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Comment by nicholassmith | Hacker News Reader

Please anyone reading this don't wear headphones, you've removed one of the most useful senses for knowing where there's a potential problem.

I'd love to cycle to work, the only problem is it's a 160 mile round trip, so it's not too sustainable. I've thought about cycling the journey from my house to the train station but then I've got the additional problem of dealing with a bike on a busy train (two trains really), storing it at the office (small elevator) so I keep getting the bus. If I ever work closer to home I think I will, everyone I know that does is in much better shape than me and generally a bit more awake at 9am.

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I wonder if the people who say to not do this have ever actually worn headphones while riding? I used to wear headphone on my commute but just found them uncomfortable so I stopped after a few weeks.

I very rarely ride on MUPs (Multiple Use Pathways - jogging trails) so I'm riding in the street with vehicles. When I'm not climbing all I hear is wind noise, and the sound of cars behind me. There is absolutely nothing that my sense of sound has done for me to keep me any safer. I can't tell which lane a car is in, or how close they are until I can see it. Headphone will at least cut down some of the wind noise, and in areas that have less tolerant people yelling out the window you may not hear them as easily - both increasing safety and enjoyment.

If you're really concerned about safety use a rear view mirror.

You could get a folding bike. There are quite a variety of folding bikes these days in a wide range of sizes and price, and they are actually pretty nice bikes. For a lot of choice (cheap to expensive, big wheel and small), check out Dahon http://www.dahon.com/, or if you want a really high-end folding bike that folds down really small, Brompton is the way to go http://www.brompton.co.uk/. There are a few other brands as well, like Bike Friday http://www.bikefriday.com/.

My father commutes to work by bike, but he's moving overseas for a year, and will be living too far from the office to bike the whole way. He just bought a Brompton for just that purpose; he can ride it to the train station, fold it up, take it on the train, then unfold and ride to work.

Here's the video that really sold me on folding bikes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LndpgmPLW-0

If I had a bit of a longer journey post train it'd be a good idea, but it's under 5 minutes from the station to office. A commenter below suggested locking it up at the station I leave from (which I was a bit hesitant about) but I might try it that way.

Some of those do look pretty nice though, I remember seeing the first folding bikes and it looked like people riding clown-bikes, they've definitely stepped up the quality levels.

I don't know what your station is like but my wife and lots of others do this from Bristol to London (~235 mile round trip by road).

http://goo.gl/xscqD - image search for Bristol Temple Meads bike rack

Fortunately my trip between uni/childminder/home is quite short so I'm going to try running it when term starts again.

I live in Middlesbrough so it's much smaller, the two concerns are a longish cycle home after an hour commute and the bike going walkies.

At first glance I thought you meant you cycled from Bristol to London, which would be quite impressive if you did every working day of the year.

One of the nice things about the Brompton is that you can partially unfold it (just raise the handlebars), and roll it along behind you like a cart. So if the train->office trip is too short to bother unfolding it, riding it, and folding it up again (though those are really quick, they take about 15 or 20 seconds), you could just raise the handlebars back up and walk it up to your office.

Watch the video I linked to, or skip to the last 5 minutes or so; that's a Brompton (slightly modified, the seat and seat tube usually stay attached), and you can see how quick and easy it is to unfold the bike and ride off.

I commute through downtown Seattle every day & wear headphones. It's not very evident when you're in a car, but the wind in your ears is very loud. Loud enough that you can't use your ears to hear the cars behind as they approach. I've found a mirror to be a much more effective way to be aware of approaching traffic from behind.

The headphones I wear are not just some ear-buds -- they are seated in my ear & block out most ambient noise. I wear them to preserve my hearing.

Personally, I enjoy my rides more not having the sound of thundering traffic rolling past over the roar of wind rushing past my ears. I'm quite aware of the traffic around; I can still hear them as much as I would if I didn't have the headphones in. But it's much less intimidating (not to mention the music makes things even more enjoyable).

