General Cycling Discussion - Can you listen to music while riding?

Anyone got any ideas how to safely listen to music while riding?

No

The much derided Bicycling Magazine had a short article about this, recently. Among their suggestions were to use open-air headphones instead of earbuds, because earbuds seal off your ear canal and block out ambient noise. They also suggest that you keep the volume low enough to hear wind noise, so that you'll be able to hear other things.

On a legal note, check your local laws before you try anything. Some states prohibit earphones altogether, and many of them (like my state) only allow cyclists to use a single earphone.

I would test this on bike paths before I even considered taking such a distraction on the street with me. Actually, I just wouldn't do it.

You might also be able to rig something up with actual speakers, instead of headphones.

The only safe way to listen to music and ride is on a trainer. I would never ride with ear phones or ear buds on.

No!

Whatever, I do it all the time. I'm sure it's stupid, but I could care less what people think. I enjoy the ride far more than if I didn't have them.

When riding, I listen to music wether I want it or not. And it's always the same 10 seconds of the stupidest song I can think of.

Be sure to sign your drivers license for organ and tissue donation. It could save someone's life.

I listen to my ipod with but in only 1 ear. When I don't have any music to listen to or am not in a group ride I find that I ride less miles and time. Music makes the ride go by so much faster and easier. I have never had an incident where I didn't hear someone or something.

Anyone got any ideas how to safely listen to music while riding?

Sure... Put your headphones on and keep your eyes open. Safe AND enjoyable.

i tried listening to music while i was riding on a empty road, didnt like it: i ended up not listening to it, just looking around and focusing on riding

I occasionally listen to the radio. I only use one earphone and it doesn't even fit snugly in the ear, let alone be an earbud that seals it off. I also put it in the right ear since most of the traffic noise I need to hear would be on my left.

Of course, I'm typically riding hours before sunrise so there is minimal traffic anyway. I've never had anything surprise me because I didn't hear it. I also use one of those eyeglass mirror things and keep careful track of things coming up behind me anyway - not hard with so little traffic.

I have a radio that attaches to my handlebars. I enjoy listening to music or NPR. It's also a bike computer.

Bicycling Magazine pointed out that neither motorcyclists nor automobile drivers can hear much of what's going on around them (and cars are even designed to be "quiet" inside). I think they also mentioned that there are no legal restrictions that keep deaf people from riding bicycles. I would add that rollerbladers and skateboarders (not to mention pedestrians) often wear headphones. And there's little evidence that "unobscured" hearing is really necessary to a bicyclist.

However, I think carrying a portable music player with you on a ride is likely to be an unnecessary distraction, and I'm with airsoft510 -- I don't think it's worthwhile. I haven't actually tested it, but I enjoy just riding. If I were going to do it, I think I would use portable speakers, like I suggested before. And avoid high traffic areas, but I'd suggest that, anyway.

i think it is a foolish practice.
the people you see wearing headphones are most often the same dinks you see riding around without shoulderpads and mouthpieces... borrowed time if you ask me..

i think it is a foolish practice.
the people you see wearing headphones are most often the same dinks you see riding around without shoulderpads and mouthpieces... borrowed time if you ask me..
Shoulderpads and mouthpieces? I don't think I ever seen anyone with those. You must be a hardcore dounhill mtb racer, or a very wiered roac biker. :D

i think it is a foolish practice.
the people you see wearing headphones are most often the same dinks you see riding around without shoulderpads and mouthpieces... borrowed time if you ask me..

Nice.

I keep posting this link to an article by John Allen (http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/hearing.htm) where he discusses bicycling and hearing and headphones.

I understand that many people do not agree with him, but he at least tries to think about this problem scientifically.

I had a pair of speakers from a bike shop years ago that clipped on the handlebars and held a walkman or whaever. I haven't seen them in years, I got mine around 1990. That sure made it great for riding to the beach

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/accessories.html

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/system.html

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/GRAPHICS/speakers.gif

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/GRAPHICS/bars.jpg

Found that in 30 seconds after posting. Search is our friend

i think it is a foolish practice.
the people you see wearing headphones are most often the same dinks you see riding around without shoulderpads and mouthpieces... borrowed time if you ask me..
:roflmao:
Yeah! And those dangerous pedal things that lock your shoes into them. What if you have to suddenly stop?

