General Cycling Discussion - I Don't Wear Headphones While I'm Cycling

I had to take the fairing off the Type 10 to do it, but I've mounted a Ghetto Blaster on the forward cargo platform. I have two batteries, a 12V/12ah and a 12V7ah, and a 140 watt 115 volt inverter.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_0674.jpg
Photo was lit by the morning sun.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_0675.jpg
Plugged into the Battery charger.

I can clearly hear cars over the music. I made an eclectic mix tape of Heavy Metal, Death Metal and old Jazz, off the air, from stations in the college broadcasting band (88.1 to 91.9 Megahertz, FM).

People laugh at those of us who "install" radios on our bikes but try and buy a ready made "bike radio" to see why most are DIY installs .

I just put a radio on my Cruiser but it's not nearly are "inventive" as yours !

Music source cassette tapes? Riding the WayBack Machine?

I don't think this guy needs headphones either. He was going pretty fast too:D
EDIT: Deleted video from YouTube to prevent any copyright strikes. 3 strikes and you're out according to YouTube. I have a clean record and would like to keep it that way.

I see him around town all the time. Sometimes he parks it in front of a local pizza place and lets it play.

I don't think this guy needs headphones either. He was going pretty fast too:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTRqzyNPzGY

I see him around town all the time. Sometimes he parks it in front of a local pizza place and lets it play.
Music in your video and all the way through at that....nice.

Music in your video and all the way through at that....nice.
:p

See, even I know when music is appropriate in a cycling video:D:p

This guy is pretty cool:thumb: Very friendly:) I think the second song he was playing was Pink Floyd?

Phone mount on my handlebars for my Evo if I don't want to use headphones =)

Rock on!

Music source cassette tapes? Riding the WayBack Machine?
The WayBack Machine? Hey , casette tapes are still easier to record than a CD (Compact Disk). In 2007, I was looking for a CD Recorder , figuring I could just buy a machine, press record, talk into, and send the CD to a radio station (for a shortwave radio bike "infomercial")... Well, the sales clerk at Radio shack said there's no such thing, only a computer can make a CD recording. And even then, it can't record in real time, it has to save a file in the computer memory, and then convert it to a CD format before it "burns" the CD.

WayBack Machine? I think you mean 8-track tapes. No, I think that term refers to the old gramophone, which you have to start with a crank (the first sound system, as Thomas Edison invented it, was Human Powered!).

Well, we all laughed at the people who bought BetaMax machines, while the rest of us were watching VHS. Now, you can't even buy VHS tape, And BlockBuster went out of business.

In 2007, I was looking for a CD Recorder , figuring I could just buy a machine, press record, talk into, and send the CD to a radio station (for a shortwave radio bike "infomercial")... Well, the sales clerk at Radio shack said there's no such thing, only a computer can make a CD recording.
The clerk at Radio Shack was full of it. I bought one of these (http://www.amazon.com/KLH-Audio-Systems-Recorder-CDR1000/dp/B00095VF8M) at Best Buy a few years ago. I used it for a while and sold it to a friend. Now I record everything digitally with software and back it all up on multiple external hard drives and thumb drives.

I don't think that a classic ghetto blaster would have a usb port for a flash drive full of music.

I can relate - I still have a big plastic container full of cassettes with music dubbed from vinyl.

... I can clearly hear cars over the music. ...
So why hassle with carrying around a big heavy radio if it's not turned up loud?


People laugh at those of us who "install" radios on our bikes but try and buy a ready made "bike radio" to see why most are DIY installs .

I just put a radio on my Cruiser but it's not nearly are "inventive" as yours !
Seems to me you might as well just use headphones anyway. They would weigh a lot less and be much more convenient to use.

They may be illegal, but so is collecting rainwater in Colorado. Stupid laws deserve to be ignored.

So why hassle with carrying around a big heavy radio if it's not turned up loud?


Seems to me you might as well just use headphones anyway. They would weigh a lot less and be much more convenient to use.

They may be illegal, but so is collecting rainwater in Colorado. Stupid laws deserve to be ignored.

Not when they could save your life!

This is a case of stupid is what STUPID does!

I don't think that a classic ghetto blaster would have a usb port for a flash drive full of music.
Of course not. Some newer ones may, but I'm not sure.

If I was riding and wanted to say something into a recorder to send to a radio station, I would use one of my voice recorders. I have a Sony that records in high-quality stereo mp3 format. It is very small also. Of course, due to the usual 10 MB file size limit of e-mail, I would either have to keep the file under that size or compress it on the computer to make it smaller.

So I guess the cassette tape is still king for that purpose.

The WayBack Machine? Hey , casette tapes are still easier to record than a CD (Compact Disk). In 2007, I was looking for a CD Recorder , figuring I could just buy a machine, press record, talk into, and send the CD to a radio station (for a shortwave radio bike "infomercial")... Well, the sales clerk at Radio shack said there's no such thing, only a computer can make a CD recording. ...
There have been portable CD recorders like that for a long time now, but they aren't cheap. Did you look online? Marantz/Denon has sold one for for a long time, for around $850. Tascam has less-featured one for $400.

flash/solid-state recorders are a better choice now for portable recording, as they don't suffer the mechanical issues that a spinning CD does--and they cost a lot less, too.

