Safety is something that everyone needs to consider when owning an electric bike. Electric bikes can travel at high speeds and have quick acceleration. I often beat cars through intersections at a stoplight. Add to that distracted drivers and it’s critical to have a presence on the road. This includes mirrors, lots of lights, and a quality bike horn. Basically, the more to can act like a motor vehicle or look like something that others should pay attention to, the better. A bell will do for paved paths to alert pedestrians (assuming they don’t have headphones in), but a bell is not sufficient for city riding. This is why I wanted to delve into the best electric bike horns on the market today.
There are many bike horns for sale but many have questionable reviews or simply aren’t as loud. In my research, the two electric bike horns that I can recommend are the Hornit bike horn and the horn sold directly from Juiced Bikes (and also Ariel Rider).
Hornit Bike Horn Review
Hornit offers a handful of bike accessories including helmets, their bike storage solution called the CLUG, and of course horns and lights. They sent me their patented Hornit dB140 horn so I could do a review. My full Hornit bike horn review video is embedded at the bottom of this post. This is their louder offering compared to the Hornit Lite which boasts a 250 lumen light along with a 120-decibel horn.
Both horns come with a button trigger that connects via a cable to the horn. Excess cable can be wrapped around the handlebars for safety as well as a cleaner look. Besides the loudness of each horn, another important distinction between the two horns is that the Hornit dB140 is powered by 2 x AAA batteries and the Hornit Lite is powered by a 1,200 mAh rechargeable battery. The DB140 is estimated to last 6-12 months and the Hornit Lite is going to vary significantly depending on usage of the light. The lights runtime can be anywhere from 2 hours 40 minutes o 9 hours 30 minutes.
The Hornit DB140 has two sounds – a piercing mode that is 140 decibels and a lower-pitched horn mode that is 121 decibels. The horn mode is the setting I usually use since it is more recognizable as an actual horn. The piercing mode is well…piercing – more of an obnoxious sounding alarm that will certainly get attention. The Hornit Lite has 4 modes: piercing mode (120dB), high pitch (112dB), whistle (114dB), beep beep (95dB), and car horn mode 101dB.
At the time of publishing, the Hornit dB140 is $29 and the Hornit Lite comes in about $10 more at $39.95. I’ve been very pleased with the Hornit dB140 and am currently using it on our Ariel Rider X-Class. It has earned its place on my recommended ebike accessories list for being a quality bike horn that is priced right. If you plan to purchase the Hornit dB140 and don’t already have rechargeable batteries, I highly recommend the Panasonic Eneloops.
Juiced Bikes Horn Review
Juiced Bikes is an electric bike company that has put some serious energy into making their ebikes more moped-like. Their HyperScorpion epitomizes presence on the road – coming with blinkers, moped-style mirrors, and yes, a horn. While the HyperScorpian includes the horn it is also offered as a standalone product. While I have read rave reviews about this horn it also comes at a pretty steep cost: $50.
Juiced claims the horn is 118 decibels. Besides the look, where it stands out from the Hornit is its car alarm function. You can ‘lock’ your bike in a similar way to locking your car. With any movement the alarm will go off, hopefully deterring any thieves. Juiced states a charge is good for 2,000 beeps. It also includes two wireless remotes. The horn is powered by a button trigger which is similar to the one found on the Hornit bike horn.
The horn from Juiced Bikes looks strangely similar to the horn offered by Ariel Rider. It is slightly cheaper at $45. You can check out both Juiced Bikes website and Ariel Rider’s websites which both have linked videos of the horn test.
My Take on the Best Electric Bike Horn
While a horn can be put on any electric bike I highly recommend buying one if you’re riding a faster moped style electric bike or if you plan to do a lot of riding in the city. Distracted drivers are everywhere and it’s critical to be able to get their attention for your safety. When I’m not riding my ebike that has a horn I find myself often wishing I had it.
We live in a lower risk area when it comes to bike theft but I can see the benefits of a motion alarm that the Juiced Bikes horn offers. We also use our ABUS Bordo Big 6000 Alarm lock which has a built-in alarm. Note that motion alarms can also be purchased separately. For me, I’ll continue to use my Hornit dB140 but I hope to take a closer look at the horns from Juiced and Ariel Rider in the future.