Music While Your Riding.

Interested to hear from anyone who listens to music while they ride. If you do, then what type do you listen to. An ipod is so easy to carry around or do you have some other way to entertain yourself ? I sorta hum a song sometimes but I hate it when the last song I heard on the radio sticks in my head and its one that I really hate but I cant stop humming it. I have a Tom Tom. But never listen to the voice directions or use the phone hook up function. Am interested in a bike to bike set up so that on rides i can talk to my GF on her bike. tell her to hurry up all the time.

I have a Baehr Verso Xl system which allows me to hook up the iphone the Ipod touch nano, zumo gps and speak perfectly clearly at any speed to the pillion. No shouting or even raised voices required. Bike to bike works flawlessly. I changed to the nano touch so I can skip the odd song every now and then. The nano touchscreen works with my gloves on. As far as what I listen to, well lots of different stuff.

Best music of all - an internal combustion engine cuttin thru the wind

sb1250 wrote:Best music of all - an internal combustion engine cuttin thru the wind

Mmmmm, at 6-8 Thou it is a beautiful noise.

No music thanks ,that the time to work out the meaning of life ,and how luck we are to enjoy it on two wheels .Hell even cow poo smells good .

I have a Sena Headset that i bluetooth music to from my nokia X6. I usually just put it on shuffle and go. can skip songs with a twist of the dial

No music for me. May as well drive. What's next air conditioning?

I use my Iphone4 every day but I gave up on music as I tend to ride to fast depending on music, so now I listen to audio books, 45 min each way every day. I find when I listen to books I really don't speed and tend to obey the road rules alot more. I have very good Sony Headphones and have never had a problem ever in traffic, noise or losing concentration while riding. I enjoy my trips to and from work.

I used to use my earmold ear phones before the tube that goes into the earplug started to perish. Do I like to ride with music, yes. Does it ever cause issues, well only when I'm listening to something with a bit of speed to it, the bike tends to respond in same :-) I never had it loud enough to block out the all important noises of other vehicles. Just have to wait until Earmold are back in town to get another set made up.

Back in the days of 8 track i had a HR p\van .I rigged up some head phones the type that go over the ears .The sound even for those days
was fantastic . So good ,i accidentally drove 30 miles at highway speed in 2nd . I finally came to a quiet track and thought , cars reeving a bit .
I think the cause of the problem was a LOUD ." locomotive breath " Jethro Tull . How can you not love an album who's naming song "aqualung "
starts with the words , "snot is running down his nose " Brilliant .

Wind whistliing through my helmet works for me

Just the sound of the exhaust and smell of fresh air does it for me. Total Freedom. And your right Gus, even cow poo smells good.

Hammy wrote:Interested to hear from anyone who listens to music while they ride. If you do, then what type do you listen to. An ipod is so easy to carry around or do you have some other way to entertain yourself ? I sorta hum a song sometimes but I hate it when the last song I heard on the radio sticks in my head and its one that I really hate but I cant stop humming it. I have a Tom Tom. But never listen to the voice directions or use the phone hook up function. Am interested in a bike to bike set up so that on rides i can talk to my GF on her bike. tell her to hurry up all the time.

Depending on the ride I am wired for sound. Just an old MP3 player.

As for wanting to talk to someone else while on the bike, one of the reasons I enjoy doing family rides rather than family drives is that I don't have to listen to my kids whinging and my wife telling me we are lost, when in fact I've merely taken the scenic route.

Tried the music a couple of times and didn't like it.. found it took away my concentration from riding; which is a little strange as I have a headset embedded in a helmet I use when snow skiing and enjoy the music through that.

I have an 'Oxford' mike set ready to install into my helmet (and my GF's) but since buying it I have also bought a 'Shark' carbon helmet which fits much tighter around the ears so don't know yet if there is going to be enough room to put the ear speakers in.. It's on the 'To do' list...

I use a Starcom 1 digital system on my Bandit and have just ordered this nice little unit from the US so that i can change music on my iPod touch whilst on the move.

iPod Weather proof Remote

Bhoffo wrote:Tried the music a couple of times and didn't like it.. found it took away my concentration from riding; which is a little strange as I have a headset embedded in a helmet I use when snow skiing and enjoy the music through that.

I have an 'Oxford' mike set ready to install into my helmet (and my GF's) but since buying it I have also bought a 'Shark' carbon helmet which fits much tighter around the ears so don't know yet if there is going to be enough room to put the ear speakers in.. It's on the 'To do' list...

