Do you ride with headphones in ?
Discussion
J4CKO said:
Not something I would ever do on the road, I rely too much on my hearing but seen loads of other cyclists with headphones in.
Not judging as appreciate its different for all and there are functions like pass through and whatever.
Just wondering how you manage, whether you have had any issues or its fine ?
No. Never. Never ever....and I'll go as far as to have a pop at any cyclist I pass that wears them if they've not heard me coming up behind. Bloody dangerous IMO, put themselves at risk (their call), but puts others as risk too. I've had a few close misses because of it.Not judging as appreciate its different for all and there are functions like pass through and whatever.
Just wondering how you manage, whether you have had any issues or its fine ?
I used to right with headphones on back in the days of tape cassettes. I prefer being able to hear what's going on around me now. It's not just motorists on the road but also other mountain bikers on the trail. You can hear someone clattering towards you around a corner even if you can't see them.
Another thing is sometimes you get distracted by the music and aren't so proactive with your safety. Just put the music on the Gopro vid later.
Another thing is sometimes you get distracted by the music and aren't so proactive with your safety. Just put the music on the Gopro vid later.
Ares said:
No. Never. Never ever....and I'll go as far as to have a pop at any cyclist I pass that wears them if they've not heard me coming up behind. Bloody dangerous IMO, put themselves at risk (their call), but puts others as risk too. I've had a few close misses because of it.
How will you know if they've heard you coming up behind? What will the 'pop' involve? If you're passing them safely, why do they need to hear you coming up behind? If they're doing 20 mph, do you think they'll hear you without headphones?So many questions!
smegma said:
Ares said:
No. Never. Never ever....and I'll go as far as to have a pop at any cyclist I pass that wears them if they've not heard me coming up behind. Bloody dangerous IMO, put themselves at risk (their call), but puts others as risk too. I've had a few close misses because of it.
How will you know if they've heard you coming up behind? What will the 'pop' involve? If you're passing them safely, why do they need to hear you coming up behind? If they're doing 20 mph, do you think they'll hear you without headphones?So many questions!
Here in NL it's common to warn of your approach with a bell. Nearly all serious cyclists here have a bell. I moved over for a group on Sunday as they alerted me with sufficient time and distance and I moved over. My headphone doesn't block it out.
A bit my experience in the UK with serious cyclists is you'll be ridiculed if your spangly carbon race bike carries a bell, god forbid you would actually use it, where upon a torrent of abuse follows, rather than it being seen as common courtesy and an essential and sensible piece of kit.
I am a habitual user of a single headphone, I use it on the non car side (I live in NL, so it's the right ear here). I typically only listen to podcasts, not at full volume and I'm able to hear cyclists approaching from behind and certainly cars. The headphones i use have a setting which allows them to not be noise cancelling, so it in fact kinda amplifies some ambient sounds, at least it certainly doesn't cancel them out completely.
I accept I ride on a lot of cycle paths, but I still hear the wheel suckers sitting behind me (don't get many
) If at any point I felt my safety or that of others was compromised, I would stop. I have stopped. City commuting in Singapore I didn't use them, as you needed every sense about you, but I use them for general riding when I'm in the UK typically.
My view is that it's about assessing the risk rather than just applying one rule fits all scenarios, as context, timing, effort, intention of different rides are different.
Edited by Johno on Tuesday 27th October 11:40
Your Dad said:
Again you show how stupid, inept and wrong you are in what you post on here.
I suggested impairing your mobility and senses without it affecting things you do, but you wouldn’t chop your arm off or impair your vision so why would you make yourself intentionally deaf to the world?
Why don’t you wear headphones on a group ride, if it’s safe to wear them when riding solo?
No stupidness here, other than from your side, evident in copying the words I have previously used and being unable to string together a coherent argument to defend your incorrect assumptions.I suggested impairing your mobility and senses without it affecting things you do, but you wouldn’t chop your arm off or impair your vision so why would you make yourself intentionally deaf to the world?
Why don’t you wear headphones on a group ride, if it’s safe to wear them when riding solo?
