Modern Vespa

Yes, I did use the word cute.

Another deciding factor was that the only way to position it to be heard well was to point the opening towards the horn cover grill. When I would get caught in the rain the horn would fill up with water.

I put in a Stebel Nautilus after a car full of frat boys pulled out in front of me ON PURPOSE on a major street. They pointed and laughed as I swerved to avoid being killed. I meeped my wimpy ass stock horn at them, and they laughed more. I vowed the next time I'd make them shit their pants. Ordered the Nautilus the next day. It's been extremely handy on several occasions. I'm pretty sure there's some doodoo stains on the seats of at least a couple of cars around town. Cagers need to be angrily reminded that your life is more important than the two seconds they can save by killing you.

I live in a college town as well, an invaluable tool against texters....

That would be me...

IMHO...I would rather be with loud horn than without...with all the ambient noise and/or rolled up windows, cell phone users (yes we still have them even though we recently banned cell phone use while driving)...it's more prudent to err on the side of having an loud enough audible warning to prevent an unpleasant incident on the road...again that's just me...

I only use the horn to say two things:

"Hello" (meep) and "Yeah, f**k you too" (have sticky horn switch so I can set it to 'long meeeeeeeeeep' and flip the bird with my free hand).

If people were trying to kill me all the time I'd consider a louder horn...or steel-capped boots

One problem, though, Miguel... as Muni stated originally, these bicyclists had a BIKE LANE available. I can understand using the road when a bike lane isn't available, but if one is, then the bikers need to be in it, not jamming up traffic and creating an UNSAFE condition, when they have a SAFE alternative.

I'm a bike rider, myself, and when a bike lane is available, I use it...


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That was my recent purchase and install, too. I like it, and no relay/rewire needed.

having just got my license and taken an MSF class, both the drivers manual and the class emphasized using the horn to be noticed whenever you felt it was needed. Now that doesn't mean overuse it or use it to get aggression out but the majority of accidents (that aren't things like running into siderails cuz you don't know how to turn) are caused by cars and trucks that just don't see you.

I use my horn a lot to make sure my presence is known. A lot of times in new york city cars will sort of drift slightly into your lane a couple inches which is a good indication that they're thinking about swerving into it but waiting to see if yours or their lane picks up speed first - they're looking to speed ahead, not looking to see if people are in their way.

That said, just because i use my horn all the time doesn't mean it makes much difference because it's clear they can't hear me. Buses and cabs nearly run me off the road daily on the west side highway and worse on busy city streets where there is lots of lane shifting. And if you've driven here you know it's not really lane shifting as much as total absence of lanes...which is pretty scary for a scooterist.

So...I have a gts 250 and am going to buy a stebel. Can those of you with them clarify which is the right one or best one? I see there's a compact and regular and a nautilus and magnum and not sure where to go from there. thanks in advance

Here's a link to a discussion of the Stebel Magnum:

Another new smaller, LOUD, Stebel for scooters...

The Nautilus is about twice as loud as the Magnum. See this post:

The Stebel has landed (now installed - OMG!!!) (Post 681433)

For my needs the Magnum is great. Your mileage may vary.

Was it hard to install the Autozone $19.99 horn? Did you install it on your VBB ?

I just checked my local Autozone. Its selling now for $16.95. I might just pick one up to see of it fits in the horncast on my P200E

Well, I suppose we should ask why put a horn on the scooter, or any vehicle for that matter, in the first place? I suggest that it is to alert others in our vicinity to rapidly changing circumstances, i.e., unsafe lane changes, lane creep impinging on occupied space, etc. In a driving world where more and more people are using cell phones and texting, it's certain that sooner or later we'll have to wake them up to what they're doing, and our best resource, firing a gun from a moving vehicle being prohibited, is a horn. And it seems to me to make sense that the louder the horn, the better. If It would fit, and were legal, I'd install a submarine dive claxon on all of my vehicles, but as it is, I'm restricted to the loudest allowable. We're cautioned to wear conspicuous gear - why not also a conspicuous sounding device? To each his own, but I'm betting on the loud horn, and hoping I'll never need it. Just like my vehicle insurance policy.

I like the stock horn, also because of it's unobtrusive little "cute" beep. But my I changed my mind on that when I had my finger on the horn button for quite a long time, while trying to get out of the way of an SUV that was literally 3 feet away from me, and they still never heard or saw me. Wasn't at a noisy intersection, and they weren't playing music loud enough I could hear it outside the vehicle. It was obvious to me that in an emergency, that horn just wasn't effective enough. Luckily for me, there was no one in the left-turn lane at the time, so I was able to move over without any problem once I got the chance to check.

Don't recall this experience happening on any of my other scoots, so I guess I wasn't as concerned about the horn then, either. New experience, new concern.

Yeah, the rain does kind of mess with the horn, but I personally still think it's worth it. Takes less than a dozen honks before it spits all the water out most of the time. I'm considering covering it with a layer or two of plastic wrap to keep the water out. I highly doubt it will affect the sound much.

My 2 cents.

My Magnum got water in it recently, so after getting it out I repositioned the horn to point more downward. Still sounds plenty loud enough and maybe the water will stay out.

My boyfriend and I both fought with the Stebel and tried to find a better position for it, but no dice. The GTV legshield is pretty crammed with stuff to begin with, and I've also added a 12v accessory plug, Piaggio alarm, and garage door opener into the mix. We couldn't find any way to situate it differently without completely relocating it, and I decided against that. Hardly rains here anyway, so it isn't a huge problem.

It doesn't rain much here, either. If fact, it got the water in it when I was trailering it back from the Third Coast Rally in San Antonio.

Thats way I installed a Stebel, its save my ass on the freeway many times, but if one wants a Beep Beep, more power to them and good luck. Suvs are the worst.

I installed mine behind the left knee pad, and its still loud enough to get attention.

I considered that, but with all the other crap I've stuffed behind there, there isn't any room! Because I absolutely wanted a waterproof chrome button for my garage door opener, I ended up with a marine-grade one that's 2 inches long in the back. Doesn't help with the space issue.

I do like the suprized HOLY CRAP looks on driver's faces when I do need to honk at them. They obviously don't expect a scooter to be so loud!