150 replies to this topic

[sweet97]

Hey all, just curious about how many here ride with earplugs, and why you do. Since getting the VFR, I started wearing them, and now won't ride without them. Much more pleasant ride - not near as much noise. Let's hear it....

Dave P.

[Ryanme17]

I'm a musician, so earplugs are a must. If your ears are ringing, or hurt, you've already done irreversible damage.

[sirimiri]

Never, ever when I was under 28. Now I regret it.

Fast foward to nearly 34 - if it's over 3 miles round trip, or involves the freeway (either/or criteria) then I always do. In fact, I get nervous if I can't find them.

I find that my rate of hearing loss is lessened by wearing them. I get 'em at Target in bulk.

[hlf]

If you value your hearing, you wear ear plugs.

[vlj1216]

I used to wear them from time to time, defiantly cut down the wind noise and made for a much nicer ride. Now, I have speakers in my helmet and I think music makes for and even better ride. I want to get some kinda volume booster cause at highway speeds and beyond I can barley hear it, if I can get it loud enough to hear through earplugs then I would start wearing them again.

[meddle1999]

Well after 15plus years in a machine shop where I wear ear plugs every day I always wear them on my bike. Yeah they cut the wind noise but I think the bigges benefit to me is being able to hear my bike. I never ride with out them.

[azboy]

I use the Big Ear custom plugs, buy a new set every year at the Laguna MotoGP round. Why do I wear them? because I want to be able to hear the dinner bell at the old folks home when the time comes

[Ryanme17]

I used to wear them from time to time, defiantly cut down the wind noise and made for a much nicer ride. Now, I have speakers in my helmet and I think music makes for and even better ride. I want to get some kinda volume booster cause at highway speeds and beyond I can barley hear it, if I can get it loud enough to hear through earplugs then I would start wearing them again.

Supra-aural (over the ear) headphones or speakers cranked up to be heard over windnoise is going to give you massive hearing loss VERY quickly. You want to maximize signal-to-noise ratio. I would highly recommend a decent pair of in-ear monitors. You can go to Walmart and pay as little as $20, or spend $300-$700 on custom fit pieces. Either way you'll get much, much better sound with much less hearing loss.

All that's needed is a decent seal, if you're going cheap, I find the ones with rubber ear-canal seals work better than the foam ones.
Something like these: http://www.buy.com/r...tingid=36039509

This site has them listed for $30 shipped, but you can probably get them or something similar for $25 or $30.

Oh, and one last thing, if you run the wires up and behind your ear (as opposed to with the wires hanging straight down) they will fit much better and not move around in your helmet!

[hlf]

I used to wear them from time to time, defiantly cut down the wind noise and made for a much nicer ride. Now, I have speakers in my helmet and I think music makes for and even better ride. I want to get some kinda volume booster cause at highway speeds and beyond I can barley hear it, if I can get it loud enough to hear through earplugs then I would start wearing them again.

Oh, man, you are just boosting the music volume over the already too high wind noise. This is not good for your ears. Look into some good ear speakers (e.g., Etymotic Research ER6's) that will both quiet the wind noise, and sound a lot better than any helmet speaker.

[TimC]

I wear earplugs for just about any ride over 15-20 minutes, esp. if it's on the freeway.

I'm a musician (like Ryan) so my hearing is important to me. I can't believe how many years I went without earplugs on loud stages when I was younger. Now I can't stand to NOT use them, either on stage or on the bike - again for anything longer than short trips.

BTW, after doing an all-day ride on a Sunday with earplugs, while doing my 10-mile commute to work without earplugs the wind noise seems extremely loud!