I was unhappy with the EU-mandated, “meep-meep” horn on my Moto Guzzi Stone. But I was unhappier with the prospect of wiring in a new horn or paying someone else to do it. I have only a very hazy idea of auto electrics, relays and circuits; the notion of plunging into the innards of my bike, reefing out wires and switches, bothered me.

On a Guzzi forum I came across reference to the Eastern Beaver Horn Relay Kit which purported to permit a numbskull like me to wire in a new, louder horn. I checked out the Eastern Beaver website and Guzzi forum posts and so, in for a penny, in for a pound, I ordered a wiring loom from the Eastern Beaver website and a Stebel Compact Nautilus horn from a Melbourne Ebay dealer. I paid by PayPal, US$45.00 including postage, on a Monday night and first thing Tuesday morning I had an email from Jim Davis, the owner, confirming my payment. Shortly afterwards he emailed advising that my wiring loom was on its way and to contact him if I had any difficulties. The following Monday morning I had the kit in my hands.

This consisted of the wiring loom, two fuses (one spare), half a dozen cable ties and a couple of heat-shrink terminal protectors. Installation directions were to be downloaded from the website. The wiring kit consists of a relay from which emanate 3 separate wire pairs, each pair encased in vinyl sheathing for protection (and to prevent me from becoming confused). One heavy-gauge wire pair connects to the bike’s battery and a second heavy wire pair connects to the new horn. The clever bit, though, is the thinner gauge pair which plug into the wires on the old “meep-meep” horn. This is the installation sequence:

• connect the loom to the battery terminals;
• run the loom along the frame and connect to the new horn;
• disconnect the wires from the old horn’s terminals and plug them into the thin trigger wires from the loom.

Now when the horn button is pressed, instead of firing off the old horn, the current is routed to the relay. A relay is simply a switch. The current triggers the switch, allowing the heavy gauge wires to connect, so power runs straight from the battery through the relay to the new horn.

Why not simply plug the new horn into the old horn’s leads you ask? Because the bike’s wiring is not designed for the Stebel’s current draw. Eventually the horn switch, or some wiring connection deep in the bowels of the bike, would burn out. The Stebel horn uses a lot more current than the old horn and the Eastern Beaver’s heavier-gauge leads cater for it.

The installation sequence is simple, but some time needs to be spent considering where to mount the horn and where to run the wiring. Ideally the tank should be removed and the loom run along the bike’s main wiring harness, tied to prevent chaffing. Fortunately the Guzzi is easy to work on and I could get away with raising the tank a couple of centimetres.

The Stebel horn, although compact, is as big as a couple of cigarette packets. Care needs to be taken to ensure that it doesn’t interfere with the movement of the front forks or suspension travel. I’ve seen Stebel horns mounted on crash bars, and also on the frame behind the rider. Eventually I attached mine to a bracket on the windscreen frame.

The Eastern Beaver loom is generous in its length so I looped the excess and tied it behind a panel. The connectors on the loom, the Moto Guzzi and the Stebel horn were apparently industry-standard sizes because they slipped together perfectly. At any time the old horn can be reinstalled, and the new horn and loom transferred to another bike.

This is a quality product that I couldn’t have made myself to the same standard, so it was well worth the cost. Eastern Beaver makes relay kits for dual horns, headlights and driving lights, too. There can be quite a voltage drop between the battery and a bike’s headlights. If you often ride at night a new loom will brighten your way.

http://www.easternbeaver.com/