Cat-Ears
 

Has anyone tried these:

http://www.cat-ears.com/

Seems we have more wind every year and the noise is annoying, especially on longer rides.
Would likely try the "ear covers" with my full coverage helmet for spring/fall, when its not cold enough for a toque or balaclava under the helmet.

I've never tried them, but then I've never considered wind noise to be a problem.

Rick / OCRR

Stapfam started a thread on this topice earlier this year. You can find it here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=wind+noise

There is also a review of the product here: http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/a...st-look-35984/

That's interesting. I missed Stapfam's original thread, but I'm very aware of the whistling of the wind past my helmet straps, which I do find annoying and I keep the straps pretty snug. I might give a pair of these a try...

A couple (married couple) of my riding friends started wearing the cat ears this year and I guess they like them because they keep wearing them. Although I try not to be too fashion conscious, favoring function over form, I think I would go deaf before I would wear those things. I'm sorry, but they look downright goofy to me. If wind noise is really that serious a problem (maybe it is, I haven't noticed) someone needs to come up with another solution.

:lol: BD, that's close to a rant. :lol:

I take my hearing aids out and that does the trick.

Rant on! :roflmao2:

I kinda agree with ya there, BD, but I guess I'm a few notches lower than you are on the fashion conscious scale - I'd say screw'em they think it makes me look like a dork! :lol:

PS - the site almost makes me think of one of those goofy put-on ads they used to run on Saturday Night Live. Still thinkin' of ordering a pair!:)

A solution without a problem?

Not everyone has the same hearing sensitivity or even hears the same mix of frequencies.

Yeah lycra shorts, bike shoes, a 50's jersey and a helmet are about as far as a fellow can go fashion wise. When it comes to cat ears a fellow has to draw the line. Unless the cat ears are lighted and reflective for night riding and they would have to be fluorescent yellow. :)

Based on that thread, I bought a pair - and wore them on long and short, slow and fast rides. Probably about 500 miles altogether.

They did not work for me.

Just to be sure - I once used the cat ear on one side, to see if I could detect a difference.

Nope - no difference.

But I'm as deaf as a coot to start with :( and they may work better for people with more sensitive hearing.

I'm afraid even Corlew Design could not make those look good enough for me to wear. It is better to look good than to ride good anyway. Fashion comes first.

I've worn a full beard for 40+ years, I notice it reduces wind noise. Further, I have also noticed that as it went from dark brown to silver to white it seems to work better as I notice the wind noise less and less.;)

Get old enough and hair growing out your ears might suffice, or just grow out your sideburns and use moose gel.

The whooshing/roaring sound of wind noise has bothered me for several years particularly when riding with friends because it was much tougher to carry on a conversation without lots of 'What?' or 'Sorry, could you repeat that'.

So I bought a pair of Cat Ears and overall, I have been very happy with them. I would say they cut the wind noise 50%-70%. They work best when my helmet strap is snug against the side of my head. They don't work nearly as well with a looser strap.

Two minor complaints.
1) They are goofy looking
2) They smelled like cigarette smoke when I got them but washed them with soap and water and that fixed that

Overall grade A-

That would really gross me out.

Mine did too.

Material used or a smoker who makes them? Either way, the product smelling like cigarette smoke is just disgusting.

A smoker makes them.

I should have posted this some time ago:

Following THIS post:

The company scans the boards, saw my post, and sent me a refund. I hadn't asked for one, and hadn't planned to. Their comment was that they stand behind their products 100%.

The reason I didn't ask for the refund is that - as I said:

That said - I applaud the Cat Ears owners for their integrity, and wish more businesses were like these folks.

I'll return the Cat Ears this weekend (only seems fair, since they issued the refund).

If anyone on the Fifty+ is interested in these noise damping items, my experience shows that Cat Ears is a decent company to work with.

Conversation? While riding? As a riding friend of mine Carry would say, "Less yammer, more hammer!!!"

(Note tongue placed firmly in cheek :))