OT "Get Out of the Way!"

Let me tell you something... Those are Nathan Air Chime horns... They do indeed come from locomotives... However, I hope the rider wears some serious ear plugs... Those horns, if powered properly, are too loud to be used anywhere I can think of. We're talking levels of sound that don't just damage but destroy ear innards, etc.

All that being said, I want 'em for my bike too! :)

Try the sound sample at the bottom of this link.

Think that mom driving the brats to school would start paying attention to her driving?

Sweet mother of god on a paisley pogo-stick! Methinks that there's either some "Photoshopping" going on, or the horns are there for pure looks. How does he feed the thing with it mounted on a motorbike?!?!?!? Train chimes (as these are properly called) take about a bazillion CFM at 90+ PSI to operate reliably! A 5 gallon air reservoir is, or so I'm informed by people who have tried (and given up due to the headaches involved) to run a set on a passenger car, only good for about half a second of "somebody stepped on an asthmatic frog" before there's basically not enough pressure left in the tank to do more than hiss. The pressure is easy - It's the volume they need that's the killer.

Hmmm... MAYBE these are an electric set? If so, it'd be the first time I've encountered electric train chimes... I can't see any signs of plumbing hooking up to them though, and no reservoir that would even be SORT OF close to being useful size unless it's hiding in the tail-box.

Oh, yeah, it's a set of Nathan Airchime horns, nice clean install... But there's one huge problem with this, something you don't see in the picture - Where in the hell is the driver of this little bike going to get enough air to drive these monsters?

Unless he converts two cylinders of the engine to air compressors, and has air tanks hidden in both saddlebags, the most he's going to get out of a standard electric horn compressor is a burp out of one of those three horns.

You want to drive that sucker, the bare minimum you need is a modified York AC compressor driven with a starter motor like this:

you need at least 6 gallons of air tank to smooth the pulsations.

Of course, now you need 200A at 12VDC to drive the compressor, which the average motorcycle battery isn't going to provide for more than a few seconds, and the 30A lighting-coil alternator windings will take forever to refill it...

-->--

For people that don't see bikes, I'd rather have one like they had in one of the Bond movies that fired heat seeking missiles! Nothing like a few burned out SUV's along the freeway to get people's attention!

Jim (who nearly got squashed last night when a suburban housewife on a cell phone in a white Mercedes SW drove through a group of people crossing a street at a crosswalk. I don't think she ever saw the 30 or so of us.)

(quote from m/c ng, from the person who owns the bike) ================================================================ Thanks. Of course, building something like this is as much fun as using it. I used an air compressor from an 81 Wing's suspension, 2 old propane torch tanks as air tanks, a solonoid valve, a 140 PSI shut-off for air bag suspension. I didn't lose any cargo capacity as it's all outside of the bags. I get about 5 seconds continuous blast (an eternity) or about 7 short hoots in succession, and then about 5 minutes for refill. I will be looking to scrounge a better compressor, but don't want to use all my charging capacity. I have an area above the center stand where i can install another small tank, but am looking for something to fill the shape. The system could all be removed in 20 minutes If i get tired of it (not likely) and when I install an 81 Wing's rear swing arm and final drive on this 76 Wing in a few weeks, I will be able to use the 81's air shock system without the usual welding of different lower ends to the shocks. This combo will give me a higher gear ratio for better mileage, and lengthen the wheelbase 2.5 inches. Tomorrow I am leaving on a ride for the weekend, so i will be able to compare my mileage with that of my trip 2 weeks ago and see what kind of change there is. I could follow aerodynamic practice and put a simple spike in front of each hooter to split the airflow, but the numbers will tell me if it's worth the effort.

Actually, not that hard at all -- get one of the small scuba tanks (they used to have 38 cu. ft tanks -- about the size of a fire extinguisher (some smaller ones also available)) and the first stage of a scuba regulator -- that drops

2250psi down to about 130 psi (you can adjust the pressure). Not good for a lot of "honks", but should work good for some anyway.

mikey

Heh, I've got a '95 FLHTP (cop bike for th' unwashed) that gets folks attention when I hit Mr. Horn. It's no set of Nathan's, but a 100 watt amp punchin' out a three octave siren blast wakes folks up! It costs about a grand to install a complete Whelen system, mine was on th' bike when I bought it.

I'd love to hear those air chimes... from a bit of a distance.

Snarl

Hey... Can you tell me the model number and/or components of that system? Whelen is one of my customers... I bet I could get those units for my local PD at a good price.

Nuthin' to it. I don't have th' Whelen part numbers, just Harley's, but Whelen should be able to cross reference them if theirs are different. Keep in mind these are 1995 part #'s but just about any H-D dealership will have a "Parts Catalog Police Models" for newer models. I'd almost bet they're still th' same tho. That said, if your local PD doesn't have H-D's th' mounting hardware isn't going to be th' same as below.

Here's th' major componant #'s:

Item Harley-Davidson part #

Amplifier 91156-93 Amplifier mounting kit 91260-93 Speaker w/terminals 91157-88 Speaker Mounting kit 91154-87 Microphone 76185-93

There are two pages of other part numbers i.e., wiring harnesses, handlebar controls, mounting hardware, etc. I'm sure Whelen has all of that info. Last I looked it was a bit over $1k for a complete system and that's not installed.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with H-D or Whelen and th' use of these may be illegal in many places unless you are an LEO , Ambulance, Fire dept, or a licensed funeral escort vehicle operator.

Snarl

How about a CO2 fire extinguisher bottle. Lots of volume for cheap and all at about 130 PSI