Listening to head phones

[Skier]

Do you mean the style of earbud that has the rubbery ear pieces? They do block out extra noise so you don't need to crank it with them...

Some of those are acceptable. Most don't block enough noise to avoid hearing damage and then you crank music over the wind noise, causing accelerated hearing loss.

Skier,

Do you have any suggestions as for what to buy? I'm looking into getting mp3/bluetooth sometime in the summer for my bike but I'm not quite sure what to look for.

I assumed noise canceling headphones are bad cause then you cant' hear the road around you. But you're saying noise canceling headphones are good because then you dont' crank the tunes too loud?

What about for around town driving, then wouldn't non-noise canceling be safer since you dont' have to crank it to fight the wind?

I don't have first hand experience with these products, but web bike world has a review on noise-reduction earphones. A friend loves his ER-6 earphones.

Reducing the amount of noise coming into your ear is a good thing: it reduces the risk of hearing loss and slows mental fatigue. It takes mental energy to ignore wind noise for hours on end, believe it or not (Sound Rider article).

When you reduce the amount of noise coming into your ears, you lower the volume needed to hear your music. The headphones no longer have to overpower the wind and road noise to let you hear the tunes.

Riding with earplugs in is similar to driving your car with the windows up. Try driving at 60 MPH with all the windows down and head next to the door and see how loud your stereo has to be turned to in order to be heard.

[RevBrian]

This may come across as a bit romantic so forgive me, but to me the joy of riding a motorcycle is to get a break from all the technology and surround sound stereo systems and just enjoy the surroundings and the joy of riding. For me, if I wanted to listen to music while I was cruising, I'd do so in my four wheeler where I can crank the stereo with its 12 speakers and rock on. That's the way I see it IMHO.

[Funderbird]

I have a had time hearing cars around me with stock pipes...I can just get in my car and listen to 800 watts of ear shattering clearity...I often find myself in a good mood after I ride...Maybe it is a zen thing, I saw that somewhere on this site...The only thing better than riding the bike is...Umm...well quality time...with the wife...Both in one day I am a happy man...

[Funderbird]

TrueFaith

especially if your driving a motor vehicle without a seat belt and side curtain air bags, like we do

Should we have seat belts

[ElChado87]

Yeah I use Skullcandy Ink'd Smokin Buds. They fit nice and snug, and in town I don't need to crank them at all. But I do. I crank them on the bus too. They don't go as loud as other buds because they have larger speakers i guess. Good bass though lol.

[dean owens]

i don't listen to anything when i read but only because i don't have a good headset. i don't see much of a difference between music on a bike and music in a car. if you're going to pay attention you're going to pay attention. if you're easily distracted, that's going to happen with music or not.

one thing i have thought about is i've seen speakers for helmets. i've thought about getting a set and using those with my ear plugs in like i normally have to keep the wind noise down. but i don't know if it's worth it at that point. i would probably need to make a small amp to boost the signal a bit.

[beardking]

one thing i have thought about is i've seen speakers for helmets. i've thought about getting a set and using those with my ear plugs in like i normally have to keep the wind noise down. but i don't know if it's worth it at that point. i would probably need to make a small amp to boost the signal a bit.

I tried that this weekend on my ride to OK and found that the earplugs blocked out dang near everything that my headphones puts out. Now, I only had standard headphones that I had stuck in the ear pockets on my helmet and not helmet specific ones, so that might make a difference, not sure.

[IcyHound]

I wear earplug/earbud combos. I wear earplugs anyway so adding music is rather nice for all my slab riding

[Funderbird]

I can't find anything saying someone can or can't listen to music while riding...California is wierd when it come to laws like this...

[Brackstone]

http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/laws.asp

That's the most information I've ever been able to find.