Wearing a bluetooth headset while cycling? good or bad

[Crazy Cyclist]

does anyone on the forum wear a BT headset whule they are cycling? Is it a good idea or not? I just got a BT headset and I was wondering if I should wear it while cycling.

I would put my phone in my panniers and then clip the BT on to my ear. It is easier that having to stop get the phone out and then call.

what does everyone think about a BT while cycling?

[kdiehl]

My opinion? Wearing a Blue Tooth headset at _any_ time is dorky beyond belief. Just my opinion and nothing personal intended.

[Cone Wrench]

Bad.

And +1 on the dorky thing. Unless you're a doctor on call or the President.

[rogerfisher]

Unless you can guarantee not being distracted, by talking or lack of hearing, I am highly against it. The traffic requires your undivided attention for you to keep safe.

[Cone Wrench]

Bad.

And I have to ask, why on earth would you want to be talking on the phone while cycling?

[KirkeIsWaiting]

Have you tried it yet with a helmet on?

me ... I cycle to get away from my cell phone.

[mikepoole]

Well, the studies regarding phone use while driving seem to show that it is the _conversation_ that's distracting- not the use of a hand-held phone.

I kinda like being unable to talk on the phone while riding.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

does anyone on the forum wear a BT headset whule they are cycling? Is it a good idea or not? I just got a BT headset and I was wondering if I should wear it while cycling.

I would put my phone in my panniers and then clip the BT on to my ear. It is easier that having to stop get the phone out and then call.

what does everyone think about a BT while cycling?

Besides the blatant Dork factor of anyone wearing a BlueTooth in public, to which I am impervious, both my ears are already occupied by my headset and the mp3 feed of audio books or music selections.

[littlewaywelt]

My opinion? Wearing a Blue Tooth headset at _any_ time is dorky beyond belief. Just my opinion and nothing personal intended.

+1
But, if you wear the thing when you're not actually on a call? -> ultra dork.


As to the original post, cycling and calling, even hands-free or bt is not a good idea. Study after study shows that just having a conversation is distracting and on a bike you need 100% of your attention on the road. In the car a wreck because you're distracted might be just a fender bender or slightly worse. A wreck on a bike could end up putting you in physical therapy for a year or dead.

Most bt things, unless they're like the jawbone won't work well because of the wind noise, anyway.

[andrelam]

I won't get into the whole safety arguement. If my wife has the vents in her car turned towards her there can be enough wind noice to make it hard to hear her. What about when riding your bike at 12 to 20 MPH. I just don't see how you can suppress all the wind noise. If you get a chance to try it, let us know if the other party can even understand you.

Happy riding,
André

[Raiyn]

Bad.

And +1 on the dorky thing. Unless you're a doctor on call or the President.
+1 and the Prez just looks like a dork to begin with

[DCCommuter]

I won't get into the whole safety arguement. If my wife has the vents in her car turned towards her there can be enough wind noice to make it hard to hear her. What about when riding your bike at 12 to 20 MPH. I just don't see how you can suppress all the wind noise. If you get a chance to try it, let us know if the other party can even understand you.



That's my experience, the wind noise at even slow speeds makes it useless.

[Az B]

Cell phones are dangerous on the roads. Keep them in the theatres and restaurants where they belong.

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/374/374652/folders/285416/2300370cellAd1.jpg

Az

[I-Like-To-Bike]

+1...

Maybe a Stealth BlueTooth is the solution to the Dork Factor, eh? ;)

[Crazy Cyclist]

Unless you can guarantee not being distracted, by talking or lack of hearing, I am highly against it. The traffic requires your undivided attention for you to keep safe.



rogerfisher, of ocurse if I got a call I would pull off the road and answer the call.

[Crazy Cyclist]

Unless you can guarantee not being distracted, by talking or lack of hearing, I am highly against it. The traffic requires your undivided attention for you to keep safe.



rogerfisher, of course if I got a call I would pull off the road as soon as it was safe to do so and answer the call.

[Crazy Cyclist]

Bad.

And I have to ask, why on earth would you want to be talking on the phone while cycling?

Cone, I wouldn't actually be on the phone. I would still have both hands on the handlebars, I would just be talking into an earpiece.


BTW, great to see my Habs doing so well.

[Crazy Cyclist]

I won't get into the whole safety arguement. If my wife has the vents in her car turned towards her there can be enough wind noice to make it hard to hear her. What about when riding your bike at 12 to 20 MPH. I just don't see how you can suppress all the wind noise. If you get a chance to try it, let us know if the other party can even understand you.

