Jim's 1980 SG Miss September

Sitting here at my desk trying to get some work done, and then I read this. You guys crack me up. About spit my coffee all over my keyboard.

Yup, that happens to me all the time around here.

I guess we're old, but we're also funny.

The guy you've really got to watch out for is DownEaster - he has caused me to spray food and beverages all over my family room and garage several times. ;):cussing:
 
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Today was mostly a honeydo day. Did make a little progress....

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I've never used one.
Anyone else?

Hi Jim,
back 'ome, back then, britbikes all had 'em built into the twistgrip and today's normal twistgrip was called a "racing" or a "flyback" throttle, so yes.
WTF was that, you ask?
Because bikes didn't have flashers in those days, hand signals only, driving on the left means letting go of the grip to signal a right turn
and the last thing you need when turning on the highway is your throttle snapping shut.
 
This week has been all about spring cleaning and honeydo's. Finally got time to work on the bike today....
Horn and alternator relays are wired up and cleaned up....

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First off the horn. I ordered one from Amazon that had good reviews and claims that it was loud. We'll, it isn't. It's barely louder than stock.... which ain't much louder'n a small bullfrog. So good news/bad news. The good is it's wired and ready to handle any horn I can throw at it. Bad news is I'm on the hunt for a suitable horn again. Any recommendations?

Next up, the alternator field cutout relay. Once it was all wired in, I tested by holding a wrench close to the rotor. Turned the key on and it pulled the wrench in. Hit the starter and magnetic field died and wrench pulled away. So, the relay's wired correctly. Next I disconnected the ground to the relay so I could energize/de-energize it at will. I had Sue hold the starter button down while I alternately grounded/un-grounded it. There was no discernible change in starter rpm. So, this mods a bust. There's no point in buying a point and shoot tach to measure rpms... 'cause by ear, there's no noticeable change. At the margins, it might be useful for a battery that's almost dead... but that's what we have the kickstarter for. I'm gonna leave it wired in 'cause it does have one useful feature... no nuisance trips of the light relay when the engine fires but doesn't start.
Would I have installed it just for that feature? No, prolly not.... but it's there... it's stayin'.
 
Man! Your wiring is perfect. You do such nice work.

Regarding the horn. As I’m sure you are already aware, volume is almost always a by product of size, bigger is (usually ) better. On a bike as small and open as ours , finding somewhere to hide them becomes problematic. When the topic of getting a louder horn pops up, someone will usually suggest a Nautilus or Wolo air horn, others are fans of bigger disc horns.
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On my last bike, a Suzuki DL650 V-Strom, I had a near miss , while commuting , riding home from work one day.
A woman in a humongous SUV just bulled her way into my lane, totally disregarding my bleating goat of a horn, and she forced me out of my lane. I vowed to install a horn that would scare the crap out of anyone who ever did that again. After reading every review I could find, I settled on a dual horn, high -low Fiam Freeway Blaster set up.
This is a photo of the actual set up I installed. I put in a fuse and a relay too.
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The V-Strom had a fairing that surrounded the headlight, allowing me to keep it completely hidden. They worked beautifully and got me through several more years of commuting, and they absolutely were attention getters when anyone would drift into my lane. It made my 650 sound like 3,000 lb Chrysler!

I’ve never tried these, but I had also considered the Hella Supertones, they got good reviews, but are pretty large.
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After reading every review I could find, I settled on a dual horn, high -low Fiam Freeway Blaster set up.
Thanks for the info Bob. I bought the Fiam Low instead of the dual tone (based on the reviews I read). Maybe I just need to buy the high tone to go with it?
 
I remember reading that the low frequency sounds penetrate the interior of vehicles better, but I think you’re right that by itself, it doesn’t sound like much. The dual horn set up does a pretty good job of mimicking a big old Detroit car. All I can tell you is it worked well for me. :thumbsup:
 
Yes, if you want loud, car-like sound, dual horns are the ticket. Here's some reasonably priced sets .....

https://www.amazon.com/HELLA-011225...=B01C8F0AUY&psc=1&refRID=359TQ5Z66FH26EVWZPP7

https://www.amazon.com/HELLA-011225...ocphy=9005489&hvtargid=pla-491899917240&psc=1

But I think just getting the Fiam high tone to go along with the low tone one you already have should do the trick. A set of them came on the junk XS500 I picked up last year. That almost covered the $25 I paid for the thing, lol .....

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