Installing Rivco Air horns 'universal' kit

[etheis]

Like most of us, I've wanted air horns since I started riding (1972). Finally going for it.

After a lot of research, I discovered there's a lot of them available - and most of them don't last 2 months. The longest I heard on one lasting was 2 years.

I couldn't find much on the Rivcos, but since they've been around for a long time, and they expressly target motorcycles, I went with them:
https://rivcoproducts.com/shop/kawasaki/ahmulti-chrome/

I saw the pictorial here from another fellow, which made it look easy.
Unfortunately, Rivco hasn't made the Voyager-specific kit for a long time. I went with the 'universal' kit.

The big difference is that the new kit doesn''t come with that big bracket shown in the other pictorial, which bolted nicely to the existing horn mount.

Instead it comes with one ~7" long, straight bracket with a partial curve at one end with a couple slots, and a hole in the other to bolt the horns to. The idea is you run a big hose clamp (included) through the two slots, then around a downtube on your frame. The bracket sticks out from the frame, and you bolt the horns to that. (Sorry, I didn't think to take a picture of the bracket before installing it).

Problem is, the Voyager has no visible frame on the entire front half of the bike.
I thought about making a custom bracket to mimic Rivco's original one, but that would be a big deal, and is not my forte.

After a lot of thought, I figured there's really only a few places I could realistically mount the horns:

- Under the headlight. Problem is, if I bottom the forks the front fender will hit them, hard. And I ride hard. I'd also have to make a custom bracket.

- On one of the lowers. That would mean drilling holes in a lower, and bolting the horns to the plastic. The horns only have a single mounting hole (at the rear), and weigh ~1.5 pounds. I figured such a mount would probably break the lower, sooner or later.

- Along the lower side of the fairing, on the trim piece to the rear of the running light. I thought of putting a small metal plate on the inside and outside of the fairing (to stiffen and support the fairing plastic around the mounting hole), and driling through the outer plate, trim piece, fairing, and inner plate. This would probably work, and probably last.

- On the front fender. That raised a host of issues, so I didn't really consider it.

- On an engine guard/crash bar. Though not an elegant solution, I could use the bracket provided, and it would be easy.
This is what I did. I put a piece of rubber cut from an old inner tube inside the hose clamp/bracket, to both prevent scatching the chrome on the engine guard, and minimize the vibration transferred to the horn assembly. It worked, and doesn't widen the bike's profile much, but it's not ideal. Someday I'll make a custom bracket.

The next issue was where to mount the compressor. Air horns mostly fail because the compressor dies. They don't like heat, and they really don't like vibration, wet, etc.

After a lot of looking for a suitable location, I settled on mounting it inside the left fairing, just above the lower vent air duct. I zip tied it (not tightly) to the large wiring harnesses just under the fairing top. I took some finagling, and disconnecting/rerouting/reconnecting several of the connectors, but it actually fits almost perfectly in that spot, and isn't going anywhere. Since it's only zip tied to wiring harnesses, it won''t be getting any vibration. Inside the faring, I wouldn't expect it to see any water (or anything else). It is fairly close to the cylinder head, so it might get hot in stop-and-go driving in the summer. We'll see how it holds up.

The wiring is simple if you know what you're doing. Take the time to tape up the wires and use connectors, not bare wires, and you won't have any issues. The relay is tucked into a spot just blow the fairing top, just in front of the front/rear fader.

I read a lot of stories of air horns failing silently (you don't know it died till you try to use it). To mitigate that, I ran the compressor in parallel with the existing electric horns. This way they also sound when I hit the button. Now if the compressor dies, the electric horns will still function. (If you disconnect them, or run them in series with the compressor, they won''t).

All told, I spent a solid two days on this. 2/3 of that was figuring out where to put the horns and compressor; most of the rest was doing the wiring. (I'm picky about wiring).

I have some pictures, which I'll try to post here.

Hopefully this will make it much easier for someone else to have air horns.

[etheis]

Couple more pics:

[etheis]

Couple more pics:

[SgtSlag]

Thanks for the detailed write-up, with great photo's. I gave up on air horns a few years ago, for the reasons you posted. I replaced the pathetic OEM horns with some after-market electric horns, which are louder, but nothing compared to air horns. I will keep your write-up in mind if I decide to go with air horns in the future. Cheers!

[cranky]

.. I had a Stebel air horn on my last scoot... yeah, it was loud...

IMHO, horns are worthless.... (here it comes!!! GBG)

EVERY time I used mine, it caused the wrong reaction in animals,
when I used it on a cage, the cage already saw me or made the move
that made my horn a moot point, or I did a quick trade off on the
reaching for the horn - honking and waiting to see the effect - OR -
went about saving my life with the wasted time!!!! Yeah, they sound
impressive... nice to say real loud NYAAA NYAAA NAYAYA!!! ...'bout all...

When was the last time it was effective for you???!!!! NOT maybe, it
might've, etc..... Really made a difference in your continued living.......

[ekap1200]

Nice Clean Install.
Gene Kap

[dsmmrm]

I don't think of a horn as all that useful in influencing the current risk, rather, I want to scare the bejesus out of the idiot who just cut me off on the odd chance he might pay attention next time.

[etheis]

A horn's never saved my life. (Good brakes, fast reflexes, and dirt riding experience have).

I find a good horn is good for keeping a potential bad situation from becoming bad, or a bad situation from becoming worse.

E.g., freeway traffic hits a slowdown, and some joker is just itching to lunge - somewhere. I'll watch him with my finger on the button as I go past. Had to use it a few times.

Similarly, if I'm zipping down the carpool lane and the main lanes have drastically slowed (for normal traffic). There's always idiots that think they can jump out in front of you and gas it. If I lean on the horn soon enough sometimes they'll abort, and in a few cases where they couldn't (and I couldn't stop) they at least moved aside enough that I didn't smash into them. That HAS happened, at least four times.

YMMV.

[cranky]

.. + 1 ... I am MOST nervous when in a HOV lane during slow traffic.... I just know
some #$%*#$)!% is about to try to jump in and go!!! I'm riding left line!!!!

[Dbb3]

My Rivco's, which I've had for decades, lost it's ooph couple years ago. I called up Rivco, and girl on line said "Just carefully remove the hoses, and squirt the heck out of the horn with WD40. Right in the horn. Might take a couple of times! Clean out all the gunk in there!"
I did exactly that. Couple times!
That's all it took, in my case!
Been workng fine since.

[Mr Jensee]

I bought a Stabill horn about a year ago. I ran into the same problems with no place to mount it. I wasn't about to cut up any plastic to get it to fit. I ended up giving it away to a friend who manages to put just about everything but canned soup on his Honda. So far since mounting bright LED lights on the front including the headlight I've found since the cages and bikes and especially 18 Wheelers do pay attention to me. Maybe someday I may try the air horn again but not now.

[etheis]

just a followup.

i installed the air horns in Nov '18. It's now 8/24 and they still work fine, six years later, and have never failed me.

In SoCal I used to ride all the time. But since then I've moved a couple times, ending up in Bellevuew, WA - where it's drizzly (at least) about a third of the year. Point is I haven't been riding nearly as much as I used to.

Also I test the horns briefly almost every time I ride, 'cuz air horns silently fail. (Pun intended).

So far I've had zero issues with them.

- Eric