My favorite way to listen to music is zip-tying a JBL Bluetooth speaker to my bike. But first, here are all the methods I have tried over several decades. And why this one is my favorite including my thoughts on listening on music (or whatever) while cycling or doing anything outside that involves needing to pay attention.
Honestly, most of the time I leave the music off. There are so many amazing natural sounds to hear when outdoors that nothing more is needed. I find this the most peaceful and tend to get my best ideas while just thinking. Sometimes I’ll even talk to myself.
I’m also a audio quality snob. I hate listening to good music on mediocre audio equipment of any kind. I always have. So when I do listen to music it had better sound really good. Most of the time that means really good, over-ear headphones, the best way to monitor any audio. But how do these quirks play out in my decisions about music when cycling?
Back when I won the annual Bike/Run/Skate to Work award at Nike three years in a row (I only worked their three years) I started wearing over-the-ear headphones and wrapping them with a homemade head band to prevent wind noise. I used to bike from Gresham to Beaverton, about 25 miles which would take anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours depending on conditions and bike chosen (and then back again in the evening). I even once put sheet metal screws in my mountain bike knobbies during the ice storm. The point is, it was the same long trip at least every other day and music was essential. Much of it was on very congested roads with cars everywhere.
One day I decided to try something novel. I wore a pair of headphones outside my bike helmet and wrapped them with a strip of cloth holding them snugly around my ears. I looked horrendous, but my ears were always toasty warm in the cold weather months and I had the most amazing sound quality you can imagine. This was pre-Bluetooth so I had a wire snaking down my back. To this day, I still have random, crazy positive flashbacks to specific moments when certain songs would play on my long commute. It was audiophile cyclist bliss.
I could care less about the sounds of the traffic. I didn’t need it to be safe. In fact, I knew the route so well, with all the danger spots, that not having the traffic noise freaking me out made me more focused and aware of everything around me. What people don’t tell you is that learning to not depend on sound is actually safer. Your ears can give you warning, but they can also trick you into a false sense of security. I’ve learned not to trust them. When traveling at 30kph you can’t hear anything but wind noise anyway so you must look around. This is why the new read-facing bike radar devices that integrate into bike computers are so important. It is also the reason that completely cutting myself off from the world of bad traffic around me was never a safety concern. But it does take training to force myself to look around, like a deaf person would be forced to do. In fact, to this day, I will often put ear plugs in my ears if I know I’m going to be running or cycling in an area where there is a bunch of traffic pollution to make the experience bearable, and to force myself not to trust my ears. No one should ever have to say “on your left” if you are properly aware of the trail and your surroundings.
I have noticed that when using my favorite in-ear headphones (described later) that I can accomplish the same effect by wearing one of those light-weight head wraps over my ears to smooth out the air turbulence making the sound of wind less than without them. Then when it’s cold I get the warm factor as well.
I really love my old beats, triathlon in-ear headphones with the wrap around ear hanger and connecting wire. I bought them at REI for about $100 more than 10 years ago, just as Bluetooth headphone started taking off (not the pods). I’ve been running and done yoga with these for years. They don’t fall off. Still allow hearing substantial noises around me. And seal out the annoying traffic noise taking the edge off. The battery life on them is unfortunately really low, but they are old. I love that they have just the perfect amount of bass and don’t sound shallow. But riding with them is bad because you have to wrap your ears with something or all that noise vibration from wind overpowers the music. This is solved with a simple, sweat band or wrap around the years. They do block out a lot more than most cyclist would be comfortable.
I’ve tried the new beats ear pods and hate them. They just don’t get the same quality of audio over Bluetooth to each pod that and are too unpredictable.
I most recently tried some top of the line bone conducting headphones and even through the reviews say they are too “bass-y” could not get enough base out of them for what I like. It is true that I could hear everything around me, unfortunately. And they are the only serious option when swimming. But unless I’m swimming I find the audio quality to be just too bad.
The first time I uses a JBL Bluetooth, waterproof, hanging speaker was to do IRL streaming because that is what everyone uses to hear the TTS from the stream while unable to read the screen of text. The music quality is astoundingly good. I don’t know how they do it, but they manage to maintain the bass wonderfully.
The JBL speaker has the added advantage of serving as a sort of constant bell to inform those you are overtaking or just passing on the street that you are there. Making people around you aware of you is always a good thing. I noticed that Miekii (a bike-messenger streamer in NY) does this to replace a bell entirely. He blares his music on this fast deliveries and people step to the side a half block away hearing that he’s coming. This can be annoying to some, but for many I find it the perfect combination. I’m no worse than the motorcyclists out there as well who have music on that has to overcome the sound of their bikes.
The JBL speaker doesn’t impair my ability to hear sounds around me provided I don’t get too into the music. A lot of people will find this a requirement, and possible the law, even I’m fine with blocking out all audio (as explained earlier).
The JBL also puts all the controls in a safe place so I’m not fumbling around losing focus on my riding trying to change songs and volume. I zip-tie my speaker to my stem so I can get to the controls and operate everything easily without using my phone. I can turn the music up when it is really noisy or windy, and down when I don’t want to blow people away, or off quickly when I just want a break from the music to enjoy nature all around me. This has the added benefit of allowing me to hear what people are writing in the chat without having to every take my eyes off of the road, which is an absolute must for safety.
Anything that takes my visual focus off what is happening is eliminated from my cycling, no matter what. Every crash that has been my fault has been because I took visual focus away, not because I didn’t hear something.
Also, the JBL has 10 hours of battery life while my headphones only have about two hours.
So that’s where I am today. JBL Bluetooth speaker for most rides.