Listen to music while riding? - Page 4

I listen to the radio on my iPhone as well but I use the external speaker and I only listen to the radio when I'm riding solo not when in a group! And I'm glad to see roadhouse is still making his useless comments!

looks very interesting what does it mean? mar se' do hull e'

Yes i usually listenh something from dance music

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I go back and forth on this. After a scary experience in Mass., where I was surprised to find a car alongside me, I gave up headphones.

Since then, I started using a helmet mirror, and checking it religiously, and I find I can get away with listening to NPR's "All Things Considered". I have very acoustically open ear-hook type headphones, and at moderately low volume, I have no trouble hearing approaching cars.

Now, wearing a fleece helmet liner really cuts the wind noise, but I can still hear the cars, too.

(edit) I forgot to add that my "FM radio" is also my Bluetooth headphone controller, so I can make and receive calls, hands free.

Tackdriver56,

Just to underline it, my ears saved me this morning. Coming out of my house to the main drag is a long descending steep hill, speed is built up rapidly. Unfortunately, it crosses another road and is a give way. Approaching this road, I could hear the car coming (at right angles), but could not see it - so I slammed on the brakes, just going over the junction. The car flashed past at about 35 mph, oblivious. With headphones on, I'd be being placed in a box now instead of writing this.

OK, let's change tack now, who's in London & want's to buy me beer??

Chris,
Point well taken, and remember that those sneaky Japanese hybrids are WAY too quiet to rely on residual hearing.

Too early for beer here in *New* England, but I'm pouring 100% Columbian coffee...

Td56,

Well as long as it's coffee and not marching powder, you're alright! Am I correct in assuming you are making reference to my wheels with the phrase "sneaky Japanese hybrids?" As it happens, my jam jar (cockney slang for car) is a Subaru Impreza. Let me say here and now, there ain't NOTHING quiet about that. When idling, it sounds like the devil gargling a bucket of spanners! But this site is about bikes!!!

Naw, I was talking about Toyota's Prius, Honda's Insight, and the others that turn the petrol motor OFF when they're coasting up behind you.

There needs to be a standard: vehicles should be louder than a golf cart, and quieter than an accelerating Harley Davidson with straight pipes!

A mate of mine has at varying stages of late threatened to get a prius. I have vowed to murder him if he does. Although a headbanging keen cyclist, I'm also a petrol head (if you ever see the BBC's Top Gear, you'll get the vibe). Being a petrol head, I hate all things prius. Sure it may be the way things will go, but my manifest don't say I gotta like it!

But what I don't get (and never have) is motorbikes. One man's meat......

Motorbikes I get, though I've never had a street license for them. I used to play "tree-slalom" in the forest when I was about 14 years old. What makes them dangerous on the roads, is the car drivers who don't seem to acknowlege the biker's right to exist.

Motorcycles are right up there with whitewater kayaking for adrenaline production. Flying a Cessna is boring by comparison.

Petrol heads: one day there will be an example in a museum of a petrol head. Enjoy it while you can because the oil is running out.

e-vehicles can have performance characteristics that make IC engined vehicles dip their heads in shame.

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wait till the all electric cars come on line there is vertually no mechanocal sound from them ,t think the rosds will be more dangerous as a result....

That's a consideration for another day. We've got enough to worry about today, what with all the inattentive drivers and cyclists.

With respect to riding with earbuds/earphones on or listening to your music, on the bike, over some sort of speaker, both cases are less safe than riding without. That's a fact. Even if you're not "paying atttention" to the music, your brain is still processing the sounds, and those sounds coupled with the noises from cars, the wind, the road, and etc. present a sound spectrum in which it's more difficult to pick out what you need to hear for your own safety. Thinking you're good at really means nothing. Turning down the volume doesn't make you "safe." These are all facts that have been proven.

As for listening to music, on a bike, over a speaker, I have to wonder why someone would think that anyone else would want to listen to their music? I lump cyclists with speakers into the same category as the obnoxious drivers of cars that have their stereo sound cranked up to 10 and the bass cranked up to 11.

On the other hand, our nation is woefully short on organ donors/donations, so maybe it'd be a good thing if more people listened to music on their bikes...........

__________________
Sex is horrid
Pain is Fun
I cut my fingers off
One by one

Personally, I'm more worried about a "Maria Shriver" type riding up behind me than the quiet car, but that's just me

I'd much rather have a naked Maria Shriver walking toward me.

__________________
Sex is horrid
Pain is Fun
I cut my fingers off
One by one