The 18 RT Horn

[Sandlapper]

Pathetic....Nuff said

 

I'm looking at some Denali driving lights and saw the Sound bomb horn that they sell. from the demonstrating vid clip that I've seen and heard it's loud and  will definitely get peoples/animals attention.

Has anyone bought one?....is there a place big enough to install?

 

https://denalielectronics.com/collections/soundbomb-horns

 

[RandyShields]

A few months back there was a really good comparison of horns posted on the site that also talked about installation.  Another option is the BMW car horn that is plug and play.  Site searches should pull up a lot of info.

[Paul De]

I went with a Stebel Nautilus, for $20 less. 

https://www.amazon.com/Stebel-11690019-Nautilus-Compact-Black/dp/B00CMX20H4

 

But did buy the bracket to mount it from twisted throttle for the Denali sound bomb

https://www.twistedthrottle.com/denali-compact-horn-mounting-bracket-for-bmw-r1200rt-14-16

 

I notice now Denali offer a split system making fitting the horn between the stanchion tubes easier

[wbw6cos]

@Sandlapper, did you enter the make and model for the horn?  I tried and it did not show anything for '18 RT.  I also tried the 1250 RT (mine) and it did not show anything either.  You may have to call or email them.  Or amybe iI did something wrong on their website.  

[Paul De]

Stebel and Denali are about the same size. (I actually think Stebel makes it for Denali).   Anyway, I put the Stebel Natilus on both my '99 and '15 RTs.  They fit but it is tight and the one on my '99 I had made a mount literally out of some erector set pieces, butt ugly but no one could see it.  I Was glad to buy the nice mount I listed above with the $20 I saved on the horn.

[Sandlapper]

11 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

@Sandlapper, did you enter the make and model for the horn?  I tried and it did not show anything for '18 RT.  I also tried the 1250 RT (mine) and it did not show anything either.  You may have to call or email them.  Or amybe iI did something wrong on their website.  

 

 

I did and I noticed that....Had planned on calling them yesterday but got to watching the BS that's going on in this country and forgot

[MachineJoe]

I have the sound bomb and it was a piece of cake to install on my '17

It surprised me on how loud it was. I hope you find one that fits your '18

Edited June 3, 2020 by MachineJoe

[Sandlapper]

Hey Joe....aren't the 17 and 18 RTs essentially the same body wise?

[Ltripreno]

I have a '19 R1250RT and I have the Denali Sound Bomb.  It is great!  I had the dealership install, because I screwed up the previous install on a 1200GSA.

It should be simple and straightforward physically.  The proper wiring can be confusing.  Hence me relying on my dealer.

Cheers,

[MachineJoe]

11 hours ago, Sandlapper said:

Hey Joe....aren't the 17 and 18 RTs essentially the same body wise?

John,  I would be very surprised if there was any difference 

[RTinNC]

I have the 5 series BMW car horn that Randy mentioned and am very pleased with the improvement over the stock horn and the install is truly plug and play.  One nut to remove and done.  Even the electric connector on the horn plugs right in. 

[Bernie]

Do you have the part number by any chance for the 5series horn? Also does it fit the RT?

11 hours ago, RTinNC said:

I have the 5 series BMW car horn that Randy mentioned and am very pleased with the improvement over the stock horn and the install is truly plug and play.  One nut to remove and done.  Even the electric connector on the horn plugs right in. 

 

[Skywagon]

5 series low or high tone?

[Dave_in_TX]

1 minute ago, Skywagon said:

5 series low or high tone?

Both

[RTinNC]

Sorry was not home the past few days and did not have the link 

 

 

 

NOTE ... you DO NOT need to remove ANY body parts on either the GSW or RTW.  This guy did but totally unnecessary.

 

[Skywagon]

That’s interesting. I put 2 1150rt horns on my 2014 wet and it would honk once and shut down circuit. Was there a new relay or something else added. I had to go back to one horn and it works

[RTinNC]

Just now, Skywagon said:

That’s interesting. I put 2 1150rt horns on my 2014 wet and it would honk once and shut down circuit. Was there a new relay or something else added. I had to go back to one horn and it works

 

That's the beauty of the 5 series Car horn ... no relay and works like a champ. 

[Skywagon]

Ed...Just want to make sure I understand what you are saying.  You installed both ( 2 horns) high and low 5 series horn?  The video shows just the low horn.  If you installed both and it works I will order and do the same.  Thanks for info.

[RTinNC]

NO ... just the low tone as in the video.   Just the part # shown.

 

For the price and ease of installation I am extremely pleased.   I installed the same part # on both my 2016 RT and my 2018 GS.   

 

My horn is no longer a meep meep sound but actually sounds like a horn ... similar to a car horn.   I am sure there may be louder horns out there available but all require a more "complex" installation. 

 

I just prefer to keep things simple. 

