EARPHONES MEGATHREAD - All questions on earphones for riding asked and answered here

[Big JD]

I use my head phones all the fucking time. They're never loud enough to cause me any problems. They cut out half the wind noise that my big ears pick up. I have volume and pause/play buttons on them so I can adjust them on the fly. I can still hear all traffic around me. What about deaf cyclists? They seem to do fine out on the black top. Let's not forget about them. Are you saying they should stay off the road and trails too?
Your points suck.

off course not - I was simply asking if it was an issue - if others were cool with out all your senses and focus. Hearing impared cyclists will tell you that their other senses are ultra-tuned and that they might in fact ride differently to compensate. Do you ride differently with loud music - common sense would say yes.

Why is it so hard to raise a question here without people thinking I am challenging their god given right to do what ever they want.
If you dont see it as an issue then cool Add but others have offered some insight of their own. Their points may differ to yours - doesnt mean yours suck

 

[foxpuppet]

hahaha look forward to seeing where this goes...

http://www.bicycleinfo.nsw.gov.au/downloads/bicycle_riders_handbook.pdf

Bicycle riders handbook for NSW

Check for hazards
Maximise your safety when riding by constantly assessing your environment for any hazards that may cause a crash. Scan the road for holes, gaps, uneven surfaces, debris and regularly look over your shoulder to check what is beside and behind you. Do not wear headphones when riding. You must be able to hear potential hazards so you can react quickly.

If you are involved in an accident or you kill the old lady with the dalmatian, at fault or not, and they see you have earphones, it's gonna be pretty hard for you to say you were completely aware of what was around you. The lawyers will be rubbing their hands together and YOU will be regretting it for the rest of your life.

Just saying...

 

[clintooo]

I ride with them on road at times, however I tend to pull them out on certain parts of my normal routes. Usually where I am coming up to heavier traffic areas and where I want to be able to hear cars coming up behind me on narrower roads.

Off road I dont though. I find I can hear my tyres when they start to break loose before I can feel it happening, something I would otherwise miss with headphones on. So it does allow you time to react rather than being dumped on the ground

I think if you are sensible it is not necessarily a problem.

 

[pharmaboy]

I ride with them on road at times, however I tend to pull them out on certain parts of my normal routes. Usually where I am coming up to heavier traffic areas and where I want to be able to hear cars coming up behind me on narrower roads.

Off road I dont though. I find I can hear my tyres when they start to break loose before I can feel it happening, something I would otherwise miss with headphones on. So it does allow you time to react rather than being dumped on the ground

I think if you are sensible it is not necessarily a problem.

Interesting that most headphone riders have said simialr things about keeping the level low etc - so managing the deficit so to speak.

Just thinking though, we are just starting into cicada season: maybe i should have a go at headphones in the bush for a month or so.

Anyways, if everyone had bloody headphones on, what was the point of the Hope pro2 hubs i bought? ;D

 

[ADD]

off course not - I was simply asking if it was an issue - if others were cool with out all your senses and focus. Hearing impared cyclists will tell you that their other senses are ultra-tuned and that they might in fact ride differently to compensate. Do you ride differently with loud music - common sense would say yes.

Why is it so hard to raise a question here without people thinking I am challenging their god given right to do what ever they want.
If you dont see it as an issue then cool Add but others have offered some insight of their own. Their points may differ to yours - doesnt mean yours suck

Box of tissues? Don't be so sensitive.
I might've sounded a little aggressive but I'm not... Usually. All comments should be taken light heartedly. Just expressing myself like everyone else.

 

[Big JD]

Box of tissues? Don't be so sensitive.
I might've sounded a little aggressive but I'm not... Usually. All comments should be taken light heartedly. Just expressing myself like everyone else.

ok terrific

 

[Ridenparadise]

I don't want to use music when I ride - my choice. When I go bush I want to hear bush. I also don't really care what others do, but it can be a pain riding unnoticed behind someone who can't hear you and isn't interested in anyone other than No 1. However, the only real issue I have is girls plugged in and totally oblivious to their surroundings whether walking or riding. If you are going to shit your pants when someone who has been riding 1m off your backside for minutes finds a spot to pass, then perhaps you need to consider the potential for some sicko to be waiting for the chance to grab you from behind. Isolated areas, single girls and loss of awareness is a scary combination. I see it all the time around here.

 

[rone]

I don't want to use music when I ride - my choice. When I go bush I want to hear bush.

[video=youtube;BW3gKKiTvjs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW3gKKiTvjs[/video]

 

[Big JD]

nice one Rone

you are on fire

 

[rone]

you are on fire

As opposed to Kate, who just dances like she is.

 

[wilddemon]

...you just know was a 12" long king brown !!!

12" snake impressive in the bedroom, not so much trailside.

 

[Knut]

Dozer - I never ride with ear phone/music because I do like to listen out of sounds off road. That wombat or roo running through the scrub, sound of tyres or laughter coming the other way.
Likewise on the road - I can hear car and bike tyres behind me - bike changing gears. Trucks changing gears or that diesel drone. But that is just me
More me I just feel safer if all my senses are engaged - off road and on. I had a head on in the 90s (with a guy wearing headphones and no helmet) on a bike path in Brisbane around a blind overgrown corner - (I called out). We clashed heads and both were knocked cold and taken to hospital. I tore all the muscles in my neck and took a while to recover but the other guy discovered (from a catscan) he had a preexisting blockage to the brain. He was booked in for an operation a week later. I look at it - if we didnt crash, knocked out - he would never of had a scan and found this blockage which might have killed him anytime.
I dont really care what others do - I personally just need that focus. In the car it is the Hi5 and Justine Clark which I just shut off.

