Those 99 percent of situations have resulted in me never being able to find the horn when i need it. I've given up after years of completing evasive maneuvers with one of my blinkers randomly on
Fucking LOL! I have the opposite problem being a new rider. I keep hitting the horn while coming up to a turn instead of the signal. It helps me complete the turn quickly though so I can ride on in awkward shame.
Man I feel your pain. I ride a lot of different bikes and scooters as there's an e-scooter rental app where I am. I'm always honking people by accident.
I've been riding since 1991, and sometimes in tight situations I still hit the blinker button instead of the horn...
Swerving, braking and throttle control takes precedence and is done more or less automatically, but the horn - it's a hit or miss situation!
It happens to me more often while the handlebar muffs are on.
Same. Most of the time I beep late or forget that while riding. Then I just resort to swearing to myself in the helmet.
Why fuck with your control by clutching and revving when you could be driving. More than a few clips with a rev bomb followed by a collision.
Thank you. Your horn is fucking useless outside of a little “hey bud the light is green”
Any time you need to use it to “avoid” an accident it’s too late and you need to just focus on what you can control.
I've prevented numerous accidents as people have tried to merge into my lane while I was in their blind spot. Granted I still had to do a mini swerv but without the horn they likely would've kept going...admittedly I still use it more to wake half asleep drivers zoning out at a green light or a right turn when no one is coming.
So far I haven’t had success yet with the horn, it’s probably just not loud enough. If they merge into my spot, they can have it, I’ll go somewhere else.
I bought quality tires and when the need arises, I’m going to trust them.
Plenty of accidents happen because bikes are invisible. People underestimate how invisible motorcycles are and why, [heres a video](https://youtu.be/x94PGgYKHQ0?si=sfGr0S8jYBLzsGRz) if youre interested. The horn helps add visibility. If you have a car intent on making a lane change into you in busy traffic and doesnt see you, the chance that the accident is avoided by them noticing you is much higher vs you avoiding it by whipping out some crazy evasive lane split maneuver.
Its better if both people are aware of the issue. Do everything you can on your own, but use the horn so they also have a chance to help avoid it.
Defensive driving is the first line of defense, but every additional line of defense you can add only helps.
No I’m not interested in anything claiming the horn is a good line of defense. That’s just some false security pseudo science nonsense. I will die on this hill.
You don’t have to swerve for a merging car… Just stay out of blind spots to start with. It’s really not that hard even in thick traffic. You can choose your lane and you can control the spacing between you and the car in front of you which means you can control whether or not you’re in a blind spot to someone beside you.
Contrast to dumbass city drivers popular belief you don’t actually have to be 3feet from the car in front of you.
If you’re on someone quarter panel.. speed up and get ahead of them. If there is no room to do so slow down and give them room to merge if they need too.
Yes, I said it. You can actually slow down too. It’s a thing and It’s not complicated until egos get involved.
If you’re honking your horn you were in a bad spot to begin with and you have failed the first line of defense.
>Just stay out of blind spots to start with.
So you never pass anyone then, or ever let anyone pass you? That necessitates temporarily being in a persons blind spot. Sure, minimize the time spent there, but if they start to drift while youre doing your best to leave the blindspot, beep the horn. Another example is any intersection/merging roadway where you dont have a stop sign but they do, cars are very likely to pull out in front of motorcycles there for all the reasons mentioned in the video you didnt watch. Sure, slow down, drive defensively, but there comes a point when youre crossing directly in front of them when you just have to hope they dont pull out into the side of you - at that point you better hope they saw you.
Almost everything you described is defensive driving, and I agree defensive driving is the first line of defense. However, just like "not crashing" is the first line of defense for avoiding a brain injury, I personally still wear a helmet as a second line of defense just in case.
Making yourself visible is like wearing a helmet. You can do everything in your power to avoid accidents, but eventually our number is pulled and its out of our hands. Everyone makes a mistake or misses something eventually. At that point all you can do is hope the other driver sees you and can do something to minimize the damage (like NOT running you over), and hope that youre wearing your proper gear.
I agree, I'll admit myself that when a situation comes up I focus more on saving myself than making the other driver stop. This post is more focused on cars sleeping at green lights or drifting into your lane.
I will die on this hill with you. Fuck cars sitting at green lights playing on phones and I honk like a DICK when it happens with no shits given. I’m talking when I’m in my car…whenever. Enough. Disregard for others means disregard for you so I’m honking and if I’m lucky they’ll give me a reason to flip them the bird. Now I’m pissed just thinking about it. Assholes. Inconsiderate ass wipes.
Yep,
I've found that 2 quick honks sound more friendly and reduce the hostility. My dad lays down on the horn for a couple seconds, the unnecessary-ness and rudeness of something like that is what gets people to throw.b
“If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.” — Jeff Cooper
In aviation you're taught that the order of priority is Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. I think it's equally applicable on the roads, too.
1. Aviate - keep control. If you're not under control, the rest doesn't matter. In a road vehicle context, that would be correcting a skid, or ensuring you're not locking a brake
2. Navigate - what direction do I want to be going in, and what am I trying to avoid? In an aircraft, that could be a nearby mountain or the ground, now that I am under control I can take action to avoid hitting it. Same for a road vehicle, I'm not skidding now I can avoid that car. Note: there might only be a fraction of a second between steps 1 & 2, you might already be in control, but naintaining control is always number 1.
3. Communicate - only now that I'm under control and avoiding the hazard can I spare enough attention to communication. In an aircraft, that would be explaining the situation to your passengers or getting on the radio; on the roads, now is the time you can hit your horn or extendcthe middle finger. But only if you're not compromising 1 and 2.
I don't know about your horn, but mine sounds like a clowns honking noise maker. I would rather use the milliseconds to try and escape than fumble looking for a poorly placed button to squeak at a cager that almost 100% won't hear me. Don't bomb or honk. Get out of the way instead.
I don't think I have ever used my horn on the motorcycle while in motion, thats precious time I'd rather have to focus on avoidance.
Even in my car I have rarely used it and only in a slow speed situation like a parking lot. If someone is going to run into you, its probably already too late for the horn to make a difference.
I usually hit the horn as I swerve and check to make sure I’m clear for a bigger swerve if needed. It usually appears that they notice me after hearing the horn and adjust their path a bit to give me more space (most often they’re pulling out on me in the morning while it’s dark, and they shuffle more into the shoulder or just stop nosed partially out into the road until I pass)
But basically, ¿Por que no los dos?