 

As a FYI ... I believe my local BMW Motorcycle dealer now keeps these in stock as they get lots of requests for louder horns. 

[BobW03]

Just found the part here for around 20 plus shipping.  https://www.rmeuropean.com/Make/PartNumberSearch.aspx?pnsearch=61338381271

 

I can relate to the meep-meep as I had a 70 Plymouth Roadrunner in 75 when I was young and dumb. 

 

 

[RTinNC]

46 minutes ago, BobW03 said:

Just found the part here for around 20 plus shipping.  https://www.rmeuropean.com/Make/PartNumberSearch.aspx?pnsearch=61338381271

 

I can relate to the meep-meep as I had a 70 Plymouth Roadrunner in 75 when I was young and dumb. 

 

 

 

WOW WOW !!   THAT is a GREAT deal !!  Jump on it for sure !!! 

 

I think I paid $55 including tax at my local dealer. 

[TEWKS]

1 hour ago, BobW03 said:

 

I can relate to the meep-meep as I had a 70 Plymouth Roadrunner in 75 when I was young and dumb. 

 

 

Bob, you should of put up with that Meep Meep! for just a little longer. 

[Motorhead1977]

On 6/2/2020 at 8:06 AM, MachineJoe said:

I have the sound bomb and it was a piece of cake to install on my '17

It surprised me on how loud it was. I hope you find one that fits your '18

Joe, did you go with the regular sound bomb or the "mini"? Thinking it's time to upgrade. My '09 Goldwing had stock horns that sounded like a 70 Buick Electra 225 on a rampage and people definitely responded to it. So much so that I had a pair installed on my '12 Suzuki Kizashi when I bought it as it had a "meep meep" factory horn. Folks react like a semi truck is bearing down on them. Want to get that kind of response to my RTW.

[Pickaxe]

I'd have serious concerns if I started worrying about the sound the horn makes on my motorcycle.

[Paul De]

20 hours ago, Pickaxe said:

I'd have serious concerns if I started worrying about the sound the horn makes on my motorcycle.

Agreed that if you use the horn as a primary method of defensive driving, but as a tool to snap an oblivious driver into attention and engaged in situational awareness of their surroundings it is useful.  I have never found the time to hit my horn if I find myself needing to make an evasive maneuver to avoid a collision, I am too busy snapping the bars to and fro and either grabbing a handful of brakes, or throttle.

 

The meep meep horn on my '99 RT was useless because two things happened when used to get a cager engaged in the act of driving.  1) In their isolated sound deadened cocoon with the music blasting, they never heard it remained oblivious.  2) If they heard it but it didn't sound like a threat that would crush them, they ignored the warning and continued to encroach on my space. After I put the air horn on the bike, when I would blast the disengaged. it would have them nearly poo their pants and they would shape up allowing me enough space and time to get some distance from them. 

 

When I bought my '15 RT it was the first farkle upgrade and that shinny new meep meep horn sits in a box.  Haha maybe I'll put ii on my lawn tractor to shoo the dog way from my path!!!

 

[Rob Nowell]

On 6/4/2020 at 12:42 PM, BobW03 said:

Just found the part here for around 20 plus shipping.  https://www.rmeuropean.com/Make/PartNumberSearch.aspx?pnsearch=61338381271

 

I can relate to the meep-meep as I had a 70 Plymouth Roadrunner in 75 when I was young and dumb. 

 

 

oh, but you would LOVE to have that car today, wouldn't you! 

[BobW03]

Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun. Bought it from a guy whose father worked at a Plymouth dealership and could order the car the way he wanted. It had a bench seat with a 4 speed pistol grip shifter. Talk about a long throw from first to second....... and dog dish hubcaps. Guess he wanted to save money when he ordered it

[Janky59]

BobW03, thanks for the link. I just put in my order, $28.00 total with shipping. The site said 19 available, now 1 less, cheers.

[MachineJoe]

On 6/6/2020 at 7:29 AM, Motorhead1977 said:

Joe, did you go with the regular sound bomb or the "mini"? Thinking it's time to upgrade. My '09 Goldwing had stock horns that sounded like a 70 Buick Electra 225 on a rampage and people definitely responded to it. So much so that I had a pair installed on my '12 Suzuki Kizashi when I bought it as it had a "meep meep" factory horn. Folks react like a semi truck is bearing down on them. Want to get that kind of response to my RTW.

John,

I went with DENALI SoundBomb Compact Dual-Tone Air Horn

It was $115 with the all  the wiring and mounting hardware. This was very simple and straight forward.

Lots of other good ideas here as well

[Paul De]

FYI

 

Not sure if any of the sites selling the Denali Compact Sound Bomb have installation videos, but I found this useful from the German accessory company Hornig. It is for installing their kit on a Waterhead RT using the near identical Stebel Nautilus Compact air horn. It is very thorough even without any narrative.  I found it helpful.

