Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I commute on my Honda on any good day (in Seattle, it's not many). I sure miss my music when I'm not in the cage.
So, today - I wore my ear-buds and blasted my iPod - well… not really loud.
Do you think it's a bad idea to wear ear-buds when riding?

Peace Out,
Noobie

I love listening to tunes much of the time, but on the street bike i usually only listen on highway rides, not so much around town.

I've tried a few variations of one earbud, and two, plus have an adjustable volume control on one earbud set and find no problem, either way, but I have a decent helmet (Arai) which is pretty quiet and I dont have to turn the music up loud, to drown out wind, road, engine noise, nor do i listen to music very loud much of the time.

As long as I can hear the important sounds around me, it's all good. Experiment a bit and see how it goes for ya...

a bit of music included...

Ellen McIlwaine covering an old Stevie Wonder tune (?) Higher Ground

Do you wear earplugs? I've found that if you reduce the sound of wind roar with ear plugs, you won't have to blast the volume so much to hear your tunes. Plus everything else (car horns, etc) gets easier to hear as well. Some people wear in-ear buds that function as both speakers and plugs, but I prefer earplugs and in-helmet speakers. YMMV.

I'm with QuietMonkey on when is it reasonable to listen to music while riding, though. It's your choice (and you know the riding conditions of your commute), but long highway miles are the only time I find it personally acceptable to listen to music.

I don't see a problem with it as long as you are not distracted and can hear other vehicles around you. Not sure if I'd wear them in traffic myself, but if I'm out for a cruise in the country I would be more tempted.

Right now, I just sing in my head. haha.

Mike

I personally don't but might be tempted on long ride.

Just be careful though re observation skills....................over here I see a lot of cyclists (pedal power) who have headphones on & appear totally oblivious to street sounds including emergency vehicles!

For me:
In the city - no
On the highway - rarely (but sometimes)

I don't think it's a terrible thing to do, but just like MOG said you have to be careful to not zone out. I walk to/from work and one time when I was walking to work (and incidentally was not listening to music) I was hit by a car. It taught me that when you zone out your senses are still paying attention... Although my eyes didn't see what was coming, my ears heard the car and my body reacted by pole vaulting off the hood of the car with my right arm. Totally screwed my arm but saved my legs from being struck (lesser of two evils, I think???).

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you are paying attention 100% of the time. But do recognise that your ears play a big part in your reaction time.

Thanks all,
I think I'll save the iPod for long trips. It's a little too easy to get distracted by good music

Peace Out,
Noobie

Don't forget to check into your local laws. It's illegal to use earbuds in Virginia for instance while riding the motorcycle, however helmet speakers are allowed. I use attenuating earplugs that block high tones like wind and low tones like engine while letting the middle range through. Paired with helmet speakers I save my hearing and get nice tunes.

I always listen to music when riding. I just keep my attention where it should be in the meantime.

Recently my wife and I bought a Blinc two way radio set for our helmets. It has a built in FM radio and Blue Tooth for our phones. I like listening to tunes while riding.

I rode a touring motorcycle with built-in speakers (Harley-Davidson street glide) and while I always wanted a radio on my bike, it's kinda useless on the highway due to the wind, so I think an iPod would be much better but again, have to keep it quiet to hear the sounds around you.