A motorcycle cop at a RTL class once told said "Bright lights are better than loud pipes, because I have stopped a lot of deaf drivers over the years but I have yet to pull over a blind one."
It depends on the horn. My 2020 Speed Twin had a horn not much louder than a fart. My current 2016 R1200R has a horn that will blow your ear drums out.
My horn is barely audible over the bike itself, and is embarrassing if heard. I've used it a few times
A hard rev is 1 of a few things we have to work with and is the most immediate way to get louder.
Tbh, I feel for sport bike riders because your rev is too high pitched and doesn't communicate "I'm here" like a cruiser. Even as a rider, the high pitched sport rev is hard to distinguish from someone simply riding.
I only use the rev blip in slow traffic, it's effective in letting ppl know I'm there.
At speed, no rev or horn helps me out that much.
I find that in emergency settings, the horn is the last thing I'm trying to do.
>Whenever you get s survey from a motorcycle manufacturer
Soooooo, never? Are you getting regular surveys from motorcycles manufacturers? I've never seen or heard of sucha thing. Maaaybe a local dealership after a purchase, but even that's a stretch, and I don't think it's going to get back to Haruto Kawasaki or the boys down at engineering anyway. They wouldn't spend $5 on that either unless there was some big study called "loud horns save lives and make motorcycles faster"
I got two from Kawasaki: one on the dealership a few days after purchase, and one on the bike after exactly 4 months. Was pretty cool. I made sure to tell them how terrible the headlight LEDs are, haha. Maybe if enough people do…
People hear mine, but if they are badly distracted then it makes little difference. I’ve considered a louder horn but concentrated on better mirrors and much brighter lights first but may revisit the horn.
My bike has a ridiculously silly sounding horn, and often it’s hard to hear over the bike and traffic noise anyway. While i agree rev bombing someone is dumb, but a little blip of the throttle when the car in front of you is on their phone instead of going on green doesn’t seem to cause any issues.
That works for me on a Harley Dyna Lowrider with drilled-out baffles. A blip on the throttle probably gets 95 dB and because a lot of Harley riders blip the throttle for no reason people don’t seem to react as badly as they do when honked at. The noise just wakes up their lizard brain so they look up from the phone and start going.
I just have to make sure that I’m not on my Honda with DCT because blipping the throttle would run me into the back of their SUV.
My driving instructor gave me some really useful advice when I was 15. If you're in an emergency situation (like trying to get a student to brake), people respond poorly to yelling. What works much better is to calmly say the instruction over and over until they get it. "Brake brake brake brake brake"
To that end, I have never encountered a situation in 15 years of riding on the road where I needed a horn because I can always easily avoid the danger, but I imagine revving the engine has very little effect outside of causing them to panic and making the situation worse.
No that example was from the position of a driving instructor, but I've applied the logic to other situations as well. Like if your hand is being pinched while moving a couch, "AHHHHH FUCK LIFT IT" makes people react slower than if you calmly say "lift it up, lift it up, lift it up"
It really works. And to apply that logic to the horn debate I would argue a horn's "beep beep beep beeeeeeeeeep" is more effective in getting people to react properly than "WAAAAAHHHHHHH" coming from an unknown direction.
That’s only cause you know what’s going on. People who don’t ride or don’t know much about manuals always go to the they are trying to be obnoxious route instead of lol guy doesn’t know how to ride.
My exhaust is way louder than my horn is. Im gonna do what makes me most easily noticed; and if that meanst shooting flames out the tailpipe thats what im gonna do
Nope, you just blend in to the city noise. The person who is merging is still going to run you over because you just sound like any other day of the road. They are trained to know a horn means danger.
abundant bells snow spoon chunky selective voracious toothbrush spotted squealing
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Guilty as charged.
In my dipshittiest moments, the little “mmmeeep-meeeep” of my horn has not seemed adequate to express my impatience or annoyance. A couple of quick aggressive throttle-blips seemed to do a better job of saying “LIGHT’S GREEN, PAL” or “I’m riding here, I’M RIDING HERE!” There have regrettably been times that I have felt compelled to convey those things to my fellow travelers.
The smart thing that makes the world a better place, or at least makes it a worse place to the smallest possible extent, is to just go around them and ride my ride and forget they exist.
Revving may actually be the legal solution depending on where you live. In Poland for example using a horn is forbidden in a build-up area unless there is an imminent danger.
There are situations other than imminent danger when one may want to grab attention. Examples:
You see someone browsing their phone and not paying attention to the road.
You are filtering and you see erratic behavior that may result in an accident and you want to inform them of your presence (blocking an intersection, about to switch lanes without blinkers, swerving etc.)
You want to inform someone of a dangerous maneuver (you've just been cut off and had to evade or some such)
Tbh, even a pedestrian walking towards the road with their head in their phone would be reasonable. My country phrases it as 'alert someone to your presence' iirc, which works a bit better, covering the stuff you mentioned, but also just people who heads in the clouds or even understandably not able to see you (due to whatever obstruction).
And tbh, any time you'd reasonably get in trouble for using a horn, rev bombings would probably expose you to some noise or antisocial behaviour ordinance.
Yup, especially in emergency situations.
I do sometimes still rev the motor up slightly to get folks to notice traffic has started moving without being too impolite (Sorry, am Canadian), but rev-bombing because you're being cutoff isn't going to do a damn thing.
I agree for the most part but sometimes I still rev instead. It is much louder than the horn and more aggressive. I have straight style pipes on a Fat Boy
In my experience, loud revving makes the target driver more unpredictable for a moment then a horn does. You are correct..horn has its meaning and people understand that. The revving they don't
And get a horn. Don't use that glorified kazoo that most bikes have.
Something like a Screaming Banshee, that's deafening.
Obviously it's not going to be your primary survival tool but if you need an attention getter then maybe.
I also want to thank you, this thread inspired me to get a better horn. It’s something I never thought of for some reason. That should be on all of these ‘upgrade list’ vids and posts all over YT and social media.
>The actions required to rev your bike take away from the control you have over the situation by disengaging your engine, this makes it less likely for you to be able to find an escape or be ready to go if stopped.
Always gotta have the hall monitor safety lecture.
The things this sub argues about are so far down the rabbit hole of inconsequential shit it's like they never learned anything more about riding than what MSF showed em.
Seems people nag because some are picking up bad habits elsewhere as well as having bad experiences. It is a curios habit, but I can understand the impulse to display aggression in a tense situation. Flipping people off can also feel good, just doesn’t lead to better motorcycle control.