My experience is the opposite...hearing is so useful that I typically don't run the radio in my car and I like to drive with the windows cracked. I can often tell if another car is in my blind spot just by hearing it. I find this actually gets easier the faster I'm going.

I think it depends on personal experience. I had a car without a radio for years (stolen, too expensive to replace), so I got used to hearing the traffic around me. For the short period of time I bike commuted this translated really well. But if you're not used to using your hearing that way I can see how it would seem useless.

I ride with a single headphone on the curb-side ear. I can causally listen to pod casts, etc...and still keep all my senses of anything around me. Then again, I know plenty of drivers who shouldn't listen to things while driving because it's distracting for them. Keep sharp and pay attention. I commute about 40 miles/day. The bigger danger than not wearing headphones is those hybrid cars sneaking up on you, or a bunch of others....like day dreaming and hashing out answers to problems you're working out at work.

In the UK as far as I'm aware you're not allowed to wear headphones whilst driving a car as you lose a sense. I think the single ear phone thing is a sensible idea, and you're right inattention is the bigger risk but that's a bit more tricky to change than no headphones.

I was about to comment on the same thing. Please do not wear headphones. The consequences are major harm from an accident with much larger vehicle is great. Not worth it.

For music, I use an open-mesh-top stem bag and an all-in-one-mp3-player-speaker or just my smartphone. I can barely hear when biking fast (I commute with a road bike and haul ass), but it's just perfect for big climbs when you need a bit more motivation.

Here is what I use: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-and-Useful-Bike-Bicycle-Cycling-...

I want to second this. The benefits of riding are not quite as apparent if your are seriously injured or dead.

Ride safely. Leave the headphones in your pocket and pull them out when you're safely at your desk hacking some code.

Let people do what they want. If someone wants to enjoy music on their bike, fine. This coming from someone who doesn't ride with headphones in, but only because I was never one of those people that had headphones in 24/7. I always felt music distracted me from the joy of riding a bike (or the pain of riding a bike, when it comes to training.) or that bike riding distracted me from the joys of listening to music. But irregardless, other people can do what they want.

There's an earlier comment about how this makes you a danger to OTHERS. If you're just a danger to yourself, that's that.

Whether you wear headphones or not is a matter of how much risk you want to take. Just like riding a motorcycle is more risk than driving a car. Wearing headphones is more risky, but like anything in life, you have to decide if the benefits outweigh the downsides.

And how much risk you want the people around you to assume on your behalf. I sometimes commute (40mi) home from work, mostly on an off-road rails to trails paved bike trail. One of the few complaints I have about this trek is the people who are completely oblivious when I say "on your left" and ring my bell. I wind up having to stay behind them, yell, or just go around them, which sometimes startles them. It's imperative that you're present enough to both send and receive communications from people around you.

I wear headphones and listen to music all the time when biking. There is absolutely no problem doing so. I watch where I am going and I can easily hear any meaningful sounds through the music.

Or do you mean headphones that completely shut off the environment? That would be pure stupidity and neglect. But also something far different from just listening to music on a bike.

The problem is that the headphones are extremely close to your ear drum. Depending on the volume, you are more or less tuning out the environment completely when playing any kind of music through headphones.

Sometimes people will yell at you when they see a possible accident happening but you wouldn't be paying attention through your music. You need to hear cars accelerating quickly in case you need to get out of the way or avoid them.

There is no greater fallacy than wearing both headphones on your ears while biking. What is more important you, music or your life?

You seem to have missed that I wrote "I can easily hear any meaningful sounds through the music".

Only time will prove how easily you can hear through your headphones...I only wish you the best, which is why I recommend you take them out.

What do I need to say that I can hear so that you believe me?

Keep posting on HN and I will be satisfied. I personally don't think you can hear the same with music playing near your ear, that's all.

Like other posters have stated, it's better to be alert and safe rather than trying to listen to your tunes while in traffic.

