Mountain Biking - small audio speakers for bike handlebars?

Yeah it might sound immature, but do these exist, or would I have to make something? I like listening to CD's while running, but it would skip too much obviously in a bike, but I do have a Sony Vaio MP3 player. I need to hear stuff on the bike and people around me, so headphones aren't an option. I think it would be awesome to fly through the woods while listening to crazy mess like "break stuff" by Limp Bizkit.

Is THIS (http://www.bicyclestereo.com/) what you need?

Yeah that looks cool, especially the speakers, which is exactly what I was looking for, but I didn't think you'd have to have an amplifier for speakers that small. I used to have mini-speakers larger than that and a Walkman powered them just fine. I was hoping I could just put my Vaio in my saddle bag and run wires up to the speakers.

Sub-woofer attaches to the seatpost.

p.s. What is with the ketchup song? There was even a report on NPR a couple of evenings ago.

Anyone flys by me blasting Limp Bizkit, I will be sorely tempted to clothesline him and bury the body in those very same woods. Forcing amplified noise on unwilling listeners is bad enough in the city; out in the trees its grounds for homicide.

If you're truly far enough away so you won't bother anyone (very rare where I live), then its entirely up to you, but I really don't see the need. The smooth-running bike, your hard-working body, and the busy woods all make their own musics -- and much better than anything some overpaid Hollywood jackass is likely to be yammering about. I wouldn't want to pay the weight penalty just to decrease my awareness and enjoyment.

Of course when I was twenty I probably would have thought it was a great idea -- but with Van Halen instead of the Bizkit. Of course it wouldn't have worked when I was twenty, because the bumps would have made the Victrola skip.

To each his own.

Well that idea was accepted nice and ****ty-like. I guess people's got to complain about something... :rolleyes:

Do you really think that tiny speakers that are faced the opposite way of oncoming traffic, powered by a tiny handheld computer that fits in the palm of your hand, is really going to bother the one or two people that I normally meet out in the woods, for the massive one second that they might be able to tell that I have music on while we're beside each other???

If so, you need to quit biking for awhile... because that seatpost is WAYYYY up your ass.

Originally posted by roadbuzz

p.s. What is with the ketchup song? There was even a report on NPR a couple of evenings ago.

It's supposed to be the next Macarena. It's huge in certain parts of Europe. It might be a fad here, too. Who knows? All in all, I'd say it is fun, frivolous and meaningless. Maybe in these difficult times we need a ketchup dance. As for me, well, I'm over it. :D

And oh, yeah, to get any meaningful sound out of a speaker, an amplifier of some kind is necessary. Without an amp the sound would be small and tinny. If you got the wind in your ears, you might not hear anything.

I wouldn't want to ride with one of those sound systems myself, and I hate loud music when I'm grooving on nature. But, I have seen a couple on a tandem playing disco mp3's through that set-up and I have to admit, it was kind of cool.

Originally posted by Big Helmet
Anyone flys by me blasting Limp Bizkit, I will be sorely tempted to clothesline him and bury the body in those very same woods. Forcing amplified noise on unwilling listeners is bad enough in the city; out in the trees its grounds for homicide.

If you're truly far enough away so you won't bother anyone (very rare where I live), then its entirely up to you, but I really don't see the need. The smooth-running bike, your hard-working body, and the busy woods all make their own musics -- and much better than anything some overpaid Hollywood jackass is likely to be yammering about. I wouldn't want to pay the weight penalty just to decrease my awareness and enjoyment.

Of course when I was twenty I probably would have thought it was a great idea -- but with Van Halen instead of the Bizkit. Of course it wouldn't have worked when I was twenty, because the bumps would have made the Victrola skip.

To each his own.

I may have been less blunt, but I have to agree. For me, and a few others, riding the trails is music enough. I am there to enjoy my body, my effort and nature. I wouldn't want the noise of any music. I realy dig the sound of my pedal crunching on rocks, the tire running over leaves, etc, etc, etc. Music for me, especially high energy music like Limp Bizkit (nice spelling) just wouldn't fit the environment. Sorta like fishing with a boom box, or hunting with a walkman. Like Big Helmet says, to each his own. Some folks need constant sensory imput, some do fine with the simple nuances of nature.

I think I may be qualified to answer here ;-)

A walkman is designed to drive 32 ohm headsets. The Speakers in that unit are likely 4 ohms to 8 ohms. You wouldn't be able to hear the walkman and also run the risk of destroying its outputs due to the low impedance load.

Those speakers will have minimal bass, but they look to be a good tradeoff between bass and size. The amp could be much smaller, and it also could be designed around a small MP3 player as opposed to a relatively large walkman.

Yeah I wouldn't want to lug an amp around. That MP3 player doesn't weigh hardly anything, so I thought it would work out.

As for the comparison between what I was wanting to do and having music while hunting and fishing... not quite the same in my opinion. First of all, fishing on the bank of a lake out in the middle of nowhere while listing to the Jeep's radio is awesome. Otherwise, I ride my bike alone to work out and push the limits of my athletic ability. I get bored while I'm doing that for a few hours straight, and it would be nice to have something to think about instead of pain. Why do you think there is music in any gym that you walk in to? Because people perform better, and they get bored after working out for a long time, and want something else to think about other than the pain. It's cool to be out in the woods, but it just plain hurts after awhile.

Maybe I see it a little differently than you guys also. If I ever want to "dig on nature", I go hiking in the thousands of acres of public lands available that I live next to. I go camping, or Jeeping, or hiking, or biking, or hunting, or SOMETHING out in the woods like every other day. I imagine that somebody who isn't out there as much as me would see it differently.

Originally posted by corndogggy
I need to hear stuff on the bike and people around me, so headphones aren't an option.
Sure they are. I know it's a no-no, even illegal some places, but I use them on my commutes. Panasonic makes little padded 'phones that clip on your ears ($10 at your local MegaLoMart), so there's no headband. Which I think reduces the wind noise relative to other headphones. Hearing cars or other people is a function of volume. Keep the volume lower in social situations. And, hey, even when you're limpin with tha bizkit, who's going to complain?

P.S. Run the wire under your jersey and put them on before the helmet, so that if they fall off your ear they can't go far (like down into the spokes :eek: ).


Ketchup content: Yeah some mindless entertainment is a good thing, what with aggressive drivers, snipers, Iraq, terrorists, etc., etc., ad nauseum. I like the Spanish version... makes me think of the Vuelta (I can take anything back to cycling).