Happy riding,
André

Andre, I haven't tried it yet. I am planning on getting my bike on the road in about 1 week. I will try it and let everyone know how it turned out.

[Crazy Cyclist]

Cell phones are dangerous on the roads. Keep them in the theatres and restaurants where they belong.

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/374/374652/folders/285416/2300370cellAd1.jpg

Az

What a waste of a car.

[waldowales]

The reason I have voice mail is so I don't have to answer the phone if it is unsafe or inconvenient.

[GreenGrasshoppr]

Bluetooth will give you brain cancer

[tomg]

BAD!
Unless you need an excuse while talking to yourself/responding to voices!

[mike]

I have talked on my cell phone with the headset attachment while bicycling. I don't see anything wrong with it, but the people on the other end of the line usually complain about the wind noise. It is hard for the bicyclist to hear too.

Maybe that is a dorky response to the OP, if you were looking for some more compelling argument, but that is what I found. Now, if I get a call, I pull over. Generally, using a cell phone on the open road is too noisy and windy.

[Carusoswi]

To me, the only bad part about riding while using a BT is the challenge to overcome wind noise talking, and tolerating wind noise when the phone is not in use.

I love music, and listening as I ride would be a great change of pace when I repeatedly ride the same route for five or six hours on the weekends. I did manage to find a headset design that doesn't cause a lot of wind noise, but, even so, listening to music is only practical for me when riding at slow speeds on fairly calm days.

Any speed much over 10 mph the wind noise that is part of riding causes a significant degradation to my listening experience, so, for the most part, I don't bother with listening any more.

With a BT, although I've never used one, I imagine there would also be the problem of windnoise affecting the quality of outgoing conversations.

My son was trying to talk to me while walking down the street in NYC, and the wind made hearing him difficult - it has to be worse on a bike.

I really tire of all the talk about how unsafe it is to talk on phones or listen to music while riding a bike - how sharing your ear with anything other than the wind will compromise your ability to hear traffic about to overtake you. Music cannot be worse than the wind.

I do think that wearing those BT things is dorkey, but that's just my opinion (or that of anyone who also thinks as I do).

Cell phones, as much as they annoy me, are here to stay, so, I say it's time we lay off the users (a group most to which most of us also belong).

I find the bit about cell phones impairment effects being comparable to DUI to be especially annoying because it is such a stretch.

But that topic is for some other thread.

If you want to try the BT, go ahead.

Caruso

[dobber]

Has State Farm weighed in on this with a commercial?

[BengeBoy]

The reason I have voice mail is so I don't have to answer the phone if it is unsafe or inconvenient.

+1

I don't use the phone in the car, either.

I'm plenty reachable. The *very* last thing I want in my life is people thinking I'm accessible when I'm riding my bike. On a *very* long ride, I'll check for messages on a break.

[scattered73]

bad, because you will be known as the crazy guy who talks to himself while biking. I have tried a regular cell phone and cycling and the same result as the rest mentioned wind noise.

[Joe Dog]

I wear one sometimes when I am riding and I don't think it is a problem at all. It's not like I talk all the time on it or I am "distracted" as I toodle along somewhere, and it enables me to get out and go for a ride and not miss a call. As for the dork factor, please... I am already wearing a lime green vest and a helmet.

Now, how about those coffee cup holders????

[daleb116]

No blue tooth, and the cell phone is my bag mostly so I can call out in case of emergency. That is just me though. It would seem to be about like driving and talking (which I avoid), but I have never tried riding and using a phone.

[daleb116]

Make that as I avoid driving and talking on a cell phone. Of course conversations with someone else in a car can be distracting.

[ChipSeal]

But, if you wear the thing when you're not actually on a call? -> ultra dork.


:eek: :mad:
Hell, I wear a hands free device all the time! It works great!

(I Don't have a cell phone, I just wear it to keep people from thinking I'm odd for talking to myself! :p)

[mike_khad1]

I wear a bluetooth headset while I ride to and from work - to listen to music. Also to answer the "when are you coming home?" call from my wife. I can still hear traffic noise while rocking to Queen.

[dmac49]

A lot of states are now looking at the problems with operation of cell phones while operating a motor vehicles and the question comes up about cycling with one ?????? In some states such as NY their operation is restricted. If a bicycle is considered a vehicle in NY State and the operation of a cell phone is restricted to "hands free only" it might be rather difficult as well as unsafe to operate one on a bike legally .

