djkenny

I realized yesterday when i took my car to work for the 1st time in around 5 months...that I really miss local radio and listening to music. The drive not so much.

Anyone mount an I Pod on the their bike somewhere, or little speakers with a radio attached? I am lookng for options. Something that could be pulled off the bike like a Planet Bike light can as I arrive.

DallasSoxFan

I've got an armband holder for my Sansa and use cheapie earbuds. I keep the volume relatively low and can still hear cars coming up behind me. The earbuds do a better job with wind sound abatement than do over the ear earphones.

CliftonGK1

When I rode the Chilly Hilly back in the spring, I saw someone had an iPod thing for their bike. I don't know who makes it, but the iPod went into a water bottle style holster, and there was a wireless controller to attach on the handlebar, along with a speaker.


I have a PDA phone with Windows Media Player and bluetooth capacity, and I've considered getting a single-ear headphone that I could wear on my non-traffic side for long distance solo rides.

BroadSTPhilly

You can get podcasts for many talk radio shows for free.

djkenny

What do most people use to listen to AM/FM anymore? Is there a digital recorder that handles both? I could live with a cheap radio and the I POD as a secondary option to.

neilfein

What, no "no headphones while riding" comments? You really can't depend on people...

I second the podcast idea. A handlebar bag or frame pack could hold a radio/podThing easily.

kila kila kila

Sansa C240. 1GB mp3, FM tuner, inexpensive, small enough to put anywhere. I usually keep mine (older model) in my breast pocket when riding.

BroadSTPhilly

My wife has a Sansa E250 that gets radio. I like the Sansa somewhat better than the Ipod but the software is worse.

Jim from Boston

I'm an avid talk show fan and I ride with a Walkman or portable XM radio and just keep it in my shirt or jacket pocket. I wear over-the-ear phones rather than earbuds, the kind that hook around the ear from behind the head. I keep the volume low, lower than the wind noise. Also I wear a rear view mirror. I think it is easier to focus on riding with talk radio rather than music. I can often recall the topic, even from years ago, and remember where I was riding.

I have on rare occasions stopped on my ride to call in, especially when bicycling or energy policies are discussed. The premier talk show host on WRKO, Howie Car, is a bicycling curmudgeon, and when I call or write the station, I refer to myself as their Number One Fan Among Boston's Bicycling Commuters. My BF screen name is the one I use to call in,

Jim from Boston

kila kila kila

I uninstalled their software about 30 minutes after I installed it. I've always just treated the mp3 player like an external hard drive and moved files over that way. Sometimes it'll throw the songs out of order, but I figure that's a small price to pay for not having to use some half-assed UI.

EDIT: Oh, and WMP has a pretty easy to use sync.

okobojicat

I bike in with a Zen Micro on an arm band and the "over-the-ear phones rather than earbuds, the kind that hook around the ear from behind the head" that Jim from Boston so expertly described. The Zen also has FM radio, but I'm not a big fan of that. Listen to books in the car.

I subscribe to The Economist so I'm usually listening to that. Makes me feel even more like an elitist because of their awesomely ridiculous British accents. The audio edition is great. I heartily recommend it to everyone.

Also, you can usually hear cars and trains pretty easy. Since I ride thru the Port of Tacoma, it is critical to hear that semi pulling up behind me.

BroadSTPhilly

I read The economist and I think that it is snotty enough without the accent personnally.

Bat22

I tried using a handlebar bike radio. Traffic noise, especially trucks drowned it out.

uke

I use my iPod in my pocket each time I ride. You can pause and skip through jeans pockets, and stick a finger inside to change the volume.

deez

Thats what she said.

GearsForFears

Not to be a safety nanny - really I'm so borderline even on wearing a helmet on my almost exclusively MUP and rail-trail commute - but I feel like my ears have already saved me in a few situations where I heard something subtle that I probably wouldn't have heard with any sort of headphone and took early evasive action. I would really want something with speakers.

When I was a kid I used to tie my blue ball-and-chain Panasonic radio to my Schwinn Manta Ray handlebars and tool all over town listening to the Top 40 stations. Then when I was a teenager they had little bike radios you could mount on your bars or top tube...don't they have that sort of thing anymore? If they did you could carry an iPod and signal sender in your pocket and broadcast to the radio instead of wearing phones. Wouldn't be the greatest sound quality but it'd be enough to provide a soundtrack for the ride without putting something over your ears.

Tyrell

I use some small LG (I think) speakers in combination with my MP3 player (which also receives AM/FM). Click the link in my sig to see pics. The speakers are rechargeable and last ~5 hrs on a charge.

keiththesnake

Oh, alright. I think it'd be distracting to ride a bike in traffic with earbuds in. There, I've said it.

If it's true that the earbuds cause you to not hear what's going on as well, then it doesn't seem advisable. Incidentally, I think you can be pulled over in your car for having those same earbuds in your ears as you drive the car if the officer actually sees it. So, somebody in charge of something, I assume, thinks it's a bad idea. I've never tried it.

jdmitch

Some things I've considered... all of which will not block your ear canals from exterior sounds...

iHome IH85B
Cy Fi (iPod stashed somewhere safe)
IceBar (need to rig your own mount)
Bone Conduction Headphones
AirDrives

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the link to the bone headphones. Back in the 1980's was a system called "bonephones" which were two speakers that draped around your neck and rested on your chest. The sound was then conducted through your bones and the sound quality was quite good as I recall. I once read that the cheaper Sony Walkman soon thereafter was introduced and you just can't find Bonephones any more, but I continue to look.

Nightshade

Yep, yer gonna git one now! There are many way to mount a player/radio on a bike and use
SPEAKERS TO LISTEN. EAR BUDS ON A BIKE ARE A DEATH WISH.

There are just to many easy way to listen to whatever you want without copping out to earbuds.

Bolo Grubb

I use a MP3 player and ear buds. I do music as I can't turn up talk radio loud enough to hear well and still hear traffic. Music is no problem for me. You can get a cheap ($10) arm band AM/FM radio from target if you want to listen to talk radio live.

making

I would love to have radio of some sort on my commute. I am very afraid to do it though becasue of hearing cars. I was just thinking though, in the very early morning while still completely dark I always spot headlights first anyway. Think hearing is that important in the dark?

Bolo Grubb

do what you feel comfortable doing. I did not wear earbuds or use any type of music on the bike for a very long time. Then I tried and found that I could still hear cars just fine.

ok_commuter

I assume
this Camelbak with integrated speakers has been mentioned here before?

I saw it advertised in Bike mag this month.