bfuser284953024

Do y'all listen to music while cycling? If so, do you wear earphones and what type? Do you use a speaker? What type of music do you listen to?

I find that I'm faster when I have music while cycling. Usually, I listen to something with a pretty fast tempo. There's a huge variety of what I listen to, so I've been making loads of playlists and stealing some from sites where you can post them. I use the earbuds that came with my Galaxy, and either have the volume pretty low or leave one out.

TenSpeedV2

If I listen to music, this is what is clipped to my bag.

https://store.boombotix.com/

silverado8405

Quad lock on an old iPhone and I use the phone speakers so I can hear what's occurring around me and not dealing with wires in my way.

CrippledKonaBoy

Almost 4GB of music/talk on my Galaxy Core Prime, and most of the time, I listen going home. This results from listening to the talk portions at the end of the workday, and just carrying it over. Heck, I listen to more music doing the dishes!

JoeyBike

I never comprimise any of my senses while cycling. Maybe on a trainer. Never in the real world.

canklecat

Nope, I prefer the unhindered road experience and ambient sounds. Bicycling is my escape from that stuff. I do carry cameras and a phone but resent the intrusion when the phone rings. Even when I got a portable cassette player/radio tuner like the Sony Walkman in the late 1970s I didn't like it for bicycling.

From a safety perspective, it some situations even leaving one ear open can be misleading. One of my exercise routes is along a lightly traveled frontage road next to a busy highway. When my allergies are acting up and one ear is slightly plugged up from congestion it's difficult to be sure whether the vehicle noises I hear approaching from the rear are on the highway beside me or the frontage road directly behind me.

But for household chores, sure. I usually listen to music or podcasts while doing chores.

wolfchild

No I don't listen to any music while riding, because it's a distraction. Wearing ear buds and listening to music compromises situational awareness.

langdon

Only on bike trails where there's no chance of cars crossing my path and then only via my phone's speaker.

PaulH

I don't own a smartphone, iTunes, Walkman, or any of those portable music things. However, I don't see how listening to music while riding is any different than using a car radio when driving. Then again, two of my favorite cars did not have radios.

I-Like-To-Bike

I usually listen to audiobooks when bicycling, but occasionally switch to music if in the mood. I use headphones with an 8GB Cowon iAudio7 mp3 player. Soul and R&B artists are my choices. I can hear all relevant traffic sounds and MY traffic awareness isn't affected. I prefer to listen to audiobooks or music over traffic noise, and even bird chirping gets old after awhile. To each their own.

Attached is a music playlist I sometimes use, other times I might just choose a specific artist among the thousands of mp3 files in Artist folders stored on the 8GB mp3 player.

The current audiobook being listened to is The Martian by Andy Weir. The current books in the batter's box on the mp3 player (subject to change) are:
Road Virus Heads North
All the Light We Cannot See
Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk
Christine
Dolores Claiborne
In the Heart of the Sea
Laughing Policeman
LTs Theory of Pets
The War Below
The Year of Fear.

mstateglfr 

l listen to muaic thru the phone speaker when im riding on roads. At its highest volume, i cant hear it in traffic, so its hardly a distraction in that way. I can then hear it on paths/trails/side streets where its quieter and the concern for cars is less.

On gravel road rides, ill bring a speaker cube which fits in a bottle cage. Ill pass 10 cars in an hour on a busy day and the cows dont seem to mind the louder music.

I havent used headphones, just not comfortable on roads with them.

wphamilton

I use a Cootree bluetooth headphones which has nice sound for a disposable (IMO) headphone. I keep the volume low so that my hearing is not compromised ( at naysayers) and at those volumes I can't really tell the difference between adequate and audiophile.

My music is classical piano, classic rock, heavy metal, some new age and alternative rock, and some soft rock from the 70's. I use a random select playlist so that I don't get bored with a particular genre.

deex

I use blue tooth headphones and only on my right side. Leave the left open. I usually end up listening to podcasts.

stdlrf11

I've got a JBL speaker hooked on the strap of my handlebar bag. The 3.5mm jack runs to my phone, which has over 800 songs.
I have pretty much every type of music on there, except classical and Tejano.
I just put it on shuffle. It's not uncommon for me to hear Tupac, followed by David Allan Coe, followed by Pantera.

fietsbob

Tow a Bike Trailer with a really High Watt battery amplifier and speaker set, with a sub Woofer ,

with an I Pod dock in it, and really let everyone, for Blocks, Know you are coming..


