Wearing headphones

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed

Do you wear them? Is it safe/crazy to do do so? I figure, if I get hit then at least it will look and sound like a YouTube video from my perspective.

caek, Thursday, 18 October 2007 11:12 (sixteen years ago) link

I would die so fast if I did this. I like to hear what is going on around me.

Ed, Thursday, 18 October 2007 11:15 (sixteen years ago) link

Offroad, music is great. In traffic, you is crazy.

NickB, Thursday, 18 October 2007 12:54 (sixteen years ago) link

low volumes while in traffic, once i get to the park i turn up the don cab and mastodon

cutty, Thursday, 18 October 2007 14:23 (sixteen years ago) link

ipod shuffles are great for the bike

cutty, Thursday, 18 October 2007 14:24 (sixteen years ago) link

I have stopped doing this since I got in-ear Etymotics as that does seem like asking for trouble.

caek, Thursday, 18 October 2007 14:25 (sixteen years ago) link

ha, OTM. i have those and needed to buy new ones for cycling. check out the v-modas.

cutty, Thursday, 18 October 2007 14:28 (sixteen years ago) link

it's VERY weird when wearing the etymotics, you don't even hear the wind rushing by your ears on a downhill

cutty, Thursday, 18 October 2007 14:28 (sixteen years ago) link

i do low volume on the way to work and never on the way home (more traffic and people are driving much crazier).

kinda :-\ about this...

Steve Shasta, Thursday, 18 October 2007 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link

I think if you wear headphones you might sadly miss out on the wit & wisdom of nobbish motorists.

NickB, Thursday, 18 October 2007 15:05 (sixteen years ago) link

i should say that there are dedicated cycling lanes for 90% of my commute but still...

Steve Shasta, Thursday, 18 October 2007 15:10 (sixteen years ago) link

I ride city streets with in ear style sonys. If its dicey, I take one out. It is crazy. I can barely hear my OWN dingbell.

Hunt3r, Thursday, 18 October 2007 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link

i used to do this until my ipod crapped out, and now i'm skeptical of the practice in general. mostly because turning it down to acceptable levels for traffic means i can barely hear anything anymore, so why bother. but for the park, or off-road, or long road rides in the country, i would say classic. but dudes, sound canceling phones are like o_O you gonna get jacked.

gbx, Thursday, 18 October 2007 20:02 (sixteen years ago) link

also, right before i pulled up to this coffee shop, i passed some chuck pootling like a vicar on some townie, wearing fucking over-the-ear studio phones, completely oblivious to what was going on. i wanted to go home and get my car and hit him, just to make a point.

although, actually, it's not TRAFFIC that scares me with headphones, it's the click of a car door being opened in front of you. that has actually saved my ass more than a few times

gbx, Thursday, 18 October 2007 20:04 (sixteen years ago) link

I TEND TO WHISTLE WHEN I CYCLE, DONT NEED NO HEADPHONES....THE SONG IS USUALLY REIGNITION BY BAD BRAINS.

ddb, Thursday, 18 October 2007 20:36 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh good, I'm not the only crazy whistler. I make sure to do it extra loud in very, let's say...religious neighborhoods.

Laurel, Thursday, 18 October 2007 20:48 (sixteen years ago) link

BAN LAUREL

gbx, Thursday, 18 October 2007 21:18 (sixteen years ago) link

headphones wearers in cities = a cry for help, srsly. i thought i was gonna do this and made a special mix and realised v soon i would be dead within the week if i carried on. it's the same thing i like least about driving a car; i need to not have any visual or sonic barriers to what's going on around

emsk, Thursday, 18 October 2007 22:51 (sixteen years ago) link

some chuck pootling like a vicar on some townie

are you

a) british
b) from the 1920s
c) developmentally disabled

max, Thursday, 18 October 2007 22:52 (sixteen years ago) link

Pootling like a vicar to and from work, twice.

-- Ed, Wednesday, October 17, 2007 8:32 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

f u

gbx, Thursday, 18 October 2007 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link

I haven't ever done this. I have noticed that a lot more roadies are doing it though.

W4LTER, Friday, 19 October 2007 01:59 (sixteen years ago) link

Emsk OTM. The thought of making myself even more likely to die in central London in the rush hour is not an appealing one.

