Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Riding Without Helmet vs Listening to iPod

help resolve a friendly dispute between two people... what is a more hazerdous/risky activity: riding without a helmet or listening to your ipod/music thingy while riding fixed?

what about a helmet and an ipod/insert your favorite mp3 player here??

ALWAYS wear a helmet when listening to an ipod while riding. It helps keep the ear thingies in. :D

what about a helmet and an ipod/insert your favorite mp3 player here??

that's what i do, but i reason that they more or less cancel eachother out :rolleyes:

poll is intended to be one or the other

Alone on the track no helmet will be riskier than riding with an I-pod.
On a busy street I'd rather rather wear no lid than having loud music in my ear.
It all depends on where you ride.

again i reiterate that i'm a noob, but i feel that if i didn't have a full audio and visual sense of what was going on around me while riding, i'd be in serious danger. as it has been stated before, not wearing a helmet heightens awareness, because you're not going to get as comfortable on your bike and get in that 'sleepy' mode. i think the ipod is an even easier way to get into this mode, i mean, when i listen to music i get engulfed. i'll want to rock out, and sing along (exposing all pedestrians to my obnoxious vocals), and it will take away from my paying attention to what's going on around me. what's worse, is that a lot of my awareness while riding involves what i'm hearing. i know i need to move if i hear a car coming up behind me, and will be able to stop if someone yells... also you know if your bike sounds funny (just like a car) and you might need to look at something. i'm always listening to my surroundings while riding. music can wait for the car(which i hardly ever drive anymore) and the computer.

Whereas you probably couldn't avoid a situation where your helmet came into action, you probably could avoid one where you couldn't hear a car horn/tire screech and respond in time because you were listening to musiack. Ears good.

Why is it safer to listen to music while driving a car than than it is while riding a bike? I say car drivers have a greater responsibility than bicyclists. Just like Uncle ben said: "with great power comes great responsibility" Pushing 2500 pounds of steel is a great responsibility. If listening to music is unsafe it should not be allowed in cars.

Why is it safer to listen to music while driving a car than than it is while riding a bike? I say car drivers have a greater responsibility than bicyclists. Just like Uncle ben said: "with great power comes great responsibility" Pushing 2500 pounds of steel is a great responsibility. If listening to music is unsafe it should not be allowed in cars.

It is safer for the operator of the vehicle.

It might also depend on what kind of person you are.
Some people rely on their hearing more than others.

i dont ride with my ipod most of the time but for me it wouldn't really be that different...see i live down here in the flatlands of illinois and most times i can barely hear myself thinking over the wind noise.. or now since it is winter i have a hat and sometimes a bandana on as well to keep my face and ears warm...the combination of the wind and the ear covers makes it essentially like i had my ear buds in anyways... although i would agree that it is probably safer to ride with a helmet and no sort of headphones

why would you want to listen to music when the city sounds so nice? plus, the only music i want to hear while riding my bike is rap music, bad rap that is on the radio. and, really, if you time it right, you can probably just ride next to cars with rolled down windows all bumping the same tune (either 50cent, laffy taffy, three 6 mafia, etc). i dont know how it is in non-sanfrancisco-land, but here its pretty easy to hear some jams while on the bike. all jokes aside though, i dont think the music in cars vs. music on a bike comparison is valid. it takes thought to drive a car, it takes thought and a body to ride a bike. what i mean is, you need amply working legs, arms, shoulders, hips, etc to manuever a bike. part of using these limbs well is being able to listen and see without obstruction so you know which way to propel yourself. if you are in a car, theres usually only one direction to go, theres not as many obstacles jumping out at you all the time, and you don't need to quickly backpedal or quickly steer into and out of things like a needle. in otherwords, you rely on your senses (sight and sound) a lot more when riding a bike. its a lame argument. let me ask you this, when you are rocking out to some song in your car, right, and you got the volume up nice and loud for some riffage and guitar solo parts, and you are totally feeling it and cruising along looking for parking, and you find a spot but you have to parallel park the car, what is the first thing you do? turn down the music... right? yeah. point.

let me ask you this, when you are rocking out to some song in your car, right, and you got the volume up nice and loud for some riffage and guitar solo parts, and you are totally feeling it and cruising along looking for parking, and you find a spot but you have to parallel park the car, what is the first thing you do? turn down the music... right? yeah. point.

Nope, I don't beleive I have ever turned down the music to parallel park, but then as someone aptly pointed out above everyone is different. I need to pull the buds if I go into a store, because even with the music off I can't handle interpersonal interactions with buds in my ears. I don't often wear them on the bike either, but when I turn the volume down much lower than usual. I do want to hear my surroundings, but sometimes a rythm really enhances a ride, gets the heart beating, helps me find a cadence distracts me from the screaming in my legs as I climb a hill.

