Listening to Radio / other audio whilst riding

soy_sauce

how about using this type headphone and have it turn on loud enough so you can hear the music when it is just hanging on your neck?

vorsprung

peachos wrote:

there is nothing unsafe about using headphones on the road. fact.

How about riding with your eyes shut on the road? I've done it and yet I still live

Riding no handed as well, same result...I am still here

LDN-Flyer

Its no problem, just make sure you listen to some music with a steady beat like Gui Borrato or something. One ear bud in the left ear at half volume.

blu3cat

How about riding with your eyes shut on the road? I've done it and yet I still live

Riding no handed as well, same result...I am still here

At the same time?????

vorsprung

blu3cat wrote:

How about riding with your eyes shut on the road? I've done it and yet I still live

Riding no handed as well, same result...I am still here

At the same time?????

No, but now you've mentioned it I might give it a whirl!

blu3cat

blu3cat wrote:
Quote:
How about riding with your eyes shut on the road? I've done it and yet I still live

Riding no handed as well, same result...I am still here



At the same time?????



No, but now you've mentioned it I might give it a whirl!

Don't forget your headphones as well. Or in fact can you fit a flotation / isloation tank to your bike.

the_hundredth_idiot

antfly wrote:

Yes,I do like to chat to cyclists when I pass them and I can`t do that if they have earphones in.Perhaps it`s also just a prejudice of mine but I`m sure it annoys other people too.Here is someone who shares my opinion,for what it`s worth.
P.S you don`t wear earphones driving in a car,it`s illegal.
http://www.bicycling.com/gear/detail/0,7989,s1-15-65-2286-0,00.html

Illegal for car drivers to wear earphones? Are you sure?

And the guy who wrote the article you linked to could tell me as freely as he liked that I'm an idiot. A bonus of headphones is that it muffles the sounds of opinionated c0cks talking to me.

mountainroadie

vorsprung wrote
How about riding with your eyes shut on the road? I've done it and yet I still live

Riding no handed as well, same result...I am still here[/quote]






how about ridingdown a VERY steep munro eyes closed arms out standing on your spd"s ive done it lost a glove ripped a pair of bib shorts .

try cycling home with your nads hanging out

always_tyred

antfly wrote:

Yes,I do like to chat to cyclists when I pass them and I can`t do that if they have earphones in.Perhaps it`s also just a prejudice of mine but I`m sure it annoys other people too.

Just because something annoys you, it does not follow that it is annoying.

Personally, I occasionally say hello to people. I feel able to do this with a radio on. I can even hear them say hello back. My radio has a special button enabling it to be switched off for engaging in conversation.

Although, when I'm on my way to work, I might find it a bit irritating to have to exchange banal pleasantries with every cyclist I share an ASL with.

"Windy today, isn't it".

"Yes."

tailwindhome

Those who suggest an earpiece in one ear all suggest the left ear. Why?

Christophe3967

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Those who suggest an earpiece in one ear all suggest the left ear. Why?

So that you can answer your mobile and take a message - much easier if you're right handed...

cee

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Those who suggest an earpiece in one ear all suggest the left ear. Why?

'cos they are all predominantly right eared obviously.....keep your best ear for the traffic and use your lesser ear for the music.

seeeeeeeeeeeemples

of course left eared folks should put the earpiece in ther right ear.

lost_in_thought

Or because the right-hand side is where most of the traffic hangs out...

cyclingtaz

whats the difference between listening to music while cycling and the nutters that have the music so loud in the car that you can hear them over any engine noise and music you have on

antfly

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

antfly wrote:

Yes,I do like to chat to cyclists when I pass them and I can`t do that if they have earphones in.Perhaps it`s also just a prejudice of mine but I`m sure it annoys other people too.Here is someone who shares my opinion,for what it`s worth.
P.S you don`t wear earphones driving in a car,it`s illegal.
http://www.bicycling.com/gear/detail/0,7989,s1-15-65-2286-0,00.html

Illegal for car drivers to wear earphones? Are you sure?

And the guy who wrote the article you linked to could tell me as freely as he liked that I'm an idiot. A bonus of headphones is that it muffles the sounds of opinionated c0cks talking to me.

Well that`s what the nice policeman told me when he stopped me for doing it.

It would appear by your name that you already know you are an idiot anyway.

always_tyred

antfly wrote:

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

antfly wrote:

Yes,I do like to chat to cyclists when I pass them and I can`t do that if they have earphones in.Perhaps it`s also just a prejudice of mine but I`m sure it annoys other people too.Here is someone who shares my opinion,for what it`s worth.
P.S you don`t wear earphones driving in a car,it`s illegal.
http://www.bicycling.com/gear/detail/0,7989,s1-15-65-2286-0,00.html

Illegal for car drivers to wear earphones? Are you sure?