I ride to work every day. Most of my commute is on a popular bike path. I always warn people before I pass them. Every few months, someone decides to do a U-turn or a left turn, without looking, right into my path, while I'm passing them, leading to a near-collision. So far, 100% of the adults who've done this have been wearing headphones. (I've had one kid without headphones do it; I said "on your left" and she got confused and veered left into me. Now I just say "passing.")

Based on this, I think joggers and cyclists with headphones are significantly more dangerous to themselves and others than those without.

Of course, it's possible that you are different and can hear fine through your headphones, but I'm skeptical. (Just as I'm skeptical of people who claim they can drive fine while talking on the phone, or while drunk.)

Correlation is not causation. I would much rather think that those people were distracted or something. Not giving attention to their environments.

I CAN hear fine with my volume setting. Believe me.

Listening so loud or with headphones that cut out other sounds is dangerous, of course. I was not talking about that and I thought I had made that clear.

Just don't tell me that I cannot listen to music while biking. Unless you want to argue about the possible distracting itself, then we could go on about car radios.

Trust me -- I can text and drive at the same time. I'm a pro.

The problem is that most people use their headphones with absurdly loud volume. I know this because when you pass them you can hear their music, which means they are probably damaging their hearing. I always keep the volume as low as possible, such that it's not louder than the traffic around.

Same, I even take them out and listen how loud they are to not disturb other people (especially in the bus or train).

Try going without headphones for a month or two, then put them back in. You might be surprised at how much useful info they block out. I say that not as a command but a suggestion based on my experience. It took me a while to get used to hearing and analyzing what's happening around me. And that was mostly in a car, which is already a pretty loud environment.

I compromise by only putting in one earphone, on my right ear that isn't facing traffic. I listen to podcasts generally, not music.

This is for a 3-mile commute to the Kongregate office in downtown San Francisco. If anyone here wants to ride with me from the Mission/Noe area sometime, hit me up.

> Please anyone reading this don't wear headphones, you've removed one of the most useful senses for knowing where there's a potential problem.

That's nonsense. If a person is listening to headphones so loud that they can't hear approaching cars and/or problems with their bike, then they'll still probably ruin their ears long before biking with headphones causes them a problem.

It depends entirely on the headphones, I have some Etymotic in-ear buds that cancel external noise on about half volume. It's not just how loud you go, but what the headphones do to ambient noise in general.

And still, a lot of people do listen to music overly loud, and will probably damage their ears, so they risk ruined ears and not being fully aware of everything going on around them.

My point is, it's silly to make such a general statement just because a few people will be stupid. Most people have sense enough not to crank up the volume and not use noise canceling headphones while biking, and there's no reason for them to not enjoy music while cycling.

I own that this probably won't be a popular idea, since it generally doesn't appeal to people outside a certain age-group (not that I know what age group you're in), but a longboard sounds like a pretty good option for you, depending on the situation. It's easy to carry around wherever you go, I often ride to a bus-stop and take the bus with it. They're lots of fun to ride, and in my opinion better and safer then bikes (it's a lot easier to bail). The only real reason I would be questionable about riding is if you're in a hilly area; uphill is about as much fun as it is on a bike, though you can just get off and walk, and downhill can be dicey depending.

If you wanna check out some nice cruising boards I've been loving my Kahuna, and they come at a really good price for what they are.

I think it's dependent on the riders reflexes/awareness, but you're right, in most instances a rider shouldn't. Having said that, it can be a driving force when going on endurance/long cycles.

Have you ever thought about locking your bike up at the station? In London/UK a lot of stations offer this.

I've actually been weighing the idea up, I live in Middlesbrough and there is bike stations there, but it'd be a reasonably long cycle after an hour commute home so I'm still in two minds.

If you want to try taking a bike on the train or in the office, do yourself a huge favor and get a foldable bike.

How about open headphones?

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