I had a pair of speakers from a bike shop years ago that clipped on the handlebars and held a walkman or whaever. I haven't seen them in years, I got mine around 1990. That sure made it great for riding to the beach

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/accessories.html

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/system.html

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/GRAPHICS/speakers.gif

http://www.bicyclestereo.com/GRAPHICS/bars.jpg

Found that in 30 seconds after posting. Search is our friend

The thought is nice, but I don't want to be one of those guys that's gets noticed for the loud racket coming from my vehicle. I may as well customize my Gremlin with a power amp and subwoofer!

When riding, I listen to music wether I want it or not. And it's always the same 10 seconds of the stupidest song I can think of.
AHHHHHHH! Me too!! I hate that! Last week I couldn't get "Time to Change " (that stupid song from the Brady Bunch episode with Peter's voice cracking) out of my head. "Sha na na na na na na na na". And I usually have no idea how they get there, either.
I wouldn't listen to music only because I try to keep a decent cadence, and I know the beat from the music would either speed me up or slow me down.

That's a cool little stereo system. When trainig for a century and taking 50-70 mile rides, I'd carry a portable radio. Unfortunately, it didn't get any music stations, so I mostly just listened to AM talk radio.

by the time i'm out of traffic and up to speed, i'm usually humming something to myself. helps me get up hills.

i'd get all tangled up in the wires and take a nice digger. and i still haven't found headphones for my apparently mutant (small?) ears that will stay in and not hurt after a few miles of running.

I ride wiwth earbuds all the time and find I can hear the cars just fine. I ride in heavy traffic usually though so it's all kind of a mash of noise anyway. With or without headphones It doesn't make a difference for me. Ride by police officers all the time and they never say anything about them.

Yes, think of the songs in your head. This way you still have your ears open to hear what's going on around you. Anyone riding with cans on is asking to get hit.

I have ridden with headphones on...volume low so I could still hear but I found I wasn't really listening to it at all. More looking around at the scenery, looking out for motorists who dislike cyclists (alot of them here) and so on. I'd say it's no different than the kid with the 800 dollar car and 5000 dollar audio system full blast. He's not going to hear a damn thing...heck even most motorists don't hear much when driving. Countless times, I've seen a cop, amb, firetruck slowed up by numptys who cannot seem to hear the 100+ decibel siren. So I doubt riding with your MP3/Discman isn't going to matter much, as long as your not singing out loud and bopping around to some 70's gay disco song. I saw some guy in a park last week doing such a thing. He near ran into a parked car, he was so into the song.

Ride by police officers all the time and they never say anything about them.As far as I can tell ... Arizona has no laws about the issue, so the police couldn't say much about it. (http://www.azbikeclub.com/bikelaw.html). In my purely subjective and mostly uneducated opinion, Arizona tends not to be as eager to over legislate every tiny detail of its citizens' lives. In neighboring California, however, it is illegal to use more than one headphone:


Headsets and Earplugs. VC 27400

No person operating any vehicle, including a bicycle shall wear any headset covering, or any earplugs in, both ears. [... exceptions for hearing aides, emergency vehicle drivers, et cetera ...]
(http://www.bikelink.com/law_safety.htm).

As an interesting side note ... this does apply to motor vehicle operators, as well as bicyclists. The logic here seems to be that you should be able to hear emergency sirens. But then, why not limit the interior volume of car stereos, too? (Oh, yeah. Because people might object.)



I have ridden with headphones on...volume low so I could still hear but I found I wasn't really listening to it at all. More looking around at the scenery, looking out for motorists who dislike cyclists (alot of them here) and so on.This obviously varies by listener, but I tend not to pay much attention to music while I'm working at a computer or driving or doing anything else (which isn't to say that I don't get some enjoyment out of it, I'm just not very focused on it). I think carrying my iPod with me would just end up being more dead-weight and one more thing to break if I crash.



I'd say it's no different than the kid with the 800 dollar car and 5000 dollar audio system full blast.For the most part, I agree. The primary difference, however, is that the stupid kid in the $800 car has 2,000 lbs of metal around him if he gets hit, and we don't. Like most things, I think the danger varies by the user. If you're responsible and careful about it, I think you'll figure out how to do it in a safe manner. But I think lots of people who do it probably aren't.

I listen to my mp3 player with only one ear bud while riding and I don't see why this would be a problem. I keep the volume at that point where I can hear and understand just fine. At this level I can also stop and talk to a neighbor easily while the mp3 is still playing in my ear no problem. I can hear someone coming up behind me and carry on a conversation with them easily.

I've been contemplating this issue for a while and recently decided to start listening to music while I ride.