As a Musician I got plenty of tunes in my head already,
so I just hum or whistle them as I ride..

flash/solid-state recorders are a better choice now for portable recording, as they don't suffer the mechanical issues that a spinning CD does--and they cost a lot less, too.
Yup. I think we posted at the same time. See my post right above yours;)

Not when they could save your life!

This is a case of stupid is what STUPID does!

And some of us are not-stupid, and others less so.

What is the difference between "a radio on the handlebars turned down low enough to hear surrounding car traffic" and "headphones turned down low enough to hear surrounding car traffic"?



If you want to take pride in conforming to a silly law then feel free, but it doesn't make you any more intelligent--and may not make you any more safe, either.

I'd roll with a more portable option myself.

Get something like the Sansa Fuse (http://www.sandisk.com/microsites/sansafuzeplus/index.html) and you can record and playback your FM broadcasts with it and transfer them to your computer for archival. Should result in a 20 pound weight savings compared to a boombox and battery.

It also has a voice recorder should you wish to record notes while you're out and about with it.

I have some speakers for mine that run on 2xAA rechargables and are quite compact.

And some of us are not-stupid, and others less so.

What is the difference between "a radio on the handlebars turned down low enough to hear surrounding car traffic" and "headphones turned down low enough to hear surrounding car traffic"?



If you want to take pride in conforming to a silly law then feel free, but it doesn't make you any more intelligent--and may not make you any more safe, either.

Whatever. :rolleyes:

You give us all a demonstration of how to be a good grease spot with your ears covered....:twitchy:

I'll ride with a simple open air radio. :innocent:

The clerk at Radio Shack was full of it. I bought one of these (http://www.amazon.com/KLH-Audio-Systems-Recorder-CDR1000/dp/B00095VF8M) at Best Buy a few years ago. I used it for a while and sold it to a friend. Now I record everything digitally with software and back it all up on multiple external hard drives and thumb drives.

It says:
"Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

Thank you anyway.

It says:
"Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

Thank you anyway.
It's probably discontinued now, but back in 2007 when the Radio Shack clerk told you such an item didn't exist, it was probably in stock.

Nowadays something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-UX81-Digital-Recorder-Memory/dp/B001QLNO1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1299866895&sr=1-1) is a much better choice for taking notes while riding. I have one of these and I love it! High quality stereo recording, mp3 format, and comes up as a removable mass storage device when plugged in to a computer.

It's probably discontinued now, but back in 2007 when the Radio Shack clerk told you such an item didn't exist, it was probably in stock.

Nowadays something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-UX81-Digital-Recorder-Memory/dp/B001QLNO1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1299866895&sr=1-1) is a much better choice for taking notes while riding. I have one of these and I love it! High quality stereo recording, mp3 format, and comes up as a removable mass storage device when plugged in to a computer.

You are missing the point. I want to take advantage of the 12 volt amperage I have on the Type Ten, and push as many watts as posible through the speakers. My boom-box is not as loud as the stereo on the bike in the video. But it looks like he's using a car stereo, with his own fiberglass speaker enclosures.

So I want a car-stereo amplifier. Maybe this device you're showing me can provide audio to a car-stereo system? (I paused to look at the description).

Anyway, the Saint Patrick's Day parade is going to be held in Glen Cove on March 20th, 2011. I don't think I'm going to be riding the Type 10 this year. Instead, I'm figuring on riding the Giant Lafree Sport (Ebike), with the Suzuki fairing lashed temporarily to the front of the handlebar basket.

You are missing the point. [buncha new info]

Wow, that's a whole lot of new info. How can you expect anyone to "get the point" without that info.

I'd guessed that this thread and it's clone thread in another forum was "look at what I made so I don't have to wear headphones because I think I'd die with headphones or earbuds".

So the goal is to setup a system to rock some tunes for St. Patty's Day Parade. Car stereo heads these days usually come with an input for mp3 players, so I'd go for a Sansa Fuze for program playback. Upgrade to the Sansa Fuze + if you'd like to record FM broadcasts to it for creating your program. Another option is to get a car stereo head with a USB slot and just use a thumbdrive to provide program source. You can prerecord your program to your thumbdrive on your computer at home.

It's been a few years since I've looked but even then, NEW car stereos with cassette were quite rare. Might have to hit craigslist if you'd like one of those.

Oh, duh, I forgot to tell you,

The reason I'm using the tape player is that the switch is broken, so I can't play the radio! I need a new radio, or maybe I can open up the unit (No servicible parts inside, sure) and replace the switch.
Maybe I'll get a new boom box. I don't know about the car-stereo, because maybe I'll have to pull it back off the bike, when I haul gravel with the Type Ten.

Keep it Green!

So I want a car-stereo amplifier. Maybe this device you're showing me can provide audio to a car-stereo system? (I paused to look at the description).
Yes it can output the audio through the stereo headphone jack to an aux input on a car stereo.

Hey, BTW,

I have a pair of speakers from an Apple iMac. After I saved the Plastic for use as a fairing, and chucked the electronic stuff, I had the speakers left over. What kind of amplifier do I need to use them? Does anyone want them?