Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Listening to Music (ipods) while riding? Good or Bad?

I've seen a few people do it, i've heard people do it.. i'm pretty much again st it.

I'll run with my ipod.. walk around the city.. etc. but riding a bike with my ipod on is to me (this is my opinion) kinda dangerous. Not being able to hear cars and things coming next to you would freak me out.

I just think im going way too fast and being in the street its too dangerous to not be 100% alert at all times.

Is this just me? anyone else? :thumbup: :confused:

I would never ride with headphones in the city or in any traffic at all.

riding while listening to music through a headphone is bad news...possibly riding with some speakers that are soft maybe a better idea, but still sketchy. they do make tiny speakers you can ride with.

if you're bored while riding, ride next to a car blasting their music.

if riding is that boring for you, maybe it is better to find something else to do

I used to ride in traffic with an ipod though but only when riding crappy utiliity bikes, which is no excuse

these days it feels too dangerous, and riding is fun enough without it

Yeah, riding with headphones is probably unsafe. I won't use in-ear headphones (the kind that you stuff into your ear canal, essentially blocking outside noises entirely). I can usually still hear traffic, maybe not as soon as I should, but I hear em when I wear my crappy stock ipod headphones. Thing is, I feel like music makes everything better: sex, food, walking, working, riding, skating, sitting, reading, sleeping... it's always better with music. I think I'd rather go blind than deaf, I love music so much (and if I was blind I could bone ugly broads with impunity!)

Bad!

if I was riding somewhere else I might feel different about it though, tokyo is just a bit too hectic

I live in a relatively small town and I know the traffic patterns like the back of my hand. I'm pretty confident that I can handle an ipod and biking at the same time here. Now, if I went to a different town where every intersection was a new experience, I'd probably leave the ipod at home.

on my college campus I do it practically everytime I go for a ride. But not even in our sleepy little town do I ride with headphones in traffic.

headphones on a bike are just like a stereo in a car. if you just play it softly so you can still hear the enviroment around you, then I think you are fine. If you want it so loud that your ears are bleeding it becomes a bad idea.. for both the lack of hearing and the ears bleeding parts.

So I say OK if you keep it under control. I keep mine at a volume that I can still talk at a normal level to someone I'm riding with. That's safe and I can still jam a little.

Ugh I'll be the one; I ride with my IPOD all the time.

yeah, same here it's hard to push myself to the max when going to work. Unless of course there's DnB or J-Pop playing. Makes me worry a little bit sometimes, but really how many of us pull over when someone honks? Or screams? Always take the lane theres a reason they're called speed LIMITS. Can usually hear engines over my 'phones though. SAm

i only ride with my ipod when im street riding on my bmx. It makes my lines smoother and just relaxes me. It is pretty safe as i dont ride my bmx any faster than a person can jog and the headphones are not so loud that i cant hear my own cassette hub spinning. never on my fixed gear though.

DnB or J-Pop

...

Riding with tunes is definitely both good and bad. Obviously bad from a safety perspective, but it can be really great fun. I think the type of headphones used is a big factor with the (lack of) safety when doing it too. Like LoRok said, in-ear headphones are nasty. I rode with that style a few times, and whilst they sound fantastic, they made me feel extremely disconnected from the outside world. Not good for riding in traffic. Open design cans are the go.

I don't do it very often myself, but I very much enjoy it when I do. It tends to make me ride a lot more recklessly, which isn't really a Good Thing.

I never have, and don't plan on it. I always want to hear the cars coming behind me.

Ipod=! mp3 player. Now write that down 50 times...

It's obviously not the most intelligent thing to do and obviously somewhat dangerous. I do it all the time. Like every day. You just gotta be able to pay attention to things that matter in traffic and it's not too bad. I mean, people don't hear all that much in cars with the windows up, the engine roaring and music played from the stereo, do they?
You just keep a straight line and look over your shoulder a bit more frequently, esp. before turning/switching lanes.

Ipod=! mp3 player. Now write that down 50 times...

It's obviously not the most intelligent thing to do and obviously somewhat dangerous. I do it all the time. Like every day. You just gotta be able to pay attention to things that matter in traffic and it's not too bad. I mean, people don't hear all that much in cars with the windows up, the engine roaring and music played from the stereo, do they?
You just keep a straight line and look over your shoulder a bit more frequently, esp. before turning/switching lanes.