1. I put in my earbuds and adjust the volume down so that when I rub my fingers together in front of my face (about 10-12 inches from my nose) I can still hear the sound of my fingers rubbing together. Try it. The safety minded part of me says that if I can hear the sound of my fingers rubbing together over the music, then I'm not going to miss any critical sounds in my environment. To that end, I have heard the chain rattle when I get cross-chained and hear my shoe squeaking against a crank when I wasn't clipped in quite right.

2. The more cavalier part of me says that (sirens aside), hearing a car coming careening up behind me has little to do with my ability to react to it fast enough to avoid death or injury.

Either way, I've been riding with music for a couple of weeks now and it's really adding to the experience.

By the way, I bought one of those MP3 players with an FM radio built in. In the city I can listen to NPR and my favorite stations. In the country, I kick it over to some nice Paul Simon, James Taylor or Doobie Brothers and cruise along in bliss!

Thanks for all the ideas.
I was favoring some type of external speaker rather than buds.
I actually remember back in the 70's or 80's there was a type of stereo that was like a shawl. The speakers were located on your upper chest and the chest cavity created it's own resonance. I think I remember ads for it on TV. I think it was blue. Does anyone know if that still exists?

If that doesnt, I might get that sony or the yellow one. I have bar ends on my bike though, so I dont know if the yellow one would work.

Thanks for all the comments

back in the 70's or 80's there was a type of stereo that was like a shawl. The speakers were located on your upper chest and the chest cavity created it's own resonance. I think I remember ads for it on TV. I think it was blue. Does anyone know if that still exists?

You may be thinking of BonePhone. A Google search ("bonephone speaker") suggests it no longer exists (the name also refers to a cell phone that uses similar technology, and is also an IP telephony software product; one reference may have been to an adult toy) but something derived is available for underwater divers.

BonePhone discussed among other sites at http://audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=13682

I keep posting this link to an article by John Allen (http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/hearing.htm) where he discusses bicycling and hearing and headphones.

I understand that many people do not agree with him, but he at least tries to think about this problem scientifically.

I like this kind of approach, but I don't agree with him at all. By the time I get to the "why don't they ban ear-muffs?" logic, I'm pretty much convinced he's loony. And comparing the relative value of hearing for a bicyclist and motorist is also kind of stupid. Cars are the things bicyclist are trying to avoid. Vehicles are optimized for sight based operation with lots of mirrors and comfortable supportive seating that doesn't inhibit head movement. And vehicles are the noise generators. He's clearly trying to support his own position, not objectively analyzing the risks of eliminating the sense of hearing for a bicyclist. Obviously sight is the much greater part of knowing your relative safety. But after a long ride, feeling tired, potentially with sweat dripping into my eyes and down my glasses, with my head in an awkward postion to be scanning the horizon in all directions before veering one way or the other, ..I think I'll be needing my hearing to make sure I don't get whacked by some idiot driver throwing around tons of metal.

5000 miles in so far with earbuds in traffic. I don't think my risk of being hit has blown out of the sky by doing it. I use my rearview mirror a lot more than my ears as wind noise makes hearing cars difficult for me too. Add to that the constant passing of cars kind of gets ignored at some point by my brain and I don't think it makes a lot of difference. At least for me. Perhaps some get affected more than I do but I have not noticed a difference in increased close calls. If anything I have less close calls with the headphones for some odd reason.

1. I put in my earbuds and adjust the volume down so that when I rub my fingers together in front of my face (about 10-12 inches from my nose) I can still hear the sound of my fingers rubbing together. Try it. The safety minded part of me says that if I can hear the sound of my fingers rubbing together over the music, then I'm not going to miss any critical sounds in my environment. To that end, I have heard the chain rattle when I get cross-chained and hear my shoe squeaking against a crank when I wasn't clipped in quite right.


This is great if this works for you. But here in the land of Wind & Snow, or even if you are clicking away at 40 K/hr plus and are making your own wind, all you will hear is wind. I have to resist turning up the mp3 during these times. But for the years I rode without things in my ears and with the wind whistling by, I couldn't hear another cyclist coming up behind me, or a click on my shoe or front derailler rub - let alone a car. But I could certainly FEEL things going onto my bike. I could look back or see the shadow of a car or cyclist coming up to me I could sometimes smell them if the wind was right (diesel, cattle transport trucks, bad deodorant etc.) Point is, the other senses are far more important than hearing.

Now I almost excusively ride my road bike with MP3 on the highway. At major intersections, and on city streets I pause it (quick tap on my back jersey pocket). There is just so much more going on in slower, city traffic and with pedestrians and children in the mix, you have to use all senses. This may sound like a contradiction with my previous statement, but I don't think it is. Different environments require different tools - just like you wouldn't ride a pinarello montello off road.

