Is there any safe way to listen to music when on a bike?

[patmahe]

Hi All,

Just wondering, is there any magical solution to the problem of listening to music while still being able to hear approaching traffic etc... when I was younger I used to listen to a walkman (yep I'm old) when cycling. I stopped it on safety grounds but miss it.

Any ideas?

[r-kid]

How about these:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/03/bone-transmission...

I've not seen any in the shops or any real reviews so can't tell if they work or not.

[louiebaby]

Speakers on the handle-bars?

[Electric Beaver]

I just use in ear headphones but leave the right one out. I can still hear both traffic and music / encouragement from Endomondo

[carreauchompeur]

I used to be dead against this, however iPhone standard earbuds don't fit tightly so provided you have it at a sensible volume it isn't that much of a distraction.

[samwilliams]

Electric Beaver said:

I just use in ear headphones but leave the right one out. I can still hear both traffic and music / encouragement from Endomondo

This is what I do and it seems fine to me. Learned my lesson after a near-miss with a cargo ship; Chopped one ear off my earphones immediately afterwards!

[Watchman]

samwilliams said:

Learned my lesson after a near-miss with a cargo ship

What? I mean... what?

[carreauchompeur]

Watchman said:

samwilliams said:

Learned my lesson after a near-miss with a cargo ship

What? I mean... what?

Glad someone else thought WTF too!

[AyBee]

carreauchompeur said:

Watchman said:

samwilliams said:

Learned my lesson after a near-miss with a cargo ship

What? I mean... what?

Glad someone else thought WTF too!

How have you managed to mix cargo ships and bikes?

I used to ride with both headphones in although they are never noise-cancelling ones. Now, I usually ride without but on the odd occasion I do, I'll put the left one in only.

[robbieduncan]

iPhone with Awareness! app. I've tried it and it works pretty well. Uses the mic on the headset and a threshold for how loud the external sound has to be and then mixes that with the music

[Justayellowbadge]

It's a man bag. It's a speaker. It's guitar shaped.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0035FUTD0/ref=...

You will, of course, look like an utter tt.

[samwilliams]

Watchman said:

hat? I mean... what?

Admittedly I was in a rowing boat rather than a bike, but it was a very clear reminder that, with headphones in, you can be completely oblivious to some pretty big things around you. The first I knew about it was when it pulled up alongside me (well, 200 yards away or so, but that's near enough when it's that big, I can assure you). Terrifying to think what could have happened had they not known I was there.

[anonymous-user]

why would you though? if there is an accident, it just gives the other party invovled an avenue to reduce their responsibility (and your compensation) if they can try to prove that you were either not paying attention or acted in such a way that by virture of having headphones on, you were not fully aware of your surroundings and were partially at fault.

[carreauchompeur]

samwilliams said:

Admittedly I was in a rowing boat rather than a bike.

Ah, I seee!

Cargo ships are bloody huge when you're up close (And low in the water). I had a similar experience in Vietnam when the speedboat we were travelling in misjudged the wake of a large sand barge we were passing and we ended up broadsiding it.

Very, very dicey, especially when the cabin was barely 5ft high. I'd started moving quickly to the open deck at the back as soon as I saw what was developing. Our vessel survived, but not without some very concerned Vietnamese crew repeatedly checking down the engine hatch

[donfisher]

I sometimes see a chap on a Brompton on his way to work listening to The Today programme on one of THESE

Apart from battling against the noise of heavy traffic it seems quite sensible.

[Watchman]

samwilliams said:

Watchman said:

What? I mean... what?

Admittedly I was in a rowing boat rather than a bike, but it was a very clear reminder that, with headphones in, you can be completely oblivious to some pretty big things around you. The first I knew about it was when it pulled up alongside me (well, 200 yards away or so, but that's near enough when it's that big, I can assure you). Terrifying to think what could have happened had they not known I was there.

Ha ha Fair enough. I couldn't work out any scenario where a cargo ship and a bicycle could cross paths in a potentially dangerous manner.


My earliest memory is of being in a pleasure boat on the river Fal and seeing the ENORMASSIVE military ships so high in the water that their propellers were partially exposed. I found it terrifying at 20 months old, even though they were still, and it's one of the few things I still find inexplicably terrifying if I see them now (I'm 43yo).

[oyster]

No

[mikecassie]

I use an older pair similar to this - http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/pr...
They are ok because they don't sit in my ears and with the volume down low I hear traffic approaching quite easily.
But there are times I pull them off on the busier roads, just incase.....

[chrisobrien54]

At the risk of getting jumped on by all, but if a car's going to hit you, is hearing it coming going to save your skin?

I'd suggest that if there's a wayward car on it's way, esp from behind - there's little you can do about it.

I cycle to work as often as I can, and I usually have no problem tracking what's around me (it's part of the fun!) but if my number's up, no amount of early warning and quick reflex is going to move me out of harms way.

BTW I say this, my cousin was knocked off his bike and killed by a charv losing control of his Vauxhall Nova. He was 24 years old. Before anyone suggests I'm being naive about road saftey.

Edited by chrisobrien54 on Saturday 21st July 19:59

[anonymous-user]

There is supposed to be a music player built into a water bottle shaped thing being released soon. IIRC it takes memory sticks etc. Patent was submitted ages ago, I cant remember the brand name.