Listening while riding

[Captain_Rat]

Due to the quality and size of things like mp3 players, etc, listening to music while riding is much more pervasive than it used to be. Who of you listens to music while you ride?

Capt.

[97TB]

I don't . . . I try to concentrate on the road as much as possible with all of the idiots out there.

Captain - we're doing a Bear Mountain ride this Sunday, PM me if you're interested.

Dan

[Rubbus]

I use custom-molded ear phones- usually on long trips on the highway. They block out wind noise, and keep me awake with some tunes.

I'm not interested in debating (not that you were) wether it is safe or not. There are two schools of thought on that of course.

I find riding so much more enjoyable with some tunes going. iPod shuffle is perfect for riding- just set it to shuffle and GO. No fussing with buttons or screens.

-Rob

[Captain_Rat]

Yeah, I didn't mean for this to turn into a debate. Like many things in our forum, let's take the "to each their own" attitude in this discussion.

Capt.

[Catenaccio]

I used an iPod mini. I stopped after a couple of long rides when I noticed I was paying too much attention to the music and not enough to my riding. The iPod worked great in shuffle mode. I believe there are those that can ride and listen safely, but I'm not one of them.

[Hotmailrules]

I tried it once with some shure earplugs. They worked well except they started to hurt my ears after about 45 mins. My helmet was putting a little pressure on them.

[Diego]

I'm one who is not comfortable with listening while riding. I take music a little more seriously than some, and tend to concentrate on the details of professionally produced tunes a little more than I should.

So I carry no player with me. My solution is...singing.

That way it flows from inside me, and doesn't require the same level of attention* as listening to someone else's efforts. (*Anyone who has heard me can attest to that.) Innocent bystanders may be suffering, but my own attention is thoroughly focused on my surroundings. And, I can turn off the sound instantly without use of hands should I want to listen to the sound of the bike, check for sirens, etc.

There is, I believe, a recent study suggesting that car drivers who sing rather than just listen to the radio are safer...although the footage they used on the TV news showed some of them doing choreography that left their hands awfully far from the wheel for mighty long periods of time. I avoid doing that myself, so I can better attempt to avoid any cager I see doing it.
:-D

[kuhlka]

I only really listen to music on the bike when I'm going on 1+ hour trips riding solo, or if we've all got coms units (one of the more expensive accessories I'm waiting to purchase). The earplug type headphones I use block out a lot of wind noise but keeps the low and midrange noise clear.

From my experience, I've found the noise reducing headphones to actually make it easier to hear my surroundings while riding down the highway. However, riding in groups of bikers with headphone/earplugs in can be a pain if there aren't also coms being used.

[97TB]

Sorry Capt. Didn't mean to turn this into another safety debate. Tell you what, why don't you join us on our hooligan ride on Sunday, bring your tunes and sing for us during the ride :razz:

Dan

[Captain_Rat]

Only if I can ride pillion and sing into your ear, big boy.

;-)

Capt.

[ This message was edited by: Captain_Rat on 2005-07-28 12:19 ]