General Cycling Discussion - Headphones while riding

I commute to work daily - and train by myself, so most of the time I listen to music or the news while I ride. I feel it is safe because I keep the volume to a level where I can still hear traffic, kind of like a responsible (not blasting 1000 watts throught the speakers) person would do while driving a car. What are peoples thoughts on this and why?

I think it's fine as long as you keep it low. Same with a car. One day I was blasting the stereo really loud in my car. I was sitting at a red light and when it turned green I started to go. Right before I entered the intersection a firetruck went screaming through, blowing the red light. I couldn't hear the damn siren until he was right on me. If he had come along a few seconds later, I would have been toast. I can't imagine how tough it would be for a deaf person on these crazy roads.

I don´t use headphones because I want my attention 100% on the traffic (or as much as I can). Therefore I believe all things that draw your attention from traffic is dangerous. Even if you think you can handle it, sooner or later you are going to focus a little too much on the music, and then...

But that´s only my opinion:)

Anders K

I definately don't use headphones. No way! Not with crazy drivers out there. Even with low volume....not gonna do it. I keep all my attention on my surroundings including rear-view mirror to check and see who's barreling down on me.

I often see some crazy people with headphones sort of lolling about, not paying attention to stop-lights and bike lanes. A good way to find yourself face-2-face with the asphalt.

I find a radio or music distracting while riding.

I do listen to the radio while driving or occasionally while running though.

I commute to and from work, so in the morning the only thing on the radio are the laughing hyenas of morning radio. Listening to these jokers would be too much like torture. I just can't do it.

I guess I just prefer the quiet. I think maybe I am overstimulated, or possibly I am just turning into a cranky old guy.

I personally don't for the reason that even at
low levels it masks out the sounds of cars
approaching from behind.
Hell, I have enough trouble with headphones
on Rollers let alone the road :lol:

Marty

Originally posted by DanFromDetroit

I guess I just prefer the quiet. I think maybe I am overstimulated, or possibly I am just turning into a cranky old guy.

You´r not alone:p

Anders

i used to ride with phones on but then abandoned it for a few reasons. the distraction factor was high and a disc is only so long... too much hassle to change them and the radio is completely worthless. i noticed i was able to get deeper into the ride without them... and now the soundscape makes its own kind of music, and i'm much more involved in my surroundings without necessarily seeing everything.

I don't do a lot of road commuting. Even when I have to I still jump on trails at all possible times. That said I wear headphones and always have. I just let my other senses work the roads.

Sure. Why not just put blinders on too?

Actually it depends where one is riding. If you're on a deserted stretch of road or trail, why not?

I have a little Awia stereo that I bunjee on to the rear rack. It's the perfect size. Not a boom box. Small enough to pack away in my Camelbak. It delivers just enough sound to keep me company and not drown out what I need to hear. No headphones involved. A bike with a sound system. Pretty cool eh?

NEVER!! NEVER!! NEVER!!

When I'm on the road (which is 98% of the time) I want to hear everything around me, whether it is a very quiet rice rocket behind me, another cyclist trying to pass me, or just the wind.

Safety is my top priority when riding!
Music and news is for times when I'm not focused on something as important as staying alive while trying to share the road with the "non-cycling public".

I'm just curious if you guys that think this is a safety issue listen to your radio and/or keep your windows up while driving a car. See my post above about the firetruck.

Open air headphones on a low volume don't really drown out any sounds that are close enough to be a danger to you.

Originally posted by JDP


Open air headphones on a low volume don't really drown out any sounds that are close enough to be a danger to you.

But music draw attention from traffic, even at low volume. That´s the thought with music, that you shall listen. Otherwise it mist its point.

Anders K

In the great state of Ohio is it illegal to wear headphones while riding a bike (and I think while driving a car too). I never have or will wear them. I'd rather hear the traffic sneaking up behind me. I see people doing it all the time and nobody seems to get a ticket from the police. Probably like a seatbelt law. If you break another law they'll get you for the minor offense too.

If you need to listen to music while you are riding, then you are missing the point in riding.

