View Full Version : Knightrider down...ish (NEED A BIGGER HORN)
KnightRider
17-09-07, 09:18 AM
I feel a bit stupid posting this as it was such a minor accident that it probably doesnt its own post. Essentially I was waiting behind a luton van at the barrier to my firms underground car park when the driver decided to slam it into reverse and drive over me! I was positioned about 2-3 meters behind him, slightly to the right so that I could move passed him if need be and despite my sounding the horn and waving at him wildly he still managed not to see or hear me, personally I dont think he looked.
There isnt a huge amount of damage to the bike. He has scratched a load of paint off the front bikini fairing, scratched indicators, front brake lever, bar end, wing mirror, crash bung and exhaust. He is insured so hopefully this will all get sorted. Luckily there is no damage to me apart from a soar leg.
Could've been a lot worse so I am quite happy. The one thing that I do now want to do is replace the horn on the bike with something a little more audible. The standard horn is pathetic and it is no wonder that he didn't hear it. If you have any recommendations then please let me know.
Jon
Ceri JC
17-09-07, 09:25 AM
I'd go to the doc's re: the leg. It might not hurt now, but might be worse in a few days. Also, the threat of a PI claim can be a wonderful incentive for them to hurry up if they drag their feet. Any witnesses/did the driver accept liability? Sorry to hear about your off and hope you get it sorted.
KnightRider
17-09-07, 09:35 AM
To be honest the leg really isnt anything and I am fairly sure that it will be okay by this evening - if it isnt I will get it looked at.
The driver has admitted full responsibility, I also have a couple of witnesses and CCTV footage. I have spoken to the company and it looks like they are going to process it without a problem.
Fingers crossed,
Jon
Shellywoozle
17-09-07, 10:00 AM
Sorry to here this, bugga.
I would still go docs with leg and have some pain at least albeit fake. My other half had a car accident were someone went in the back of him, little damage and she said she was at fault. In the end the insurance paid out a small amoutn and wrote his car off, leaving him car less and had to spend £1000 to get a car anywhere like the one before.
He now wishes he had claimed for his neck which hurt, getting money back that way. All he had to do was report it to Police and go docs, then sit on it and wait incase he needed it.
You never know what their insurance company will say or do and you don't know what your leg will feel like once bruising comes out. I just broke my arm and felt fine when I did it, couldnt understand why it wasn't working but I but that down to my blonde streaks in my hair.
Upto you but I hope it gets sorted really quickly got ya.
Shell
Hopefully it's all sorted soon for you mate.
Could've been a lot worse so I am quite happy. The one thing that I do now want to do is replace the horn on the bike with something a little more audible. The standard horn is pathetic and it is no wonder that he didn't hear it. If you have any recommendations then please let me know.
Jon
The comments I had about the horns on my bike at the AR were along the lines of "those are proper horns!"
I have 2 stebel magnums mounted to my pointy, each giving 139dB(A) at 4inches (in theory that's 142dB(A) at 4 inches now. I also this week just added some nice airhorns I found, but I have yet to wire the compressor up to the horn switch to find out how effective they are (in combination with the magnums).
So for those that have heard my horns, it's about to get even louder :D
The magnums BTW, were £15 each at Halfords when I bought them, but they were doing a kit of 2 for £20 in my local Halfords last time I was in there.
If you want one, fair enough, easy job (I recommend putting a relay in, but you don't HAVE to), but if you're doing a twin setup like mine, you'll need a relay and careful attention to wiring detail (the wire from relay to each horn, and then horn to negative has to be the same length - otherwise the horns won't work - wave syncrhonisation due to electron speed).
HTH
Yes - unlucky, fella.
I've recently fitted a stebel magnum - very easy - straight forward swap although I've bolted the new one in a different place.
No more neep neep
just HONK!!HONK!!:thumbsup:
Yes - unlucky, fella.
I've recently fitted a stebel magnum - very easy - straight forward swap although I've bolted the new one in a different place.
No more neep neep
just HONK!!HONK!!:thumbsup:
But you've only fitted one, that's just not good enough.
From conversations I've had (sketchy memory now), but double the audio source (ie, two of the same horn, instead of one), and you increase percieved sound pressure by 3dB(A). Sound pressure is a log scale, so 2dB(A) is twice as loud as 1dB(A).
So, if my memory serves me rightly, my horns are 6 times louder than yours Stingo.
Then I went and added airhorns...
EDIT: If you run the stock horn, and the Stebel Magnum, you get an interesting effect known as "frequency beats" which gets more attention than a single tone horn. Note, this effect isn't done just by havving two horns, its the individual frequencies that count.
philbut
17-09-07, 10:30 AM
Dude, really sorry to hear that. Is the bike a wright off? what a dumb ass driver. Someone wrote a letter in RIDE this month about rubbish OEM horns. I think they mentioned fitting one of the ones mentioned in this post.
