749 Horn Upgrade - Ducati.ms

Dark_Daddy · Sep 12th, 2006, 12:54 am

After a fairly hairy commute home from work (Near Washington DC) I decided to check out some horn options and I ended up replacing that pathetic Japanese horn that came on my 749 with an Italian Stebel TM80 Magnum (high tone) horn. The install was easy and about 15 minutes. I used a stock mounting bracket point with the supplied bracket and it used the two wires from the OEM horn (no relay needed). I now have an increased output of 23 db (from 113 db to 136 db). It clears the fairing perfectly and works a whole lot better. Pirates lair sells this horn for 35.00 + shipping I bought it from hornsplus.com for 19.95 shipped to my door and had it in my hands in 5 days.

2fasst · Sep 12th, 2006, 2:56 am

thanks for the write up! definitely a safety upgrade.

angie-r · Sep 12th, 2006, 2:12 pm

Thanks for the info. This is something I am looking to do very soon. Can you post a couple more pics of the mounting, as well as the wiring connections - Thanks!

kurtfriedrich · Sep 12th, 2006, 9:37 pm

so is it true that you had to make no custom parts, no bending, no wire cutting, just unbolt old, bolt on new, and plug same 2 wires using old connecters on to the new unit?

thanks for the post!

Kurt

Dark_Daddy · Sep 12th, 2006, 10:40 pm

Thanks for the nice comments. I should have taken pictures of the process from start to finish like a technical article. I did not have to cut the two wires or splice or solder. It was a quick process. I did end up twisting the horns new bracket (once mounted) ever so slightly so that it faced the opening in the cowling. Not a biggie. Weight wise I think that between the crazy steel bracket and the Nippon horn both are about the same weight. I guess the only other thing I left out is that I used a piece of high heat silicone tubing to go over the bracket nut on the rear of the Stebel horn. This keeps it from scraping off the paint on the belt cover. I think you could use any tubing that will fit over a 8mm or 10mm nut.

The electrical connectors are simple blade connectors just wiggle off the female ends off of your old horn and then insert them on the correct + and – terminals (male ends) on the new horn. There is also wiring diagram on the back of the Stebel package; still its just two wires so if it does not work the first time just reverse them (Check it to make sure it works before you mount the horn!). I also opted to use a little blue loctite on the mounting point and the nut on the rear of the horn so that vibration would not be an issue. I use it any time I unscrew something from my bike. I hope this helps you guys!

Chris

angie-r · Sep 13th, 2006, 2:27 am

Thanks for the extra info! Sounds straight-forward enough for me

d2gearhead · Sep 13th, 2006, 11:48 pm

You must be reading my mind. I've been thinking about a manner to replace the pathetic horn on our bikes. I concidered the engineering I would have to do to get an small air horn or something with some serious GET OUTTA MY WAY volume to it. But your mod is so clean and simple, you can't beat it with a stick. Well done!

dfaber · Oct 21st, 2006, 7:43 pm

I just screwed the horn in using the bolt at the back of the horn. No brackets at all and it looks/works great and fits perfectly. Looped the wiring once around the horn unit to take up the slack. Damn is it LOUD. Great for safety.

Bugatti · Oct 24th, 2006, 1:19 pm

I just bought one. No more scooter horn!

WetWork92009 · Nov 7th, 2006, 10:00 pm

Where did you buy it from???

~A

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bugatti

I just bought one. No more scooter horn!