I don't really mean to argue that listening to music does not or cannot impair ones riding ability, but I stlll don't beleive it impairs a rider any more than a driver. That level of impairment perhaps differs from person to person.

true. i just mean that like usually when people need to "concentrate" they turn down the volume. riding a bike usually takes more concentration then driving a car. obviously, this isn't a blanket statement that is universally true. there are plennn-ty of idiots in cars and on bikes.

interesting thing about the rhythm when riding a bike, i think i recall reading on here awhile back a snippet of an article that stated something about not wanting to keep a rhythm? like timing your pedalstrokes to a beat, or something? i could be mistaken. anyhow.

i didnt mean to argue. i think that it does impair a rider more than a driver, though, simply because a rider sort of relies on sounds and sights moreso than a driver does.

a helmet? now that's just a huge, useless nuisance.

If I owned an ipod, I would listen to baltimore club (http://media.spin.com//reviews/magazine/audio/2005/11/rodlee_hitthatass_hi.mp3), become hypnotized, and immediately hit a car.

I ride with music playing, but never very loud. I always make sure that I can hear both the traffic noises and 50.

On a busy street I'd rather rather wear no lid than having loud music in my ear.

You'd rather rather wear a not-helmet than have loud music in your ear? huhwhathuh?

Depends on how loud and how distracted you get by music I guess.

i just put in the right ear piece and leave the left open to traffic sounds. there have been studies done and basically shown hearing has little to do with traffic safety. deaf people ride bikes fine.

you could argue of course that not wearing a helmet doesn't increase the odds of an accident while wearing an ipod does.

You'd rather rather wear a not-helmet than have loud music in your ear? huhwhathuh?

Yes pretty much. You can drop one of the "rathers" if it helps. What I meant is:

Riding on a busy street, if I had to choose between not wearing a helmet or listening to loud music from an Ipod, I'd go with not wearing a helmet. This means I think that riding without a helmet is safer than riding with an Ipod playing loud music.

Riding with headphones in scares the poop out of me. I have tried it and it's not for me. Given that I can't live without my sweet jamz, I have since switched to this:
http://www.mozbike.com/build/speaker-box/simple-bike-stereo-01-moz.jpg

it's safer to drive a car while listening to music, because driving a car is not a full-body activity. you can sit back, relax, steer, and look around to see what's going on around outside you. engine noise in a car drowns out useful noise anyhow.

there have been studies done and basically shown hearing has little to do with traffic safety.

i find this hard to believe

Gawd, why are we so brand-loyal over here?? Can't we say "headphones" or mp3-players? False-consciousness and commodity fetishism! come on people!

I'd say riding without a helmet is much more dangerous than riding with music. That is if your not so stupid as to have both ear phones in cranked up as loud as they go... Same as riding with a poorly fit helmet without the chin strap done up is just as safe as no helmet at all. Completely shutting yourself off from your environment is just a bad idea. I ride with music yes, but like others have mentioned only in the left ear and at a volume where I can still hear my surroundings. Also in traffic, I'm rarely made aware of a car through hearing, and when I am it's always when the car's pretty damn close and if it were to be aiming right at me then by the time i look around it would have already run me over (and I don't ALWAYS ride with headphones so i'm aware of the difference in my awareness between the two). That all said, I'd say with headphones and safety its a matter of comfort and moderation in volume. With helmets it's a matter of physics. If you crash you are a lot better off wearing a helmet.

Been known to do both . . .;)

This is a stupid question, on par with "Who wins, a bear vs. a shark... on the moon?" Music distracts you and will possibly cause accidents. Helmets protect your head in case of an accident. Totally different and unrelated concepts.

If you must listen to music, my pal has a sensible method: use earbuds, but tape them to your bag strap (backpack, messenger, man-purse, whatever). You can still hear the music if you really listen for it, but ambient noise is still very available.

ipods? ya'll definitely drank the koolaid! get further off the grid!! throw yer ipod at yer car!!! :) :) :)

i personally dont find listening to my ipod and riding all that dangerous if at all (while in savannah). i refuse to ride with my ipod in richmond the roads are a lot busier and sketchier here. i think the most dangerous thing you can do is ride hands free and talk on your phone while you ride in oh lets say 5:30 traffic.
-sam-

Gawd, why are we so brand-loyal over here?? Can't we say "headphones" or mp3-players? False-consciousness and commodity fetishism! come on people!

i agree with you on this one generic.

as far as the actual vote goes, well it depends on the kind of hazard. for hazards caused by others, i'd say riding without a helmet is worse; for hazards (i guess cyclists' decisions) caused by the cyclist, i'd say riding with headphones/earplugs is worse. i realize some artists and producers fully utilize stereo capabilities, but a lot do not, and listening to music with one earplug/headphone shouldnt be too much of a hazard, maybe distracting, but one ear would still be able to hear traffic sounds. if i rode while listening to music, i would use only one earplug.

