During my ride Saturday I ran up on a huge flock of birds sitting idly in the middle of the road. I didn't feel like waiting for them to fly off as I rode through them so I started honking my horn. To my surprise my horn didn't work. The birds all flew just as I got to them. There where thousands of them. It amazes me how well birds avoid getting hit. Some of them missed my head by inches. Anyway it prompted me to keep hitting my horn button repeatedly. (We were in the middle of nowhere) My horn is very intermittent. There is no predicting whether or not it will work. Normally a dirty switch can be used and wiggled to clean it enough to get by a little but nothing I did while riding had any effect. Sometimes it sounds normal and other times it sounds really sick and other times it won't work at all. I am an electrician so cleaning a set of contacts shouldn't be a problem but I am wondering if this is something I am going to have to do repeatedly. The bike has 4250 miles on it.

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States visited on L2 DL650A Adventure since 7-14-12

I had the same symptoms on my DR650 horn earlier this year. I checked and cleaned all of the connections, but the horn still worked intermittently until it finally stopped completely. I tested that horn on my DL650 and it didn't work there either---so bad horn (only 1900 miles on the DR). I replaced it with a Wolo.

Hmm I didn't think about it being the horn itself. I was thinking it was just the button. This is the first thing to go wrong on my bike so far. Well if it proves to be the horn itself I guess the upgrade I was planning will get pushed ahead on the farkle priority list.

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States visited on L2 DL650A Adventure since 7-14-12

I have a screaming banshee & a stebel horn. Honestly I can't imagine what Suzuki were thinking when they modeled the stock horn on the sound of ferret being stepped on. I can't hear it myself at highway speeds...

Have a look at Screaming Banshee (Screaming Banshee - Loud Motorcycle Horns and Safety Systems) it's a great farkle.

By the way, I'm not sure where the horn is on the 650, but on my Vee I ended up taking off the right fairing and dropping the radiator off its mounts just to get a finger on it. A degree in gynecology is still needed even after that. I'm not sure you can even see it with the fairing on.

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'10 Vee Adv
Multiple Farkles :
Stebel Horn with Screaming Banshee,Gorilla Alarm, Madstadt Bracket, RichlandRick's fork brace, accessory shelf and mirror extenders, PCV, Twin 12v outlets, Twisted Throttle and EB Fuse Blocks, Admore Light Bar, GPS and Contour Camera Ram Mount, Bark Busters, 8k HIDS, Omni-Cruise Throttle Lock, Altrider Bars, sliders and side-stand foot. Wolfman Rainier Tank Bag, ADVMonster "30" Aux Lights

On my GS I shot it full of WD40 and got more life out of it.

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79 GS1000S
97 TL1000S
2002 Concours
2005 DRZ400
2005 KDX220R
2007 DLK
2009 KLR650

I like the screaming banshee. I am going to add it to my christmas wish list. My Kids seem to be pretty generous with safety related farkles.

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States visited on L2 DL650A Adventure since 7-14-12

They have a mini horn/controller combo now. Something like $80.

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'10 Vee Adv
Multiple Farkles :
Stebel Horn with Screaming Banshee,Gorilla Alarm, Madstadt Bracket, RichlandRick's fork brace, accessory shelf and mirror extenders, PCV, Twin 12v outlets, Twisted Throttle and EB Fuse Blocks, Admore Light Bar, GPS and Contour Camera Ram Mount, Bark Busters, 8k HIDS, Omni-Cruise Throttle Lock, Altrider Bars, sliders and side-stand foot. Wolfman Rainier Tank Bag, ADVMonster "30" Aux Lights