Music when riding.

flashbax

Ok did a search and it came up with nothing so if this has been said my bad.
So just come back off my dinner break while walking down to local Morrison’s a guy on a racer (whatever you call them now) shot past us with a big set of cans on. Now is it just me or listening to music while riding on the road seems a bit scary, you have no sense of what’s behind you or hear how close it is, and big beats audio type things just looked all out to sea to me.
Maybe I'm just getting old but I'll never have in-ear or cans on while riding off or on road.

Chunkers1980

A racer is now termed a road bike or to use its technical term, an uphill gardener's bike.

We shouldn't discourage the use of headphones on road bikes as less is more.

flashbax

Wow! If hats what you call racers I'd hate to know what you call them bikes with small wheels that fold up you always see on trains but never actually being ridden.

The Rookie

So headphones like that presumably meant no lid as well, that and buying a road bike points him out as a Moron and clearly destined for a well deserved Darwin award!

paul.skibum

You lot obviously havent been in London in a while - no lids and big old bins is the bumbling commuters dress code of choice unfortunately.

dannyjames8

I always listen to music when riding

gt-arrowhead

I live in London and i never wear a helmet when commuting admittedly. I obviously wear one when mtbing.

And admittedly i do occasionally ride on the pavement... i know its a thoughtless and moronic thing to do. But i ride very slowly (jogging pace-ish) and when i do and im not going to be a threat to anyone. The reason being is that i dont feel comfortable riding very slowly on the road.

Well ive been riding to and fro from school for 3 years now and been going all over the place and have never had an incident. I have had someone drive on the wrong side of the road coming towards me before but other than that, not a problem.

IMO riding while listening to music is a very very bad idea. Hearing is a big part of my awareness on a bike. Like i can hear a car coming from behind me or something, or a car coming round the corner.

It also effects concentration. Not concentrating on what you are doing is a very bad idea while cycling.

njee20

I listen to music when riding on the road, can still hear traffic, actually better because of the reduced wind noise. I also can't tell the difference in the sound of a car which will mow me down and one which will overtake me. I wouldn't rely solely on my hearing before making any sort of manoeuvre anyway, so to my mind it makes fuck all difference.

gt-arrowhead

Wearing a hat would be the best way of preventing the wind sound while still maintaining your hearing. It covers your ears up so you cant hear the wind, and you can still hear.

Kowalski675

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

I live in London and i never wear a helmet when commuting admittedly. I obviously wear one when mtbing.

Is tarmac softer than mud then? :roll:

Graham K

Listen to music on day rides, can still hear cars, as said previous I use more than my ears before making a manouvre,
I dont do music on night rides, dont know why, just dont feel comfortable with it.

njee20

Wearing a hat would be the best way of preventing the wind sound while still maintaining your hearing. It covers your ears up so you cant hear the wind, and you can still hear.

I do wear a hat, makes no difference.

Kowalski675

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Wearing a hat would be the best way of preventing the wind sound while still maintaining your hearing. It covers your ears up so you cant hear the wind, and you can still hear.

Earplugs filter out wind noise, actually letting you hear other sounds better. Not sure they'd really be necessary on a pushbike though...

gt-arrowhead

Yeah probably a bit overkill that. Youd look like a knob aswell if you did that on a bicycle.

Njee, when im cycling, i notice that putting a hood up kills any sort of wind noise. So you can just hear the bike and anything else alot more clearly.

poah

I used to listen to music when cycling. wasn't very loud and I could still hear everything going on around me as I didn't use the ear phones that go right into your ears. I wear my FF now everywhere so don't have room for them anymore

Chunkers1980

"I wear my FF now everywhere"

Why?

poah

Chunkers1980 wrote:

"I wear my FF now everywhere"

Why?

other than keeping my head warm it protects my face.

Ryan Jones

If you're checking where you're maneuvering prior to making the move, then I cannot see why headphones make a difference. Ever tried riding a motorbike? If so then you'd know that your ears are of pretty much no use, but an over-the-shoulder check is

Personally I'd go for one of these little bad-boys, and put Lamb of God on repeat :twisted: : http://www.scosche.com/boombottle-weatherproof-wireless-portable-speaker-grey

Kowalski675

Ryan Jones wrote:

Ever tried riding a motorbike? If so then you'd know that your ears are of pretty much no use

Cobblers.

andymanley

I don't even like running with headphones as I'm pretty much deaf in one ear so all my sound has only got one way in!

joelsim

I never wear earphones when riding in London, much prefer to be be aware of what's going on around me. Call me Capt Sensible if you wish.

step83

Only wear them when on the turbo trainer, open road it just seems daft you cant hear whats coming up behind you. I do wear a buff or similar over my head and ears just to stop the wind noise my lug holes are so big I cant tell if its a car behind me of just the wind without one.

njee20

open road it just seems daft you cant hear whats coming up behind you.

What do you do with the information though? I don't tend to randomly swerve into the road without at least looking first. I can't tell the difference between the sound of a car which will safely pass, and one which will mow me down, and living in the South East it's not unreasonable to get passed by at least 1,000 cars in a ride, should I be getting out of their way or something!?

I do wear a buff or similar over my head and ears just to stop the wind noise my lug holes are so big I cant tell if its a car behind me of just the wind without one.

Hang on... so you can't hear anyway!? FWIW I find myself thinking there's a car behind me when there isn't a lot more regularly if I'm not wearing headphones, like a Buff, they filter out wind noise.

joelsim

I never listen to headphones when riding, prefer to have all my senses available. It may be different if I was riding with no traffic, but in London, never.