Chopping ones arm off has a significant knock on effect on controlling a pushbike and will render you unable to use brakes & gears on one side. It will also affect your stability. Your point is so ridiculous - it mirrors the difference between a deaf man driving a road legal car, and a deaf man driving a car with 2 flat tyres on one side, defective steering and a broken gear box.
Vision trumps audio, as I stated earlier, there is nothing that you won't be able to plan for visually as long as your being sensible. Riding to what you can see to be clear is all one needs to do to plan for the road ahead. I manage to filter in daily rush hour traffic in London with no issues using my eyes alone, this is impossible to do using ears alone. So again your point is comical at best.
I wouldn't wear headphones on a group ride as this is an activity that is not only sociable, but also where instructions are issued between the group. This is in stark contrast to any solo ride I do. A group ride requires a certain amount of participation so in these circumstances, phones don't work.
But, getting back to your non evidence based assumptions of danger, there is no additional danger caused in either solo or group rides by phones. Maintaining position, steady with your movements and a constant all round awareness of other riders is all that is required. You do realise the professional peleton use headphones don't you?
As you were!
smegma said:
Ares said:
No. Never. Never ever....and I'll go as far as to have a pop at any cyclist I pass that wears them if they've not heard me coming up behind. Bloody dangerous IMO, put themselves at risk (their call), but puts others as risk too. I've had a few close misses because of it.
How will you know if they've heard you coming up behind? What will the 'pop' involve? If you're passing them safely, why do they need to hear you coming up behind? If they're doing 20 mph, do you think they'll hear you without headphones?So many questions!
'Pop'....I tell them to take their headphones out.
If I can give them a 3-4 foot pass, then it matter now, but often it's on narrower roads, or cycle paths....and they would, and anyone does, hear a polite shout if they've not got headphones on.
Johno said:
smegma said:
Ares said:
No. Never. Never ever....and I'll go as far as to have a pop at any cyclist I pass that wears them if they've not heard me coming up behind. Bloody dangerous IMO, put themselves at risk (their call), but puts others as risk too. I've had a few close misses because of it.
How will you know if they've heard you coming up behind? What will the 'pop' involve? If you're passing them safely, why do they need to hear you coming up behind? If they're doing 20 mph, do you think they'll hear you without headphones?So many questions!
Johno said:
Here in NL it's common to warn of your approach with a bell. Nearly all serious cyclists here have a bell. I moved over for a group on Sunday as they alerted me with sufficient time and distance and I moved over. My headphone doesn't block it out.
A bit my experience in the UK with serious cyclists is you'll be ridiculed if your spangly carbon race bike carries a bell, god forbid you would actually use it, where upon a torrent of abuse follows, rather than it being seen as common courtesy and an essential and sensible piece of kit.
I usually choose to shout a polite 'excuse me' or 'on your left', always then followed with a thanks and/or "morning/afternoon"A bit my experience in the UK with serious cyclists is you'll be ridiculed if your spangly carbon race bike carries a bell, god forbid you would actually use it, where upon a torrent of abuse follows, rather than it being seen as common courtesy and an essential and sensible piece of kit.
Johno said:
I am a habitual user of a single headphone, I use it on the non car side (I live in NL, so it's the right ear here). I typically only listen to podcasts, not at full volume and I'm able to hear cyclists approaching from behind and certainly cars. The headphones i use have a setting which allows them to not be noise cancelling, so it in fact kinda amplifies some ambient sounds, at least it certainly doesn't cancel them out completely.
I accept I ride on a lot of cycle paths, but I still hear the wheel suckers sitting behind me (don't get many )
Single, non passing side headphone is largely a non-issue, and passing a cyclist with that, you wouldn't even be aware of it.I accept I ride on a lot of cycle paths, but I still hear the wheel suckers sitting behind me (don't get many
) Johno said:
If at any point I felt my safety or that of others was compromised, I would stop. I have stopped. City commuting in Singapore I didn't use them, as you needed every sense about you, but I use them for general riding when I'm in the UK typically.
My view is that it's about assessing the risk rather than just applying one rule fits all scenarios, as context, timing, effort, intention of different rides are different.
My view is that it's about assessing the risk rather than just applying one rule fits all scenarios, as context, timing, effort, intention of different rides are different.