And the guy who wrote the article you linked to could tell me as freely as he liked that I'm an idiot. A bonus of headphones is that it muffles the sounds of opinionated c0cks talking to me.

Well that`s what the nice policeman told me when he stopped me for doing it.

It would appear by your name that you already know you are an idiot anyway.

You may be correct, but instead of calling people antisocial, selfish, ignorant, annoying and idiots, how about you go and find something more convicing than "I woz told once that..." to point to which indicates that wearing headphones whilst operating a vehicle is illegal.

Are you sure that this was not a specific interpretation of driving without due care and attention? For example, were you driving without due care and attention, and did the officer have reason to believe that your headphones were causing a distraction leading to this? By the same reasoning, using SATNAV is illegal. As is taking a drink from a water bottle. Or talking to someone in the passenger seat. It rather depends how you do any of these things.

antfly

I never called anyone selfish or ignorant and it was the editor of bicycling magazine who used the word idiot.Anyway,I can only tell you that I got pulled over and told to take them off because it was illegal,he didn`t tell me the exact law and I didn`t think to ask him at the time.He had no other reason to stop me whatsoever.Perhaps someone on here with legal knowledge will be able to clear it up.Then again perhaps not.

the_hundredth_idiot

antfly wrote:

I never called anyone selfish or ignorant and it was the editor of bicycling magazine who used the word idiot.Anyway,I can only tell you that I got pulled over and told to take them off because it was illegal,he didn`t tell me the exact law and I didn`t think to ask him at the time.He had no other reason to stop me whatsoever.Perhaps someone on here with legal knowledge will be able to clear it up.Then again perhaps not.

SORRY! CAN'T HEAR YOU. BALLY EAR PHONES MUFFLING THE NOISE. And my username is a slightly self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek reference from an Iain M Banks novel. I assume your insect-related username is also not entirely serious.

Back to the original topic, how about Slipstreamz? I haven't tried them yet but keep meaning to get a pair.
Manufacturer's website
and a shop which sells them

antfly

It would appear by your name that you already know you are an idiot anyway.

I had my tongue in my cheek too, when I said that.Perhaps I should have added one of those annoying winks to show my tongue-in-cheekiness.

toontra

I've reached the conclusion that using headphones can actually lead to better cycling skills.

I've been using phones (2 ears-loud) on long rides for a couple of years, for example on a 6-day solo LEJoG last year, mainly on dual carriageways. Having phones on means you hold an appropriate and steady road position so as not to give approaching vehicles any nasty surprises.

You also get into the habit of making more shoulder checks and hand signals, especially where you need to change road position.

This year on sportives and club runs i've noticed that many cyclists weave all over the road, relying on being able to hear approaching engine noise to take corrective action, but because of wind direction and other noise this doesn't work and leads to near misses and irritated motorists.

So, turn on, tune in and stay safe. 8)

blu3cat

toontra wrote:

I've reached the conclusion that using headphones can actually lead to better cycling skills.

I've been using phones (2 ears-loud) on long rides for a couple of years, for example on a 6-day solo LEJoG last year, mainly on dual carriageways. Having phones on means you hold an appropriate and steady road position so as not to give approaching vehicles any nasty surprises.

You also get into the habit of making more shoulder checks and hand signals, especially where you need to change road position.

This year on sportives and club runs i've noticed that many cyclists weave all over the road, relying on being able to hear approaching engine noise to take corrective action, but because of wind direction and other noise this doesn't work and leads to near misses and irritated motorists.

So, turn on, tune in and stay safe. 8)

Surely this means that you are a "safer" cyclist than others, and that you happen to wear headphones.

Does this mean if you take your headphones out your all over the road?

always_tyred

toontra wrote:

I've reached the conclusion that using headphones can actually lead to better cycling skills.

I've been using phones (2 ears-loud) on long rides for a couple of years, for example on a 6-day solo LEJoG last year, mainly on dual carriageways. Having phones on means you hold an appropriate and steady road position so as not to give approaching vehicles any nasty surprises.

You also get into the habit of making more shoulder checks and hand signals, especially where you need to change road position.

This year on sportives and club runs i've noticed that many cyclists weave all over the road, relying on being able to hear approaching engine noise to take corrective action, but because of wind direction and other noise this doesn't work and leads to near misses and irritated motorists.

So, turn on, tune in and stay safe. 8)

Oh, look, crap cycling and good cycling is pretty independent of this issue.

The other day, with tendonitis in mind, I made the error of using a canal towpath to get home. It was a timely reminder that some people regard managing to stay upright on a bike to be an achievement in itself.

gb155

Clever Pun wrote:

Ok this thread is not about the 'dangers of cycling with audio right? as it's been done to death

What about
lower volume and you can hear traffic and what you're listening to
only use the left ear piece

This is what I do, 2000 miles later (Can you tell im proud of that lol) and the world is still good to me, as long as your aware of your surroundings and just use one then job's a good un as we say up north

kamiokande

There was a piece on The Gadget Show on Channel Five a few weeks ago about portable music players for sport.