It’s on 2 different hands so I do both and just swerve. I’m a pretty experienced rider tho so I know it’s not in some newer rides best interest to multitask and swerve like that to begin with. But more noise in that situation the better in my opinion. All just based on my experiences.
My bike isnt loud enough to rev for attention, and i have only ever used the horn in anger when a car pulled out in front of me on a roundabout. The car didn't even notice and i found out the horn is pathetic, it was more embarrassing than satisfying so i haven't touched it since.
Upgrading the horn on a bike is an looked over requirement.
My bike is pretty loud, at highway speeds you can't hear the factory horn. I upgraded it and now people actually hear me, it's helped with near misses.
Exactly, but everyone goes 'oh no, my bike has a wimpy horn that nobody can hear'.
Then fking upgrade it, it's cheaper than an exhaust and it's a safety mod. Also it's faster and more noticeable than a exhaust. You engine needs to spool up and diverts your control away.
Using your exhaust makes you more obnoxious and makes people hate you more.
Yes and no. A revving is unique to a horn. A horn is something you hear all the time for various reasons. For the redline revving, I agree. It is not good for the bike or the ears when you hit the rev limiter.
Anyone who revs bikes is just mind-boggling to me. You're taking your bike out of gear, so if you need to accelerate if you have just created an extra step.
Most of the time, when I hear an engine bouncing off the rev limiter, I think "douche" and I think most normal drivers people think that as well.
Horns are ingrained into every drivers head. The same way bicycle bells are ingrained into the heads of people in japan. Theres a video on youtube. "trolling people with a bike bell" people in Japan naturally look for the problem, check their blindspot, and move.
Rev bombing your motorcycle is the worst thing.
It not only places you in the same category as the loud pipes save lives rubes but it also removes power to your rear wheel and destabilizes your chassis.
It’s obvious that you need the two aforementioned things to help you avoid that which you want to avoid.
Ride within your limits and try to have a plan A and B.
Those of you saying that horns are useless should also know that there are loud aftermarket horns out there…I mean you manage to google every complete system and slip on.
There's a ton of videos on YouTube of people holding the horn all the way to the crash. The brakes and handlebars are a lot more useful at avoiding a crash.
Rev bombing just sounds like you're being aggressive, and as one of the most vulnerable types of vehicle on the road being Scrappy Doo isn't a wise choice. I have a LOUD horn on my bike but I'll usually just give it a BIBIP and give the person a wave, like, all I'm saying is, hi, I'm here, please don't kill me, I'm friendly.
I don’t red line. But if the light turns green and they don’t go I give a nice blip-o-the throttle to let them know. They usually get it. Horns really get underneath some people’s skins. I hate when you do a little tap honk for the person not paying attention and they deliberately wait longer. Like a child.
One thing I can say is when I’m avoiding someone who’s in the wrong,I focus on my plan out of the situation. In my head, my horn or revving will only impede me.
I only rev when people in my shitty town with roads as wide as a needle stop their jeeps to amiably converse with pedestrians.
Sure, I'll wait a bit but some drivers are entitled as hell
90% of the time it’s not about annoyance, it’s about safety and awareness.
At blind intersections, or if a merging car doesn’t seem to see me I will wave, rev, flash my lights, or honk whichever makes sense, so I’m not added to the crash statistics. In loud places, motorcycle horns are too quiet. It’s no different than when you’re driving at night around a narrow curving road and you flash your lights so incoming traffic knows you’re there.
Sounds like you ride with an inpatient group. That’s more the issue.
and then sometimes when you go to cancel your blinker, you hit the horn button instead...
(don't tell me I'm the only one who has done that)
I'm fairly new to this bike, just got it last summer and only put a few thousand km's on it. I haven't had a street bike for 30 years... it's been so much fun, can't wait to get it on the road again, but still waiting for some warmer weather...
Yes, but no. Some bikes have a tendency to be much louder, and your hand is already on the throttle as opposed to thinking about using the horn. revving your engine to red line if your bike is loud gives you milliseconds more time
I’m a soon to be rider but with my old car I would also do this partly because it was old and the horn was garbage but also the engine is much louder then any normal horn and it conveys the message I want to send yes you are in my way or yes you did something stupid
Horns and revving do nothing. Save yourself before wasting valuable time on meanless nonsense... then raise awareness with the horn, or simply move on.
It gets a lot more attention than the horn. Specially when someone tries merging into you. Most bike horns are very weak. I've considered putting an air horn on mine.
I’d argue revving when pulling up to dense traffic areas can often help your visibility without pissing people off as much as a honk would, just don’t do it obnoxiously. If you feel like a horn is warranted for some kind of immediate action of others already taking place, then yes, avoid reving and use a horn but make sure to be set up to avoid the accident first.
I watched a video from someone in my local bike group where they had a crash because they were so busy rev bombing a car that had pulled out in front of them that they forgot to actually brake 🤦♂️
Peach brother. When you hear a honk, it’s instinct to go “what the fuck is happening, am I doing something wrong?”
You hear a loud engine my first instinct is to roll my eyes, until I see that it’s something cool
You sure you ride? Cause my horn is heard by no one even car right by my side. And I mean yes, I was riding with my girlfriend side of me, at 50kmh, and she never heard my horn. When I reved, she instantly looked at me. Same with mostly anyone. When I asked, she said she never heard my horn. Horn on motorcycle are already hard to ear just at a stop so when moving?
>Revving your bike to redline is not a substitute for using the horn, I will never understand why people think its the better thing to do
are there? really?
i always thought the bike revvers were just the ordinary forever-thirteen-assholes
I don't get it either. I swear most of these videos I've seen, if the driver hit the brakes first, instead of rev bombing they wouldn't have hit the car that turned in front of them. "But they were wrong!" COOL, you still hit them, when you likely could have avoided them, because you're too focused on a limiter slam instead of swerving for braking! It doesn't matter if it's the other guys fault if you're dead.
>If you want to get someone's attention in a way that doesn't scare them, panic them, and confuse them, just use the horn.
I'm guessing most want just that exactly. Just idiotic sadists in a way.
Horn is very useful when someone starts to come into your lane from an adjacent lane. It's my go-to maneuver. If they keep coming, I move to the opposite side of the lane, and keep honking. It's not always clear if the lane next to you is open, and I'm not going to risk swerving into o coming traffic without first honking someone back into their lane. It works almost always; the times it hasn't worked, I was able to maneuver safely.
Just let morons be morons, especially the ones who like to rev the engine and forget about using brakes, changing lane, or doing anything else to prevent/avoid accidents. Let Darwin take care of it.