Hope you are back on the road soon chap. Hasn't been a good few days for the TVSF has it. You and steve down :confused: whats going on.
KnightRider
17-09-07, 10:58 AM
Bike is okay, minor scratches only as he didnt actually drive over it he just hit the front of the bike and knocked me over!
Going to get some big horns as nobody seems to hear the stock horn.
http://www.motrax.co.uk/index.php?page_name=product&sub_page=2&product_id=570
Motrax pair for £10 local bike shop?
I put a halfords £10 one on my SV, Thinking of the above for my ZX7R.
Baph's set sounds good, but if I can avoid wireing in a relay etc. I'll go for the easy option anyday.
But you've only fitted one, that's just not good enough.
stuff...
So, if my memory serves me rightly, my horns are 6 times louder than yours Stingo.
more stuff...
:-D Blimey!! Is everone audibly challenged in you neck of the woods? I nearly poop my pants whenever I honk mine!!
As for not good enough...I'll just have to try harder next time then.:shaking2::-D
Warthog
17-09-07, 11:48 AM
Oh bad luck mate. I had the same thing normally, I was just riding behind a lorry in a hospital, it stopped for a while, and then just reversed up towards me. Hionking my horn had no difference at all, I just backpeddled like mad for about 3 metres and it stopped finally a foot from my bumper. Moral, don't get too close to large stopped vehicles!
Another OW!
Sorry to hear, fella!
+1
Bummer man, that's a bummer...
Stebel magnum, £14 nuff said.
KnightRider
17-09-07, 08:38 PM
Stebel magnum, £14 nuff said.
Just bought two magnums for £17 including postage!
Ollie_07
17-09-07, 08:50 PM
where from mate?
and are they straight swap or mounted in a different place on another sort of bracket or what?
Cheers :)
I have a single magnum and it works for me. I've used it before to scare the bejesus out of wandering and inattentive motorists. I juts went down to halfwits and got it off the shelf, fitted it in 2 minutes without removing fairing. No fuss.
KnightRider
17-09-07, 09:18 PM
where from mate?
and are they straight swap or mounted in a different place on another sort of bracket or what?
Cheers :)
I have no idea how hard they are to fit but I cant imagine that they are that difficult. Having read Baphs previous posts it looks like I will need to fit the relay, but that shouldn't be that is fairly simple to do.
The horns themselves were bought from ebay. If you search for Magnum horn, rather than Stibel Magnum you will get a couple of postings from classic car retailers selling replacement parts for cars that use the same horns.
Bluewolf
17-09-07, 09:18 PM
Good grief, will everyone stop falling off please?! ;) :lol:
Glad you're unhurt mate, bet your heart was going double time when you saw him reversing towards you!
KnightRider
17-09-07, 09:29 PM
You can say that again. The worst part is that you feel so helpless. I am too short to reverse the bike at any speed, didnt have time to put the stand down to get off and didnt want to drop the bike as it would have then been my fault and I wouldnt have a claim!
The funniest part was that I was so shaken up when I got back on the bike that I started to drop it again and the head of security had to grab hold of me and push me back up - how embarassing!
ASM-Forever
17-09-07, 09:57 PM
The funniest part was that I was so shaken up when I got back on the bike that I started to drop it again and the head of security had to grab hold of me and push me back up - how embarassing!
We will make a special allowance in this instance, on the grounds that you are a midget ;)
plowsie
17-09-07, 10:41 PM
So for those that have heard my horns, it's about to get even louder :D
Phwoooaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr :mrgreen: They were loud anyway, definately letting you do mine mate!
Anyway mate sorry. As others have said get your leg checked out i went to physio in gym tonight to ask about my leg after my scrape earlier he did a quick test to tell me that i have twisted cruciates ligaments in my knee slightly and to take it easy. Get an expert eye on it for piece of mind. They may just tell you to take inbruprofen but still better safe than sorry.
As for horns get the ones Baph recomends, they're loud enough but the noisy bugger wants em louder lol.
I probably sound my horn for its correct purpose about once or twice a year, excluding the MOT test. I do approx 20K miles a year - a hell of a lot it of riding in central London - and even then it baffles me how some people get into so many situations where an extremely loud horn is essential to stay alive.
When I ride I'm not at all conspicuous, I wear nothing but black kit (no fancy colours will ever make it into my bike kit wardrobe) and my Daytona is about as black as it can get.
