Denali horn on an RS

[MHN-RS]

UPDATE! SEE POST #4 FOR A NEEDED HORN BODY RELOCATION.

After hearing the pathetic horn on my 2023 RS, I knew it would be completely ineffective in getting a cellphone-addled cage driver to pay attention.  After quite a bit of searching, I chose the Denali SoundBomb Split horn.  The standard SoundBomb was too big to fit on the bike, and the SoundBomb Mini wasn't loud enough to satisfy me.  The split of the compressor and horn body gives more flexibility.

The attached pictures show:

Where the compressor is mounted.  It is strapped to a vertical frame tube, and located adjacent to a wiring harness I have going to a HEX ezCan in the rear.  

   

The air hose goes up and over the top of the radiator.

   

The horn body is mounted to the left inner fender, with a fender washer on the back (outer) side of the panel.  

   

The horn is positioned so that the fork clears with at least a 1/4" to spare.  Because it is an upside-down fork, the outer tube never moves up/down, so the horn will never interfere with the fork leg. 

   

Two more pictures to follow ...

[MHN-RS]

I do not yet have a good outside daylight picture, but you have to be looking for the horn body to see it.  

   
   

The horn is tilted down to minimize water ingestion; I may tilt it down some more later.

Hopes this helps someone!
Mark

[Grumpy Goat]

Excellent writeup! Thanks for taking the time to share your DIY project. THIS is what this Forum is really intended for. 

[MHN-RS]

An important update regarding the horn body position:

When I installed the horn body, the bike was on the center stand.  I did not take into account that when the bike was on its wheels with rider weight (i.e., forks compressed), the left brake line goes from straight to bowed outward.  Duh. As a result, my "perfect" location for the horn body wasn't, as the bowed line would catch on its way past a edge of the horn body.  

The pics below show where I relocated the horn further down the inner side panel.  The horn body is still not visible from the side of the bike.  The new hole for the mounting bolt is pretty close to an adjacent ridge in the panel, so the fender washer cannot be used.

   
   
   
   

[Motorhead1977]

Thanks for that important update. I have one I'm going to install once deer hunting season is over in a couple of weeks.

[Grumpy Goat]

Good to know. Thanks for following-up on this.

[NormR]

Nice right up Just wondering how you secured the horn to the inner fairing panel?

[MHN-RS]

Nice right up Just wondering how you secured the horn to the inner fairing panel?

Same way as in the first post, but without the fender washer -- drilled a 15/64" hole (a hair under 1/4" for a tight fit), then used the Denali-supplied bolt and nut.

[oldjoe]

I'm in the process of mounting the same Denali horn (along with Denali D3 lights).  This placement seems easier to access than replacing the OEM horn where it is.  I will probably use a bracket and bolt the compressor to the crash bar as Grumpy did, but use this placement for the acoustic part.

Did you do anything with the OEM horn?   Can it be left in place and work with the Denali (not that you could hear it, I'm sure)?

My RS is a 2017 I bought in April with 600 miles, now has 10K, and I love it.   PO had installed crash bars, but I don't find a brand on them.  They provide a good place to mount the lights so long as I plan for removing coil covers.  My first choice for light placement would have required moving them for spark plug replacement.

Since I have removed the side panels, I'm planning to go ahead and replace the air filter at 10K.    Anything else I should do while it's opened up?

[MHN-RS]

Hi oldjoe -- I left the OEM horn in place. When I hit the horn button, the CANBus causes the OEM horn to sound, and the Hex EZCAN sees the CANBus signal and sounds the SoundBomb Split at the same time.

If you envision wanting to add anything else electrical up front in the future (dash cam, phone power, extra DIN socket, etc.), now would be a good time to run one or two spare pairs of wires along the frame between the steering head region and the tail region. Might save you some bodywork removal in the future. You may not end up needing the full head-to-tail length of the wires, but better to be able to cut off excess when doing an installation, than to be extending too-short wires.

[oldjoe]

Thanks for the quick response, MHN.

I don't have plans for any additional items, and was thinking the Denali CanSmart would be all I would need. But I like your idea of running extra wires just in case. Brings out my old Boy Scout training