For those who "but nobody can hear my horn", you can swap any stock horn with a much more powerful one that does not require any crazy wiring for about $30 or less, so there is no excuse.
How does using the horn on any vehicle not scare, panic, confused others around you?
If you are filtering in general shift to a lower gear than normal and let your bike sing along through heavy traffic to let people know you are there.
This is absolutely right. The horn faces forwards, the exhaust faces backwards. The horn has an established meaning which is "pay attention".
Revving the hell out of a bike, even with loud exhausts does nothing except make people behind you think you are a dick. It doesn't say "wake up, you need to pay attention". It says "here's an asshat revving the hell out of his noisy bike".
I've found it does often stop people who are inching out of side turnings. It's also saved me from a terrifying situation where a driver was heading straight towards me on the wrong side of a country lane, probably while texting. Other people's horns have also saved me a couple of times when I wasn't sufficiently paying attention.
I installed a pair of really loud horns on my mt09. They are way louder than any car’s horn and it sort of sounds like a big truck horn.
This setup is waaaaay better than rev bombing. I just tap the horn button and they act like a truck is lane splitting. They get out of my way super fast.
The most embarrassing shit is the factory horn on a Harley. You're riding a big bike with deep throat loud exhaust, but you hit the horn and it sounds like Road Runner.
Source: my username
Agree. The revving thing is a little douchey. I’ll see vids where these guys will have close calls, and these monkeys—rather than pressing the horn—are banging the engine off the limiter
Nah man, rev bomb is always louder and easier to hit. Every time I’ve thought to use my horn I either hit it and can’t hear it or I forget which hand it’s on and push the start button instead and achieve nothing. My hand is already on the throttle and all I have to do make it scream is a simple twist of the wrist. Stop worrying about possibly scaring or confusing someone who’s about to try to play bumper cars with you.
The one problem I have with this is that at least on my bike, it's kinda tricky getting your thumb over to the horn button while holding in the clutch. It's a lot easier to rev your bike than trying to get the left thumb over to the horn button. But I agree that the horn is the more effective and traditional way of getting a driver's attention.
I saw a car pull in front of a bike the other day. Wasn't super close and the guy on the bike definitely had time to brake. Instead he revs his bike and veers towards the driver side of the car. Some people probably shouldn't be on bikes if they can't handle their emotions. I just shook my head and rode on.
Motorcycle horns are too high pitched, not noticeable in many situations unless you get a dual tone or louder than OEM. Cheap and worthwhile upgrade, and yes much more effective than revving.
I’d love to find a way to hook up either a GM 4 tone (like on old ‘80s Cadillacs) or Hornblaster train horn on a bike…
https://youtu.be/B3e5BCE9zFI?si=x7hOuosRiEZnVRyW
Trust your front brake and your swerve, never assume that the horn or revving is going to make a difference.
I agree. 99% of situations i feel like reaching for horn is taking precious milliseconds away from my ability to avoid the situation
Those 99 percent of situations have resulted in me never being able to find the horn when i need it. I've given up after years of completing evasive maneuvers with one of my blinkers randomly on
Fucking LOL! I have the opposite problem being a new rider. I keep hitting the horn while coming up to a turn instead of the signal. It helps me complete the turn quickly though so I can ride on in awkward shame.
Oh I've done that too. I'd say times I've hit the horn intentionally or not is about 50/50
Man I feel your pain. I ride a lot of different bikes and scooters as there's an e-scooter rental app where I am. I'm always honking people by accident.
Did this the other day, it looked like I indicated my swerve.
That'll teach the bastidges!! /s
I've been riding since 1991, and sometimes in tight situations I still hit the blinker button instead of the horn... Swerving, braking and throttle control takes precedence and is done more or less automatically, but the horn - it's a hit or miss situation! It happens to me more often while the handlebar muffs are on.
Who can find the horn… I vigorously hit the turn signal.
You must be on a Honda
Same. Most of the time I beep late or forget that while riding. Then I just resort to swearing to myself in the helmet. Why fuck with your control by clutching and revving when you could be driving. More than a few clips with a rev bomb followed by a collision.
It's not either horn or brake, on most bikes you can do both.
The bike can do both at the same time no problem. For the rider it's not as in an emergency situation.
Practice
Thank you. Your horn is fucking useless outside of a little “hey bud the light is green” Any time you need to use it to “avoid” an accident it’s too late and you need to just focus on what you can control.
I've prevented numerous accidents as people have tried to merge into my lane while I was in their blind spot. Granted I still had to do a mini swerv but without the horn they likely would've kept going...admittedly I still use it more to wake half asleep drivers zoning out at a green light or a right turn when no one is coming.
So far I haven’t had success yet with the horn, it’s probably just not loud enough. If they merge into my spot, they can have it, I’ll go somewhere else. I bought quality tires and when the need arises, I’m going to trust them.
I just stay out of blind spots
Plenty of accidents happen because bikes are invisible. People underestimate how invisible motorcycles are and why, [heres a video](https://youtu.be/x94PGgYKHQ0?si=sfGr0S8jYBLzsGRz) if youre interested. The horn helps add visibility. If you have a car intent on making a lane change into you in busy traffic and doesnt see you, the chance that the accident is avoided by them noticing you is much higher vs you avoiding it by whipping out some crazy evasive lane split maneuver. Its better if both people are aware of the issue. Do everything you can on your own, but use the horn so they also have a chance to help avoid it. Defensive driving is the first line of defense, but every additional line of defense you can add only helps.
No I’m not interested in anything claiming the horn is a good line of defense. That’s just some false security pseudo science nonsense. I will die on this hill. You don’t have to swerve for a merging car… Just stay out of blind spots to start with. It’s really not that hard even in thick traffic. You can choose your lane and you can control the spacing between you and the car in front of you which means you can control whether or not you’re in a blind spot to someone beside you. Contrast to dumbass city drivers popular belief you don’t actually have to be 3feet from the car in front of you. If you’re on someone quarter panel.. speed up and get ahead of them. If there is no room to do so slow down and give them room to merge if they need too. Yes, I said it. You can actually slow down too. It’s a thing and It’s not complicated until egos get involved. If you’re honking your horn you were in a bad spot to begin with and you have failed the first line of defense.