They did a 'triathlon' to test players designed specifically for swimming, running and cycling. They only tested a couple of devices for cycling, one was a vest with build in speakers and the other were armbands with speakers in, I think they found the best to be the vest.... in fact, here's the video http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/audio-video/ ... nis-swimp3 (the cycling bit starts about 2 minutes in).

The two devices were the Soundwalk Audio Vest SW-501 for about £50 and Cy.Fi iPod Sports Speakers for £180!

For what it's worth, I'm a left earphone type guy, you can always take it out if you feel it's necessary.

sebastiandangerfield

Driving with earphones in is illegal. I know this because the idiot above told me it is. Just like he told me that I'm anti social just because I won’t engage in conversation with him as I would rather listen to some music instead. Or maybe you're a bigoted, opinionated fool who brings nothing to a conversation bar ridiculous opinion and facts that someone else told you.

However, it’s not illegal. It may amount to driving without due care and attention if it causes your driving to fall below that of a reasonable and competent driver but as a specific offence it is not illegal. Most of the non-Bluetooth hands free kits from the 90's are all earpieces anyway so that would also be illegal.

antfly

I presume you`re referring to me although I`ve never crossed your path before but something`s obviously rattled your cage.Lovely to hear from you but why should I take legal advice from you,for all I know you might be just be an opinionated fool,and a rather rude and aggressive one at that.Are you a legal expert?At least I`ve given you my source of information,a traffic pc.

sebastiandangerfield

To answer your question; yes I am. I'm currently a partner in a legal firm based in Birmingham that specialises in criminal law. Also, on the cycling side of things, I've recently completed my first iron man and hopefully soon will be finalising plans to attempt the arch to arc race at the end of summer.

Antfly, you've never crossed many people's path before yet you feel able to state rather rude and aggressive things. Please see below for just a few examples.

It would appear by your name that you already know you are an idiot anyway.

You`re a mountain biker though,not a roadie.
Your post was boring too.

In addition, the inital author requested;

absolutely - I don’t want any comments stating that listening to music is not safe. I have read all that, im now just looking to gauge the best solution based on the response. I should have made that clear.

And you replied;

It`s just rude and annoying and daft and shouldn`t be done.

and,

It`s just anti-social and inconsiderate especially in traffic, and that`s probably why you are getting abuse,though it`s not as daft as listening to music.

Which helped somewhat in the ease of comming to the conclusion that you really are a bigoted, opinionated fool, and a bit of a plonker to boot.

Finaly, not wanting to get too tied up in a thread that has been taken totally away from the original authors request. It is the individual rider's risk each and every time they make a decision on the road, the only person that will suffer the consequences of that risk is the rider themselves in a similar way that wearing a seatbelt in a car is. Every single person has his or her own level of risk that is acceptable to them, spanning from the people that think it's too risky to even commute on a bike to those that ride like hooligans in rush hour traffic. As a result there is very little point arguing whether people should wear earphones. It's a free world.

There is even less point saying,

Yes,I do like to chat to cyclists when I pass them and I can`t do that if they have earphones in.Perhaps it`s also just a prejudice of mine but I`m sure it annoys other people too.Here is someone who shares my opinion,for what it`s worth.
P.S you don`t wear earphones driving in a car,it`s illegal.

and expecting that people shouldn't wear earphones because you can't talk to them at traffic lights to be taken as a serious argument.

To get back on track, I often find that the earphones fall out of my ears and fall over the ear loops on my helmet anyway. Whilst they're hanging there I can hear the music and the road noise equally well. I don't wear them on my commute as I find they just annoy me. I generally wear them on longer training rides though.

antfly

So you don`t specailise in traffic law then.My mother`s law firm does so i`ll ask one of them.
You forgot to list all the abuse i`ve been getting from people like like you who can`t bear any criticism,it`s far worse than anything i`ve said,I have never insulted you but you have already insulted me several times.If you are angry about being called an idiot perhaps you should direct your ire at the editor of bicycling magazine.As for that mountain biker, I meant that wearing earphones off-road is a different matter not that his opinion was invalid but he chose to take umbrage and you didn`t mention that he called me boring too {which is all a bit babyish anyway}.
It is a free country {not world} and I`m free to have an opinion but if you do cause an accident you`re not neccessarily the only one that gets hurt.Finally,now that I know anything I say can be regurgitated days later and used as evidence against me by pedantic lawyer types I will be more careful how I express myself.

sebastiandangerfield

Traffic law comes under crimminal. I assumed that would be obvious i.e traffic Police, Police arrest criminals?

Thats a fairly niche law firm she has there. Good luck with that.

antfly

They don`t do just traffic obviously and they`ve been going about 20 years so don`t need your sarcastic good wishes.Tosser.