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hey guys i'm doing a project on bikes at the moment, and i was looking into the ipod issue that happen awhile ago.
i was just wondering what you people thought about the idea of being able to mount a small speaker on your handlebars, so you can listen to your music and not have to worry about headphones. I also had the idea that if you do this you could even have a place to put your mp3 player/ i pod on your bike somewhere so that you dont have to carry as many items.
what do you guys think?
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Hmm, an ipod holder with integrated external speaker(s) (and its own rechargable battery) than can be mounted on handlebars presumably with anti-theft quick release?
If I had an iPod, I would probably get one of these. Not that I'm looking for more cr@p to attach to my handlebars. Maybe attach the iPod to the frame, and only have the speaker(s) on the handlebars? Of course, that means more wires... Ugh.
yeah i know what you mean, my original intentions were that you could have a small speaker on the handlebar, or the arm that holds the handlebar that you can easily take on and off and thrown in your bag.
and with the ipod/ mp3 player or what ever music device, i was considering using the little pouch that people have under thier seats. the wire from the speaker to the mp3 player would wrap around the major bar that sits between your legs.
hope that makes some sense..
i'll try to whip up a quick drawing of what i mean
I am looking for the idos speaker system like we have at home on ebay cheap to cut up and mold new plastic. They run on batteries or ac. Going to make a nice system for the bike.
On the cheap ou can get these for 10 bucks. I owned some around 1988-1991. Worked grea for a few summer seasons.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Novi-TuneTote-Bicycle-Stereo-Speaker-System-Blue_W0QQitemZ7216934219QQcategoryZ7295QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://i5.ebayimg.com/01/i/05/26/57/16_1_b.JPG
this is a crappy drawing of what i mean, hope this gives some clarification
red is speaker
green is a pouch where the mp3 player is held
and the orange is the wire wrapped around the bar.
if the wire was wrapped round i'd make a port on the speaker so you can just leave the wire there.
I guess it would work. The only thing I would wonder about is wind noise. At around 18mph or so I generally can't hear anything but the wind unless I turn my head sideways.
-D
Someone used to make (and may still) some really cool bar end speakers for road bikes.
Here are some other ones: http://www.bicyclestereo.com/accessories.html
ah, i had no idea that they already exsisted. thanks for the link.
My son rides his bike to work with a little radio in the pocket at the top of his backpack and playing his favorite station. This seems a better solution, since the speakers are closer to his ears, and it goes with him when he leaves his bike. Also he isnt able to fiddle with tuning or volume while riding - safer.
What about a little radio on the front and then getting an iTrip and throwing the iPod on a mount on the bike. (For those who don't know what an iTrip is it's a little thing that creates a mini-radio station out of iPod with maybe a 10 foot radius of broadcast).
I like to be able to hear traffic when I ride and a speaker might drown traffic out. I do occasionally ride with a radio and earphones, but I use earbuds and only put one in my right ear so I can still hear traffic with my left.
I really like the concept of the BYCO, just not the exact implementation. I would want a mini brick amplifier that takes 1/8 stereo inputs and provides high pass L/R output to speakers (such as used by BYCO, but not only bar end attachable) and a L&Rmono channel with low pass for an under seat woofer. ;)
Actually stereo is very overrated, especially for the typical bike set up (speakers 12" apart, listenng position 24" away - you might as well have a mono setup, especially when one considers that the listening environment is poor.
Al
I like to be able to hear traffic when I ride and a speaker might drown traffic out. I do occasionally ride with a radio and earphones, but I use earbuds and only put one in my right ear so I can still hear traffic with my left.
That's exactly what I've thought about doing, but haven't yet. I'm thinking you should also use a stereo to mono adaptor plug to mix both channels into the one ear. I assume these are available from somewhere like Radio Shack, yes?
Listening to NPR is the one thing I miss since I started bike commuting. :(
Listening to NPR is the one thing I miss since I started bike commuting. :(
If it's just a radio you need, Nashbar has one:
Bike Radio (http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=&subcategory=&brand=&sku=16075&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=)
may not match your bar tape color though :D
I think it would be OK, although I probably wouldn't do it. The quality listening wouldn't be very good, because of the background noise of traffic, etc. I don't think headphones are safe, because I think cyclists should hear the noises around them (cars behind them, etc.).
A friend made one in the 80s. It was cool. He bound the backs of the speakers with leather and hung the speakers off of the H. bars. Then he put the cassette player in the "trunk". Worked pretty well.
