Modern Vespa

After 2 people nearly killing me this past weekend by drifting into my lane on the highway I decided that I needed a horn that people can actually hear. The factory Vespa 300 horn is worthless.

Instead of dropping the big money on the overrated Stebel I went to the local Auto Zone and bought the largest car horn they had. It is a 132db Monster and DAMN IS IT LOUD. After 30 min of trying out different fitments and bracket positions I finally got it right. It fits perfectly in the factory horn area and touches nothing. I was even able to plug it into the factory oem connectors. Damn this was easy.

I paid $19.99 for this bad boy and its even made in ITALY for all of you Vespa purists.

Best $20.00 I have ever spent on an upgrade. Highly recommended.

The Freeway Blaster is a fine horn. However, I recommend against taking jabs at sacred cows. It makes enemies out of people who would otherwise be helping you down the road, and accomplishes nothing.

Sure, it's better than stock, it should do the trick. However, although my Stebel cost $20 more than what you paid, it also has 2 tones instead of one. And it's 7 decibels louder than yours. That difference comes in handy when you're dealing with clueless cagers who have a cell phone in one hand and a caramel macchiato in the other, or a big rig who doesn't see you in his mirrors.

But anyway, congrats on your purchase, I'm glad you like it.

and seven decibels is a hell of a lot of sound.

I have a Freeway blaster, and while it is far louder than stock it doesn't touch the Stebels.

The Stebel in my Vespa is louder then the Rivco on my motorcycle (and cost less). I haven't found a horn that would fit in a Vespa that is better.

3 dB more is perceived as twice as loud!

That said, I also have the Fiamm Hiway Blaster. It is clearly not as loud as the Stebel, as I had to admit in a side-pby-side test with 2007GTS.

Now, to help out our enthusiastic OP, I have some good news: install a relay, and it will be louder. Then, add the stock horn back into the mix to make a two-tone horn that is actually more audible than the Blaster alone.

Oh, and another thing: you overpaid. Mine was only $18

This is what my dual tone looks like, installed:

whether you paid a few extra bucks or not, whether it's a few decibels less or not, it sound like a great addition to your super. the biggest plus is the ease of installation. from what i've seen in the forum, i haven't really wanted to change the horn on my gts to a stebel even with my slight mechanical skills. but if i can find what you found and just plug and play, it's worth a try in my book. thanks for sharing the pictures and idea!

May opt for a louder horn for my wife's Metro (I have a Wolo installed in the GT200)...she doesn't want it as loud as a Stebel / Wolo Bad Boy...any recommendations?

BTW...the stock horn on the 2009 Metro isn't all that bad...my brother had an older Ruckus and when he checked out the Metro he said it was louder...

The Stebel Magnum is smaller, and not as loud, as the Nautilus compact. Some members have also installed it as a direct swap, instead of running new wires and a relay. Myself, I would still install the relay.

Hmmm Wonder if it'll fit my LX 150 ?

I use the Fiamm Freeway Blaster too.
(Mostly because I wuz lazy and didn't want to havta add a relay?)
It's pretty good, much better than stock; it sounds like a LOUD car horn.
(Which is really what it is...)
But if you listen to a Stebel, it sounds like a big rig truck climbing up your tail!

Now if I wasn't so lazy....

I did however manage to add directional beeper signals from RS to my GT,
and this has been (for me) as critical an improvement as a louder horn!
I'd never been quite able to consistently shut off my directionals before, and riding around
for miles with them mistakenly flashing was not the safest thing to do...

But now, since I can't stand the beeping, they're always off immediately after a turn.
I didn't use the loudest beepers RS had, but even so sometimes when riding with my club
I've had people riding on scoots well away from me ask, "What's that beeping going on?"

Should... The smaller Magnum fit easily inside my Buddy!

And that's the truth. The best thing I ever did to my Vespa was put a louder horn in.

There is a LOT of space in the shield of a LX150.

So how hard is it to install a Stebel Horn?

I mean I can wire an electrical outlet, but I don't want to be prying all sorts of stuff off my new 300GTS to install a relay switch.

I did buy it for freeway rides, and I have already experienced 'cager drift' issues.
So being a safety conscious person, I will replace my horn, but would like a more simplified 'plug and play' install job.

Suggestions for the newbie?

There is a guide on this forum with pictures. It isn't hard though. The hardest part is running wires from the battery to the shied - and that is more of a PITA then actually being hard.

I'll second that. The write up in the projects section is very detailed so it's an easy job. It's a bit time consuming but nothing you couldn't do alone on a saturday afternoon.

