Air Horn Shootout - Hot Bike Baggers Magazine

The first way we can keep ourselves out of harm's way while on the highway is being a defensive rider and one key to doing so is to keep your thumb on the horn button.

The problem is, today's cars are built to be quiet inside making the OE horn on our bikes virtually unheard by most motorists who seem to already be distracted by all the other trappings of modern-day life.

As far as loud horns go, it is federally mandated for safety purposes that train horns run at 110 decibels (db). An 18 wheeler's air horn sounds off right around 105dB, whereas the stock horn on a '09 Harley Bagger chimes in at 87dB.

Luckily for us riders, there are a few companies who manufacture motorcycle-specific air horns that surpass the wail of any freight train. The crew at Baggers decided to test three of the air horns on the market to see just how loud these horns really are. To simulate real-world conditions, like having an automobile cut you off or turn in front of you, we placed a decibel meter 15 feet away from the front of our test bike. To make sure each horn had a fair shake, we factored an average reading of three blasts per each horn.

Now that the ringing is finally out of our ears, here are the findings. B