How to Test a Motorcycle Horn

A horn is an essential safety feature on a motorcycle.

A motorcycle horn is a critical safety feature on your bike, and you should make sure it works before riding the motorcycle anywhere. The horn is used to alert drivers that you are on the road and to get somebody's attention in an emergency. Performing a test on your horn is quick and easy; you just need a friend to help. By doing this, you will avoid putting yourself and other road users in danger.

Things You'll Need

• Friend to help

Instructions

1. Locate the horn on your motorcycle. Look in the area immediately around the front handle bars, because a driver presses it while driving using their thumb. It usually appears as a button with a horn symbol on the front. Refer to the motorcycle handbook if you can't find it.

2. Sit on the bike. It does not have to be switched on for the horn to work. Hold the handle bar, just as if you were driving along the road.

3. Press the horn button, and hold it down for one second. Listen to the sound. If it works correctly, it should make a "honking" sound. Repeat this several times so you hear the "peep" of the horn.

4. Hold the button down for at least ten seconds. Test that the sound is constant and consistently loud.

5. Get a friend to help by asking them to stand six meters away from the bike, and to listen out for the sound while you test it. Repeat steps 3 and 4. While performing this test, ask your helper if they can hear the horn from this distance.

6. Ask your helper to press the horn, while you listen to the horn from six meters away. Move around the bike to check that it can be heard from these different locations.

Tips & Warnings

• Test your horn, and then compare the sound to the horn of another motorcycle. This will enable you to make a comparison between the sounds, and check that it works.

• A motorcycle horn is not as loud as car horn, so be aware that the sound will be different in comparison.

• If your horn does not work, fix it as soon as possible to avoid collisions on the road.

References

• You Tube: Stock Motorcycle Horn Sound Test
• Scribd: California Motorcycle Handbook 2007