Depending on the type of ride I do makes a diff. on my choice of music and if I will listen to music at all. When riding with others I won't bring the headphones if it is a casual xc ride. If we go out to try new drops, jumps or there is a competitive atmosphere, I will bring the music. I also like to have music on long road rides.
Slainte:beer:

Not for me. I have tried riding in headphones, but I actually found that the music detracted from the whole riding experience.

The professionals do wear headphones, don't they? I see it in the Tour de France, but only when they are doing the time-trials. I'm not really sure whether they wear them in other stages. It is supposed to be a communication between the coach and the rider, where the coach tells the rider what he's doing right and what's wrong.

However, I voted no. I don't think it is very safe. Definitely not Will Smith's Black Suits Commin'. I guess I'll start nodding my head and forget about the surroundings. If it is really boring on a long ride, turn it really soft, so it won't distract you too much to the extent you risk your own safety.

I've never used headphones. I ride in center city Philadelphia and let's just say that the drivers here are not that safe to be around. Besides the fact if I were headphones how could I possible hear all the lovely drivers cursing me out. :D

~Mike

Originally posted by JDP
One day I was blasting the stereo really loud in my car. I was sitting at a red light and when it turned green I started to go. Right before I entered the intersection a firetruck went screaming through, blowing the red light. I couldn't hear the damn siren until he was right on me. If he had come along a few seconds later, I would have been toast. I can't imagine how tough it would be for a deaf person on these crazy roads.
This actually happened to me about 2-3 years ago. It scared the crap outta me. Now my music is low enough to hear others honking and sirens.

And no I do not use headphones...I do not want any distractions while riding.

I'm a little surprised that no one has spoken about all the extra grams of weight a headset might entail.

When I firt started riding I always had a headset on. I stopped when I realized I couldn't hear my cell phone while listening to the radio.:p

Carl

Absolutely not, it drowns out all the other little voices in my head :eek:

Originally posted by JDP
I'm just curious if you guys that think this is a safety issue listen to your radio and/or keep your windows up while driving a car. See my post above about the firetruck.

Open air headphones on a low volume don't really drown out any sounds that are close enough to be a danger to you.

No car is created as such to drown out a fire truck. I challenge you to find one car with a stock stereo that is at 50% volume that you can't hear the siren less than one block away. Perhaps you were not focused?

Open air headphones on low wouldn't be adanger, but heck you probably couldn't hear them!!

To each his own, but I depend on my hearing to help me negotiate traffic.

I have a simple rule while riding - no thinking about anything but the ride. I ride fast and to keep myself safe I want all my attention on the road (looking at the scenery is allowed.)

Whenever I catch myself thinking about work or cooking dinner or anything else, I re-direct my mind to the road. Riding is the only time I can get my head really empty and the stress relief is unbelievable.

Needless to say, no headphones, ever.

For me I don't like to hear music when i ride. I find that when I ride, that is when i do most of my thinking. I don't need to worry about cars or really anybody because where i ride there are none! some times i do ride with music and to tell the truth i turn it down so low that all i hear is a beat or something over the sound of the wind.

Jared

I used to wear headphones all the time when I rode, I disconnected the left speaker - worked great!

I don't think that it's a good idea to use headphones. Listening to music, news, etc. while on the bike distracts you from things that you should be paying attention to..... traffic, pedestrians, pot holes.....

Nope! No headphones...(and in my best Dana Carvey)...unh-uh, not gonna use 'em.

But seriously...you have to be able to hear everything around, and make sure other vehicles know you are paying attention. Auto drivers, and I'm one of 'em, get annoyed when cyclists or even other auto drivers are using headphones while on the road. I am more on alert, because, while some may have the volume down to hear "the world around them," enough appear to be in their own little world, oblivious to my car.

I might get a flame for this, but I took a radio with me today. Tiny little transistor radio was sitting in the room with my bike - I looked at it and said 'what the hell' and strapped it under the net on my rack. I was lucky enough to find a station doing a Glenn Miller special (which sounds great through a cruddy speaker) and kept it at barely audible volume. My 10 mile Sunday spin around the block ended up being an all-morning bike adventure. I thought it was rather nice. I didn't seem to be distracted by it. I loved approaching pedestrians from the rear. All they hear is a clarinet solo coming from behind them.