EDIT: D'oh. Have posted on this thread already.

njee20

Yes I must say I don't in London, but that's more as a bit of defence for when I inevitably have a physical altercation with a car - no point giving them any ammunition, and for traffic light discussions.

RutlandGav

I am fortunate in that my current commute is across quiet country back roads in the early hours of the morning and late in the evening. So, a nice pair of full-ear headphones can keep my lugs warm, screen out wind noise as well as keep me entertained. I am aware of the presence of a vehicle by its headlights long before it passes me, however when the days start getting longer i will be faced with the choice of

a) kill the music, once it gets light

or

b) stay close to the kerb at all times, since i can no longer tell when a vehicle may be close

In town i stay close to the kerb at all times regardless, and will look over my shoulder before executing any kind of lane change whether i hear a car or not. So I'm largely with the folks who say "what difference does it make if you can hear or not/what are you supposed to do with the knowledge that a car is close".

The one caveat is unexpected lane change emergencies. A parked car opening its door. Someone pulling out of their driveway/out of a side road and waiting with their bonnet sticking out a couple of feet into the main road. This can happen with insufficient time for me to properly look over my shoulder and check if it's safe to go around the obstacle. If I can hear i could make a better informed decision whether to swerve around the obstacle or just keep braking straight ahead , even if that means colliding with them. Also if i do opt to look over my shoulder (and the traffic is not too heavy), i might hear the sound of their engine revving if they've decided to pull out on me (meaning i should swerve hard onto the driveway they just emerged from).

Really, all of the above are no-win situations, the best solution would be to change your route. I commuted from one side of Nottingham to the other for 10 years and had just one collision (truck pulling out on me, new wheel and forks time). I chose a route with a nice wide urban road where the traffic could pass without taking any avoiding action , in the emergencies described above i would just slam the anchors on and accept the low speed collision, without having to worry about being struck from behind.

I'd really like an easy-to-reach mute/pause button i can stick on the handlebars, for when the commute gets technical.

GLOYT

i just sing, sometime's to myself and sometime's to whoever's about

njee20

I am fortunate in that my current commute is across quiet country back roads in the early hours of the morning and late in the evening. So, a nice pair of full-ear headphones can keep my lugs warm, screen out wind noise as well as keep me entertained. I am aware of the presence of a vehicle by its headlights long before it passes me, however when the days start getting longer i will be faced with the choice of

a) kill the music, once it gets light

or

b) stay close to the kerb at all times, since i can no longer tell when a vehicle may be close

In town i stay close to the kerb at all times regardless, and will look over my shoulder before executing any kind of lane change whether i hear a car or not. So I'm largely with the folks who say "what difference does it make if you can hear or not/what are you supposed to do with the knowledge that a car is close".

You should never hug the kerb, you leave yourself nowhere to go and encourage dangerous overtaking. Advice is 60cm out, and take primary position where it's not safe for cars to pass. You're just putting yourself in danger by riding in the gutter. Not to mention more likely to get punctures and what not.

RutlandGav

njee20 wrote:

You should never hug the kerb, you leave yourself nowhere to go and encourage dangerous overtaking. Advice is 60cm out, and take primary position where it's not safe for cars to pass. You're just putting yourself in danger by riding in the gutter. Not to mention more likely to get punctures and what not.

"leave yourself nowhere to go" - where exactly can you go and what can you avoid by being more in the lane?

As a cyclist riding along a straight piece of road you're either going to be struck from behind by a driver that didn't see you (hugging the kerb makes you safer IF it's a wide enough road that the normal driving position gives the driver room to go past you without him making any kind of course correction at all, if it's a narrow road you're probably equally screwed either way) or , more likely, someone will pull out in front of you and you're going to dent their driver side door (doesn't really make any difference what your road position is).

As regards punctures, potholes very true. And you forgot mud and rain. In the winter the gutter is full of muddy water and that crap will constantly spray up from your tyres and wreck the running gear. But that's why you have a nice tough MTB isn't it NJEE? Kevlar belt tyres, Panaracer Flataway tape, Slime, kept me down to one puncture a year even riding in the gutter.

If you're on a road bike, a piece of gutter debris could cause you to loose control, so you have to swerve around it and that puts you in danger - better to be out in the lane to begin with - since our MTB can just crash straight over bricks, planks of wood, fallen tree branches it's not the same.

njee20

leave yourself nowhere to go" - where exactly can you go and what can you avoid by being more in the lane?

Really? If you're riding 60cm from the kerb and a car squeezes past you've got more than a bike width of room to play with without leaving the road. Put yourself 10cm from the edge of the road and more folk will squeeze through, because you've left a gap, and you have no room whatsoever to move over. Stupid idea. If you can't see the problems with that I'd recommend a very basic cycling course.

.But that's why you have a nice tough MTB isn't it NJEE? Kevlar belt tyres, Panaracer Flataway tape, Slime, kept me down to one puncture a year even riding in the gutter.

No it most certainly is not! I tend to avoid riding my MTB on the road, it's unpleasant, and I absolutely will not fit heavy tyres and slime tubes to facilitate riding in a dangerous position, I'll just ride where it's safer. YMMV.

RutlandGav

njee20 wrote:

leave yourself nowhere to go" - where exactly can you go and what can you avoid by being more in the lane?

Really? If you're riding 60cm from the kerb and a car squeezes past you've got more than a bike width of room to play with without leaving the road. Put yourself 10cm from the edge of the road and more folk will squeeze through, because you've left a gap, and you have no room whatsoever to move over. Stupid idea. If you can't see the problems with that I'd recommend a very basic cycling course. YMMV.

How do you know a car is going to pass you too close, until it is already alongside and will have already hit you, if it was in fact too close? Unless you fit mirrors, and watch them constantly, to the detriment of looking fwd?