Hi good people,

I'm thinking of saving up for a blutooth full-face helmet this winter. Do any of you listen to music on your Sportster? If so, how do you do it? Headphones/earbuds or something else? Is listening to music considered bad form? Is it considered more dangerous?

Just curious. Thanks!

 

I use to use ear buds when riding my old ninja, I really liked carving up the twisties with Disturbed jamming away. I rode with a full faced lid then. Worked out pretty well. I've read a lot of mixed reviews about blue tooth helmets, none were consistently good enough to get my wallet out.

Now the sporty is a different animal. I normally run a 1/2 helmet, and I've not tried my ear buds with it. I did try it once with my old FF and I hated it. The exhaust thumps inside that helmet terribly and it just killed the listening experience. Maybe it would be fine with the stock exhaust, but not with Straight Shots.

I've talked to people about riding with music and some think its unsafe, others think its fine. Personally I always enjoyed it, but it does numb one of your senses so it takes a little to get use to.

Just to see if you like it take a run with ear buds before you shell out $$$ on a blue tooth full face helmet.

Ride safe!

 

I wear earbuds every time I ride.

 

At the expense of sound like a Codger, there was no such option when I started riding in 1980 and I can see no reason for it now. The sound of my bike's engine is music enough for me.

 

Ear buds from Radio Shack (30.00) on my Iphone 5 works for me. I like hard wire whenever possible because the wireless tech isn't quite there yet. I loop the cord around the helmet strap in cast the wind knocks it loose.

I'm thinking about using only one bud because people talk to me and I don't hear them. Had a Bandido yakking at me and didn't hear a word he was saying. Something about his wife and me last Saturday night or something...

 

Commuting to work, I wear my FF helmet and 1 ear bud. After putting on the SE exhaust it did get a little drowned out, but still god enough for me.

Around town, just having fun I wear a half and no ear buds.

 

I use these Shure SE215 headphones with my iPhone



They have a memory foam earbud that you can compress and then stick in your ear much like an earplug.
I can have the music low enough to still hear my surroundings and the earbuds block the wind noise. These are the best I have found after trying many!
They work better than any earplug i've used too because they actually stay in place.

 

95 % of the time i hear music

 

I ride with earbuds on long trips. I've noticed that with the half helmet I do lose some sound quality due to the wind noise. On the other hand the act much like ear plugs so that's a plus. I use skull candy earbuds. I might try the Shure SE215-k headphones suggested above.

As for it being safe or not... I've found once your going over 45 mph you can't hear anything but wind so its really a wash at that speed. I could see how at slower speeds it might be good to have them out.

 

I like to wear earbuds on long rides. Scullcandy's are my personal favorite because they're cheap, loud, and cancel out a lot of noise. Otherwise, I just sing to myself really loud