First Generation Ascots > The Thumper Years: Stock To Lightly Modified

Horn Swap & Mounting With Round Headlight...

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J6G1Z:
My project Ascot had suffered a low speed dump prior to my buying it. The P/O
decided that it was too expensive for her to fix it, so up on Craigslist it
went. The bars, tachometer, headlight, right side foot-peg, turn signal, etc.
were either bent or broken. Fortunately the tank, fenders, side-plates, etc. all
survived unscratched. The OEM headlight, horn & gauge mounting bracket was bent
up also, so I decided to remove all that stuff & use a round headlight mounted
the conventional way to the fork legs. I bought a 7" round headlight, mounting
brackets & turn signals from EMGO for less than $100 & picked up a Trail Tech
Vapor computer to replace the broken gauge cluster.

All that was left was to figure out what to do with the horn. Originally the
horn attached to the small framework that mounted the OEM headlight & gauges.
Now that it was gone, I had nothing to mount the horn to. I ended up buying one
of those small diameter black anodized horns intended for CAFE bikes & mounted
it right above the steering lock.

I removed the steering lock from the lower triple clamp & fabricated an "L"
shaped bracket out of some scrap aluminum plate that I had. I made the "L" about
2.5" tall with the lower section about 1" long. It's about 1.25" wide to match
the original steering lock mounts width. I mocked up the bracket by holding it
onto the steering lock mount & then came up from the bottom to scribe the
mounting holes onto it. I ended up only being able to drill one of the mounting
holes due to the second one being too close to the 90 degree bend in the
bracket. I then drilled a hole in the long section to mount the horn. I dressed
up the bracket on my bench mount combination disk/belt sander & radiused the
corners to make it look nice. I found a longer screw that matched the one I
removed from the steering lock & reassembled the steering lock with the new
bracket on the top. I used some blue Lock-Tite to help it stay tight. I then
mounted the horn & hooked up the two wires. I have just enough room for the horn
& the headlight to mount without hitting each other. The horn turns with the
handlebars & sounds louder than the original horn. I don't think there would be
enough room to use the OEM horn as it is bigger around & would sit up higher
hitting the headlight. I suppose you could make the "L" shaped bracket in a way
that the horn sits behind the headlight.

J6G1Z:
 ;)

J6G1Z:
 :)

thumperdh:
How loud is this horn compared to stock? The stockers on these were embarrassing to begin with. I'm currently running a Wolo Badboy horn and while it is super loud, it takes up a lot of room.

J6G1Z:
It is louder by quite a bit. It doesn't sound like a moped horn anymore.
I used this horn: http://www.speedmotoco.com/product-p/01-3-ha.htm
Here is another source: http://jokermachine.com

I had originally planned on using this horn on a different project, but ended up using it here. It would be nice if you could find the horn itself without the mounting bracket. One problem with the way I mounted mine under the headlight, is that you can't lower the headlight more & it still sits a bit high as compared to other bikes. It's not as big around as the OEM horn, but if you could find a more compact one, it would be better.

Good luck
J.

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