Here is another Horn:
http://www.urlesque.com/2009/07/22/ladys-laugh-sounds-like-car-horn/?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl5|link7|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.urlesque.com%2F2009%2F07%2F22%2Fladys-laugh-sounds-like-car-horn%2F

If I remember my college acoustical physics course (and I do) a 3 dB increase requires twice as much energy, but it takes a 10 dB increase for a sound to be perceived as twice as loud.

Here is a quick reference: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/audio/loudness_table.html

I think that the hardest part of a Stebel install is removing the plastic glove box and then reassembling it. That part alone, took about 1/3 of the time for my Stebel install.

My new Stebel arrived this morning at about 10:30 am. By about a quarter to one it was installed and making a wonderful air horn sound. Probably would have taken less time, but I messed around with some of the different installation instructions given by forum members. Started to remove the leg shield and then decided that was too big of a pain so stopped and separated the horn into two pieces as has bee suggested on another thread. I thought about using a plastic tube to connect the two and then mount the compressor behind the knee pad because there is a lot of room in there. Instead I put the horn through the horn cast opening after moving a few wires out of the way and the compressor went through the knee pad and was reunited with the horn. I did think far enough ahead and attached wire leads to the bottom of the compressor before installation. Fished the new power wire to the battery through the head set after only a couple of tries. Used the Wiki wiring diagram for GTV although the old horn wires are a different color on my GTS. Thanks to everyone who has done this before because my first impression was that it was never going to fit.

The packaging and product name would have made me walk the other way

can't judge a book buy it cover. hopefully they spent all their money on reliability and R & D.

I put the Stebel Magnum in my GTS....very LOUD...as loud as the Nautilus...maybe not...well, NO. But much louder than stock and aim it forward so no vibration sound or muffled sound and it is PLENTY loud enough to scare a cager out of your lane should they choose to wander in it...no relay...plug and play

How did you mount it. Thx. Miguel

Thought about making something that would mount to an existing bracket thats already in there, but then decided on a zip tie because there isn't much room for it to move.

What did u zip tie it to? Miguel

The bracket and zip tie in question.

Thx for the pic. Does it rattle when you hit bumps or is there enough wires in there holding relatively stationary? Thx. Miguel

PS I got the horn and intend to install this weekend.

I installed 139db stebel in my gts... piece of cake!

I have some more pics on my thread
my ongoing GTS projects/mods

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I know this is an old thread, but it was just brought back to life . . .

Anyhow, why the need for the relay? What makes that better than using the wires from the OEM horn?

Just curious.

The factory wiring would probably burn up with the larger horn if you press the horn button for too long. Better to put in a relay and be safe.

Okay--makes sense--but a couple of people above said the horn would be louder with the relay--that's what has piqued my curiosity.

This link might help...I'm not an electronics genius...but basically the relay safely steps up the amount of juice that goes thru the relay line so you get the full benefit of the horns output and you don't risk burning out your wiring. A demonstration (I did this when I was searching for buzzer @ Radio Shack...took a 9V battery to check for sound...it activated but the actual loudness of the buzzer would be heard via the use of a 12V...which is what's installed in our scoots).

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080309193621AAZfK3i

The diagram was secured on a previous post (original diagram indicated the color of wire in their scoot and they do differ) hence I edited to indicate specific hook up 85 to existing ground (-) and 86 to existing positive (+) horn wire connection.

Note: The relays I've used thus far have been with four terminals. Please read the warning on using terminal 85 and 86 being interchangeable...this is not so if there is a diode in the relay. Not knowing if the relay has a diode or not...and assuming an interchange of the 85 and 86 termnal could burn out your relay. Hence, I stick with the 85 to ground (-) and 86 to positive (+) wired connection.

Hope this helps.

I wish I could have an air-horn? =(

Here's the write up I did for the installing the stebel on my GTV. The wiring and relay are applicable to any horn.

Stebel horn install on my GTV.
Best
Miguel

Thank you so much . . . this is great! Mucho karma for you.

This will make my horn swap much easier. Can't thank you enough!

Thanks Miguel.
Karma for you too . . .

I've been contemplating upgrading my horns, but I rarely use the horn anyhow, I just sort of respond as best I can in the situation. I nearly ate it on my white Vespa the other day when a cop came barreling at me from the right, I ended up in the railroad tracks fishtailing like crazy at 35, added throttle and got out, Thank Goodness! When in doubt, throttle it out?