Originally posted by bikeman
In the great state of Ohio is it illegal to wear headphones while riding a bike (and I think while driving a car too). I never have or will wear them. I'd rather hear the traffic sneaking up behind me. I see people doing it all the time and nobody seems to get a ticket from the police. Probably like a seatbelt law. If you break another law they'll get you for the minor offense too.
I think that's the case in Washington as well, although I couldn't find the specific law. If a person were struck by a car while doing something unlawful, the motorist has a chance of being excused from responsibility on the technicality. If the person was seriously injured and needs expensive treatment, the insurance company that's insuring the motorist may have a strong incentive to challenge the claim. Food for thought, anyway...

William-

I challenge you to take a ride in my little brother's car... he pays much money for a top quality stereo system, and when I'm stuck riding with him, the stereo is so loud you can't even hear your own thoughts! he's got subwoofers and surround sound. One time, I looked in his trunk and I saw two additional huge speakers. So along with the speakers he wired around the car, your teeth are literally rattling when you're riding with him.

I hate it... mostly....

Still, it's not as much how the car was built as much as how good your stereo system is.

Having said all that, I used to ride with my radio, back in the day when I was not as serious about riding (I am not flaming anyone, just telling you how I used to ride). However, now that I am riding on roads and working on my riding skills, I'm finding the radio to be one big distraction to me. It may work for some folks, but I can't do it. I get too much into the music, then I get relaxed and distracted, then BOOM! I'm either gonna get doored or hit or run over. So I find it better to just keep myself focussed on the ride. I spend so much time watching the ground, watching the traffic, watching parked cars, watching car doors, watching for animals, and watching for people that I feel that if I'm any less alert than I already am, I will be seriously injured one day soon. This is just how my brain works- some people are good at compartmentalizing stuff and the radio is nothing for them, but I am easily distracted. My mind wanders in my old age.....

Maybe I just need some of that ginko biloba?

:D


Koffee

First of all, I am quite sure, headphones are illegal to use in California.. Within cars, bikes, motorbikes and any legal vehicle; which includes bicycles. Plus I think It would distract from the ride and its safety..
I do see motorbikes with open air speakers. Even though I love my kind of music; when motorbikes go by with music I don't like; I feel very annoyed. Not sure how music I like would effect my cycling. I do miss my kind of music, when I commute by bike over car. But still would not miss out on that bike commute.
To show my dedication to my cycling. On Sunday A.M, on my favorite radio station, they play 4 hours of 'accoustic music.' Great show. Used to stay home to hear it. But of late, I miss out on my favorite music for my bike ride. Would I like it on an open air speaker on my bike.
Like the sound of nature, when I do my Sunday moring ride on on my favorite crest of hills. Guess I would still choose nature over the music I like so well.

I used to ride with music, and I found that it helped me keep goign even when I was dog tired. I just pedalled to the beat of the music. I was very careful to keep it down to where I could hear everything around me as well though. I think if it's down low enough, and maybe you only wear one side of the headphone, it's ok. I don't think there's anything wrong with something that helps you set a pace, which music did for me.

I am not an advocate of headphones. Even at home in my lounge with volume at a safe level I can not hear my wife talking to me (this can be a good thing). Try having a conversation with someone with head phones on and I'll bet you won't hear half of the conversation.

On the open country roads riding along at 30+kph with the wind, it can be hard to hear new cars as some of them are almost silent. I use my ears as "rear-view" mirrors, especially on narrow descents as I like to know if someone is on my tail. Instantly I can hear a car approaching. I have also started to listen out for cars towing trailers (I think they are called something else in the USA). I have had two occasion's where the roads are so narrow, that as a car approaches I have had to ride right on the very edge of the road until the car passes then nearly being hit by a trailer as I start to move back to my normal line. With headphones I wouldn't hear the trailers bounce along as they approach.

