Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories MP3 Players?

Does anyone use these on the bike? I wear a full face helmet and am wondering if the earpiece style headphones will work properly with the full face helmet in place? If I had more time (before my trip on Sunday) I'd try to hook up my Sirius Sattellite Radio on the bike!

I use one one occasionally, usually when I know that I am either going to be stuck in traffic or am going on a ride longer than an hour or two. I have the regular ear bud style ear piece headphones that came with my mp3 player. They work pretty good, probably not as good as the noise cancelling ones that stick way down in your ear, but they are suffient. After placing them in my ears, I just have to be a little careful putting my helmet on and leaving a little slack on the cord for when I turn my head. When I wear my leather jacket, I keep my mp3 player in the inside chest pocket. When I am wearing my denim jacket, I keep it in the outside chest pocket.

Soren

Nice MP3 player, and it even works with a Mac!

I'll be riding about 5 hours a day for 2 days in a row............

I used it a lot on the Idaho Invasion. That first days ride was about 12 hours or so. I have 283 songs on my mp3 player right now, so its a very very very long time before I hear the same sone twice.

Soren

I've missed out on the MP3 craze, I'm afraid. If I were to do anything today, it would definitely be either Sirius or XM satellite radio.

Try this link for an interesting speaker concept.
Helmet Speakers

I have a CD player that will play MP3s, nice compromise, and I just got some Sony earbuds that have a rubber sort of baffle, not noise cancelling, but sort of semi-blocking. Basically cuts down on wind noise, I can hear the motor, horn, other cars, etc, but don't have to crank the music to hear it. Nice. And the player has a little clip on remote thing so I can just reach down to my pocket and hit stop if I want, no fumbling.

cool. i have the koss ear plugs/speakers for my radio, but i sure like that design.

cat

Love the idea of the helmet speakers, just afraid I wont hear any surrounding noises like the Mack behind me.

I have XM on my bike, an 04 America, with some bass monter helmet speakers. I hear traffic and other noises (my T pipes) just fine, but I don't play it as loud as it goes.

If you go this way, I have a couple of sites I'd recommend for installs.

http://www.xmfan.com (go to XM installations and pictures, then Installing XM on a motorcycle)

http://www.myradiostore.us (for mounts and such)

http://www.2wheelinnovations.com (also has mounts and such)

I bought my bass monsters on ebay.

Cat I also have/had the Koss ones with the foam inserts. I found that my helmet would try to pop them out of my ear and separate the foam from the speaker itself. The sony ones are lower profile and stay put better...

Anyone have any success with open face helmets? I bought a creative MP3 player with earbuds and then bought some behind the head headphones that had a very high SPL (sound pressure level) rating, but no matter what i did after 35-40MPH i literally couldn't tell if it was on even with the volume all the way up ! I wonder if those speakers would help cut wind noise while providing ample volume w/o killing my ears. At this point since i have little use for a MP# player it seems i threw $80 down the toilet.

I've ridden with my half helmet, it helps that the straps actually hold them into my ears. The key is to have some sound isolation, NOT to try to beat out the wind, ya know? The foam or rubber is nice because it's a compromise of isolation and still hearing. REally it just cuts down the wind. I think the 25 or 30 for some new phones will be a good gamble rather than never using your player!

You guys who enjoy music on the road could do a lot worse than install the Rumble Road speaker system, available from MH Instruments; I had a set installed on my orignal '02 America and they work great, with either CD or preferably with MP-3 player (more tracks). I think a lot more suitable than in-helmet speakers and totally audible up to and above motorway legal speeds (70mph plus here in the UK). The only thing I have found is dont keep unplugging the MP-3 of CD at the earphone jack socket or they soon wear out!! I remove mine now at the next electrical connection and no probs here the MH instrument link:

http://www.mhinstruments.com/

I recently purchased a 1 gig Creative MuVo TX FM
http://reviews.cnet.com/Creative_MuVo_TX_FM_1GB_Red/4505-6490_7-31260344.html?tag=pdtl-list

And some Sony earbuds
http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_MDR_EX71SL_WK_black/4505-6468_7-30520512.html?tag=lst


With my half helmet, the lower frequencies and bass sounds can't compete effectively with 65 plus MPH wind and engine noise, but it's still listenable. I would think with a helmet style that covers the ears, they would work much better. I'm thinking of lifting a pair of full headphone pads from an old headset and grafting them into my helmet ear flaps. I suppose I could safety pin them in there for a test run.

For a recent source material, I recorded 30 plus hours of
http://www.neworleansradio.com/stations.asp?stationid=noradioblues
Then moved it over to the player. Good stuff. I picked up a Stephen Ambrose book on CD about the B 24 crews of WW II at a flea market that I will probably rip to MP3, then copy that over to the player for the next long ride.

This is my first experience with a pod or MP3 player, so I am awed at the technology - 30 plus hours of material on a device smaller than a 'plenty pack' of chewing gum, no moving parts, a 90dB signal-to-noise ratio, and 18 hours of use on a single triple A battery. I clip mine into the pouch of my Triumph tank cover, and run the earphone cord inside the front of my shirt or coat. When it's time to step off the bike, I unplug the cord at the player side and throw it over my shoulder or stuff the excess in a pocket. Very simple. When not competing with road and engine noise, the sound is very good, with full bodied bass response. IMO, the stock included earbuds don't offer the full sound available within the player.

I have those Sony ear buds. I like them for a couple reasons. For starters, they fit. I dont feel like I am going to rip my ears off when I take my helmet off. secondly, they sound good. I can keep them at a volume low enough to clearly hear the music and still hear the road. If I am stopped, I can pretty muych carry on a conversation.

BTW, I keep my MP3 player in the left chest pocket of my jacket.

Soren

The great thing about those earbuds is they essential double as earplugs. But don't lose those silicone bits - they're nearly impossible to find replacements (a couple years ago I had to order them from a place in Japan).

I use a 40G iPod and Shure EC3 earbuds. All I can hear is the music. I can still feel the bike, but I rock and roll down the road. The Shure buds are excellent, but were pretty pricey, about $150. I use them for longer trips, not usually around town though. I have over 15,000 songs and the iPod is only 65% full. Good variety of tunes. I setup a "Roadtunes" playlist before I hit the road and they just shuffle away as I ride.

I looked at the Sure phones, but I have those same Sony's. What I like is that I CAN hear some road noise. Motor, cars, etc. But they cut out a LOT of wind noise, like FJ says. And they are much cheaper. I think I got the model without the extension for like 30 bucks.

I am not using a Creative Zen Nano plus (purchased on the way to GA...). The "plus" part is that it has an input so you can connect to the headphone jack of any music source and rip directly to MP3 with it. Prety schnazzy. I plan on getting a few tunes that I have on TAPE in there using my walkman

I carry it in my front left pocket, and run the cord under my jacket and up. Just long enough. The only thing I miss about my CD player is the remote I could clip on the outside of the pocket to hit stop if need be.