I usually have my earphone in my right ear, but my ipod died half way through my ride today, so I took it out of my ear for the rest of the day. The rest of my day was riding into head wind and when I got home my ears felt like I had earbuds in both ears and my ipod on full blast! The wind that was cutting through my straps and over my ears was Deafening. In almost 6 years of riding I don't ever recall having this issue, though this is probably the first time i have ever ridden without music.

I know a lot of people hate listening to music and prefer the sound of their chain, wind and their own heart beat. I dislike riding without music. After today's experience, I can surely say I will do everything I can to make sure my ipod is charged and ready to go from now on.

PS, I also had to skid off the road to avoid a car hitting me, who decided last minute they wanted to pull into a car lot to check out a vehicle for sale. I slapped the back end of the car and the old blue hair didn't even bat an eye. that got my heart rate up!

Even relatively minor wind can interact with the straps and other side features of the helmet to create a lot of noise. I find it happens when my head is turned at a certain angle to the forward direction. You sure you are not just bragging about how fast you were going once the absence of music allowed you to concentrate for once on your riding?

Lol, I most certainly had nothing to brag about! I got a new job almost 2 months back and the hours are much more demanding than my previous. My riding time has gone from 3-4 times a week to once a week if that. Today was just about getting out and enjoying the ride. Plus I was testing out my new 155mm Romin evo. Had to stop a couple times to make some adjustments. I hate testing a new saddle because over the duration of that test period, I cant just ride, my mind doesn't stop thinking about if the saddle is fitting me, should I tilt it up, down, forward, back....etc.

So no, I can assure you, it had nothing to do with me doing any kind of impressive speeds!

You could just leave the ear buds in to cut down the wind noise. Without the music you should still be able to hear well and cut down the wind at the same time. If my mp3 player dies, I usually leave the ear buds in.

One would think that would be common sense, But I didn't even think of that to be honest. As soon as it died, I just Oh well, Hopefully there wont be a next time, but if there is I will most definitely leave one in.

I knew there was a reason that validates why I wear my sunglasses OUTSIDE the straps...

I ride with my glasses on the outside of my straps also.

It's illegal to bike with headphones on.

I hate that when riding on crowded paths I approach a biker with headphones and scream "ON YOUR LEFT" and he doesn't budge from the center.

If you're biking with headphones, you better be biking on EMPTY roads, otherwise man up and deal with the wind noise, you panzey.

Dude, here is your answer. I saw a review for these and they really work.

after looking at that junk^^^, I wonder how anyone can call something useful like electronic shifting a solution in search of a problem...

Simmer down. I ride with just the ride side in and not loud.

Im to vain to use that. It may work, but it looks ridiculous. (IMO)

I ride with headphones in for my 10 mile "follow the bike path along the side of the road" run. I have the music low where I can hear it, not jamming at all, and I can also hear vehicles. To an extent I like the headphones in even without music as it reduces some of that static noise and allows me to hear other things more clearly.

I don't hear the hybrids (cars that is) come up all the time but really other than tire noise they are pretty quite. I assuredly would hear someone come up behind me and excuse themselves a bit of lane. The limited amount I've biked over the last 3 weeks I don't think there was one day without sustained 5mph winds with gusts to 15 and there were PLENTY of days with 15mph winds with gusts to 25. That means ear protection and depending on the shape of your glasses you may even tear up a bit due to the wind in your eyes.

You could always get a custom pair that looked like pork chop sideburns, that would be cool!

I ride with my right headphone in as well, unless riding with friends. It makes the ride more enjoyable to me.

IMO, riding with restricted hearing and no rear view mirror is asking for serious trouble, unless riding is done on MUPS only.

I use the Slipstreamz pictured below. They cut down on the intensity of the wind noise by roughly 50% and don't stand out visually IMO (mine are black not grey BTW.) I have tinnitus and the Slipstreamz keep the wind noise on a 2-3hr ride from aggravating it.

Thanks for your opinion, but I disagree with you.

I feel just the opposite. MUP riders should be the ones with the mirrors and no music. On rural roads with cars doing 60+, mirrors and bud-free ears are all but useless.

if the wind is "deafening" and you have headphones in or some other sort of earplug that slightly reduces the "deafening" wind noise you are not riding with restricted hearing, you are riding with enhanced hearing as you have eliminated the "deafening" wind noise. When I say earplugs I don't mean those blaze orange safety plugs but something that only eliminates that heavy noise.

Such as this: https://www.earplugstore.com/motorcycle-ear-plugs.html

a cut paste from above link:

"Your reusable motorcycle ear plugs also need to provide the right amount of noise blocking. None of the plugs listed here provide more than NRR 25 protection. That is enough hearing protection to help kill that constant, irritating wind noise while still allowing you to hear what is going on around you, so you can stay safe whether you're out on the open highway or cruising around in city traffic."

As far as a mirror goes. I'd rather turn my head sideways and use my peripheral vision to pick up anything behind me instead of using my eye on that tiny little mirror while I move my head in a circle so I can "pan" the view from that tiny mirror. I'm sure each person has to decide for themselves as I've seen a few people who "wobble" when they look sideways or backwards and if that is the case then obviously a mirror is superior to looking around.

+1

+2 - once I hear a car coming at 60-80 kph there's little/no time to react anyway

If its very windy I'll put a headband on over my ears to give them a bit of a break.

The person driving by you is either going to hit you or they're not. Having headphones in doesn't change anything. You can hold your line and be aware of your surroundings and still listen to music.

Personally, the couple of times I've listened to music while riding I've found myself to be slower than normal. I couldn't find my groove and was instead grooving to the tunes. Maybe I should listen to something else.

I'm fine with people listening to music on rides. They should just go ride alone. If you have your headphones in and don't respond when someone in the group addresses you expect to get yelled at. Going on "group" rides only to close yourself off with music is beyond stupid.