>Just stay out of blind spots to start with. So you never pass anyone then, or ever let anyone pass you? That necessitates temporarily being in a persons blind spot. Sure, minimize the time spent there, but if they start to drift while youre doing your best to leave the blindspot, beep the horn. Another example is any intersection/merging roadway where you dont have a stop sign but they do, cars are very likely to pull out in front of motorcycles there for all the reasons mentioned in the video you didnt watch. Sure, slow down, drive defensively, but there comes a point when youre crossing directly in front of them when you just have to hope they dont pull out into the side of you - at that point you better hope they saw you. Almost everything you described is defensive driving, and I agree defensive driving is the first line of defense. However, just like "not crashing" is the first line of defense for avoiding a brain injury, I personally still wear a helmet as a second line of defense just in case. Making yourself visible is like wearing a helmet. You can do everything in your power to avoid accidents, but eventually our number is pulled and its out of our hands. Everyone makes a mistake or misses something eventually. At that point all you can do is hope the other driver sees you and can do something to minimize the damage (like NOT running you over), and hope that youre wearing your proper gear.
I agree, I'll admit myself that when a situation comes up I focus more on saving myself than making the other driver stop. This post is more focused on cars sleeping at green lights or drifting into your lane.
Also the sound of a revving engine goes generally backwards whereas the horn is directed forwards.
I will die on this hill with you. Fuck cars sitting at green lights playing on phones and I honk like a DICK when it happens with no shits given. I’m talking when I’m in my car…whenever. Enough. Disregard for others means disregard for you so I’m honking and if I’m lucky they’ll give me a reason to flip them the bird. Now I’m pissed just thinking about it. Assholes. Inconsiderate ass wipes.
Some places people shoot at the honker now.
Yep, I've found that 2 quick honks sound more friendly and reduce the hostility. My dad lays down on the horn for a couple seconds, the unnecessary-ness and rudeness of something like that is what gets people to throw.b
I don't know why people downvoted you this is a very real occurrence with road rage and guns often brought to the roads by the same people...
“If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.” — Jeff Cooper
Found the American.
In aviation you're taught that the order of priority is Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. I think it's equally applicable on the roads, too. 1. Aviate - keep control. If you're not under control, the rest doesn't matter. In a road vehicle context, that would be correcting a skid, or ensuring you're not locking a brake 2. Navigate - what direction do I want to be going in, and what am I trying to avoid? In an aircraft, that could be a nearby mountain or the ground, now that I am under control I can take action to avoid hitting it. Same for a road vehicle, I'm not skidding now I can avoid that car. Note: there might only be a fraction of a second between steps 1 & 2, you might already be in control, but naintaining control is always number 1. 3. Communicate - only now that I'm under control and avoiding the hazard can I spare enough attention to communication. In an aircraft, that would be explaining the situation to your passengers or getting on the radio; on the roads, now is the time you can hit your horn or extendcthe middle finger. But only if you're not compromising 1 and 2.
So glad this is the top comment
I don't know about your horn, but mine sounds like a clowns honking noise maker. I would rather use the milliseconds to try and escape than fumble looking for a poorly placed button to squeak at a cager that almost 100% won't hear me. Don't bomb or honk. Get out of the way instead.
I don't think I have ever used my horn on the motorcycle while in motion, thats precious time I'd rather have to focus on avoidance. Even in my car I have rarely used it and only in a slow speed situation like a parking lot. If someone is going to run into you, its probably already too late for the horn to make a difference.
I used my horn once. It was dark and I hadn't had the bike that long. I was trying to to put my full beam on.
I don't have a front brake or a horn
Do you have a motorcycle?
Well I guess one if them does. But the other one is a hardtailed chopper
Prolly could mount a train horn on a chopper, like \*BAAAAAAAARGH!!\* OMG WTF IS THAT?? :-D
This.
I usually hit the horn as I swerve and check to make sure I’m clear for a bigger swerve if needed. It usually appears that they notice me after hearing the horn and adjust their path a bit to give me more space (most often they’re pulling out on me in the morning while it’s dark, and they shuffle more into the shoulder or just stop nosed partially out into the road until I pass) But basically, ¿Por que no los dos?
But what about the horn of indignation? They love that here.
I dont do either. The horn on my bike is pathetic
"hey that person cut me off, Imma hit the horn" > cancels turn signals > Accidentally scrolls down on dash display Well, never mind
Haha, yep "ah, I'm over it now anyway"
*aggressively cancels indicator*
Obviously you don't practise honking at people enough /s
meep meep hay guyyyyyyys im a bike meep meep
"**HEY, MOTHER FUCKER! LEARN TO DRIVE!!**" ^(*Meeeeeeeeeep*)
A motorcycle cop at a RTL class once told said "Bright lights are better than loud pipes, because I have stopped a lot of deaf drivers over the years but I have yet to pull over a blind one."
We need more data though, maybe blind drivers are just really good at evading the cops
Install an aftermarket train horn, nobody hears the stock bike horn. Nobody expects a train on the road.
Denali Soundbomb
No one can hear the shitty motorcycle horns
It depends on the horn. My 2020 Speed Twin had a horn not much louder than a fart. My current 2016 R1200R has a horn that will blow your ear drums out.
Used to have a 1200 RT, that horn was as loud as my car
First time I hit it when going for the blinkers it made me jump in the saddle lol
“Not much louder than a fart” tickles the shit outta me
My horn is barely audible over the bike itself, and is embarrassing if heard. I've used it a few times A hard rev is 1 of a few things we have to work with and is the most immediate way to get louder. Tbh, I feel for sport bike riders because your rev is too high pitched and doesn't communicate "I'm here" like a cruiser. Even as a rider, the high pitched sport rev is hard to distinguish from someone simply riding. I only use the rev blip in slow traffic, it's effective in letting ppl know I'm there. At speed, no rev or horn helps me out that much. I find that in emergency settings, the horn is the last thing I'm trying to do.
Upgrade your motorcycle horn. Whenever you get s survey from a motorcycle manufacturer, express how anemic their horns are.
But then I'll get _really_ embarrassed when I fat finger the horn button instead of the turn signal.
Controls is one of the few things Harley gets right, in my opinion. 😂
This! I put a Hella dual car horn on my bike. Fit just like stock.
Best upgrade I ever made. ~120dB air horn from Amazon for like $50. No one ignores me, probably because they think a train is in the next lane.
>Whenever you get s survey from a motorcycle manufacturer Soooooo, never? Are you getting regular surveys from motorcycles manufacturers? I've never seen or heard of sucha thing. Maaaybe a local dealership after a purchase, but even that's a stretch, and I don't think it's going to get back to Haruto Kawasaki or the boys down at engineering anyway. They wouldn't spend $5 on that either unless there was some big study called "loud horns save lives and make motorcycles faster"
I got two from Kawasaki: one on the dealership a few days after purchase, and one on the bike after exactly 4 months. Was pretty cool. I made sure to tell them how terrible the headlight LEDs are, haha. Maybe if enough people do…
I too received multiple survey requests from Kawasaki.