[I-Like-To-Bike]

A lot of states are now looking at the problems with operation of cell phones while operating a motor vehicles and the question comes up about cycling with one ??????
????? is right. Where does the question about problems of cycling with a cell phone come up besides Internet chat lists?

[mikepoole]

[...]
I really tire of all the talk about how unsafe it is to talk on phones or listen to music while riding a bike - how sharing your ear with anything other than the wind will compromise your ability to hear traffic about to overtake you. Music cannot be worse than the wind.
[...]
Caruso

Ahh, but it's not the noise factor that is the problem with cellphone use while doing anything else, including driving, biking, cooking, whatever- it's the brain-multitasking factor. Hearing the wind and listening to music don't necessarily involve deliberate mental activity (music can, just normally doesn't if casually listening). Conversing with someone does...

[dmac49]

I-Like-To-Bike ...Thank you. Also my thoughts.

[aubinmg]

Why do you need to make and take calls while riding?
There's a lot to be said for being incommunicado.

Won't the ear piece clash with your pocket protector (with 12 dry pens) and black ankle socks?

[atbman]

As for being able to use a mobile (cellphone to you) and concentrate on driving/riding, bear in mind that, in the UK, some half a million pedestrians have received medical treatment after walking into street furniture while on the phone.

But, of course, they can concentrate when in charge of a vehicle of any kind

[I-Like-To-Bike]

As for being able to use a mobile (cellphone to you) and concentrate on driving/riding, bear in mind that, in the UK, some half a million pedestrians have received medical treatment after walking into street furniture while on the phone.
Source?

[Raiyn]

Maybe a Stealth BlueTooth is the solution to the Dork Factor, eh? ;)

Only cure is the Comm Badge
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x74/RaiynStorm/Commbadge.jpg
Which is on it's way (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3628517.stm) as we speak

[Brian Ratliff]

I don't see anything intrinsically wrong with it. Just wear it in your right ear (in the US or any other proper (:)) right side of the road driving nation) so you can turn your head to the left and hear cars coming up from behind.

If you were in urban, rush hour traffic, I wouldn't recommend it, in fact, I'd probably recommend against it. But if it's relatively quiet, then it is probably okay.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

Just wear it in your right ear (in the US or any other proper (:)) right side of the road driving nation) so you can turn your head to the left and hear cars coming up from behind.
Are you serious about turning your head to hear cars coming from behind? You must have misplaced the (:)) icon in the sentence, eh?

[Brian Ratliff]

Just when I look back on occasion, I listen too. Don't worry ILTB, I'm not a bobblehead when I'm riding my bike.

[invisiblehand]

I heard that the issue with cell phones is that talking is a bigger distraction than listening. From what I recall the claim had something to do with how we -- our brains -- process information. In order of decreasing distraction: (1) having a conversation, (2) listening to a book on tape, and (3) listening to music. No definitive sources other than an NPR program in the morning. I think that I read an article in the Washington Post too; but it might have cited the same person.

In the same program there was some comparison with regards to how distracting cell phone use (conversation) was with respect to alternative driving activities such as eating, tuning the radio, and so on.

[retromullet]

Are you serious about turning your head to hear cars coming from behind? You must have misplaced the (:)) icon in the sentence, eh?

That can't be good for you neck....:D

[WriteABike]

Only cure is the Comm Badge
Which is on it's way (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3628517.stm) as we speak

Sweet! But they got the styling all wrong. I'm still waiting for a good communicator flip phone.

[atbman]

Source?

Sorry ILTB, read it in the Saturday edition of The Guardian or the Sunday Times 2/3 weekends ago and didn't record the source.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

Sorry ILTB, read it in the Saturday edition of The Guardian or the Sunday Times 2/3 weekends ago and didn't record the source.

Did you read about the 1/2 million cell phone obsessed Brits getting medical treatment after walking into street furniture on the funny pages, or the joke of the day?

[atbman]

Did you read about the 1/2 million cell phone obsessed Brits getting medical treatment after walking into street furniture on the funny pages, or the joke of the day?

No, ILTB, it was in an article on the more bizarre ways in which people have been injured sufficiently to require medical treatment.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

No, ILTB, it was in an article on the more bizarre ways in which people have been injured sufficiently to require medical treatment.

Bizarre is right!
Let me know if you ever can locate its URL or can actually post the article in its entirety.