 

 

 

[Rinkydink]

15 hours ago, Janky59 said:

BobW03, thanks for the link. I just put in my order, $28.00 total with shipping. The site said 19 available, now 1 less, cheers.

Just ordered mine. $27 and change. Happy birthday to me!!!

[Motorhead1977]

Did the same last night, same price as you.  Figured I'll install that one until I get a Sound Bomb Mini and install that in it's place. Since I wear an optic yellow Arai helmet and a similar color armored jacket for visibility I could see no point in being nearly invisible aurally.

[Skywagon]

did a subjective test today using  4 different BMW horns.  The subjectivity was the wife and a male neighbor age 50.  The four different horns were

 

Original wet head horn

R1150RT low

R1150RT high

530 BMW I had

 

For what it is worth...nothing..... without telling them which horn was which, they both picked the same horn as the loudest from multiple distances up to about 50 feet.  To my surprise they both picked the wethead horn...  I've always thought it was wimpy from the day I bought the bike.  They didn't do it at the same time so there wasn't any collaboration.

 

For those of you who have bought the new 5 series horn, could you do a similar test when you get yours.  I'm really curious now.  I hate the meep meep and always thought wimpy, but maybe not as wimpy as I though.

 

 

[wbw6cos]

I think that higher pitched, piercing sound of the wet-head horn most likely has the ability to be heard in most vehicles.  Nowdays, the windows are up with music on, so we need all the help we can get.  Of course, it is best to ride defensively to where it is not needed, but in a an emergency..........well, you know the rest.

[Rinkydink]

I always preferred the R1150RT horns. When I went from my 04 to my 09 RT I was very disappointed. Looking forward to the 530 horn. 

[Dan M]

Same here. My 04 RT had terrific horns. 

[Dave_in_TX]

16 hours ago, Skywagon said:

did a subjective test today using  4 different BMW horns.  The subjectivity was the wife and a male neighbor age 50.  The four different horns were

 

Original wet head horn

R1150RT low

R1150RT high

530 BMW I had

 

For what it is worth...nothing..... without telling them which horn was which, they both picked the same horn as the loudest from multiple distances up to about 50 feet.  To my surprise they both picked the wethead horn...  I've always thought it was wimpy from the day I bought the bike.  They didn't do it at the same time so there wasn't any collaboration.

 

For those of you who have bought the new 5 series horn, could you do a similar test when you get yours.  I'm really curious now.  I hate the meep meep and always thought wimpy, but maybe not as wimpy as I though.

 

 

I don't know how well they work but there are sound meter apps for smartphones that  can give a non-subjective comparison.

[Skywagon]

yes...the above video has Tim 2 wheels with cell phone meter.  There wasn't much difference.  In one scenario of distance the meep meep was higher db than the 5 series.  Still the best horns I ever had was the R1150RT duals.  If I could figure out how to make them work without running extra relays and wiring I would.  Not sure if you saw that or not but I rigged up both 1150RT horns to the wethead.  It would honk once briefly and then the circuit would go off-line.  Key off...key on...repeat....same effect.  I made a bracket and had them all mounted tidy...but no joy.

[TJRL]

1 hour ago, Skywagon said:

yes...the above video has Tim 2 wheels with cell phone meter.  There wasn't much difference.  In one scenario of distance the meep meep was higher db than the 5 series.  Still the best horns I ever had was the R1150RT duals.  If I could figure out how to make them work without running extra relays and wiring I would.  Not sure if you saw that or not but I rigged up both 1150RT horns to the wethead.  It would honk once briefly and then the circuit would go off-line.  Key off...key on...repeat....same effect.  I made a bracket and had them all mounted tidy...but no joy.

 

I agree the two horns on the R1150RT were the canine danglers!

 

But as space on the Wethead/Camhead RTs is so tight I went with the Screaming Banshee's Shockwave which is very similar to the Stebel Nautilus / Denali SoundBomb but apparently just a tad louder at 132+ db.

 

The other advantage of the Shockwave is that it has the relay built in so the wiring up is much easier. It also allows you to keep the stock "meep meep" horn in circuit which has the advantage to keeping the CanBus system happy and having both the stock and Shockwave horns sound together.

 

Seems like the best option I have seen so far.

 

 

 

 

[Oldironken]

On 6/8/2020 at 5:39 PM, Dan M said:

Same here. My 04 RT had terrific horns. 

 

The horn on my '04 always scared the $#It out of me when i hit it by accident... 

[Rinkydink]

I had a tank bag that was a tad too big on my 04RT. Every time I turned full lock to the left it honked the horn and shocked the shit out of you. 

[RTinNC]

On 6/8/2020 at 11:26 AM, Motorhead1977 said:

Did the same last night, same price as you.  Figured I'll install that one until I get a Sound Bomb Mini and install that in it's place. Since I wear an optic yellow Arai helmet and a similar color armored jacket for visibility I could see no point in being nearly invisible aurally.

