Reducing the spring tension on the horn button

[Miguel!]

My R1100RT horn button is pretty stiff and makes it difficult to give just a short toot on the horn to draw someone's attention to me. Plus I have a little arthritis in my left thumb and it hurts to push up with my thumb. 

 

I found a solution today. There's a screw that adjusts for the horn button spring tension inside the switch assembly. Voila!! 

 

See the photos and quotes below. 

 

To adjust the spring tension, you have to access the inside of the left handgrip assembly. The hand grip pulls apart in two pieces after removing the screw, shown on the end of the screwdriver. Separate the switch assembly (the part holding the switches) from the brake assembly (the part that holds the brake lever) by gently pulling straight down  on the switch assembly (towards the ground) while holding it flush to the brake assembly (the reason is explained below). It comes down about 2 mm and then comes right apart. The brake assembly remains firmly attached to the handlebar. 

 

Behind the horn button, there's a small screw, just right of my left index finger in the photo below. Turning this screw counterclockwise reduces the horn button spring tension. Turning it clockwise tightens it. I was able to make the spring tension almost to zero.If you go too far, the horn won't shut off and you'll have to tighten the screw a bit. (You can pull the horn button down a bit with finger and thumb to shut it off if necessary.) I found a happy medium by trial and error. I don't know the true function of this screw and I chose not to disassemble any further to investigate for fear of it exploding like an old watch all over the garage floor! Use a screwdriver that fits this screw well. You don't want to strip it. Also, I was careful not to let it come all the way out. It would be a PITA to successfully fit it into the recess and might require further disassembly.

 

 

You reassemble by reversing the order. Put the switch assembly just below where it naturally fits onto the brake assembly and then push the assembly up towards the sky. Theres a couple small tabs (middle right in the photo below) that fit into two slots (upper left) to hold the switch assembly to the brake assembly. Put the screw back in. The entire thing will take you 15 minutes including getting the tools out and cleaning up. Done!!

 

 

Best

Miguel, I look forward to your comments

 

PS: I'm amazed at how clean my fingers were given that I'd been working on this for sometime (there's a much longer story about how I figured this out but I'll spare you the details).

 

PPS: Also I didn't see the 103K miles of dust that had accumulated in my relatively dim garage light (PG&E shut off my power today to prevent wildfires) but my iPhone flash sure picked it up. I'll probably open it back up and take a vacuums to it with a small soft brush. 

[Miguel!]

BTW, are there other bikes that require you to push up on a button for the horn. Its rather cumbersome. Every other bike I've had you push in to engage the horn. 

 

Miguel

[JimmR75]

This is fascinating.  Is there any chance that the turn signal cancellation control on the right grip assembly has the same adjustment?

[Miguel!]

6 hours ago, JimmR75 said:

This is fascinating.  Is there any chance that the turn signal cancellation control on the right grip assembly has the same adjustment?

Good Question! I don't know but my guess is it does. I'll be taking the right grip assembly off this weekend to install heated grips. I'll have a look and post back to this thread. 

[JimmR75]

Thanks so much, the activation of the turn signal cancellation is a bad angle for my arthritic thumb.  

[Still CAL]

+1 on the turn signal cancel function. Don't wanna bring my silly Jap bike-isms over here but twisting the throttle and trying to push that dang button up takes my attention off the road. Some long-time B-mers say it's not an issue, but it can be.

[dirtrider]

16 hours ago, Still CAL said:

+1 on the turn signal cancel function. Don't wanna bring my silly Jap bike-isms over here but twisting the throttle and trying to push that dang button up takes my attention off the road. Some long-time B-mers say it's not an issue, but it can be.

 

Morning Still CAL

 

You always have the option of installing a Kisan  SM-5 turn signal relay.

 

Those things are programable & have many function from allowing the existing turn signal bulbs to operate  as lower power running lights, allow a fast flash lane change option, have an auto  cancel  function (with brake input delay) option, etc.

 

But one of the functions that would be of interest to you would be the--  Same-Side-Cancel
Instead of using your right thumb in that awkward motion to push up the Cancel button, simply push the Same-side button to stop flashing.

 

On the Kisan  SM-5  just be sure to get a newer unit (don't buy an old used or take-off model)  as the older units have a fairly high parasitic draw even with the key turned-off. Newer SM-5 doesn't have this issue (at least according to Kisan). 

 

https://kisantech.com/sm-5.html

 

[dave_a]

+1 on DR's Kissan comments. I am no longer riding down the road with my turn signals on, waiting for someone to pull out in front of me.

Well I'm always waiting for that even still. Just improving my odds. Kissan's the bomb. Great addition to my '99.

[catskill]

Is there any chance that the turn signal cancellation control on the right grip assembly has the same adjustment?

 

I barely have to touch my turn signal cancel button, and it turns off. My guess is that the previous owner changed it.

[Miguel!]

I agree with others on the Signal Minder. It has a lot of features. I was going to build my own version of the Signal Minder but after adding up all the cost and work of it, the SM is a good deal. I like all its features. I think you only use the signal cancel button for cancelling the flasher mode (hitting both turn signal simultaneously turns the flasher mode on). Its also used when programming some features. 

 

One feature I really like, which is one of the reason I wanted an SM-like device was it can be programmed to power on your turn signals as running lights hen not blinking. When you hit the turn signal button, they flash on-off-on-off... . 

 

Another reason I like the signal minder is the turn signal cancellation feature based on a programmable timeout. Works great.  There are some other features that the SM has,  such as those mentioned by DR. Reading the SM site is a worthwhile thing to do. Installation and programming is easy and fast. 

 

Miguel

[Miguel!]

On 11/18/2019 at 1:56 PM, JimmR75 said:

This is fascinating.  Is there any chance that the turn signal cancellation control on the right grip assembly has the same adjustment?

 

 

JimmyR75. I took the right grip apart today to install heated grips. While in there I looked at the signal canceller button. It is indeed just like the horn button. It has a screw on the bottom - see photo. If you loosen the screw, the spring tension decreases. You can get it so loose that it stays in the cancel position so you have to find the sweet spot. This was the same with the horn button: if its too loose, the horn won't shut off. 

 

All that said tho, I'm pretty sure that screw isn't for adjusting the horn button spring tension tho I don't know what its true function is. But is does work. So proceed at your own risk. OTOH, I have ridden several hundred miles since reducing my horn button tension and not had any problems. 

 

To access the back side of the signal canceller, remove this screw at the bottom of the handgrip.

 

Then pull down slightly on the front-top of the handgrip assembly and it will drop about 2 mm, then just pull it towards the back of the bike. It will come away. You'll see the screw behind the signal canceller button in the middle of the assembly. It's not the screw at the bottom of the picture behind the yellow turn signal. Use a very small Philips head screw driver and be very deliberate when adjusting the screw. DON'T STRIP THE SCREW HEAD!!

 

Best

 

Reverse it all to put it back together. You can test and fine tune the spring tension without reassembling. 

 

Best

Miguel

[Miguel!]

UPDATE - just FYI: I had reason to reference this thread a few days ago and came back to read it. I modified my horn-button-spring tension two+ years and about 9000 miles ago using the procedure I described in the opening post. It has worked flawlessly since then. I've always been a little concerned that I loosened a screw inside the grip that wasn't designed as an adjustment screw but it hasn't been a problem so I've stopped worrying about it. I use the horn often on my rides to make sure people are aware of me, especially if they can enter my path-of-travel and they aren't looking at me. I've not noticed any problems with the horn button. YMMV.

 

Best

Miguel