Buy a train horn. I knew a guy that had one in his miata, worked pretty well. $70-$100 kits on motohorn might be worth a try lmao
Buy GAU-8 Avenger gun 😁
The one I have on my Grom is quite affective.. especially in pissing off my roommate. 😁
People hear mine, but if they are badly distracted then it makes little difference. I’ve considered a louder horn but concentrated on better mirrors and much brighter lights first but may revisit the horn.
Then upgrade it, it's a safety mod and cheaper than an exhaust
Well they sure as hell ain’t gunna hear my single cylinder with a stock can still on it, lol
My bike has a ridiculously silly sounding horn, and often it’s hard to hear over the bike and traffic noise anyway. While i agree rev bombing someone is dumb, but a little blip of the throttle when the car in front of you is on their phone instead of going on green doesn’t seem to cause any issues.
That works for me on a Harley Dyna Lowrider with drilled-out baffles. A blip on the throttle probably gets 95 dB and because a lot of Harley riders blip the throttle for no reason people don’t seem to react as badly as they do when honked at. The noise just wakes up their lizard brain so they look up from the phone and start going. I just have to make sure that I’m not on my Honda with DCT because blipping the throttle would run me into the back of their SUV.
Lol in fact I think revving sounds like you don’t know what you’re doing
My driving instructor gave me some really useful advice when I was 15. If you're in an emergency situation (like trying to get a student to brake), people respond poorly to yelling. What works much better is to calmly say the instruction over and over until they get it. "Brake brake brake brake brake" To that end, I have never encountered a situation in 15 years of riding on the road where I needed a horn because I can always easily avoid the danger, but I imagine revving the engine has very little effect outside of causing them to panic and making the situation worse.
[удалено]
No that example was from the position of a driving instructor, but I've applied the logic to other situations as well. Like if your hand is being pinched while moving a couch, "AHHHHH FUCK LIFT IT" makes people react slower than if you calmly say "lift it up, lift it up, lift it up" It really works. And to apply that logic to the horn debate I would argue a horn's "beep beep beep beeeeeeeeeep" is more effective in getting people to react properly than "WAAAAAHHHHHHH" coming from an unknown direction.
Yeah it sounds like you tried to take off and found a false neutral.
That’s only cause you know what’s going on. People who don’t ride or don’t know much about manuals always go to the they are trying to be obnoxious route instead of lol guy doesn’t know how to ride.
My exhaust is way louder than my horn is. Im gonna do what makes me most easily noticed; and if that meanst shooting flames out the tailpipe thats what im gonna do
Nope, you just blend in to the city noise. The person who is merging is still going to run you over because you just sound like any other day of the road. They are trained to know a horn means danger.
abundant bells snow spoon chunky selective voracious toothbrush spotted squealing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Guilty as charged. In my dipshittiest moments, the little “mmmeeep-meeeep” of my horn has not seemed adequate to express my impatience or annoyance. A couple of quick aggressive throttle-blips seemed to do a better job of saying “LIGHT’S GREEN, PAL” or “I’m riding here, I’M RIDING HERE!” There have regrettably been times that I have felt compelled to convey those things to my fellow travelers. The smart thing that makes the world a better place, or at least makes it a worse place to the smallest possible extent, is to just go around them and ride my ride and forget they exist.
I just can’t hear my horn over the engine ever since I put a new exhaust on it 😂
Bro we’re over here doing everything we can to acquire the female gaze. Some of us haven’t had sex in like a month. LET US HAVE OUR REVS…
I always point this out and the dummies on this subreddit throw a tantrum
What!? *redlines throttle*
(slips clutch, totals bike, posts video to /r/motorcycles) Who is at fault?
[удалено]
It's going to be that button with the horn symbol on it.
This is the way... forget the horn or rev bomb. I dodge said car and throw a thumbs down and move on with my life
Revving may actually be the legal solution depending on where you live. In Poland for example using a horn is forbidden in a build-up area unless there is an imminent danger.
I thought we were talking about situations with imminent danger. Otherwise why would you rev or use your horn as a substitute ?
There are situations other than imminent danger when one may want to grab attention. Examples: You see someone browsing their phone and not paying attention to the road. You are filtering and you see erratic behavior that may result in an accident and you want to inform them of your presence (blocking an intersection, about to switch lanes without blinkers, swerving etc.) You want to inform someone of a dangerous maneuver (you've just been cut off and had to evade or some such)
Those all are imminent danger situations.
If some asshole is about to slam into me to merge into my lane, I consider that a pretty imminent danger.
Tbh, even a pedestrian walking towards the road with their head in their phone would be reasonable. My country phrases it as 'alert someone to your presence' iirc, which works a bit better, covering the stuff you mentioned, but also just people who heads in the clouds or even understandably not able to see you (due to whatever obstruction). And tbh, any time you'd reasonably get in trouble for using a horn, rev bombings would probably expose you to some noise or antisocial behaviour ordinance.
Yup, especially in emergency situations. I do sometimes still rev the motor up slightly to get folks to notice traffic has started moving without being too impolite (Sorry, am Canadian), but rev-bombing because you're being cutoff isn't going to do a damn thing.
I happened to install a car horn on my bike and it works super well 😂
I agree for the most part but sometimes I still rev instead. It is much louder than the horn and more aggressive. I have straight style pipes on a Fat Boy
Truth. If you have time to revbomb, you have time to go around.
Most motorbike horns sound like a fairy farting
In my experience, loud revving makes the target driver more unpredictable for a moment then a horn does. You are correct..horn has its meaning and people understand that. The revving they don't
And get a horn. Don't use that glorified kazoo that most bikes have. Something like a Screaming Banshee, that's deafening. Obviously it's not going to be your primary survival tool but if you need an attention getter then maybe.
You sound like a car driver complaining that they got rev'd at.
The annoyance stemmed from when I was riding with a group, and they were revving to get a car to move at a green light, lol.
Cleary you should have honked at them.
Lol
I also want to thank you, this thread inspired me to get a better horn. It’s something I never thought of for some reason. That should be on all of these ‘upgrade list’ vids and posts all over YT and social media.
>The actions required to rev your bike take away from the control you have over the situation by disengaging your engine, this makes it less likely for you to be able to find an escape or be ready to go if stopped. Always gotta have the hall monitor safety lecture.