1. I put in my earbuds and adjust the volume down so that when I rub my fingers together in front of my face (about 10-12 inches from my nose) I can still hear the sound of my fingers rubbing together. Try it. The safety minded part of me says that if I can hear the sound of my fingers rubbing together over the music, then I'm not going to miss any critical sounds in my environment. To that end, I have heard the chain rattle when I get cross-chained and hear my shoe squeaking against a crank when I wasn't clipped in quite right.


This is great if this works for you. But here in the land of Wind & Snow, or even if you are clicking away at 40 K/hr plus and are making your own wind, all you will hear is wind. I have to resist turning up the mp3 during these times. But for the years I rode without things in my ears and with the wind whistling by, I couldn't hear another cyclist coming up behind me, or a click on my shoe or front derailleur rub - let alone a car. But I could certainly FEEL things going onto my bike. I could look back or see the shadow of a car or cyclist coming up to me I could sometimes smell them if the wind was right (diesel, cattle transport trucks, bad deodorant etc.) Point is, the other senses are far more important than hearing.

Now I almost exclusively ride my road bike with MP3 on the highway. At major intersections, and on city streets I pause it (quick tap on my back jersey pocket). There is just so much more going on in slower, city traffic and with pedestrians and children in the mix, you have to use all senses. This may sound like a contradiction with my previous statement, but I don't think it is. Different environments require different tools - just like you wouldn't ride a pinarello montello off road.

I like this kind of approach, but I don't agree with him at all. By the time I get to the "why don't they ban ear-muffs?" logic, I'm pretty much convinced he's loony. And comparing the relative value of hearing for a bicyclist and motorist is also kind of stupid. Cars are the things bicyclist are trying to avoid. Vehicles are optimized for sight based operation with lots of mirrors and comfortable supportive seating that doesn't inhibit head movement. And vehicles are the noise generators. He's clearly trying to support his own position, not objectively analyzing the risks of eliminating the sense of hearing for a bicyclist. Obviously sight is the much greater part of knowing your relative safety. But after a long ride, feeling tired, potentially with sweat dripping into my eyes and down my glasses, with my head in an awkward postion to be scanning the horizon in all directions before veering one way or the other, ..I think I'll be needing my hearing to make sure I don't get whacked by some idiot driver throwing around tons of metal.

I can see a lot better on a bike than I can in a car. If you're less flexible, you can get mirrors for your bike too. I bike in heavy traffic wearing headphones almost every day for almost a year. It has yet to even cause so much as a close call. The arguments against wearing headphones are:


I don't like to listen to music. I prefer the sounds of nature. The only sounds of nature I'm hearing is the rush of turbulent air. Anyway, some people do enjoy music.
You won't be able to hear cars coming behind you. When wearing headphones, I can hear most of the sounds I can hear without the headphones, even if that's only rushing air. But even when I hear a car, what action should I take? Do people normally pull of the road when a car is coming behind them? I don't. If I'm changing lanes, I will check visually before moving.
I once saw a headphone-wearing cyclist do something really stupid. Obviously, the headphones caused him to do it with their mind-control rays. Then you didn't see me. Besides, that's an anecdote. Anyway, I once saw a non-headphone wearing cyclist doing something stupid. The fact is, there are people pulling dumb manuevers all the time, on and off the bikes, wearing headphones or not.
Common sense obviously tells us that wearing headphones is unsafe. Common sense tells many people that bicycling is unsafe. It is just intuitively obvious to them. Even if you refute them point by point, they will not believe you. Sound familiar?

Yes, the bonephone! I can't find it anywhere either. Perhaps it just didnt work well. I did find a cell phone and a diver's MP3 player that use bone conduction from the skull. A fascinating concept. The diver's MP3 player was $250...a bit more than I want to blow just to see if it works.
It would be interesting to see if the bone conduction would allow you to hear the music. Because the ears would be open, theorhetically one could still hear road noises.
Someone at Sony needs to look into that!

I usually listen to music when riding. Regular earbuds, volume turned up enough that the wind noise doesn't ruin it, but never so much that I can't hear traffic. The only concern I have is that other people (bikers/cars) may see the earbuds and think I'm careless and not respect my place in traffic. If anything, I take more care now to make drivers know that I see them and that I ride predictably and confidently.

I try not to stereotype but it happened again today. Overtaking another rider (on a trail) I said "on your left" loudly and still got nearly whacked by a clueless meandering headphone user. Makes me wonder how many of you self professed "good" headphone users really aren't. Sorry for that opinion.

