Dreww10

Does anyone use a single wireless earbud while riding, and if you do, how is the microphone performance? I often make business/personal calls while out on solo rides, and my wired buds place the microphone down near my mouth, which concentrates the audio-in largely to my voice, save for situations where the wind is really strong. Since wireless buds have to pick up my voice at the ear, I'm concerned that wind, cars, etc. are going to drown out my voice. Curious to hear you opinions.

Chi_Z

riding with earphone is unsafe, if you have to, use a bluetooth speaker. Also god forbid if you did get into an accident with cars, the earphone could help the driver's case.

bpcyclist

Man, I am totally in favor of multi-tasking, generally speaking. But it scares me to think of you riding down Whatever Boulevard, trying to buy another company--or whatever you do--while also trying not to get killed on your bike. Kind of reminds me of texting while driving. Just seems really dangerous.

GlennR

How is a speaker safer?

Unless you ride rural roads, you need your hearing to be safe.

And how many of us have driven past out highway exit while talking on a hands free phone.

You need to pay full attention on what you are doing.

Disconnect... you'll be a better person for it.

Chi_Z

earphone unlike speaker also blocks out ambient sounds

GlennR

I've passed quite a number of casual cyclists with speakers that didn't hear me when I called out "on your left". So unless the car blows it's horn... you won't hear it.

Atlas Shrugged

I have and do ride from time to time with earbuds in and listening to music. I keep the volume to a reasonable level and can easily hear cars approaching. Plus I use a Varia radar which works fantastic. The new Apple earbuds have a transparency mode which allows sound through.

Hearing impared people ride safely and some of my friends which require hearing aids never wear them riding due to wind noise. But to each his own.

Athens80

Does anyone have a response to the actual question -- will the rushing air drown out his voice?

The debates about listening while riding have been done already dozens of times.

Atlas Shrugged

The AirPods work well and can talk on the phone and Siri works reliably.

robbyville

I sometimes ride with my Right Earpod in while riding solo for music. I also every now and again take calls and such. Unfortunately even while riding at slow speeds voice text and people have a hard time hearing me so I pull over. I tried my wife’s Bluetooth airbuds of a different type and still no bueno.

ultimately I still pull over if I have to make a call, safer and more understandable

DrIsotope

Through a couple of different pairs of BT earbuds, none have done a really good job at managing phone calls on the bike-- not the fault of the headphones at all, and 100% the wind noise-- but I am generally doing +15mph.

For talking while in motion, corded will always work better because it (generally) puts the mic closer to your mouth. For phone calls at speed, aside from going to a lavalier mic, the audio for people on the other end is never gonna be very good.

If the call is important, I'll pull over. The call is seldom important.

WhyFi

I wonder if something like those ridiculous looking cat ears/helmet strap sideburns would help with voice quality since they evidently help with wind noise quite a bit?

atwl77

While I can't answer the OP's question directly, but indirectly as someone who records a lot of video, I'll say that wind noise will always be an issue regardless of what microphone you use, unless
1) you get the mic as close to your mouth as possible [moderately effective],
2) the mic is given some sort of wind protection (foam shield, dead cat, etc) [typically most effective], and/or
3) the equipment has some sort of wind noise cancellation algorithm/system [from least effective to decent depending on device]

Dreww10

I use one bud (right ear, facing away from the road) and it's a basic Apple headphone, which absolutely does not cancel noise or come close to it. Volume on low and mostly rural roads. Have never had a problem hearing what's going on around me.

mstateglfr 

I'll keep listening to music thru wireless buds because I enjoy it and feel safe.
I can hear ambient noise when riding and listening to music to a point. The point where I cant hear ambient noise is when win tskes over and I wouldnt be able to hear anything without headphones either.

I dont need my hearing to ride safely. It can help in some situations, sure, but it isnt required.
If I ride in a predictable straight line and look around to what's coming up, I am riding safely.

GlennR

Glad you feel safe, but riders coming up to pass don't know if you can hear and and uncertain what you'll do when hey pass.

BTW, my CX bike is dead silent, even the freewheel is silent so you won't hear me pass. When I see headphone or ear buds I don't call out assuming their too busy listening to their music and don't care about their safety.

mstateglfr 

Odd to assume they dont care about their safety just due to listening to music.
If the person in front of you is moving in a straight line at a consistent speed, then simply pass them without passing judgement.

WhyFi

Why don't we save the A&S aspect for the A&S forum and just try to address the question?

GlennR

I do but i've seen too many times what seems like a straight line isn't a few seconds later.

Last year I was following a guy about 15' back and as we were going to pass a slower cyclist they suddenly decided to make a U-turn. I was able to go right but he hit them and over his bars.

The problem is, people listening to music are not as aware of their surroundings. Just like people in cars are in their own little world.

Driving a car with headphone or earbuds is illegal, doing the same while cycling should be.

bpcyclist

Not sure if this sort of thing is maybe a possibility, but it is a different way of doing things.

https://onlinecyclinggear.com/collec...15420970139683

Zaskar

Not a good idea. In fact, Georgia code (40-5-21) states that a cyclist is permitted to "strike with such force as to cause to leave the roadway" any other cyclist using earbuds while on a state maintained highway.

DrIsotope

This is just flat out wrong. I take every ride with earbuds in, and I would put my own situational awareness up against absolutely anyone else's.

About the people who place so much emphasis on the importance of hearing while cycling I know two things: they've never ridden with earphones on, so their entire opinion is an assumption, and two-- they must be quite slow.

Because above ~15mph, wind noise is dominant. It's louder than traffic, it's louder than voices, it's louder than everything except heavy machinery and sirens.

On flat ground, I'm in the low-to-mid 20s. The world without headphones goes whhhssssshshhhhhh, at +85dB. What most people think they're hearing, they're not.

It's just white noise, gradually putting you deaf.

GlennR

Just glad you guys don't ride near me.

noodle soup

That's not likely to happen.

noodle soup

I was thinking the same thing about you.