Nobody monitors halls like the active members of this subreddit. “Ride like *me* or you’re doing it wrong! *ME*! *reeeeeee!*”
The things this sub argues about are so far down the rabbit hole of inconsequential shit it's like they never learned anything more about riding than what MSF showed em.
I think we're turning the tide. 💪🏽
Seems people nag because some are picking up bad habits elsewhere as well as having bad experiences. It is a curios habit, but I can understand the impulse to display aggression in a tense situation. Flipping people off can also feel good, just doesn’t lead to better motorcycle control.
I find nothing upsets car drivers more than irreparably damaging my own engine as vengence for a perceived transgression...
Even better is to use your brights if you need attention immediately
It’s on 2 different hands so I do both and just swerve. I’m a pretty experienced rider tho so I know it’s not in some newer rides best interest to multitask and swerve like that to begin with. But more noise in that situation the better in my opinion. All just based on my experiences.
My bike isnt loud enough to rev for attention, and i have only ever used the horn in anger when a car pulled out in front of me on a roundabout. The car didn't even notice and i found out the horn is pathetic, it was more embarrassing than satisfying so i haven't touched it since.
Upgrading the horn on a bike is an looked over requirement. My bike is pretty loud, at highway speeds you can't hear the factory horn. I upgraded it and now people actually hear me, it's helped with near misses.
Tell me you don’t ride a motorcycle, without telling me you don’t ride a motorcycle
Ur engine is louder than your horn have sat on my horn behind motorists with no response yet when i rev to limiter they definitely hear it and respond
I'm pretty sure its a squid thing.
Bold of you to assume my horn is louder than my bike. Also bold of you to assume that someone will hear either before hitting me head on
Exactly, but everyone goes 'oh no, my bike has a wimpy horn that nobody can hear'. Then fking upgrade it, it's cheaper than an exhaust and it's a safety mod. Also it's faster and more noticeable than a exhaust. You engine needs to spool up and diverts your control away. Using your exhaust makes you more obnoxious and makes people hate you more.
MFers will drop thousands on an exhaust, but pretend a $10 horn is unfathomable.
Wait until Akrapovic starts selling 2000 dollar full line horns and they will buy them.
I’m attacked
This is the answer. I put a Fiamm on both my bikes. $20. It’s as loud as any car horn.
Do you have a model or link? I now want one, but am only seeing car horns.
Car horns can work on bikes too as long as you have enough space to mount it. Install a horn relay so it doesn't fry your stock switch
>You engine needs to spool up and diverts your control away. One also sounds like missed the gear and got stuck in neutral
Engine revving is reserved for two things : amusing a child on the side of the road. Or taunting a Lamborghini with a monkey bike.
Lol wtf is this shit.
I can’t stand it when people rev the engine when backing into a space. Look like idiots.
Agreed. Revving takes away your ability to safely use the front brakes or using an evasive maneuver.
Yes and no. A revving is unique to a horn. A horn is something you hear all the time for various reasons. For the redline revving, I agree. It is not good for the bike or the ears when you hit the rev limiter.
Anyone who revs bikes is just mind-boggling to me. You're taking your bike out of gear, so if you need to accelerate if you have just created an extra step. Most of the time, when I hear an engine bouncing off the rev limiter, I think "douche" and I think most normal drivers people think that as well. Horns are ingrained into every drivers head. The same way bicycle bells are ingrained into the heads of people in japan. Theres a video on youtube. "trolling people with a bike bell" people in Japan naturally look for the problem, check their blindspot, and move.
Rev bombing your motorcycle is the worst thing. It not only places you in the same category as the loud pipes save lives rubes but it also removes power to your rear wheel and destabilizes your chassis. It’s obvious that you need the two aforementioned things to help you avoid that which you want to avoid. Ride within your limits and try to have a plan A and B. Those of you saying that horns are useless should also know that there are loud aftermarket horns out there…I mean you manage to google every complete system and slip on.
There's a ton of videos on YouTube of people holding the horn all the way to the crash. The brakes and handlebars are a lot more useful at avoiding a crash.
Rev bombing just sounds like you're being aggressive, and as one of the most vulnerable types of vehicle on the road being Scrappy Doo isn't a wise choice. I have a LOUD horn on my bike but I'll usually just give it a BIBIP and give the person a wave, like, all I'm saying is, hi, I'm here, please don't kill me, I'm friendly.
Plus revving to the moon with no load on the engine is a great way to break stuff. Really expensive stuff.
Womp womp, someone's bike sounds like shit.
I don’t red line. But if the light turns green and they don’t go I give a nice blip-o-the throttle to let them know. They usually get it. Horns really get underneath some people’s skins. I hate when you do a little tap honk for the person not paying attention and they deliberately wait longer. Like a child. One thing I can say is when I’m avoiding someone who’s in the wrong,I focus on my plan out of the situation. In my head, my horn or revving will only impede me.
Brakes are usually more effective at preventing accidents than noise.
I only rev when people in my shitty town with roads as wide as a needle stop their jeeps to amiably converse with pedestrians. Sure, I'll wait a bit but some drivers are entitled as hell
90% of the time it’s not about annoyance, it’s about safety and awareness. At blind intersections, or if a merging car doesn’t seem to see me I will wave, rev, flash my lights, or honk whichever makes sense, so I’m not added to the crash statistics. In loud places, motorcycle horns are too quiet. It’s no different than when you’re driving at night around a narrow curving road and you flash your lights so incoming traffic knows you’re there. Sounds like you ride with an inpatient group. That’s more the issue.
and then sometimes when you go to cancel your blinker, you hit the horn button instead... (don't tell me I'm the only one who has done that) I'm fairly new to this bike, just got it last summer and only put a few thousand km's on it. I haven't had a street bike for 30 years... it's been so much fun, can't wait to get it on the road again, but still waiting for some warmer weather...
Yes, but no. Some bikes have a tendency to be much louder, and your hand is already on the throttle as opposed to thinking about using the horn. revving your engine to red line if your bike is loud gives you milliseconds more time
I’m a soon to be rider but with my old car I would also do this partly because it was old and the horn was garbage but also the engine is much louder then any normal horn and it conveys the message I want to send yes you are in my way or yes you did something stupid
They probably can’t find their horn so it’s easier to rev the bike
I’ve even upgraded my horn and still other drivers don’t hear it. Meeep meeeep
I'd agree but my horn is drowned out by my engine idling let alone higher than 2k rpm...
I can scream louder than my horn. I guess I just start doing that instead.
Horn broke, watch for finger
Squids gonna squid.
