Telly

Hello everyone,

Late in the evening I had to make a quick run to a local grocery shop and took my bike out. While riding towards the store, I had a driver tailgate me in a local residential street with cars parked bumper-to-bumper on both sides barely leaving space for a car to pass through, therefore I couldn't fine a large enough opening to stop and let the !@#$%^ pass by for a distance of around 150-200 yards.

That's when I made a stupid mistake and squeezed in between two parked cars... the idiot stopped next to me, lowered his window and started going ballistic with verbal abuse (seemed intoxicated). He stood there for a good minute or more and had me boxed into the space, and didn't seem to be letting up... so I slid off the back of the bike, un-clipped the air-horn and gave him a 3-4 second full blast through the window, also alerting (aka waking up) the neighborhood in the process.

The guy panicked, floored the car in the narrow street taking a couple of parked car mirrors along with his own. I did get his license plate and gave it to one of the parked cars owners which had come down to see what the commotion was.

Who would have imagined that a bike air-horn could be used as a defensive weapon!
Never-the-less, I've learned my lesson on what not to do, as in not letting myself be boxed-in with no escape route (the sidewalk was closed off by metal bars keeping cars from parking on it)

FunkyStickman

Airzound FTW. Never leave home without it.

I'm thinking about keeping mine at my desk at work.

Telly

I've already ordered a spare unit for myself, and one as a gift for a riding buddy.

chefisaac

ordered one a few days ago. cant wait till it comes!!!!!!!!!!

anything I should know about it? Quirks? or anything?

Mithrandir

LOL nice story. Cager damaging other cagers cages was a bonus. Sadly, because he damaged other cars, I have no doubt the police will actually be inclined to do something about it.

Bought an Airzound last week. It's still in the mail

chefisaac

where did you buy yours from mith? I got mine from ebay.

Telly

Take care not to have the hose stretched, especially when placing the bottle in a bottle holder. I wrapped the hose around the lower frame a couple of times and attached a velcro strip where the lower frame meets the headset leaving enough tube so that the handlebars can rotate their full length without having it taunt.

Medic Zero

+1 !

I've got a new commuter and I didn't have a new Airzoundz for a couple of weeks and then haven't had time to mount it in the past week (need to also mount a Minoura water bottle cage & works been crazy). I've felt pretty naked without it. Several times when I would have used it I've had to resort to a loud "HELLOOOOO?!". Luckily I have a voice that is a cross between Barry Whites and a Bene Gesserit witch using The Voice so I've been okay, but now that I'm on my days off the Airzoundz is going on STAT!

Medic Zero

I find them a little delicate. Sunny climes might kill the hose within a year no matter what you do.* Nonetheless, totally worth the circa $30 for your safety and the ability to honk back at car horns or drown out a-holes shouting at you. Serious morale and confidence booster as well as being a piece of safety equipment I think every bike should have along with a bell for more polite signaling to pedestrians and cyclists as you overtake them.

* I've toyed with the idea of repairing one of my dead ones with oxygen tubing and model glue but haven't done it yet. Could well be possible. Anyone needs access to the tubing and wants to try it can contact me and I'll mail it to them.

tarwheel 

Great story. I gotta get me one of those.

Telly

@MedicZero, I've heard that Delta, the company that manufacturer them is great with spare parts and even has extension tubing so you can put the bottle in the rear pannier! Another thing I noticed and will try is that the bottle cap seems standard width and type as found on soda bottles. I'm going to try and install a 1.5 liter bottle (have a brand of water sold here where the bottle fits nicely onto a bike holder).

idc

Same. +1

newkie

They rock but don't last.

2manybikes

Arter a decade or so, the plastic bottle can explode when you fill it up. Mine was not out in the sun during this time, it was on a bike that does not get ridden much. The new neoprene bottle cover may make this less dargerous. One can can yell as loud as the horn.

CliftonGK1

You get about 50 seconds of solid blast out of the stock bottle. You can double that with a 1.5L bottle. A buddy of mine uses the extender hose and a backpack rigged up with a 2x 3L soda bottles on a home-cobbled coupler attachment. He gets about 5 straight minutes of blast from it. (Not used when riding around; this is his setup for sporting events.)

I have a spare one that I keep for just walking around (because drivers where I live, like most places, don't give a crap about crosswalks and right-of-way.) I put the bottle in a belt-clip holder and stick the horn in my pocket. Scares the heck out of people.

canyoneagle

+100

K'Tesh

I'd love to get one, but I don't know where I'd mount the thing on my dashboard...



(actually, that's an old photo of my old bike... my newest bike has less space between the shifter and the stem, and a remote lockout for the shocks to contend with)

Telly

@K'Tesh, you need a handlebar extender... or two, or three!

K'Tesh

Already have one (I spray painted mine black though)...


(Photo links to the retailer's website for fairness)


edit... Found a more recent image with my setup...


(I'm the guy in yellow)

Problem is that I don't have a way of keeping all my "thumb controls" within thumb's reach.

pwdeegan

i can't yell as loud as my horn. that's ultimately why i bought one: to penetrate into dangerous drivers' perceptions. 106db of sonic cushion. for urban riding: worth. every. penny.

Seattle Forrest

This could solve 95 % of my work-related annoyances. "No, I didn't hear that the testers found a new bug. They don't like talking to me anymore..."

Seattle Forrest

You can remove the thermometer and replace it with one of these:



Alternately you can get one with a compass (I see you have both). I don't find a compass very useful, though, because around town I have enough visual guides that I can figure out which direction is which.

nashcommguy

Read 3-4 more posts before going back and laughing out loud at this one...some of us are a little s-l-o-w here on BF.

chefisaac

ktesh: questions: What is the sharpie for? How do you like the wireless lights?

K'Tesh

I could... but I'm a broke college student. I'm more worried about my next meal and my finals than the compass/thermometer. What's more, I already have them, why pay more?

The Sharpie is for taking notes (like license plates). The TriNewt's light output is cool, but the headlight is heavy and bulky. When I got the new bike, it stayed with the old ride. The new bike is using a Cordless MiNewt 600, which is brighter, smaller, and much lighter. In lighting competitions (such as the photo of me and Marc Allen), I'll drag out the old lighting systems.