bone conduction headphones

kennygalbraith

Hi

I'm pondering over whether to get a set bone conduction headphones (http://www.evanscycles.com/products/aft ... e-ec044525) Currently I dont use any headphones during my daily commute, I'm not on chaotic busy roads but I would like something I could listen to the radio on or phone sat nav etc without compromising safety to much. Does anyone use them and are they worth the £70.00

Cheers

neal1984

I was looking at these too. They get good reviews on Amazon and the Evans site. Wish I could try them first thou.

GiantMike

I can't imagine anybody wanting to use headphones while commuting. As if commuting isn't dangerous enough without losing one of your senses.

arran77

GiantMike wrote:

I can't imagine anybody wanting to use headphones while commuting. As if commuting isn't dangerous enough without losing one of your senses.

Exactly, with the tragic events of recent weeks I'd be doing all I could to stay alive :shock:

flashgorman

Indeed, I was once killed wearing headphones on my bike and that was before I had even left the garage.

I shudder to think what would have happened if i had made it out on to the open road.

Runtothehills

arran77 wrote:

GiantMike wrote:

I can't imagine anybody wanting to use headphones while commuting. As if commuting isn't dangerous enough without losing one of your senses.

Exactly, with the tragic events of recent weeks I'd be doing all I could to stay alive :shock:

Did either of you check the link? The whole point of these headphones is they don't go in your ears so you can still hear stuff. It would be like holding a conversation while cycling: something I do often and don't feel unsafe.

Plus I know a couple of mostly deaf people (require hearing aids, no directional hearing) that seem to be able to cycle just fine.

arran77

Runtothehills wrote:

arran77 wrote:

GiantMike wrote:

I can't imagine anybody wanting to use headphones while commuting. As if commuting isn't dangerous enough without losing one of your senses.

Exactly, with the tragic events of recent weeks I'd be doing all I could to stay alive :shock:

Did either of you check the link? The whole point of these headphones is they don't go in your ears so you can still hear stuff. It would be like holding a conversation while cycling: something I do often and don't feel unsafe.

Plus I know a couple of mostly deaf people (require hearing aids, no directional hearing) that seem to be able to cycle just fine.

Why bother to check the facts :roll:

Mikey23

Was doing my usual ride last week and coming down a narrow twisty country lane where I usually give it a bit of welly. It was a very windy day so lots of tree noise, wind noise, bike noise, breathing noise etc. Over all this I could just discern a rumble which could possibly have been from heavy machinery. So as a precaution I slowed down and rounded a blind corner to find a hedge trimming tractor occupying the entire road and coming towards me slowly. I needed 100% hearing and concentration to discern this at the extremity of my hearing in order to avoid hitting at 30mph. Not preaching, just saying...

flashgorman

So as a precaution I slowed down and rounded a blind corner to find a hedge trimming tractor occupying the entire road and coming towards me slowly. I needed 100% hearing and concentration to discern this at the extremity of my hearing in order to avoid hitting at 30mph. Not preaching, just saying...

Hmm. It would probably be best not to go flat out around blind corners as a rule of thumb.

What if you had encountered something that was dangerous but very quiet?

A stalking lion for example or a enormous pile of knives.

Runtothehills

flashgorman wrote:

So as a precaution I slowed down and rounded a blind corner to find a hedge trimming tractor occupying the entire road and coming towards me slowly. I needed 100% hearing and concentration to discern this at the extremity of my hearing in order to avoid hitting at 30mph. Not preaching, just saying...

Hmm. It would probably be best not to go flat out around blind corners as a rule of thumb.

What if you had encountered something that was dangerous but very quiet?

A stalking lion for example or a enormous pile of knives.

Broken down car, another cyclist, sheep (this one has actually happened to me), mud/gravel... When driving you should be able to stop in the distance you can see. I apply that to cyling as well.

arran77

Runtothehills wrote:

flashgorman wrote:

So as a precaution I slowed down and rounded a blind corner to find a hedge trimming tractor occupying the entire road and coming towards me slowly. I needed 100% hearing and concentration to discern this at the extremity of my hearing in order to avoid hitting at 30mph. Not preaching, just saying...

Hmm. It would probably be best not to go flat out around blind corners as a rule of thumb.

What if you had encountered something that was dangerous but very quiet?

A stalking lion for example or a enormous pile of knives.

Broken down car, another cyclist, sheep (this one has actually happened to me), mud/gravel... When driving you should be able to stop in the distance you can see. I apply that to cyling as well.

Mikey has the big man on his side don't you know, has he never mentioned on here about the time he fell off


:P

Blacktemplar

Runtothehills wrote:

Plus I know a couple of mostly deaf people (require hearing aids, no directional hearing) that seem to be able to cycle just fine.

My Granny died of deafness, it was really quite tragic

bianchimoon

Blacktemplar wrote:

Runtothehills wrote:

Plus I know a couple of mostly deaf people (require hearing aids, no directional hearing) that seem to be able to cycle just fine.

My Granny died of deafness, it was really quite tragic

I never heard about that

rolf_f

Lol - three posts for the headphone moralists to hijack the thread; in the old days they'd have got in on the second post

(On the basis that a) we know that there are risks in cycling but that b) we know that the health benefits far outweigh those risks, can we not just allow those who wish to wear headphones (at low volume such that traffic noise is not obscured by them which is entirely possible) to just do that and accept that it is possible that they have removed a small amount of that risk benefit at their own choice but that that is OK? And can we not allow them to ask for advice on here without a witch hunt?)

arran77

Rolf F wrote:

Lol - three posts for the headphone moralists to hijack the thread; in the old days they'd have got in on the second post

(On the basis that a) we know that there are risks in cycling but that b) we know that the health benefits far outweigh those risks, can we not just allow those who wish to wear headphones (at low volume such that traffic noise is not obscured by them which is entirely possible) to just do that and accept that it is possible that they have removed a small amount of that risk benefit at their own choice but that that is OK? And can we not allow them to ask for advice on here without a witch hunt?)

In inverted commas :P

chris_bass

I used to use a small bluetooth speaker that was mounted to the handlebars, could still hear everything aorund me but with a nice bit of background music.

And don't worry, it hand pause/play/volume controls on it so i was able to stop it when there were people about! not many people probably wanted to hear my unsual blend of punk, ska, 8-bit hip-hop, accoustic, nerdcore, funk and metal as they passed me by!

squired

In a city, where there is likely to be a motor vehicle in front / next to / directly behind you for the majority of your ride I fail to see what benefit headphones provide, other than reinforcing the obvious. There is a reason deaf people can happily ride on our roads, but blind people would be in mortal danger - if you look properly and are visually aware of your surroundings you will be fine.

Personally, I feel that loud music, whether in headphones or from a car stereo, is distracting and shouldn't be allowed.

I don't ride with headphones, but I can't see the problem with someone using them in a city if they are using their eyes and actually keeping themselves aware of their surroundings.