I try not to stereotype but it happened again today. Overtaking another rider (on a trail) I said "on your left" loudly and still got nearly whacked by a clueless meandering headphone user. Makes me wonder how many of you self professed "good" headphone users really aren't. Sorry for that opinion.

Refer to my points 3 and 4 above. I saw a cyclist today riding the wrong way on a one way. Makes me wonder how many self professed "good" cyclists really aren't.

Wearing headphones does not prevent a cyclist from riding in a straight line. Presumably that was the problem in this case. I find headphones have no bearing on my ability to ride in a straight line.

Sure, but I hope you like rap. All you have to do is keep pace with a lowrider with 1000w of bass in the trunk, and you can listen to all the "music" you want.

Personally I find it too dangerous if I'm riding with music. But that may have a lot to do with my riding style and riding location.

personally, i think it's foolhardy at best to run headphones on a bike. I've found that there's a lot of supplemental information that comes from hearing. I can hear cars and get out of the way before they see me. I can hear wind, rain, leaves.... sometimes it even seems like I can hear the ground and tree trunks and walls. And so, whatever anyone says, I maintain that my balance and reflexes are reduced by anything which obscures or alters my senses. Such as music.

That said, I DO listen to music from time to time, but only on trails (never in traffic), and generally only on easy ones at that. I've bailed on ridiculously easy runs when my bike has been tweaked by tree roots and i didn't have the sense of balance and presence of mind to be able to right it because of the music is was listening to. But I've also had an easier time on distance runs because the music makes it easier to keep cadence and pass time.

Trick, I agree, it seems like occluding the ear canal makes me a little off balancetoo. A couple of years ago I had a bad cold where I had fluid in my middle ear...sounded like I had ear plugs in for a week. I noticed that I felt a bit off balance the whole time. I realized that there were subtle high frequency noises...like the echo of my footsteps in the hallway , the sound changes in the ambient noise when one approached an open doorway, etc that somehow my brain subconciously was processing as part of balance. I guess that is the concept behind the clicking stick that some blind folks use....I think they can tell if there is a nearby wall by the subtle echo of the reflected click.

anyway, that's why I was interested in music technology that does not occlude the ear....
Just seems like a song with a good beat, makes me more energized.

Anyone got any ideas how to safely listen to music while riding?

Aiming for the Darwain Award? :D

I listen to my ipod with but in only 1 ear. When I don't have any music to listen to or am not in a group ride I find that I ride less miles and time. Music makes the ride go by so much faster and easier. I have never had an incident where I didn't hear someone or something.


This is your answer, MP3 player using only 1 ear bud, I actually cut the other ear bud off. You'll get used to it and you can hear everything going on around you. I commute 27 miles to work and back, I don't think I could do it without some tunes, it would definetley be a strange experience.

Try and comment.

Refer to my points 3 and 4 above. I saw a cyclist today riding the wrong way on a one way. Makes me wonder how many self professed "good" cyclists really aren't.

Wearing headphones does not prevent a cyclist from riding in a straight line. Presumably that was the problem in this case. I find headphones have no bearing on my ability to ride in a straight line.

Almost daily update, AGAIN: Yesterday I was overtaking a rider who seemed to be meandering significantly.. This time I was driving a van full of soccer players. He was wearing headphones, and I (and my front passenger) was certain he glanced backwards and saw us. Anyway, he moved to the right and stayed reasonably stable for ~15 sec. Not taking any chances, with no oncoming traffic, I started to pass him by pulling fully into the opposite lane. JUst as I got to him, he veered all the way across the road directly into my path --forcing me to stomp on the brake. He was inches from me, but rode on. He had to see me but gave no indication of it.

Wearing headphones apparently does prevent most cyclists from riding in a straight line. Do your own survey. Watch other cyclists wearing headphones and I bet you'll notice most of them DO meander.

I use one earbud and listen to my portable xm satellite radio. no worries so far mates.

I have tunes on my bike but I do not have a deathwish nor
am I an idiot that wears a headset of any kind.

I rigged a set of minispeakers on my handlebars to listen to
both traffic and tunes safely. I used these amplified speakers
to do the job with a cheap shower cap to cover them in the
rain. They plug into my cd deck/cassette player/ i pod just
fine. These speakers hook together at the bottom for great
stereo imaging. They can be played with or without batteries
so you can always have tunes.

http://www.goelectronic.com/Merchant2/4.23/00000001/catalog/p_PANASONIC_RP_SP28.html