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Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn - makes your bike sound like a lorry Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn - makes your bike sound like a lorry
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Equipping the Bike - what's the best gear? Anything to do with the bikes equipment, saddlebags, etc. Questions on repairs and maintenance of the bike itself belong in the Brand Specific Tech Forums.
Photo by Alessio Corradini, on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, of two locals

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Alessio Corradini,
on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia,
of two locals



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  #1  
Old 8 Nov 2007
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Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn - makes your bike sound like a lorry
Has anyone on the HUBB fitted these? Just don't like the look of all those loose wires in the photos at the link below.

Stebel Nautilus Compact Horn - Fitting

It should get you noticed on the motorway though, should anyone start drifting into your lane...
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  #2  
Old 8 Nov 2007
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Nope, but I've been thinking along those lines - you fit one and let us all know what it's like!!

I did read up about some other model and it is 4"x4"x2", so that is something that I will be looking at - where to put it.
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Old 9 Nov 2007
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Not yet .. got one yesterday.

There are two wires on 1/4 inch spade lugs on the bottom of the unit .. I'd be putting some plastic covers over them and a bit of grease to stop the corrosion. The connection type is good with vibration so I'm not worried about that falling off.

Also the unit comes with an adaptor to allow you to route the air inlet some where else.. As the unit is fairly heavy I'd be mounting it low - so I'll be using the air inlet to pipe the air via a 1/4inch hose (clear so I can see any water in it) from somewheres .. say under the seat. It will probably go on the rear luggage rack on a DR650. Too large to go under the tank in teh standard location for the horn.

The unit takes around 18 Amps .. say 200 watts ... so you cannot run it directly via the standard horn switch .. it really does nedd to be driven via a relay.

--- Before I do this I'll be comparing it weight and noise wise with dual bosches off a bm bike.
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Old 9 Nov 2007
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Frank, let us know how you get on fitting it and your thoughts!
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Old 9 Nov 2007
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Had one on my R1100GS for a few years now - great Fitting it was a bit of a puzzle because of the limited space underneath the headlamp where the stadard horn is mounted but I managed to find a simple way to do it and have helped a few others to fit them on 1150 and 1100 GS's since. It comes with it's on relay but I just changed the spade connectors and hooked it straight up to the existing wiring and use the existing relay - no problem. I imagine if you ride in Cairo a lot and keep your thumb on the horn all the time it may not be happy for too long but for normal use it's fine and very very loud.
A lady in a Merc SLK pulled out in front of me a few months ago and got a full blast as I braked hard - I could see the blood drain from her face as she thought she was going to get crushed by a 30 ton truck
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Old 9 Nov 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gecko View Post
A lady in a Merc SLK pulled out in front of me a few months ago and got a full blast as I braked hard - I could see the blood drain from her face as she thought she was going to get crushed by a 30 ton truck
Quite right too, it's good for those inconsiderate car drivers to see how it feels once in a while.
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Old 9 Nov 2007
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Just fitted one on my GS1200. Yes it does sound like a truck, or a freight train being derailed!! Just to be on the safe side use the relay they supply with it, I fitted it without at first but it just kept tripping ther canbus system on the BM.
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Old 9 Nov 2007
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I had one in my 2CV
Ok so I know it's not a bike, but I can say they're very loud and very effective. I put the wires in some of that spiral plastic sleeve that you find lurking round in engine bays and didn't have any problem, but then it was in a car (sort of)
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Old 10 Nov 2007
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I'll have to get one of those , it'll make the cagers spill their coffee as they slurp their way to work -- ha ha !!
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Old 11 Nov 2007
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Thumbs down
I've used it briefly.

Plus point - frightens the crap out of dreamers, and fools who really should be paying some attention to the road instead of their cellphone etc while wandering thoughtlessly all over the road.

Big minus. VERY VERY difficult to repair. The plastic nozzle (supplied) meant to connect the horn to the "clean air" pipe broke (due to the vibes) as a result of which some crud got into the diaphragms. End of horn. It could not be opened, much less repaired. At least with the standard Stebel, you can easily put a new pipe (cheap)
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Old 11 Nov 2007
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Some weights
Ok ... source, comment, weight

Suzi DR650, small single horn, 0.22kg
various BM bikes, Bosch single medium, 0.31 kg
various BM RTs, Fiamm dual, 0.59 kg
Stebel Nautilus, looks like an air compressor type - dual outlets, 0.68 kg

As I said the Nautilus takes about 200 watts ... so you need the relay to drive it (unless you already have one).

a1arn .. was the added 'pipe' secured? I' wondering it the vibrations and length of pipe combined broke the plastic bit .. If you want some redundancy then the bm RT horns would be ok .. they sound like a car .. fairly powerful .. and you'd want to drive them through a relay. Sorry no numbers yet on the sound levels.

The Nautilus has a single M8 bolt and nut to mount it .. and the mounting is a slot (not a hole) so it gets loose it could fall off .. not the best .. I'll be adding a hose clamp around the bottom .. and clamping the added air 'pipe' to the body somewhere ...

Many years ago I had an air horn mounted on a bike .. it worked fairly well .. keep the pipe from the compressor to the horns short to keep the response time short, it has something like steel wool on the air inlet .. worked ok on a street bike.
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Old 12 Nov 2007
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The air inlet for the horn is at right angles to the body, and I had to mount this thing on the crash guard (no scope of fitting it within the fairing). The "clean air " tubing drew air from within the fairing, and was secured there, but the right angle bend in the tubing must have had some residual stress, which over a few days lead to the plastic breaking - and I came to know after a long trip through flooded roads, a bit late to do anything.

I guess if the tubing can be secured to the body of the horn in some way, without kinking it/using adhesive to secure the supplied clean air nipple to the place where it slides in and mounts might do the trick(that would strenghten that weak point) . But if, somehow, one of the diaphragms is damaged, that's essentially the end of the horn. As you mentioned, short pipes leading to a conventional air horn makes sense in terms of repairability/function

The mount point is fairly secure, even though it is on only one bolt. As it is on the aluminium the mounting bolt can be tightened fully, and the plastic block acts as a spring washer of sorts.

Managed to fit a klaxon hooter in it's place. It may not sound like a freight train or an 18 wheeler, but it does the job
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Old 13 Nov 2007
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non air horns!
Hi All, I fitted a pair of these to my KLE (M & P - Product Information for 565754) don't look a lot but hit the button and watch the heads turn both fitted under the right hand side fairing, i fitted a stebel high output (130db)horn to my TDM900 very good, non of these horns are air horns but! they do the biss
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Old 13 Nov 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TDMalcolm View Post
Hi All, I fitted a pair of these to my KLE (M & P - Product Information for 565754) don't look a lot but hit the button and watch the heads turn both fitted under the right hand side fairing, i fitted a stebel high output (130db)horn to my TDM900 very good, non of these horns are air horns but! they do the biss
TDMalcolm
Hi Malcolm,
There's no size shown on the M&P page - how big is that thing? It certainly appears to be compact.
Also, why a pair - is that how they work?

Thanks
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Old 15 Nov 2007
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Originally Posted by Walkabout View Post
Hi Malcolm,
There's no size shown on the M&P page - how big is that thing? It certainly appears to be compact.
Also, why a pair - is that how they work?

Thanks
Hi Walkabout, How duin dude? 1/ they work as a pair one high and one low output, ie two tone...lots more o/p.
2/ size.this is only approx from memory, 4" dia not inc the trumpet and about 3" deep, both horns sit back to back to each other, i'll try to get a picture with out tackin the fairin off, I hope this helps
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