Edited by Johno on Tuesday 27th October 11:40
Armchair_Expert said:
You do realise the professional peleton use headphones don't you?
They use a single ear piece, in a controlled environment. Not a comparable to you commuting in Surrey with music turned up to the max in both ears.I'd hate to ride with you or a group you're in if instructions are given verbally if I was profoundly deaf. Arm signals to the group will trump shouted instructions any day given wind/traffic noise.
Your Dad said:
Armchair_Expert said:
You do realise the professional peleton use headphones don't you?
They use a single ear piece, in a controlled environment. Not a comparable to you commuting in Surrey with music turned up to the max in both ears.I'd hate to ride with you or a group you're in if instructions are given verbally if I was profoundly deaf. Arm signals to the group will trump shouted instructions any day given wind/traffic noise.
....but pros don't encounter riders travelling 10-20kph faster then them, squeezing passed on a public highway/cycle path
Mastodon2 said:
Nope. I'd consider listening to music during easy or steady indoor rights where I'm not focusing on hard efforts. Out on the road, I wouldn't listen to music. The peace and quiet of being outdoors is one of the good things about cycling.
This, for me. I ride to get away from distractions and to enjoy the open air and the countryside. I want to do that with my senses unencumbered. So I don't ride with headphones of any kind, neither on road, nor off. I want to hear the birds and the beasts. I want to hear the wind in my ears (they're big ears, so a lot of wind). I want to listen to the sound my tyres and wheels make, and the noise of the pawls in the freehub ratchet when I lean into a corner and drop the outside pedal. And most of all, I want to listen out for, but not hear random mechanical noises that shouldn't be there......and if I need musical accompaniment? I've got a head full of tracks and tunes that I can whistle, hum, or sing, either out loud or in my head to get me through a particularly lonely stretch of Byway, or a particularly tough climb.
I encountered a headphone wearing ped last week in Sheffield, I'd slowed to a crawl on approaching him as he was walking in the middle of the (shared use) path. Rang my bell several times, no response. Called out 'Hello, excuse me', no response. Came to a stop and resorted to a shout before he realised he was about to walk into a cyclist.
"Sorry mate, I was engrossed in my music and didn't see you".
He was walking towards me, didn't see me or hear me.
"Sorry mate, I was engrossed in my music and didn't see you".
He was walking towards me, didn't see me or hear me.
pablo said:
BrundanBianchi said:
pablo said:
He’s kind of right though, I know a few partially or fully deaf cyclists who ride without hearing aids and I’ve ridden with one or two. They were no safer/more dangerous than anyone else I’ve ridden with.
Being deaf, and being distracted aren’t the same thing. Deaf people adapt, people who aren’t deaf and use headphones riding a bike on the road are organ donors in waiting. Absolute bell ends, they play silly games, they win silly prizes.Your Dad said:
They use a single ear piece, in a controlled environment. Not a comparable to you commuting in Surrey with music turned up to the max in both ears.
I'd hate to ride with you or a group you're in if instructions are given verbally if I was profoundly deaf. Arm signals to the group will trump shouted instructions any day given wind/traffic noise.
That's true actually, mostly it is arm instructions - so perhaps less of an issue. But my point is that it is for social and interactive reasons I wouldn't ride with phones on in a group, not safety.I'd hate to ride with you or a group you're in if instructions are given verbally if I was profoundly deaf. Arm signals to the group will trump shouted instructions any day given wind/traffic noise.
I wouldn't worry about riding in a group with me anyway, you wouldn't keep up.
Armchair_Expert said:
Your Dad said:
They use a single ear piece, in a controlled environment. Not a comparable to you commuting in Surrey with music turned up to the max in both ears.
I'd hate to ride with you or a group you're in if instructions are given verbally if I was profoundly deaf. Arm signals to the group will trump shouted instructions any day given wind/traffic noise.
That's true actually, mostly it is arm instructions - so perhaps less of an issue. But my point is that it is for social and interactive reasons I wouldn't ride with phones on in a group, not safety.I'd hate to ride with you or a group you're in if instructions are given verbally if I was profoundly deaf. Arm signals to the group will trump shouted instructions any day given wind/traffic noise.
I wouldn't worry about riding in a group with me anyway, you wouldn't keep up.
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