life and how well it can be heard when inside a car. One thing was clear from the video, it certainly drew attention from pedestrians a good ways off. If it's any where near as loud as a car alarm it's damn loud. If you ever had a car alarm go off outside of your building you know how annoyingly loud the things are.

The problem with the tone recognition of the hornit is a legitimate concern. One of these is not going to produce the same reaction as the airsound but it should produce at least a "WTF" reaction. Not as good as a "OMG"!! reaction but better than no reaction at all. The advantage of the hornit is that you can mount the remote switch near the brake levers. Not sure if the airsound gives you that same option although I much prefer the tone of the airsound.

I'd like to see a product developed similar to the portable hand-held marine airhorns but with multiple mounting options along with a remote switch. Ideally it would come in colors to match your bike, mount vertically to the head tube or horizontally to the bars. The remote is the key though. Remote is a "Must have" feature if you want to be able to brake and alert others at the same time.

StarDust4Ever

I'm beginning to tone down a little too. Some crazy stuff I was doing just 6 years ago, at 26, I would not do now, at 32.

I forget my horn's name but the cap is glued on to where it would be impossible to remove without destroying the bottle. I assume I will be able to get it working again once I patch the tube. I wish they had used something tougher like a hydraulic brake cable, instead of cheap rubber/plastic for the air hose. A more expensive solution that would hold a lot more capacity would be one of those refillable CO2 cartridges mounted to the top tube, which would last a crazy long time since the CO2 inside is typically liquified. The typical usage is for air guns and beverage carbonators and just about anything else that needs a source for non-flammable pressurized gas. I believe you can get them refilled at sporting goods stores or paintball ranges. It would need a pressure regulator though otherwise the horn would likely explode.

noglider 

Interesting idea. It would be more expensive, but I like the fact that it would be a lot less bulky. Also, since it would have a pressure regulator, it could have two or three buttons, one for each level of volume you want. You want super loud for when a motor vehicle is cutting you off very close, but you don't when you're coming up behind a pedestrian. Then again, if the pedestrian has headphones on and is where he shouldn't be, he deserves a loud blast.

georgedesign

Hi guys

I've assembled a custom air horn using some spare parts. It works like AirZound, but it's cheaper to make (at least in my country).
Well, just sharing =)

https://vimeo.com/75667107

noglider 

Fantástico!

01 CAt Man Do

A really good idea. Personally something that works with just standard CO2 cartridges would be fine but likely the freeze-effect of the CO2 gas would not work well with the diaphragm that would make the noise. What ever gas they use in the marine air horns should work fine though.

quote: noglider
A couple volume settings would be a very good idea.

StarDust4Ever

I don't know if it would work. The air horn I had (max pressure @ 80psi) didn't sound any louder when I first charged it up, until very shortly before the pressure went out.

I didn't think about the freezing effect of CO2 though. We popped a couple of the smaller disposable CO2 canisters as teenagers and the bottles frosted over.

loneviking61

Well, I wanted something loud to get drivers attention. I went to WalMart and got this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Attwood-8o...rhorn/16203677


And then to E-Bay for this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-Univers...item27d44e8af7

Voila! Loud horn on a bike, and I have tested it at temps in the 30's and it works. I'll have to wait for winter for colder temps to test it on. It is LOUD!

cplager

That's what my father used to ride with when I was a kid. It works.

(We never rode when it was cold, so I can't comment about what will happen then.)

2_i 

I do not need to wait for winter, just put it for a while into a freezer. This is how I test all questionable equipment, to avoid being caught by surprise. I would include the elastic band in the test.

cplager

Nice!

01 CAt Man Do

Yeah, those will be loud. Of that I have no doubt. The thing is to be of practical use you have to be able to access the horn quickly while maintaining control of the bike in an *emergency ( ie...*swerving and or braking at the same time ). Unless the control button can be mounted next to the handlebar grips that's not going to be possible with a lot of different kind of horns.

cyclingYEG

If you're willing to do wiring and deal with a 12V battery do what I did and get a FIAMM 120dB car horn. From my experience people think that they are going to get hit from their blindspot, so they quickly shoulder check to see where the horn is coming from. Then they see me and react. I personally think this is better than an AirZound. Motorists have a tendency to filter out sounds that aren't horns so they can focus on the road (which isn't necessarily a bad thing on their part, but it's why whistles and bells don't work very well. Drivers think the sound is coming from the side walk for someone else.) I've just personally found that people take my horn more seriously. If an people in your area take the AirZound seriously then great! It saves you the hassle of making/maintaining electronics, but it's just an option to consider.

noglider 

I toss that idea around in my head often, cyclingYEG. I might do it as an experiment, but it's expensive, heavy, labor intensive, and not portable from bike to bike.

I might dig this thing out of retirement. The clamp is crap, so I have to fashion a different one. This isn't portable from bike to bike, either, but it's cheap. I have one in my junk bin currently.

I once had one when I lived in Boston. I remember two incidents when it worked better than I had hoped, both times in Cambridge.

In one, I had the light but the motorists had stopped streaming, and pedestrians started to flow into the street, in front of me, since they didn't hear me coming. I blew the horn, and two pedestrians JUMPED BACKWARDS onto the curb.

In the other, a car was starting to right-hook me, and I blew the horn. The motorist stopped, and I went ahead. Then when he saw that I was "just a bike" he honked back at me in anger. Well, dude, you shouldn't have cut me off.

cyclingYEG

You also can get 12V "A-woo-gaa" horns, not so much for safety but more for fun.

A guy was working on a kit that had 2 car horns at different pitches in a special casing that mounted to the bike frame, so that you could charge and dismount easily making swapping it between bikes as easy as an airzound. I don't know how far the kickstarter got but you can check it out here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...s-for-cyclists

fietsbob

I've wanted one that sounds like an Angry Godzilla .. at the radioactive monster sound level..

noglider 

That kickstarter horn is very good. On one hand, 23 ounces is a lot of weight to carry for a horn that you hope you don't use often. On the other hand, it weighs a lot less than it would if you put it together from motorcycle and hobby parts. It's also a lot neater. The $95 price tag means I won't buy one on impulse, and I probably won't ever buy one. But I'm glad they did it. Maybe others will figure out how to do something similar for less money.

Carib Can

I bought a Hornit after some close calls. It's a great horn, well designed and looks like an OK quality.

It's not as loud as people think, it's not loud enough for a driver in a car with his windows rolled up while listening to music.

it does not get drivers attention as much as I would like and to be honest, many drivers did not even hear it for the most part when I use it.

Its great for getting other cyclists and pedestrians attention but for vehicles, not too effective.

2_i 

By contrast, my moped horn gets attention of drivers in close proximity practically every time. It was a bit tricky to mount it so it sounded loud - a poor mounting could dampen the sound by a lot. I only use it on pedestrians when they have headphones on and I already exhausted the capabilities of my loud bell.

Carib Can

I think anything that closely sounds like an automobile horn like that of your moped horn will get drivers attention.

i was looking at my local hobby shop for lithium ion batteries we use to fly electric rc airplanes, looking to see what I can use for a 12 volt horn. A moped horn might be running of 6 volts so will look at that too. This will be my next step.

2_i 

Mine is 6V DC. They are not very common, but can be found.

Carib Can

Will look into a 6 volt one for sure.

cyclingYEG

Batteries from old laptops are a great source of Lithium cells, which can be used instead of the SLA battery that I use for a significant weight decrease. Now I wish I didn't throw that old broken laptop away. DX