Or Sing as you Cycle..

texaspandj

Realizing this is a commuter thread, I wouldnt.
But since I don't commute to and from work, Yes. The only time I don't is when riding with someone else or a group ride. I'm a big time music lover and I don't need music for cadence help or inspiration, I simply love good music and that's the only kind I listen to.
I listen to my Ipod with jvc ear buds, but the original ear buds are good too. The key is to get good ear buds. I use the Ipod with a watch band that makes it look like a watch. I run the ear bud wire thru my sleeve and out of the collar.
I don't feel it compromises my safety in the area I ride. In fact I could argue the point, it heightens my awareness.

DanPLC

I use the buckshot bluetooth speaker. Besides being able to listen to music, it lets me answer calls on speaker and listen to and reply to text messages by voice (using the ReadItToMe app).

I-Like-To-Bike

Just noticed a hole in my soul and added some JimiH songs to my mp3 shuffle playlist:
All Along the Watchtower
Blue Suese Shoes
Fire
Foxy Lady
Gypsy Eyes
I Don't Live Today
Manic Depression
Mannish Boy
Red House

DrIsotope

Wouldn't be great if there were a way to prevent the "don't listen to music while riding, you'll certainly DIE" crowd from posting in these threads? That sure would be great.

While it's not the greatest choice for the sake of the audio, convenience leads me to use Bluetooth to pair a Boombot REX to my iPhone for streaming Pandora. Bluetooth murders audio quality, but it's nice to be free of wires. I can't recommend the Boombot highly enough-- 8+ hour battery life, full audio controls, can make and receive voice calls, as well as use Siri on the iPhone. Also has a std. 3.5mm jack for use with non-Bluetooth devices.

Music choices run the gamut, but I generally trend toward higher-BPM stuff-- there is a definite psychosomatic effect there. Anything over 160bpm gets my speed up.

bfuser284953024

Hah! i really like this idea. Not sure how the drivers would feel about me blasting vaporwave or my angry punk music though!

canklecat

Wouldn't those be the "What music do you listen to?" and "Earbuds or speakers?" threads?

I suppose I do listen to music while riding. Musique concrete. But I'm a fan of audio collages, found sounds and sampled stuff like this. So the road does sound like music to me.

pressed001

Absolutely.

I use my bike bell every time when approaching someone. All too often they still have no idea I am coming because they can't hear.

It is cool that the OP leaves one earbud out. But I still don't dig the idea.

I use Jet Audio and mp3's when on my trainer.

PolarBear007

No i don't listen to music when i'm riding, but i think for others it's great.

In fact, i turn the ringer on my phone off when i'm riding (but always have it with me). Unfortunately, i do hear all the ghettoesque boom-boom-boom from the cagers mobile concert systems.

My wife enjoys music when she runs and has all the Apple iEquipment to do so quite well. However, for me quietly riding along helps take away stress as i just pedal along listening to the wind, birds, my breathing, my tires, etc.

Papa Tom

I would agree. However, the OP started his post with "Do y'all listen to music when you ride?" which kind of begs for the type of response you're objecting to.

There are plenty of threads where people like us can discuss WHAT music we listen to and HOW we listen to it. Although those threads also attract some anti-music-on-the-bike people, they are generally not in the majority and do not usually ruin the threads.

I personally use a powered speaker I picked up on eBay for $25. It was made for cycling, it's lightweight, and it has a very sturdy handlebar mount. The brand name is not inscribed and I do not remember what it was, but it came from Korea. Attached to that, I have an old 4gb San Disk mp3 player that cost me $9.99 on closeout, runs on a single AAA battery, and has been a thousand times more dependable than any of the five or six iPods I have owned in my lifetime.

I play mostly Pop from the 1950's through the 2000's, along with some Country and Blues, so there's no need to rattle the windows of the cars around me. Plus, regardless of what the anti-music riders insist, with my music at optimum volume, I can hear a freakin' staple jingle when I run it over with my Schwalbe Big Apples.

Someone just gave me a $60 DigiPower Re-Fuel XT2 Outdoor BlueTooth Speaker that weighs a ton and looks like it would splinter the blacktop on my local bike trail, but I really don't need that kind of power. First offer of $30 or more takes it!

I-Like-To-Bike

Probably not possible. "Serious" Bicycling seems to attract more than its share of drama queens with a safety nanny fetish. Just mention the "H" word and watch 'em cackle!