Steve ‘Petals’ Watson was kind enough to send along a couple of shots of Petals and the Squeeze Horns.
Clowning Around
Author: John Runs This Place
We love squeeze horns! Especially the brass honkers we import from India! A labor of love. Happy Honking!
Attaching Your Squeeze Horn
Attaching your squeeze horn to your bike can be problematic. The attaching brackets I include in your order work well for the 7″ and CAN be used to mount the larger horns, but honestly, the design isn’t right for all horns. The problem is that the horn part of the attaching bracket is designed to go around your horn’s smaller tube, and that joint is probably the weakest link in the horn’s construction. I am working with the manufacturers to design a more elegant bracket, but in the meantime I’ll be posting some of my own experiments.
The setup I have pictured here, while not the nicest to look at, has proven to be very sturdy. It’s a plastic bicycle handle bar clamp from a Dollar store bike light wrapped around the main squeeze horn tube. And a #0 Conduit Hanger (with speed thread, meaning you don’t even need the extra nut shown) from Home Depot, which I painted black.
On another bike I’m using a butterfly nut to attach the clamp to the conduit hanger, which makes it easier to remove as well.
Probably some of you are much handier in the garage than I am. So I look forward to hearing and seeing how you attach your horn to your bike, car, boat or what have you.
Squeeze Horns on the Playa!
I set some friends up with squeeze horns for their trip to Burning Man 2011. Some photos coming back now. Will add more as they come available.
Shortly after arrival.
Getting into the swing of things now.
Mike Bruns’ 8 Foot Cruiser!
How cool is this! Makes sense that Mike wanted the 16″ squeeze horn for his bike. Check it out!
Thanks for the photo Mike Bruns of Roanoke IN.
Cleaning Your Squeeze Horn
Partly as an experiment I’ve left one of my squeeze horns on my bike for over a year. We don’t get snow here, but some rain, lots of fog, and salt air have taken their toll. You’ll also notice numerous dings and a massive dent from an accident that bent the horn in half. Fortunately it bent right back without breaking.
The lesson here is simple. If you want to keep your squeeze horn shiny, you’ll have to keep it indoors. On the other hand, a year of outdoor use, a little polish, and my squeeze horn looks like an antique and is working just fine.
Reader KP Sends Some Great Pics of a Very Large Horn!
In response to comment below…
Sir, you are in luck! While not the exact horn. I do have, in my personal collection, one large Taxi horn and I am attaching an mp3 for your listening pleasure.
Very Big Squeeze Horn:
Reader KP writes:
Hi John,
Found your website content very good and exciting! I had been to a vintage car rally in Pune, India and found an ample-sized horn attached to a 1969 Italian Piaggio “autorickshaw” (a 3-wheeler for public transport). I’m not sure about its size, but it must be somewhere around 24-30 inches long. I have attached a few pics of the vehicle with the horn. The sound was thunderous and kids enjoyed squeezing it. The owner said he had to import the horn from UK. I tried searching online but couldnt find any of this giant size.Keep up the good work!RegardsKP
Here’s the pics of an awesome horn. Don’t you want to hear it?
KP also had suggestions for the site especially around how I can accommodate contributions. I mentioned I’m in the process of building a Facebook page and hopefully will have something up in the next week or so. In the meantime please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email john[AT]squeezehorns.com
Thanks KP! Much appreciated.
Squeeze, or Bulb Car Horns!
Earliest car horns were all bulb horns.
From the same book came this picture of a reed. It’s very similar to those in the squeeze horns I sell, but with a screw to adjust tension of the reed.
I just did some experimenting with a reed I have and discovered that by pulling the top ‘tongue’ of the reed away from the main portion, ie. increasing the gap, I could lower the tone. This was done by bending the reed, which is a bit dangerous considering it’s impossible to bend it back. At some point I’ll do some serious experiments with adjusting the pitch and volume, and I think adding an adjusting screw could work!
Squeeze, or ‘Bulb’ Horns Used To Be Everywhere!
Happy to report that a new shipment of horns has landed in the US and is making it’s way to my door as we speak.
Very shortly I’ll have new pics and sounds up on the site.
In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy these reminiscences from the past.
From a 1945 Popular Mechanics! Frequently used as a musical instrument! Look at those horns!
Black Mini Condor Bicycle Squeeze Horn
I really like this horn. Nice balance. Loud enough to attract attention but not too aggressive. I’m partial to black as well. I’d put something like this on my mountain bike. Very small.
“4-Banger” Squeeze Horn!
Don’t see many of these around. Lots of 3 reed. Notice he’s using a hose clamp to attach it to his bike. Sometimes I feel a little wary of leaving my bike locked up somewhere because I’ve just got a wing nut holding my big brass 14″ horn on. You know, maybe it’s something someone would rip off. A hose clamp would certainly slow them down at least. There’s a 3 banger over at Amazon (affiliate link).