The main difference, IMO, is that cars are looking for other cars. Depending on where you live (and probably even in bike-friendly areas), drivers are not looking for cyclists, which means we need to be extra aware.

I never ride with headphones in, even on the trails, because I don't want my awareness affected. However, a friend of mine is a local messenger who rides with headphones in all the time, and crashes quite often (about 2-3 times a year, which seems like a lot to me; your mileage may vary). At the same time, a woman I know rides with headphones so loud that, when stopped, she can't hear me saying hello unless I am directly in front of her, and somehow she remains unscathed. Go figure.

Neither of them wears a helmet, but that's a different discussion. The point is that maybe you'll be totally fine with headphones, but it seems like a poor choice to open yourself up to potential injury when you don't have to.

I have enough trouble not getting doored with all 5 of my senses. I would never take one of them out.

Riding with an iPod is OK as long as you have a brake. I wouldn't do it brakeless.

i don't do it anymore, but i have. i have it turned down so that i really can only hear it when there aren't any cars around me. meaning, when i'm on a back road, by myself.

when i'm in traffic, i may as well not be wearing headphones.

The only time I have ever done it was when I rode a stretch of boardwalk early in the morning. I tried once on the road but it seemed like a bad idea so I wound up throwing it in my bag.

Not being able to hear cars and things coming next to you would freak me out.

I just think im going way too fast and being in the street its too dangerous to not be 100% alert at all times.
Me too. I don't ride with headphones on.

No - 99% of the time

When I do, I only use ipod style bud in right ear because the bud itself doesn't block noise and my left ear can keep track of passing traffic. Would never use my Shure in-ears on the road. Never ever.

Wow. ipod earbuds are crappy and annoying enough as it is. Listening to them in only one ear is just taking it to the next level, Heads ;) Good decision with the Shure's. It's a pretty disconcerting experience. I used to be pretty addicted to riding with tunes, but these days I tend to prefer being in tune with my surroundings instead. When I do crank with some music though it will be loud and high fidelity :-)

I used to ride with head phones.. Now I cringe at the thought. Drivers dont pay enough attention to bikes, causing you to be more alert at all times.

the other thing that sucks is when you break-a not only you face, but you break-a you ipod a-too!

i think it definitely depends on your environment. i commute on country roads with wide shoulders. i encounter less than ten cars a day on my commute, so i have no problem listening to music at a reasonable volume. when I do have to ride in heavy traffic areas, there's no way I'm putting headphones in.

if I am on the trail for a long time or the trainer I will listen to some DJ Jazzy Jeff but other than that it's a no go

I'm guilty of riding with my ipod. However I do keep it at a level that allows me to hear my surroundings, and they're not in-ear headphones. I still hear a lot better than when I did have a car and would drive with windows up and music going.

I will say, though, that it gets me much more relaxed. I don't get road ragey at stupid motorists nearly as much as before.

I ride with a blindfold on also, so I can block out all the distractions.

Unless I missed it -- nobody mentioned that this is also illegal (at least here). You can be ticketed and I've definitely seen people pulled over for this violation on the UF campus. The same rule applies to drivers who have headphones on in their cars for whatever reason (broken deck/8-track player).

I like to ride with my Ipod on full blast.
On my brakeless track bike.
With a burrito in one hand, a beer in the other, and a cigarette in my mouth.

In all seriousness, though, I ride with an Ipod on long bike rides for pleasure when I'm going to be mostly on bike trails or in bike lanes on quiet streets. Also, during alleycats because it gets me pumped and excited and I'm already ultra-aware off the clairvoyant-providing 5 cups of coffee.

I think a better topic of discussion is how many people answer their cell phones during a bike ride.. I've seen one guy break a collarbone over that, and another person crash pretty bad too. Cell phone riding is no joke.

I tend to listen to Morning Edition on the ride in to work. Both earbuds on the MUP or country roads, one earbud in town. I find that the news is a lot less distracting than music.

