JonnyV

I tried it a few times, ya know, peer pressure. I didn't like it. My taste in music blows. I'm around noise all day so a little quiet is welcomed.

chipcom 

It depends on the person. If you can't walk and chew gum at the same time, you probably shouldn't listen to anything while riding and should also avoid riding in noisy areas or chatty group rides. But if you don't have that handicap, no worries.

kdawg

i wear them when i ride alone and it keeps me out of trouble. i dont have to hear people in cars running there mouth. theres nothing funner then casing a car down to a red light and laying into them.

nanan

You won't hear the car that hits you, you wont have the time to swerve out of the way.

If you think you have "dodged" a car, it wouldn't have hit you in the first place(unless it was moving really slowly).

Agave

Actually I did hear a car that hit me from behind. I think it's the bullet that kills you you're thinking about not hearing. It wasn't the motor, it was the sound of rubber braking on asphalt.

RT

It's not so much the hearing aspect, it's the distraction. All it takes is a momentary lapse to change your life. I don't ride with music because it distracts me just enough. Why would I want to gamble with my hobby?

cmolway

^ yeah I too had no problem hearing the SUV that floored it to pass and right-hook me while I was doing 20+mph with my headphones on last spring. Wearing them had no impact on causing/avoiding the accident.

I wear them at a reasonable level when I ride (I don't wear them on group rides out of respect to others).

LesterOfPuppets

About a year ago I heard a Honda spin a 180 behind me. I didn't really do anything evasive I just puckered and prayed.

pallen

Thats why I wear earplugs - allows me to focus on what I see more.

Snapperhead

Well, I'm pretty sure I can walk and chew gum at the same time. BTW, is there a clinical label for that particular type of handicap? Just curious?

I wonder what the clinical label is for folks who need study's and statistics to prove things to them that their own common sense has already told them is true?

Look, I really don't care what folks do. You want to ride with ear buds then have it. But to suggest that it is somehow just as safe as riding without the distraction is just silly IMHO.

jwible

But what does hearing a vehicle behind you do for your safety exactly? I ride rural roads. I stay all the way to the right. All the time unless I'm turning left at an intersection. Hearing a car approaching me doesn't tell me if it's going to hit me or not. And I'm conscientious enough to stay as far to the right as possible to allow the car as much room as possible to pass. The only benefit of hearing a car is to remind you to get to the right. If you do that all the time I see no benefit. A car will either hit you or pass you regardless of your earphones. The main factors are the drivers attention and your position on the road.

I did have a riding buddy get killed by a car in Charleston about 7 years ago. The car was passing him on a blind curve and snapped back over into him when another car came from the other direction. Garrett didn't have earphones in. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The actions of the person behind the wheel of the car have more to do with your safety than your actions, provided you can ride a bike in a predictable and safe manner.

Me, I like to ride no more than a foot to the left of the fog line.

Actually using noise isolating earbuds or ear plugs is probably a wise thing to do if you ride fast. Sustained wind noise can damage your hearing permanently. When I rode / raced motorcycles I couldn't understand, and still can't, why people would ride without hearing protection. The wind noise was the killer, not the engine noise.

Snapperhead

Plain and simple. Some consider it a needless distraction, and some don't. No need to drag it out any further.

RT

I do not understand why anyone would deprive themselves of a crucial sense on purpose. Losing x% of your hearing does not improve your vision by x%. If earplugs allowed me to grow a third eye in the back of my head (like our moms), maybe :-) To each their own though.

kleinboogie

+1 on cutting down wind noise. Guy at the MUP wears earplugs because of this. My basic philosophy is to shut out noise, ride fast (so nobody's coming up behind me) and get past MUP incursions (people walking in the middle or weaving, dogs on 12' leashes, people running on the wrong side, etc.) as quickly as possible. That and music helps me keep cadence. Something like this...


...but with Ultraspank and The Offspring.

pgjackson

As long as the music isn't blasting I don't see a problem. I ride with headphones, but just loud enough that I can hear it. I can still hear a lot of wind noise on top of the music. When I rode motorcycles with a half-helmet, I'd always wear earplugs because at speed the wind is very loud. After an hour long ride my ears would ring like I just got back from a Motorhead concert.

chipcom 

Just as silly as your assumption that everyone shares your handicap of it being a "distraction" is to me, someone who actually does go by my decades of experience riding in traffic, rather than the hand-wringing of the nannies. If you can't ride without sounds distracting you, again, you best avoid riding in noisy areas or with chatty partners, as well as without a little music in your ear. Nobody is telling you to ride above your capabilities.

chipcom 

I am hearing impaired...hearing never has been a "crucial sense" when it comes to riding a bike...or driving for that matter. Indeed, how do you ever manage to drive with your windows up and your stereo playing without killing yourself?

Funny thing though, even with my hearing impairment AND music in my ear, I can still hear the things I need to hear. I must be some kind of superman or something I guess. Oh wait, I forgot, I'm God.

I get the feeling that a lot (not all) of the people so worried about the possible danger of riding with music, have never actually tried it.

Snapperhead

Consider it silly and a handicap all you want. I have no problem with that. That's the beauty of opinions.

LesterOfPuppets

I made a commuting video with the traffic sounds left in. I like my audience to feel safe and comfortable.

Do any of the cars sound especially dangerous? Can you pick out the car that's going to hit me from all the other cars within earshot?

surgeonstone

There are statistics that suggest higher accident rates among the hearing impaired, and data that shows the opposite. For me I generally like to be "in the moment" and focus on the activity at hand. Which means that most of the time I ride without the music, I like the quiet and peace that is cycling to me. There are other times when I enjoy music while riding. When I ride I am already observing safe rules of conduct. I ride as far to the right as is safe, I usually wear a helmet though that is fodder for another thread, I always look back when moving to the left to avoid obstacles. I honestly do not believe that hearing a car or truck coming up from behind me affects me in any way, I am already doing what I can to avoid being squashed. And yet I may still be squashed, with buds in, with buds out, with helmet on , with helmet off. Any encounter with 2000 pounds of metal hurtling upon me at 40 + mph is likely to end badly for me.

redfooj

if you want to remain safe, dont ride a bike

RT

Chip, since you are naturally hearing impaired, it does not qualify as losing a crucial sense 'on purpose', as I stated. I get it - it's like helmets. We all do what we want, I just choose not to listen to anything but nature while I ride.

surgeonstone

No offense but this is really an ignorant statement. Life is filled with examples of what common sense tells us is true being false.
Would you like a few example...
Prior to Dr. Ignaz- Phillipe Semmelweiss the most learned physicians in Europe thought child bed fever was caused by a "miasma". It was "obvious" to them that simple activities like washing hands could be of no benefit to halting this killer of young women. Even when Semmelweiss provided clear data that showed a reduction of mortality from 50% to less than 4% by simply washing hands, the common sense theory held sway.
Another example- The world is flat no? Obviously the sun, stars and moon move about us.
Another example- Bicycle helmets save lives- seems so obvious, so common sense like until you look carefully at the data and realize it is another decorative accessory . I could go on but why bother, all these points have been and currently are being posted in other threads far more eloquently than I could ever match.

BikeNube

this thread again.

BikeMech

Everyone will always disagree on the topic of headphones. I've heard lots of negative comments about them but personally i ride with earbuds when i ride solo. In my experience the whole term car back does not do anything. I always figure on a car being 2 feet behind me and i always ride accordingly. The only time i really see the need to call things out is when your riding in a paceline and there is an obstacle up ahead. I can see cars just fine. I don't need to hear "Car back!" every 2 seconds. Just my 2 cents