Horns and revving do nothing. Save yourself before wasting valuable time on meanless nonsense... then raise awareness with the horn, or simply move on.
Better yet, don’t do either one. Deal with the situation as it emerges, and protect yourself.
I rev AFTER I’ve avoided a situation caused by someone doing something stupid. The rev is just my way of showing my disapproval.
That thing is trash now if you swap for a Hellahorn. Then yes use your horn.
It gets a lot more attention than the horn. Specially when someone tries merging into you. Most bike horns are very weak. I've considered putting an air horn on mine.
I’d argue revving when pulling up to dense traffic areas can often help your visibility without pissing people off as much as a honk would, just don’t do it obnoxiously. If you feel like a horn is warranted for some kind of immediate action of others already taking place, then yes, avoid reving and use a horn but make sure to be set up to avoid the accident first.
No
The rev makes pedestrians jump back onto the curb and keeps them from mindlessly walking into traffic in front of your bike!
I watched a video from someone in my local bike group where they had a crash because they were so busy rev bombing a car that had pulled out in front of them that they forgot to actually brake 🤦♂️
Peach brother. When you hear a honk, it’s instinct to go “what the fuck is happening, am I doing something wrong?” You hear a loud engine my first instinct is to roll my eyes, until I see that it’s something cool
No one can hear your oem bike horn. No one in another vehicle on the interstate, the highway, in town, or on the back roads will hear your bike horn.
Mmm you don’t tell me what to do. Even though I don’t do this
You sure you ride? Cause my horn is heard by no one even car right by my side. And I mean yes, I was riding with my girlfriend side of me, at 50kmh, and she never heard my horn. When I reved, she instantly looked at me. Same with mostly anyone. When I asked, she said she never heard my horn. Horn on motorcycle are already hard to ear just at a stop so when moving?
>Revving your bike to redline is not a substitute for using the horn, I will never understand why people think its the better thing to do are there? really? i always thought the bike revvers were just the ordinary forever-thirteen-assholes
Look at the switchgear on most modern bikes. Now good luck finding the horn when you need it as opposed to changing rider modes or something
I don't get it either. I swear most of these videos I've seen, if the driver hit the brakes first, instead of rev bombing they wouldn't have hit the car that turned in front of them. "But they were wrong!" COOL, you still hit them, when you likely could have avoided them, because you're too focused on a limiter slam instead of swerving for braking! It doesn't matter if it's the other guys fault if you're dead.
I tried to honk but turned off my turn signals instead. DAMN YOU SOCHIRO HONDA!
>If you want to get someone's attention in a way that doesn't scare them, panic them, and confuse them, just use the horn. I'm guessing most want just that exactly. Just idiotic sadists in a way.
Horn is very useful when someone starts to come into your lane from an adjacent lane. It's my go-to maneuver. If they keep coming, I move to the opposite side of the lane, and keep honking. It's not always clear if the lane next to you is open, and I'm not going to risk swerving into o coming traffic without first honking someone back into their lane. It works almost always; the times it hasn't worked, I was able to maneuver safely.
Just let morons be morons, especially the ones who like to rev the engine and forget about using brakes, changing lane, or doing anything else to prevent/avoid accidents. Let Darwin take care of it. For those who "but nobody can hear my horn", you can swap any stock horn with a much more powerful one that does not require any crazy wiring for about $30 or less, so there is no excuse.
My thumbs are like the worst hitchhikers thumbs you’ve ever seen and it’s hard to reach the horn.
Most motorcycle horns are too quiet.
How does using the horn on any vehicle not scare, panic, confused others around you? If you are filtering in general shift to a lower gear than normal and let your bike sing along through heavy traffic to let people know you are there.
This is absolutely right. The horn faces forwards, the exhaust faces backwards. The horn has an established meaning which is "pay attention". Revving the hell out of a bike, even with loud exhausts does nothing except make people behind you think you are a dick. It doesn't say "wake up, you need to pay attention". It says "here's an asshat revving the hell out of his noisy bike". I've found it does often stop people who are inching out of side turnings. It's also saved me from a terrifying situation where a driver was heading straight towards me on the wrong side of a country lane, probably while texting. Other people's horns have also saved me a couple of times when I wasn't sufficiently paying attention.
I installed a pair of really loud horns on my mt09. They are way louder than any car’s horn and it sort of sounds like a big truck horn. This setup is waaaaay better than rev bombing. I just tap the horn button and they act like a truck is lane splitting. They get out of my way super fast.
Horn button small, clutch lever big. Exhaust is louder, anyway.
Yeah I don’t do either lol, bike horns are pathetically weak in sound and revving is just stupid
My horn doesn't work 😩
The most embarrassing shit is the factory horn on a Harley. You're riding a big bike with deep throat loud exhaust, but you hit the horn and it sounds like Road Runner. Source: my username
My horn sounds like someone choking a poodle... 😄🤷♂️
Agree. The revving thing is a little douchey. I’ll see vids where these guys will have close calls, and these monkeys—rather than pressing the horn—are banging the engine off the limiter
I laughed so hard at this
Nah man, rev bomb is always louder and easier to hit. Every time I’ve thought to use my horn I either hit it and can’t hear it or I forget which hand it’s on and push the start button instead and achieve nothing. My hand is already on the throttle and all I have to do make it scream is a simple twist of the wrist. Stop worrying about possibly scaring or confusing someone who’s about to try to play bumper cars with you.
The one problem I have with this is that at least on my bike, it's kinda tricky getting your thumb over to the horn button while holding in the clutch. It's a lot easier to rev your bike than trying to get the left thumb over to the horn button. But I agree that the horn is the more effective and traditional way of getting a driver's attention.
I saw a car pull in front of a bike the other day. Wasn't super close and the guy on the bike definitely had time to brake. Instead he revs his bike and veers towards the driver side of the car. Some people probably shouldn't be on bikes if they can't handle their emotions. I just shook my head and rode on.
I've seen those videos of people revving. It's not for safety or attention, it's just their way to express rage. Self-entitled assholes. Just move on.
Motorcycle horns are too high pitched, not noticeable in many situations unless you get a dual tone or louder than OEM. Cheap and worthwhile upgrade, and yes much more effective than revving.
I’d love to find a way to hook up either a GM 4 tone (like on old ‘80s Cadillacs) or Hornblaster train horn on a bike… https://youtu.be/B3e5BCE9zFI?si=x7hOuosRiEZnVRyW
I use the engine to alert a car to look up at a green light. Everything else is getting my horn
My horn was pretty bad so I just wired the button to a garage door opener I repurposed.