I avoid listening to music or anything other than my environment while riding as much as I can . I will admit to listening to a Sunday afternoon hockey game recently on a rail trail ride with my girlfriend, but even then I had the earbuds dangling below my ears suspended by the helmet straps. I won't even consider using them in traffic.
Even when I'm in a "safe" environment like a rail trail I still don't actually put the bud in my ear. I do it like this.
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/7971/earbudplacementzp4.jpg
The bud (green) ends up right below my earlobe allowing me to hear the radio, but doesn't impede my hearing. I by no means advocate this for traffic, but in a "safe" setting it works for me.

I do but only in the suburbs. Out in the city it's a no no.

i listen to my ipod whenever i'm riding alone, its the best.

One ear, using cheapo sennheiser (when the weather allows so, under a hot summer day, forget about it)

Also, while riding at high speed, you can't really tell where a car is coming from with all the wind noise...

if a car is intent on hitting me, I think I'd rather go out listening to some good tunes. let's play a hypothetical game. car A is screaming down the road at 45mph, he doesn't see you or maybe he wants you dead, if you can hear him coming can you really tell if he's giving you 3 feet of space or not. my guess is no. you can't tell me you crane your neck everytime you get passed. car B is slowed down behind you at ~20ish, gets irate, and decides to speed up and plow you down. with all these ads claiming 0-60mph in 4 seconds, something tells me I'm not going to be able to react in time. they let deaf people drive, and while I haven't boned up on local laws in awhile I'm pretty sure they can bike too. they let their eyes do the hearing. besides, aren't you more alert and in a better mood anyway? also, anyone listening to music loud enough to the point where they can't hear a 2 ton rolling mass behind them won't have to worry about listening to anything for much longer.

then again I am a pretty relaxed person who operates on the assumption that no one's out to get me

that said, ipods and biking are a very dangerous mix, since I've broken two in the past year from a crash and a simple falling out with mr. pocket

the solution? one riding buddy providing the beatboxin', and the other laying down the freestyles

I use my mp3 player everyday to and from work...one ear in. The only thing is I take the long, wide, dead street to work and back. If I have to head into the city, I ride without the phones.

Last night I'm driving over to the velodrome in San Diego and there's this kid on a BMX trying to straighten his seat, in the middle of the road no less. I see that he isn't paying attention to anything around him so I get as far off to the side of the road as I can to go by him. He all of a sudden jumps onto his bike and takes off- straight for the front of my Jeep. He had his earbuds in and was oblvious to everything around him. I would like to listen to music while riding as much as anyone else but just believe it's a bad idea- you need to be aware of your surroundings. People in cars DO NOT usually even look for bikes. I believe it is illegal to ride with headphones here in San Diego as well...

I depend on my ears too much. I can always hear cars when coming up on intersections. That's more important to me than the ability to listen to WHAM! or Toto while riding.

I used to ride with a discman type thing and huge clunky headphones, and I can't believe I never got a ticket. Definitely illegal to the tune of a few hundred dollars. I haven't bought an mp3 player yet and don't really plan on it, because its only use would be to ride and listen to music, and I know that's kind of endangering everyone else. At the same time, I'd like to start bike touring soon and there's no way I could ride all day without music at some point.

I used to....till my knee grabbed a hold of that little white cord while in a nice deep tuck and flung my pod into the road....good bye.

Really stuff in your ears even in the country can't be a good idea. There is a reason it is called an ACCIDENT.

Amen to the mp3 player/radio. Makes riding in an absolute pleasure.

I use one of those membrane-type earbuds. I only put in the right-side one. I can hear the radio and still hear traffic on my left.

I run the cord through my shirt so it doesn't get caught on car mirrors.

I've tried a bar-mount radio (with the Dash character from the Incredibles if you *must* know) but it had horrible reception.

Man, is this the advocacy/safety forum? Riding with music is the best, and of course you need to be careful, but come on. If I go for a ride with my Ipod/Mp3 player, I just try to take a route with less traffic.

During the winter, I rode with Bose noise canceling headphones over my skully. When its hot I wear earphones that fit under my helmet. But I usually listen to mellow stuff when riding, it helps to calm me and keep me from killing myself (or someone else).

It's always a good idea NOT to listen to Welcome to the jungle for sure.

On the Green Paths and maybe over the bridge (Manhattan to Queens) i'll keep one ear bud in the right ear so I can hear people trying to pass. But when cutting traffic, not only do I need to hear the cars, I usually don't need the music...

what an adolescent question that made two pages.