South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

TLS-Moose wrote: You actually find they cut a lot of "uneccessary" noise and allow you to hear the engine (and "woo-woo's") better.

Agree with this, always use ear-plugs on a long run, yeah did take a bit of getting used to originally, used to always end up with 'tinitus' type noise for 30mins or so after stopping at the end of a long fast ride.

Personally I find that earplugs cut out the windnoise but you can still hear the exhaust note fairly clear.

I did try earplugs with a length of cord type material between them but found the wind noise around the exposed part of the cord (between jacket & helmet) was transmitted directly into your ear, the same goes for earplug not fitted properly when they are touching the inside of the helmet.

Not keen on the earphone idea though - think how often you turn your car stereo up & down depending on speed - you won't be able to do this on the bike & will end up with the music at it's loudest when you're in slow traffic which is when you'll want to hear everything.

As Speedy points out it is the wind noise that does the damage - the longer you subject your ears to the noise the greater the damage.

I have pretty good hearing because I have always taken care to use ear defs or plugs (depending on circumstances).

I find that it is very easy to get used to ear plugs, I actually don't like riding without (though I do for those odd trips across town) because I hear too much transmission noise and the bike being a krappysaki it sounds like a bag of spanners!

And how the f*ck some of you can claim to want to hear cars behind you with some of the pipes I have heard is beyond me (me included )

But Guv, my pipe is very quite, honest

Funky wrote:I have tried ear plugs, I tend not to wear them unless I'm going for a long lonely run. I'll wear one headphone so I don't get bored and can listen for woo woo's. It all depends how my mood takes me.

pretty much what i do. makes sense