Ear protection?

[Blagadán]

Just a question re ear protection. Do you guys use ear buds or some other form or protection when you are riding?
How about you guys that dont wear helmets, or wear half shell helmets?

Reason I ask is, this year is my first time wearing a half shell. It doesnt go down over my ears and I get a lot of wind noise when riding. I havent been wearing ear protection regularly. Maybe if i am going for a long ride I might, but for short runs to work (15 miles) I dont.
I've had a slight ringing in my ears the last few days now and I'm putting it down to to the helmet and not wearing ear buds.... Just looking for you guys thoughts...

Been wearing my full helmet the last couple of rides (getting cold'ish here anyway)...

blag

 

[lowlife]

I wear an MP3 player while wearing a full face helmet. It quiets down the wind noise and the design of my speakers keeps things quieter so my music doesn't need to be too loud either.

 

[acp]

I wear full face helmets but I don't wear earbuds. The main reason I don't wear them is because they are very uncomfortable for me, even those foam ones that expand in your ear and shape themselves to fit. They are uncomfortable before I put the helmet on, let alone once it's on.

 

[K-Ray]

If I'm running around town I have a half shell but if I hit the hills are the Hwy. I wear a full face KBC its the best helmet I have found ! I have bought a lot of helmet's to find the one I like (seven) LOL... I don't do the earplugs are MP3/radio I want to hear everything around me.
And the best musice in the world to me is the sound of my Kawi.

In town low speed: half shell
the hill's Hwy's and high speed's: full face
uttside: I'm Ca. you have to wear a helmet uttside:

 

[CHRIS]

i wear my helmet on occassion, mostly when traveling longer distances.
i've never worn earplugs, but the thought has run through my head, to get some for the wife ! michelle hates wearing helmets, but at the same time, she does not like the wind passing by her ears, so, for her, i think i'm going to get some for her to try out.
now that i'm getting used to my loud 4 into 1 exaust, i preffer to hear my bike sing ! CHRIS

 

[wuputt]

I need a set of ear buds, but just to put in when I get home!!

 

[beeZLbub]

Now that I've had ear plugs/ear buds I hate to ride without them anymore. They bugged me in the beginning, but the tunes were more important than my comfort so I toughed it out. Now that I've probably built up callouses in my ears, they don't bother me at all. LOL

They're a must when wearing my half-helmet but I wear them all the time when I wear a full face too. I can't stand any amount of wind noise anymore.

I had a cop behind me once BLARING his sirens (I guess he really needed to get around me) and I couldn't hear him at all over the music. I only knew to look behind me because all the people at the bus stop jumped! LOL Alot of the guys I ride with don't like the fact that you can't hear anything, but once I got used to it, I prefer it.

About the only time I don't wear ear protection is if my wife is riding with me, I don't wear any ear protection so we can talk.


Picture

 

[lowlife]

Wow you TALK to your wife, thats a novel idea maybe I should try that.

 

[beeZLbub]

LOL
The beauty of the bike is that you can have selective hearing.
If you don't want to answer a question, just pretend the wind's too loud!
uttside:

 

[CHRIS]

i do that all the time ! the louder she talks, the faster i go, then she shuts up !!! CHRIS

 

[beeZLbub]

SHHHHH!
Don't give away ALL the secrets!

 

[CHRIS]

OOPS !!

i just think it's funny, how michelle gets quiet!! i think that is the real reason she does'nt like riding on ELEANOR, as much as my honda !

the only thing she'll tell me is, it's too fast. my honda is quick too, but she can sit back against the backrest, when she rides with me on ELEANOR, she is usually rite up against me trying to chat, chat, chat ! i say, enough already ! next time we go riding, we're riding the honda ! CHRIS

 

[beeZLbub]

That's funny - I'm new to the ZL's and I never noticed that the ZL900's don't have handholds or a back cushion that the ZL1000's have. Out of all my bikes, Kim likes the ZL1000 the best because it's the only one with a backrest & handholds.

She feels safer on the ZL because she's not pushing on me and she doesn't feel like she'll slide right off the back! I'm entertaining the notion of building a crazy, 70's-style sissy bar... about 3' tall with a skull or devil wings on top! That way she can have a HEAD rest and a back rest!

Back on topic: Can we get another option added to the poll?

"Always wear ear phones"

 

[Wold]

at first time i used russian helm with closed ears
it was old but when i goes away from road and hit my head on steering column it helps
then i used open helm (halfnut) cool looks no hear anything and frozen face when cold
and now i have full helmet, i thought about non full face helm, but i saw when one guy fall from bike and lost many teeths bseeee....

 

[lowlife]

When I goes away from road and hit my head on steering column it helps.......Do this often?

 

[Gimpster69]

I try to wear ear plugs everytime I go for a ride of considerable distance. If I'm just going for a short hop I don't bother though. I wear the foam plugs and also wear them at work so I'm fairly used to them. At first they bug you but once you get used to them you kinda feel naked when you're not wearing them lol.

While driving I noticed the noise of the wind etc is still noticable but reduced to the amount you're not damaging your hearing and I find you can hear more out of your bike. Plus getting up in age I'd like to have some hearing left to hear my ZL in years to come. lol. Just my 2 cents.

Dave

 

[KawTipper]

I usually wear a half helmet and listen to an i-pod. If the temp is low I'll wear a thin hat under the helmet to keep out wind noise and keep frost off my ear tips. Heated clothing rules!

 

[Wold]

http://fee4ka.livejournal.com/532916.html#cutid1

 

[lowlife]

Nice Wold, that certainly gets a point across without much needing to be said. I sent that to some of my buds that ride w/o a helmet.

 

[Hellion]

For those that have a problem with wind noise and don't like the regular ear plugs, my G/F Kelly is a hearing instrument specialist and has a line on hearing protection that cuts out noise above a below certain levels to where you could be standing next to a top fuel drag car revving its engine and still be able to carry on a normal conversation with someone without shouting and without damaging your ears! *same effect on wind noise cancellation when riding!* And you wont get the stopped up head or dizziness some people get from regular plugs as these allow for air passage but not over a specified amount.