 

I am pretty sure the Sound Bomb "mini" is very similar to the 5 series horn but may not have the BMW connector.  The Sound Bomb air horn is louder but is priced higher and is not as simple an install. 

[RTinNC]

On 6/9/2020 at 10:52 AM, Skywagon said:

yes...the above video has Tim 2 wheels with cell phone meter.  There wasn't much difference.  In one scenario of distance the meep meep was higher db than the 5 series.  Still the best horns I ever had was the R1150RT duals.  If I could figure out how to make them work without running extra relays and wiring I would.  Not sure if you saw that or not but I rigged up both 1150RT horns to the wethead.  It would honk once briefly and then the circuit would go off-line.  Key off...key on...repeat....same effect.  I made a bracket and had them all mounted tidy...but no joy.

 

Yes the DB Meter is similar but as he noted the 5 Series horn is just louder and I believe it is because of the low frequency that travels better.  Not an engineer but have to tell you it IS louder !! 

[BobW03]

Installed my 5 series horn last night, very easy. I did not remove any plastics, loosened the bolt holding the horn from underneath as the fork tubes interfere with using a ratchet from the top. Definitely louder in the garage and agree it is the tone and the horn shape vs. disc.

[Skywagon]

I did the in the garage and not in the garage subjective test above I posted.  The low tone did out perform in the acoustics in the garage but once outside it really didn't matter .  With Covid boredom, I decided to order the Screaming Banshee's Shockwave last night.  It should be here in a couple of days and I'll post back.  

 

We have an annual fishing tournament that starts today on the Texas Coast in Port Aransas and Rockport.  It was cancelled a few weeks back so really bummed.  I rode my bike down there yesterday and I honestly have never ever seen so many people on the beach....not even at spring break.  Stay safe.

 

Meep meep.

[Paul De]

I'm guessing all these compact horns are plenty loud VS OEM.  I do like the dual tone of the Denali and Stebel, but a loud low tone might have some psychological advantage over a high tone horn (pure speculation on my part).  Sadly there does not seem to be a mandated standard to rate the dB of these horns and requires a little calculation to make a comparison as I did not see any round up where these all were measured under the same conditions and distance.

 

The Denali is listed at 120 dB @ 3 feet so we will use that distance and calculate with the rule that loudness falls off by 6dB as the distance from the measured source is doubled. Conversely the sound will increase by 6dB if the distance from the source is halved.

 

Specs from the Stebel website is 115dB at 2 meters and 139dB at 4 inches, so calculated dB at 3 feet would make the Stebel Nautilus about 122dB and calculating down from the 139 dB at 4 inches it comes to about 120 db at 3 feet.

 

The Screaming Banshee does not list the distance, but I suspect the 132+ listed is a very near field measurement.  Assuming it is 4 inches like that listed for the Nautilus 139dBs, then at 3 feet the loudness would be 113 dB (seems too low).  I made a big assumption on 4 inch distance where 132 dB was measured, but if the assumed distance was 1 foot then the loudness would be ~ 122 db at 3 feet. However, without the specific distance the sound measurement was made we have to take these numbers with a grain of salt.  My speculation is the the Screaming Banshee was initially measured around 1 foot because the compressors and horn resonating elements are quite similar for these horns so they all would be about the same loudness. 

 

An interesting factoid is that using the 6dB down for every doubling of distance and say the object of your blast is a more realistic 30 feet away, a horn putting about 120 dB at 3 feet would be 100 dB, still loud but is like a loud boom box, or the typical motorcycle running. At 100 feet the loudness would drop to 89.5 dB  putting our loud compact air horns at the top of the loudness range associated with heavy traffic, a window air conditioner, a noisy restaurant, or a power lawn mower.  Still better than nothing, but getting to the point of ambient city noise.

 

YRMV

[Rinkydink]

Ordered my 5 series horn on June 7. Tracking # has shown USPS delivery by 6-12 8pm since 6-8. 
 

No show by 8pm today so I check USPS’s website. WTH? My package is going in circles...

 

 

 

[Paul De]

My wife had the same thing with USPS last month.  She was waiting on a package to be delivered to North Central Wisconsin. It made it from Pennsylvania to Chicago and then Milwaukee as expected.  Then the package went wandering tracking to Green Bay (Title Town) in the East of the state, then back to Milwaukee, then off to some sort center in Ohio...and then oblivion.  She got a refund from vendor and three weeks later it showed on the down low with no other notifications.  A total of one month for it to show up.  Expect it to show up in mid July out of the blue.

[MichiganBob]

Guess I'm lucky. Took eight days for the horn to get to me in Michigan. Must be clean living.

 

MB

[wbw6cos]

I thought the Hoosiers were clean living.