That's exactly what I've thought about doing, but haven't yet. I'm thinking you should also use a stereo to mono adaptor plug to mix both channels into the one ear. I assume these are available from somewhere like Radio Shack, yes?
Listening to NPR is the one thing I miss since I started bike commuting. :(
I bought an am/fm radio at radio shack that is quite a bit smaller than a beeper, that clips to your clothes, and it has mono FM. Its always set to NPR!
Sony bicycle Walkman that is also a cyclocomputer. Use one of those FM radio adapters on the Ipod.
Listening to NPR is the one thing I miss since I started bike commuting. :(
I listen to NPR on the commute. I got some cheap Sony headphones that are semi-earbuds; they have a loop that goes over the ear, and the speaker is sideways held 1/2 in the ear so it doesn't block outside sound. I cut off the left one and ride with only the right one in.
I use a cheap $10 Koss FM radio in my pocket. I power it from AAA batteries liberated from the "recycled batteries" box at work; a pair of "dead" cells from there will still run a little radio for a week. I haven't bought batteries or used rechargables for this radio in 3 years. Zero-impact electric power!
IMHO it's not necessarily true that wearing headphones automatically makes you deaf to your environment. You don't HAVE to crank the volume up. I listen to NPR or books on tape, and I keep the volume reasonable, just high enough to understand comfortably over the wind noise.
I have NO problem hearing cars 1/2 mile behind me with my radio on. If in hilly areas, I can still hear the car before it comes into view. I have actually done some informal testing, and I find that I can hear cars just as far away with the headphone in as not. I do not believe that my safety is in any way compromised.
There are some bad choices. I wouldn't go on the road with the full cut-off ear plugs I use when mowing the lawn. I wouldn't go with closed-cup headphones, nor with standard ear buds. I do have some Sony open-air headphones that actually CUT wind noise; with them on I can actually hear BETTER than with them off, even with audio playing at a reasonable level. As a bonus they have an in-line volume control.
Iwas just wondering what you people thought about the idea of being able to mount a small speaker on your handlebars.
Radio Shack sold handlebar mounted radios 30 years ago.
I was thinking of installing iPod Movie on my trike so I could watch movies or TV shows on my way to work. I probably wouldn't actually do it, but wouldn't that be something cool to show off to people.
Why do you have to go through such lengths to listen you music when riding ... are you bored? If you're riding the trainer in the basement and watching spiders on the wall, I can understand, but isn't there enough stimulation in the 'real world' to keep your attention?
jw
Sony sells a handlebar-mount fm/am radio with built in speakers
Why do you have to go through such lengths to listen you music when riding ... are you bored? If you're riding the trainer in the basement and watching spiders on the wall, I can understand, but isn't there enough stimulation in the 'real world' to keep your attention?
jw
Yes, because without music I'm perpetually bored. Whatever. Why do you have to go through such lengths as riding a bike, are you bored? Isn't there enough in the 'real world', like work and cleaning the house to keep your attention? It never ceases to amaze me how much me listening to music while riding a bike seems to bother some people. I'm not riding my bike to please you, I'm doing it for my own enjoyment and adding music sometimes enhances the enjoyment.
hey guys, you know the small pouch under your seat on your bikes? how many of you actualy stuff it full?
do you think you would have enough room for your little radio/mp3 player/ ipod in there? or would you recomend having a mounting place.
i was thinking that if you could store it in there, and link it up to a smaller speaker mounted on your bike it would stop you from fiddling with it as well.
the idea of this was so that:
1. you can hear both music and traffic more clearly ( i know theres a big debate about headphones and the fact that some people think that they can hear everything fine)
2. if you fall off your bike you wont have yet another object to get tangled in as you fall.
As long as you have fenders or it is waterproof...
Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable mounting my iPod to my bicycle for two reasons.
1. It's gonna be lot more vulnerable to damage while strapped/mounted to my bike than it is while stashed in my bag. That's just one more expensive bit to worry about breaking.
2. Portable electronics and vibration do not generally mix. I'd worry about the effect of road-vibrations tramsitted through the bike to the iPod. Chances are you'd have a dead iPod in pretty short order (Speaking from personal experience w/ handheld GPS recievers on bicycles and motorcycles.)
Not to mention that while I may be a utility cyclist, that doesn't mean that I like to strap a bunch of extraneous crap to my bike.
-Trevor
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