Have you thought about using in ear monitors? Much more comfortable whilst using a helmet and helps to cut out background road noise too.

I sing...........(get some funny looks at the lights).................Grumpy

Mpottsy wrote:

Have you thought about using in ear monitors? Much more comfortable whilst using a helmet and helps to cut out background road noise too.

Are those the ear plug/buds that are moulded to your ear shape??

Bhoffo wrote:

Mpottsy wrote:

Have you thought about using in ear monitors? Much more comfortable whilst using a helmet and helps to cut out background road noise too.

Are those the ear plug/buds that are moulded to your ear shape??

Yes they are. You can either have them professionally made or if you wish to try them out first you can buy a DIY silicon kit and make them yourself with some ear buds.

Prices vary from $450 to $2500 for professional ones. About the best on the Market are Ultimate Ears

DIY set for about $80 to $100 depending on your ear buds

I use an mp3 sometimes on long trips but find after a while I turn it off because I find the wind & motor noise are more relaxing & I can solve the problems of the world while I`m at it .

Earplugs and wind does it for me

Do a bit of touring and run iPod through an Autocom system. As well as GPS, 2way and phone............or is that a car?? Anyway great on a long trip to burn up the miles unless ACDC is playing! Nothing beats the sound of the engine and wind going through fast winding road though........better concentration as well!!!

On my 1250 i have just installed a autocom system hard wired into bike. GPS is a garmin 760 Bar mounted in waterproof case that feeds mp3 music from GPS & phone to autocom unit to helmet speakers. Volume is EXTREMELY LOUD due to amp.Previously had earmold in ear units but after coupla hundred Ks became uncomfortable so tried autocom. Very sturdy unit & connections compared to others. Rated 9/10 only drawback is there is no external volume control as in the starcom but GPS is quick & easy to change volume. I would reccommend to any one looking for music while touring.

Fuzzy wrote:Do a bit of touring and run iPod through an Autocom system. As well as GPS, 2way and phone............or is that a car?? Anyway great on a long trip to burn up the miles unless ACDC is playing! Nothing beats the sound of the engine and wind going through fast winding road though........better concentration as well!!!

Metallica causes the problem for me I find that my trips are much shorter

tailights wrote:On my 1250 i have just installed a autocom system hard wired into bike. GPS is a garmin 760 Bar mounted in waterproof case that feeds mp3 music from GPS & phone to autocom unit to helmet speakers. Volume is EXTREMELY LOUD due to amp.Previously had earmold in ear units but after coupla hundred Ks became uncomfortable so tried autocom. Very sturdy unit & connections compared to others. Rated 9/10 only drawback is there is no external volume control as in the starcom but GPS is quick & easy to change volume. I would reccommend to any one looking for music while touring.

The volume control is what did it for me. The Digital Starcom system also has a remote control panel so you can change the setting much easier. I do however have issues with my Garmin 660 and phone connection people do hear me very well? Looking to get the direct blue tooth connection into the starcom that might make things a bit better?

Thought I had better update my post since I have now changed my mind...

I had tried, some time ago to use my Ipod with 'ear buds' or similar shoved into my ear hole... (notice I said EAR hole!) - since I've been trying to hear music through those things - running, skiing or whatever I've always had trouble... seems my ears aren't made for plugs of any kind and I generally find them uncomfortable. I'm also an avid snow skiier and a few years ago purchased a helmet for this sport and then upgraded it with ear covers that had little speakers in them... away I went with my Ipod and never looked back..

When I tried the ear plugs/buds in my motor cycle helmet I didn't like the feeling.. couldn't hear the bike properly and they seemed to inhibit my hearing from the rest of the world as well... also had a bit of a claustrophobic feeling...

Well a couple of months ago I bought an 'Oxford' brand Bike Mike - all cables and wires etc and has it's own battery but also a loom so that you can 'hard' wire it into the bike which is what I did. The control box also has a spot in it for an 'Aux' input but never used it for anything until my ride down to Lakes Entrance last week..

Had a few teething problems with it (I think my electrical connection onto the battery of the bike wasn't making good contact) and the music at times was there and then not. Once the electrical connection was rectified there was no problem and with the speakers mounted inside the helmet (and microphone for when I eventually get around to trying the 'comms' system out) it gave me good sound without the annoyance of the ear plugs/buds etc. Found I really enjoyed riding to the sounds of "Bat Out of Hell" etc!!