I ride with head phones for the following reasons:

I hate wombats, actually not as much as those fucking koalas who constantly growl and bitch about their trees being cut down. If I had my way, there would be bush everywhere with singletrack in between. I am not a politician so I can't change it. I am not on a committee so I can't complain about it. We are all in it together. Get over it.

I don't ride with anyone else, because all they want to do is moan and bitch about this guy, that guy, how it used to be in 1998 blardy blardy blah. I don't want to hear anyone laughing either. It means they are riding too slow, are not concentrating on going faster and are too stupid to stay quiet enough not to wake up the fucking koalas.

I don't need to hear the sound of my tyres. I don't own a 29er, so clearly I am there to ride and not dribble on about wheel size and then try to pick up men in the car park.

On my road bike I don't want to hear some wanker drive past in his six cylinder commodore or his fucking girlfriend in her Lancer with a 44 gallon drum for an exhaust pipe. I bet they have koala skinned seat belt covers with matching wombat steering wheel covers. If some over-drugged, banjo strumming, deliverance reject from Forrest drives too close to me in his CAT Kenworth, I don't want to know that my last moments on earth was on a fucking road bike. I hate Lance Armstrong.

I would rather get run over by a truck and my earphones used as a koalas necklace and my helmet used for a wombat nest than ride without my music.

 

[flamshmizer]

I ride with head phones for the following reasons:

I hate wombats, actually not as much as those fucking koalas who constantly growl and bitch about their trees being cut down. If I had my way, there would be bush everywhere with singletrack in between. I am not a politician so I can't change it. I am not on a committee so I can't complain about it. We are all in it together. Get over it.

I don't ride with anyone else, because all they want to do is moan and bitch about this guy, that guy, how it used to be in 1998 blardy blardy blah. I don't want to hear anyone laughing either. It means they are riding too slow, are not concentrating on going faster and are too stupid to stay quiet enough not to wake up the fucking koalas.

I don't need to hear the sound of my tyres. I don't own a 29er, so clearly I am there to ride and not dribble on about wheel size and then try to pick up men in the car park.

On my road bike I don't want to hear some wanker drive past in his six cylinder commodore or his fucking girlfriend in her Lancer with a 44 gallon drum for an exhaust pipe. I bet they have koala skinned seat belt covers with matching wombat steering wheel covers. If some over-drugged, banjo strumming, deliverance reject from Forrest drives too close to me in his CAT Kenworth, I don't want to know that my last moments on earth was on a fucking road bike. I hate Lance Armstrong.

I would rather get run over by a truck and my earphones used as a koalas necklace and my helmet used for a wombat nest than ride without my music.

Should just lock this thread now, it can only go downhill from that post, that was brilliant.

 

[Brooksy007]

Just gonna say it. Toughen up guys...

...Its people moaning about each other that is turning Australia in to a pussy nanny country where everything has rules and regulations. Mind your own business and worry about your doing, forget about others do your own thing.

Hear Hear - think I want this as my new quote...

 

[Big JD]

Knut you are a slut - in a good way

 

[Mad Hatter]

Well I ride with some nice easy tunes playing softly to set the mood and enhance the riding experience of being in the bush and at one with nature
..........

NOT!

Nothing like a bit of Slipknot or Dillinger Escape Plan to mash the old SS up One Tree Hill.
Here comes the pain. Oh yeah.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Now for something serious

OK, whats the protocol for headphones while racing a 6 hour?
Can`t say its something I`ve done, but my beloved is about to line up for a big race and likes a few tunes while pedalling away for 6+ hours essentially by herself.
Would that be frowned on? Are there events/races with "no headphone" rules?

Cheers
MH

 

[neo_vitamin]

It is pretty dangerous while commuting and see it daily - they just dont know you are there and cant hear you speaking to them. Now I see a few people on the trails along the Yarra ST. I ride there with a bell because the corners are overgrown and tight - they dont have a chance in hell of hearing me.

So they have earphones in blasting One Direction while strava'ing on tight ST in the height of tiger snake session on a shared trail with people walking their dogs and nannas. Reckon it could be an issue?

News headlines - "Out of control mountain biker impales eldery lady and dalmation out on a Sunday stroll"

Love riding with music Even better snowboarding but that's another story

 

[NUMBER5]

I ride with head phones for the following reasons:

I hate wombats, actually not as much as those fucking koalas who constantly growl and bitch about their trees being cut down. If I had my way, there would be bush everywhere with singletrack in between. I am not a politician so I can't change it. I am not on a committee so I can't complain about it. We are all in it together. Get over it.

I don't ride with anyone else, because all they want to do is moan and bitch about this guy, that guy, how it used to be in 1998 blardy blardy blah. I don't want to hear anyone laughing either. It means they are riding too slow, are not concentrating on going faster and are too stupid to stay quiet enough not to wake up the fucking koalas.

I don't need to hear the sound of my tyres. I don't own a 29er, so clearly I am there to ride and not dribble on about wheel size and then try to pick up men in the car park.

On my road bike I don't want to hear some wanker drive past in his six cylinder commodore or his fucking girlfriend in her Lancer with a 44 gallon drum for an exhaust pipe. I bet they have koala skinned seat belt covers with matching wombat steering wheel covers. If some over-drugged, banjo strumming, deliverance reject from Forrest drives too close to me in his CAT Kenworth, I don't want to know that my last moments on earth was on a fucking road bike. I hate Lance Armstrong.

I would rather get run over by a truck and my earphones used as a koalas necklace and my helmet used for a wombat nest than ride without my music.

LOL......... Sounds like we should go for a pedal some day.... I'll make sure I bring my headphones

 

[Big JD]

the head phones have it

well the response is overwhelmingly in favour of headphones and people dont see it as an issue (as long as common sense prevails )

right then - moving on................