New thread: wearing a blindfold

Mark C, Monday, 22 October 2007 13:38 (sixteen years ago) link

wearing headphones while cycling is plainly insane... it will both make you less likely to hear things and distract you from the things you can see and hear.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link

plus i have an ipod IN MY HEAD anyway

emsk, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 17:03 (sixteen years ago) link

i don't want to come off like "that guy" but i think some of you guys are being a little reactionary.

do you listen to music in your car? do you listen to music when you walk?

it's really not THAT different, keep the volume down to a reasonable level that you still get ambient noise from your surroundings and continue to use common sense. if i'm in a heavy traffic condition, i will take my headphones off. quite a lot of my rides are on dedicated bike lanes and/or non-motor vehicle areas, and listening to music while riding is a lot of fun.

Steve Shasta, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 18:23 (sixteen years ago) link

do you listen to music in your car?

I have mirrors in the car which I look at constantly to see what's happening around me. Also my car is roughly the same size and weight as all the other cars on the road and travels at more or less the same speed. If my car had no mirrors and most of the other vehicles were juggernauts that travelled three or four times faster than my car and were driven by people who thought that juggernauts owned the road and cars had no right to be there, I probably wouldn't think that sticking some earphones in and cranking up the music was a wise move.

Nasty, Brutish & Short, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 18:34 (sixteen years ago) link

My dad actually won't listen to music in the car for concentration reasons. He's a little nuts, though.

Shasta, I'd love to agree with you, and if there's anyone I would back to play choons while commuting it would prob be you, but considering how stabbable I find people who can't hear you say "EXCUSE ME" on the subways or the streets, I dunno.

Laurel, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 18:38 (sixteen years ago) link

dbags on fixies w/ headphones on wburg bridge need to die

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 18:49 (sixteen years ago) link

what about non dbags?

cutty, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 19:02 (sixteen years ago) link

nasty brutish and short:

thank you for ignoring everything else i wrote in that paragraph. :-D

Steve Shasta, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 19:08 (sixteen years ago) link

I didn't ignore what you wrote (about being on dedicated cycle lanes far from other traffic, etc.), I just felt a burning desire to let you know what I'd do in a hypothetical world full of superfast juggernauts.

Nasty, Brutish & Short, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link

what about non dbags?

they ride non fixed

am0n, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 19:52 (sixteen years ago) link

^^^ CONTROVERSIAL

i would tend to agree with shasta, it's just that (a) i'd probably turn music down to the point of not being that entertaining and (b) i don't have headphones

river wolf, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 20:48 (sixteen years ago) link

am0_on is a roadie?

Steve Shasta, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 21:28 (sixteen years ago) link

So, I've decided the funniest song ever to come up random on my mp3 while riding home is "Speed" by 8Ball and MJG.

"I got the right of way (look out! look out!) you got to let me through (don't slow down)"

So if one day I'm not on the board, chekc the hospital k?

Hunt3r, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 00:36 (sixteen years ago) link

some of you guys are being a little reactionary.

I dunno if reactionary's the word - I just don't want to do anything that I feel could noticeably increase the chances of me dying. And I reckon NB&S has it pretty much spot on, though if you do want a response to the rest of your paragraph, yes, I have headphones on when I walk because I don't walk in heavy traffic :)

Mark C, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 09:44 (sixteen years ago) link

three years pass...

I do if I'm on dedicated, nowhere-near-a-road cycle paths.

Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 22 August 2011 18:33 (thirteen years ago) link

I grudgingly find this acceptable.

But this wearing headphones while cycling is plainly insane... it will both make you less likely to hear things and distract you from the things you can see and hear. is otm.

I said the same thing less succinctly and more aggressively last week: http://forallmylittlewords.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/him-hes-a-cycle-path/

Upt0eleven, Monday, 22 August 2011 19:12 (thirteen years ago) link

routine.

if you hipster on your fixie tonight, dont forget, wear black. amen. (Hunt3r), Monday, 22 August 2011 19:33 (thirteen years ago) link

I am now converted to headphone wearing.

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Monday, 22 August 2011 22:13 (thirteen years ago) link

What converted you?

Upt0eleven, Monday, 22 August 2011 22:18 (thirteen years ago) link

I TEND TO WHISTLE WHEN I CYCLE, DONT NEED NO HEADPHONES....THE SONG IS USUALLY REIGNITION BY BAD BRAINS.

― ddb, Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:36 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

caek, Monday, 22 August 2011 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link

longer training rides and rediscovering audiobooks (also the RinseFM app).

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Monday, 22 August 2011 22:26 (thirteen years ago) link

xpost

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Monday, 22 August 2011 22:26 (thirteen years ago) link

Singing whilst I ride is not unusual.

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Monday, 22 August 2011 22:27 (thirteen years ago) link

i whistle; the song is usually 'the baby elephant walk'.

crip sausage (haitch), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 01:01 (thirteen years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.