Lucky, or just careful about where I position myself and my bike?
plowsie
17-09-07, 11:54 PM
i try to start the horn comp at rideouts but just get drowned by magnums :(
kwak zzr
18-09-07, 07:47 AM
every post i answer this morning is someones fell off:( get some horns like baphs there LOUD.
KnightRider
18-09-07, 08:45 AM
I probably sound my horn for its correct purpose about once or twice a year, excluding the MOT test. I do approx 20K miles a year - a hell of a lot it of riding in central London - and even then it baffles me how some people get into so many situations where an extremely loud horn is essential to stay alive.
When I ride I'm not at all conspicuous, I wear nothing but black kit (no fancy colours will ever make it into my bike kit wardrobe) and my Daytona is about as black as it can get.
Lucky, or just careful about where I position myself and my bike?
You are right that road position etc is essential, but the horn is there to make people aware of your presence. Are you seriously trying to tell me that the lemmings with their IPODS blaring dont occationally need a reminder that they need to look before crossing the road? My journey takes me from West London through the city all the way to East London and there are several sets of traffic lights and junctions (trafalgar square for instance) where not using your horn or loud exhaust would mean that you would never get through the traffic lights as the lemmings just keep coming and dont stop for the red man!
You are right that a loud horn is not essential, but on those one or two occations a year when you need it why not have one that people will actually hear?
SoulKiss
18-09-07, 09:01 AM
You are right that road position etc is essential, but the horn is there to make people aware of your presence. Are you seriously trying to tell me that the lemmings with their IPODS blaring dont occationally need a reminder that they need to look before crossing the road? My journey takes me from West London through the city all the way to East London and there are several sets of traffic lights and junctions (trafalgar square for instance) where not using your horn or loud exhaust would mean that you would never get through the traffic lights as the lemmings just keep coming and dont stop for the red man!
You are right that a loud horn is not essential, but on those one or two occations a year when you need it why not have one that people will actually hear?
When getting behind something big, always make sure you can see their mirror, drivers side preferred.
every post i answer this morning is someones fell off:( get some horns like baphs there LOUD.
Doesn't count as falling off anyway.... definitely more falling over ;-)
I have no idea how hard they are to fit but I cant imagine that they are that difficult. Having read Baphs previous posts it looks like I will need to fit the relay, but that shouldn't be that is fairly simple to do.
The horns themselves were bought from ebay. If you search for Magnum horn, rather than Stibel Magnum you will get a couple of postings from classic car retailers selling replacement parts for cars that use the same horns.
Did you get them from a shop on eBay, just done a search and only ones i can find are £20 + P&P
KnightRider
18-09-07, 12:59 PM
This is what I bought (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320158352843&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=011). Think they were the last pair but they might come up again, try contacting the seller?
This is what I bought (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320158352843&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=011). Think they were the last pair but they might come up again, try contacting the seller?
Thanks Knightrider. He has a webpage with some so will get some through there.
Has anyone got some photos of these fitted?
KnightRider
18-09-07, 03:06 PM
Thanks Knightrider. He has a webpage with some so will get some through there.
Has anyone got some photos of these fitted?
Try Baph.
Phwoooaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr :mrgreen: They were loud anyway, definately letting you do mine mate!
...
As for horns get the ones Baph recomends, they're loud enough but the noisy bugger wants em louder lol.
What can I say? :D
I probably sound my horn for its correct purpose about once or twice a year, excluding the MOT test. I do approx 20K miles a year - a hell of a lot it of riding in central London - and even then it baffles me how some people get into so many situations where an extremely loud horn is essential to stay alive.
Lucky, or just careful about where I position myself and my bike?
I have an example for you from my journey this morning:
I came to a place where two opposing lines of traffic (my line coming down the hill, traffic lights on my side, traffic lights on the other side) merge into a one way system. The one way system has 2 lanes, but only briefly, and people always fight for position.
Usually, I hit the throttle to accellerate into a gap to be safe. Yesterday, I wired my airhorn compressor up as well as the twin electro-magnetic magnums I had previously.
This morning, I had a taxi driver, not indicating, but from his road position I could tell he was going to push his way over. Where he attemted to do so was a solid white line (illegal move). I'd clocked him, and my bike was over to the middle-left of the lane (there's a bus stop on the left side of me, with a bus in it - don't want to be too close to that). I'm sat next to the taxi's rear wing, with my thumb over the button, and his tyres step over the solid white line.
HONK!!!!
I looked at him as I hit the button, and the look on his face still has me smiling now. Essential? No. But bloody good fun!!
My horns now sound like a freight train, which was useful this morning, right next to the train station.
Has anyone got some photos of these fitted?
I'll PM you a link to some pics in a bit, but I'm not sure what I have online.
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