i don't wear a helmet, but how could anything but riding with a helmet be less safe? i mean anything time riding a bike with a helmet is always safer than riding without a helmet, with or with out music device. unless its one of those accidents where a helmet does nothing.

i think the intent of the post is basically, are earplugs (+ helmet) so unsafe that they cause more accidents (and damage) than riding without earplugs and no helmet. or a different way of putting it: both earplugs and riding without a helmet are bad, from a safety view, which is worse?

yeah, i got it. i riding without a helmet and sometimes with music. i wouldn't say this is a safe way to ride, but thats how i roll.

Gawd, why are we so brand-loyal over here?? Can't we say "headphones" or mp3-players? False-consciousness and commodity fetishism! come on people!
you really think so? in SF youd just say ipod cause everyone REALLY DOES have ipods.i dont know one person with any other kind of mp3 player.

yi dont know one person with any other kind of mp3 player.

thats not the point. imagine if pacific bicycles bought up every other bike brand and gave out enough political contributions to pass laws prohibiting indie framebuilders. to our children's generation, "magna" would be synonymous with "bike." extreme example, but still...


also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_fetishism
and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_consciousness

Hmm... I tend to ride without a helmet and with my ipod on a brakeless fixie. I guess I'm in for it.

On the otherhand, I always wear my helmet on my roadie racer bike and hardly ever use the ipod.

I tried riding with my audio device (there I didn't say ipod, happy?) recently, and it wasn't a distraction, but I only wear one earbud (the right so I can hear traffic on my left) and keep the volume low enough so that I hear at least equally or better the environmental sounds. Of course, I play pop music that I won't get too thoughtful with. I'm a band director and love classical music, and would probably start conducting on my bike if I listened to that!

ipods are ****ing stupid. more people riding with ipods means more natural selection.

ipods are ****ing stupid. more people riding with ipods means more natural selection.

How long does it take? I've been riding with mine for at least a year now.

I ride with helmet and sometimes headphones.
but NEVER without a helmet son.

i'm dumb enough to ride with no helmet, i will admit, but in no way dumb enough to ride while listening to an i-pod.

i don't know how many times my ass was saved from getting wrecked, by my hearing the CLICK of an opening car door.

when im wrking, i have my ipod in one ear and my fone headset in da other. i dont wear a helmet when im wrking although i should. as for the poll results i disagree with ev ones answer because u can put da volume down so u can listen to and listen to traffic. ive never had a problem with not hearing a car comin etc ...

I always have my helmet on. It is way too easy to get hit. But I do have my earbuds taped to the straps of my helmet. I listen to music rarely, only on the really nice days when i want to ride fast, but then I am being twice as careful because I am pushing myself. With the buds on the straps away from my ears if I play something familiar to me I can leave it pretty low and still "listen" to the music

How long does it take? I've been riding with mine for at least a year now.

too long apparently. since you (1) own an ipod, and (2) listen to it constantly it seems, you already lose at life. sorry.

too long apparently. since you (1) own an ipod, and (2) listen to it constantly it seems, you already lose at life. sorry.

I like my ipod. Work drags me all over the damn country, and it's nice to have a ton of music I like in such a portable form. What do you recommend?

(I don't listen to it while riding, though. It's mostly a hotel room/tech platform device for me.)

I ride and listen to music. Depending on traffic the volume goes up and down. Most of the time I only have to pedal next to the white line, and intersections are like every 3/4 mile or so. I have to do like 10 blocks on heavier traffic and still the ones behind me have to wait or they are stuck and the ones in front of me I can see them fine.

well, as far as the whole being more aware without a helmet thing, i'm calling shenanigens, no matter what i'm wearing i know where the hell i am and what the hell is going on.

all summer i rode with no helmet and an ipod, no problems (the time i got hit i wasnt listening to anything)

but yeah, i dont really feel more or less safe with or without helmet/earbuds, but for now i usually dont ride with anything during the day, and a helmet at night

too long apparently. since you (1) own an ipod, and (2) listen to it constantly it seems, you already lose at life. sorry.

Haha, ok there. I guess I don't have a life according to ink1373. I seem to be doing ok without. Maybe one day I'll be cool enough to understand what the hell you're talking about.

Gawd, why are we so brand-loyal over here?? Can't we say "headphones" or mp3-players? False-consciousness and commodity fetishism! come on people!

whats up sociology 101 dude!

I rode without a helmet at first, but then I got one cause all the serious cyclists wore one. I'm glad I did. Actually riding without a helmet isn't dangerous. Having an accident without one might be.

http://home.swbell.net/chowel/helmet.jpg