Even taking a drink is made easier when I can hear no one approaching. My comments are only relevant to country roads where traffic is very light to non-existent. I find quite roads are sometimes more dangerous as I can get in such a zone I forget there are still cars around, maybe 1 car every 10 minutes.

Of course if the roads you ride are constantly full of traffic, it's unlikely you are going to be startled by passing cars, so headphones probably wouldn't make the journey any less safe.

CHEERS.

Mark

Nope, don't use 'em. I used to as a kid but then I used to ride w/o a skid lid too. I haven't bought one yet but if I want music on the rid eI'm gonna grab this thing. Bike Radio (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F007%5F024%5F004%5F000&product%5Fid=12%2D463) But as far as headphones go, I end up getting slowed up behind twits using them at volume levels that they can't here me YELLING on your left. (I'm ex-military and used to march my flight to an fro back in tech school so I KNOW how to be loud.) so my tolorance for them is extemely low.

I have mixed emotions about them. I use a very tiny mp3 player (about the size of tire repair kit) so I get good reception ALL of the time. But when you ride between 20 to 27 mph, and I dont care what kind of headphones you use, the wind whistles through so whats the point.

I disagree with the statement(s) about "wearing headphones will make you miss the biking experience". That is kind of a vague statement. It just depends on who you are, where you ride and how you personally enjoy the experience. One mans garbage is another mans gold.

Would I ever wear headphones riding in traffic? No. Other than the safety issue, what a better way to drown out all that crappy noise. I do sometimes wear them when I am practicing my cadence out on long stretches of highway. The way I look at it in this situation is that headphones or no headphones, having vehicles driving 60 mph coming up behind you....if youre going to get hit there is only one thing you can do..... unclick and hope for a soft landing because you cant always keep looking behind you the whole time you are out there.

In my opinion, headphones or no headphones, just enjoy your ride, be safe and please be curteous of your fellow riders or you may just get a hand-pump in your front spokes!

Cheers,
Tom

We keep on forgetting that you might here a a car or a truck approaching when listning to music, but what about another cyclist? Last month I was approaching another cyclist from behind, this guy had headphones on and was oblivious to my whistling and screaming to get his attention. (it was a narrow cycle path and he was swinging to the music!)
Headphones is dangerous, no matter how good you think you are.

I really think I need all my hearing capabilities while negotiating traffic. In the car, I don't rely as much on my hearing as I do when cycling. Also, I don't want any unnecessary distractions.

A lot of my riding is in busy traffic. Got to pay attention to opening doors, ped's, overtaking traffic, road trash, etc. My mind has a tendency to wander as it is.

When starting this poll, I expected to see the votes go towards the use of headphones. For years I rode without them, never even thinking about the use of them. However, after the millionth time being yelled, screamed, honked, etc, at I decided to try them as a filter – take the edge off all the “surprise” noises directed at me. Since using headphones, I feel that my riding on the road has improved – in the past someone would blatantly, or even accidentally make a loud or unexpected noise I would flinch, or lose my line. Now that has decreased drastically, I still hear everything I need to, it’s just the sharpness of the unexpected noises is muffled, making my reaction more controlled. There are times where headphones are not the best choice, but more than likely during those times mine will not be on.

Plus, out of respect, if I see or even expect another cyclist to be around, I take them off my ears.

I have to agree with the individuals that choose not to listen to music while riding because they think that doing this would divert there attention and concentration – but for me it isn’t an issue.

Finally, I will have to check with the local laws – Mechbgon had a good point about being involved in an accident, even if it wasn’t your fault, you could be held liable if participating in an illegal activity. That would suck.

Wearing head phones while you ride is against the law in Illinois. It's definitely something I would never do. There are enough things that would cause you to get in an accident, and head phones would add to that risk.

Originally posted by sscyco
Plus, out of respect, if I see or even expect another cyclist to be around, I take them off my ears.
Well, if you live where I live, you might as well just toss out your headphones because there is ALWAYS another cyclist around. Where I ride, I see at least 5 cyclists every minute. :p

wearing headphones while riding is like watching t.v. while having sex. it is possible, but shouldn't ever be done. i have music at home, at work, in the car.....i think i can handle not listening for a few hrs here and there.