While I'll agree that wearing earbuds can be considered a potential safety hazard... I gotta say it cracks me up a bit that they're such a concern given that unless you've an ebike you can't hear anything anyway lol - it's a classic argument not limited to motorized bicycles, it's often mentioned w/motorcycling as well - by car drivers oblivious to the fact they drive around with their windows up & rockin' the volume set to eleven heh
TBH I never bothered w/music on any of my gasbikes despite the inability to hear traffic at speed, the reason wasn't for environmental awareness - it was due to my obsessive nature & wanting to hear how the bike was preforming, just in case there was a problem... particularly the jackshafted one. However, with the ebike every ride, every mile, every hour spent on the thing has been so uneventful, with no problems of any sort whatsoever I've taken to bringing along my tunes & poppin' in the headphones on the longer trips, when I'm not downtown & playing in traffic ofc.
With the volume set at a moderate level, I can still hear as much or more of my surroundings as I could w/o music on a gasbike, but in either case I must say that with or without tunes, headphones, speakers or nothing at all - at above 25mph wind noise makes the sense of hearing very deceptive and it can't be relied on in any case. You might hear a large truck suddenly accelerating, but you'll never hear that minivan veering all over the road behind you...
I'll admit wearing headphones and/or listening to music while riding isn't the safest thing in the world and a couple few bicyclists have taken the initiative to remind me of such - yet of those that chose to mention my recklessness not a single one had any kind of a mirror on their bike or helmet & of the two, hearing or seeing - I'd trust seeing far more heh
Mirrycle MTB Bar End Mountain Bicycle Mirror
Jus' sayin'
TBH I never bothered w/music on any of my gasbikes despite the inability to hear traffic at speed, the reason wasn't for environmental awareness - it was due to my obsessive nature & wanting to hear how the bike was preforming, just in case there was a problem... particularly the jackshafted one. However, with the ebike every ride, every mile, every hour spent on the thing has been so uneventful, with no problems of any sort whatsoever I've taken to bringing along my tunes & poppin' in the headphones on the longer trips, when I'm not downtown & playing in traffic ofc.
With the volume set at a moderate level, I can still hear as much or more of my surroundings as I could w/o music on a gasbike, but in either case I must say that with or without tunes, headphones, speakers or nothing at all - at above 25mph wind noise makes the sense of hearing very deceptive and it can't be relied on in any case. You might hear a large truck suddenly accelerating, but you'll never hear that minivan veering all over the road behind you...
I'll admit wearing headphones and/or listening to music while riding isn't the safest thing in the world and a couple few bicyclists have taken the initiative to remind me of such - yet of those that chose to mention my recklessness not a single one had any kind of a mirror on their bike or helmet & of the two, hearing or seeing - I'd trust seeing far more heh
Mirrycle MTB Bar End Mountain Bicycle Mirror
Jus' sayin'
