Motorcycle horns are pathetic. When you wish to “communicate” with other road users, the last thing you need is a high-pitched squeaky voice. A voluminous Brian Blessed baritone is so much more appropriate.
Hence my recent installation of a Denali Sound Bomb Mini on the Ducati. It is significantly louder. The sound carries so much further, and it delivers great clarity to situations where I feel the need to express myself.
The Denali Sound Bomb was a strange choice for me, as I’m usually not a fan of Denali equipment. Undoubtedly the quality is there, but when I compare the investment required for a set of Denali lights to that needed for a set of the excellent SW-Motech lights I use on my Tracer 9GT, there is no argument.
I know from experience that the SW-Motech lights are exquisitely well-made and brighter than a bright thing on a dark night, so why pay more than you need to? You can read that story here.
Denali Sound Bomb Mini
My 2015 Multistrada has an early CanBus system, which thankfully doesn’t appear to monitor the horn. That or the Ducati CanBus system has been unable to tell the difference between the Denali Sound Bomb Mini and the standard pip-squeak of a horn that was fitted at the factory.
The full-fat Sound Bomb pulls too many amps to be run through the factory wiring on most motorcycles and is typically connected through a relay, with the standard horn wiring used to trip the relay and sound the horn.
Thankfully, none of that applies to the Sound Bomb Mini. And then there is the fact that I’m lazy and didn’t want the work of removing the emissions canister to make space for the compressor that drives the full-size Sound Bomb.
Installation
There isn’t much to tell. The two spade connectors on the back of the standard horn connect to the Denali Sound Bomb mini, and that is it for electrical work.
A 17mm ring spanner was all that was needed to remove the standard horn, and a 10mm spanner is needed to tighten the Denali to the brackets. I did add two star washers to make sure the horn stays attached to the bracket.
Denali include two matching brackets in the box, which did slightly confuse me until I noticed the original bracket is also made this way. If two is the required number of brackets, then two it shall be.
The brackets needed a small amount of coaxing to get the horn in the right place, and eventually, I put them in a vice and put a proper bend in them. The bend is only slight but is needed to keep the thicker Sound Bomb clear of the lower left fairing – on a Multistrada, anyway.
Twenty minutes after I started, the Sound Bomb Mini was fitted, tools put away, and the original horn on the shelf in case I ever need it.
If you are installing the Sound Bomb Mini on a BMW, there is an additional wiring adapter – DNL WHS 10100 – that is required to get the connectors to match.
And if you own a KTM 1190 or 1290, then this isn’t the horn you are looking for. Denali’s website reports that it isn’t compatible. Perhaps the KTM CanBus does monitor the horn.
How Loud is Loud
A decibel meter phone app downloaded from the internet and used by an idiot (me) wasn’t going to tell the real story. I know the Denali Sound Bomb Mini is louder; my ears tell me that. What I needed was a real-world test, so I decided to spoil the peace and tranquillity of the countryside and took it for a road test.
Youtube has a large selection of videos where people compare their standard horn to the Denali. But it isn’t just about being louder. It is the bass tone of the horn and the distance the sound carries that make the difference.
Just ask the driver of the car I gave an “area warning” to. The look on their face as I announced my presence was well worth the £25 the Sound Bomb Mini cost.
Clarity
We considered calling this article “I Have the Horn”, but figured Google wouldn’t get the schoolboy humour.
We paid for the Denali Sound Bomb Mini with our own cash money.
