Music whilst riding

[redken1]

I’m deaf as a proverbial post. Ironically, the biggest contributing factor to my defective hearing was probably exposing my ears to loud after-market exhausts for long periods when I was younger. And wind noise.

I read an article which stated that the human ear should not be exposed for any length of time to a decibel level above that of the noise generated by the average hairdryer. A fairly accurate rule of thumb – do you need to raise your voice to be heard?

Sorry to put a “spanner in the works” but I wish I had protected my ears more when I was younger.

[luke_chapman]

i have no problem with people doing it, its there choice after all but personally i enjoy the thrill of the ride so much that i dont worry about music.

[crewy]

If you need music to help you enjoy your ride, then obviously your not having enough fun on your bike. A bit blunt, I know, but biking is all about you and your bike.

[Snowy]

If you need music to help you enjoy your ride, then obviously your not having enough fun on your bike. A bit blunt, I know, but biking is all about you and your bike.

So thats where I have been going wrong all these years...... ;D ;D ;D

[Morticia]

To be honest I don't listen to music, I play a game I like to call "Guess the song" cos I can't hear a thing over the engine noise ;D

I gotta add, it doesn't distract me, thoguh I'm sure my bobbing and shaking distracts other road users at traffic lights ;D

[Morticia]

Oh, and the bobbing and shaking is done cos the music's in my head, I don't even bother with headphones anymore...

[garvey2003]

I commute daily and about 60 mile round trip get a little boring so I tend to listen to music. Its on my iphone which I have a head stock case for satnav on and I can turn the music up or down or even off if I need too.

I find it funny people are so against it when people play music in his or her cars? Surely if you can control the volume etc then its not an issue.

My two pence worth

[Scotty]

I've tried listening to music and on "involving" roads I found it a bit of a distraction, but if I can't avoid having to ride more than a few miles of tedium on a motorway or cabbageway then it's great for relieving the boredom.
Motorways aside, on road or track I always use earplugs, have done for about 24 years now. I don't believe the "I want to hear what the bike's doing" bollocks for not using plugs, above 60 all you can hear is wind noise anyway, and long-term riding without some form of ear protection can lead to hearing damage as already testified to by Ken.

[Snowy]

above 60 all you can hear is wind noise anyway.

True for a lot of bikes, but not all i.e tourers and the like with big screens plus the helmet you have makes a huge difference as well to how much gets through to your ears. Helmets such as those from Schuberth are exceptionally quiet inside. It comes down to individual choice, but I don't wear plugs because on my bike and inside my helmet I don't need them

[Nikki]

I find it funny people are so against it when people play music in his or her cars?

I quite agree it's really odd - how many of us (me included) dont like to ride with music yet drive a car with music on.

Slightly off topic but when I did a BikeSafe one of the speakers was chatting about attitude etc and said how surprising it was is that many of us will drink the night before we are due to drive somewhere in our cars yet very few will do so if they are planning a bike trip :-?

Music's not for me I'll stick with the earplugs but each to their own - I can certainly understand having music if you have a boring commute.