last year I got my cbt and have been loving commuting to work on my 125. one thing I recently realised i needed was satnav as soon I will be going into town more and to some other places that I don’t really know… and no, I am not delivering pizza’s! office desk monkey job.

Looking at cheap options the simple answer was a single headphone from phone to one ear and then google maps can tell me where to turn. I didn’t want to mount the phone on the bars as I didn’t want to have it nicked / scratched / dropped so in a zipped pocket seemed best. having now tried this on the usual commute to work, I found the instructions good and importantly I could still clearly hear everything and didn’t feel in any worse risky a position as usual.

I would never cycle with headphones, just use my ears too much, but on a motorbike first impressions it feels like it would be fine but I wanted to get other motorbikers views on using headphones in helmets and anything I should consider that I haven’t thought of so far?

go for what works for you… I tried the in ear things once, and couldn’t get the lid back off my head – little stalks kept rotating when I lifted the lid – hurt lots, and never tried again.

I never use earphones when riding (bicycle or motorbike) for the same reason you don’t on a bicycle.

Personally have wrecked my ears riding motorcycles i would never ride now without earplugs which makes hearing things on headphones tricky! You can get helmets with bluetooth speakers in them

I always wear ear protection on the bike.

I was wearing snugs moulded headphones but recently I have moved to Bose Quiet Comfort 20 in ear jobs. They do a great job of reducing the wind and engine noise. I did get a set of moulded plugs made for them, but I have found the standard silicone ones more comfortable.

You can get a bit of popping from the wind on them but I really get on with them.

I ride with earplugs when I don’t need sat-nav. I can still hear enough details but the wind noise is gone.
When I do need sat-nav, I’ve got a Garmin Zumo linked to a pair of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-Headphones-Bluetooth-Splash-proof-Hands-free-White/dp/B07B1KV355

There’s also a cheaper version:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-Headphones-Bluetooth-splash-proof-hands-free-Green/dp/B073V3WJ6F

They isolate the outside noise well enough, and I can play music and have the directions interrupt it when needed. Battery life has never been a problem, and they take a charge from any old USB charger.

I’ve never tried to use them for calls while on the bike, and I can’t see them working brilliantly, unless you stop up somewhere and hold the mike to your mouth.

I also use them for music while on the mtb, when I’m in the mood.

You can buy bluetooth headphone systems that velcro into the helmet. I’ve used them whilst marshalling/riding support for a couple of cycle events.

Main problem I found is that you need to have the volume up really high in order to overcome wind noise. Might not be such a problem on a 125 in town.

As per TJ – I favour earplugs at other times. The “can’t hear the traffic” argument is moot at speed as you an’t hear it over wind noise anyway (which is pretty much also the case at speed on a bicycle).

yeah, most of the riding I’m doing is around town, speeds are low so wind noise not much of a factor but in the future I’ll go further and be on some dual carriageways. and yes a 125 isn’t really that noisy but a bigger bike later in the year may change that. I guess top speed is 65mph at best so doubt it’ll make much difference until I get the bigger bike. when I tested it I only used one ear and didn’t need to ramp up the volume to still hear instructions. the idea of a control between the phone and ear is interesting but not sure it’ll serve much purpose with thick gloves on? by the time I can use the remote I could have used the phone and certainly not when moving. I wont take calls using them, no way jose.

I use a bluetooth system in my helmet, two small speakers behind the helmet liner. I always wear earplugs so the volume is fairly low in real terms, but just enough to hear the tunes. I’ve a ZZR1400 so it all becomes irrelevant at more ‘progressive’ speeds as the wind noise takes over! I still feel I’m as aware of my surroundings as if I didnt have the music but I only tend to listen to it when I’m riding on motorways or country A roads. I’ve got a remote mounted on my bars too so it’s dead easy to switch on/off, volumeup/down etc. Go with what your comfortable with but is advise you didnt listen to music if your just starting out on your biking life.

Used to have speakers custom mounted in the helmet or Velcro earpiece and boon mike for the radio at work.
I always wore earplugs and could still hear the radio unless doing silly speed.

If it was a choice between headphones or earplugs, earplugs would win every time, even on a 125 (I even use them in my Honda c90) deafness is no fun and a real long term risk at anything above 20mph.

The biggest issue for me is that motorcycling needs much more concentration to avoid being killed so whilst gps would be ok I, personally, would never play music or use a phone while biking.

I never use the earphone controls when on the bike, but when stopped it’s possible. Also, my GPS has media controls on it.

Ear plugs to stop going deaf from wind noise and sena packtalk works very well. Probably overkill for what you want though (pricey) good for bike to bike intercom when touring though and voice control (works sometimes, doesnt like my accent)

I use a Sena comms unit and I found with foam earplugs and speakers in headphones it just wasn’t loud enough. So went for the ear buds. Its a marginal faff to get them in and on very long days they can get slightly uncomfortable. But they do work really well.

The biggest issue for me is that motorcycling needs much more concentration to avoid being killed so whilst gps would be ok I, personally, would never play music or use a phone while biking.

If you can’t listen music and ride a bike, then maybe motorcycles are not for you 🙂

If you can’t listen music and ride a bike, then maybe motorcycles are not for you

In the right circumstances, I ride better when I’m listening to music (although selecting the correct music is not simple). I’m happier, actually more switched on and, crucially, more relaxed. Which means that corners become much smoother.

If you can’t listen music and ride a bike, then maybe motorcycles are not for you

Strange that on my advanced biker course and subsequent deployments as a surveillance biker for my employers they all thought motorcycles were for me.

Each to his own, do I want a load of distractions riding through London- no I don’t think I do

I use something similar to this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FreedConn-Motorcycle-Bluetooth-Motorbike-Automatically-Black/dp/B01MFD04X4

Bluetooth helmet speakers and mic. Works really well. It’s about 5 years old now and has had no issues. Battery lasts about 1 week (1.5hrs commute/day). I hook it up to my phone and listen to radio on way in and home. Volume had to be max though. Mic works well

I’ve used earplugs to keep the wind noise out and a pair of AfterShokz bone-conduction headphones, which worked well. The helmet keeps the headphones pressed against my head so they worked as they are supposed to.

I have no wisdom to impart as today was my first day riding my 125 to work, however, I’m happy you’ve verified that google maps will continue to give me voice directions even with the screen locked as I think I’ll be using it for my journey home at they very least. I managed to get my helmet on this morning with my airpods in situ and had some tunes on quietly. If I can drive with music blaring I’m fairly sure I can ride a bike to, unless we plan on banning all riders/drivers with an auditory impairment? Each to their own though, some would find it distracting but I don’t personally.

Strange that on my advanced biker course and subsequent deployments as a surveillance biker for my employers they all thought motorcycles were for me.

In all seriousness there is actual research that has shown that some people are far more distracted by music than others. So probably unfair for me to say that, whats important is people do what makes them feel safe. If it distracts you to the point of not feeling safe then its good you have made the decision to not listen to music.

whats important is people do what makes them feel safe.

Spot on! if audible gps means people can concentrate better on the road without worrying about the route or music helps them relax – crack on. 🙂

@kilo out of interest what level were you trained too, standard or advanced?

Strangely I always thought I would struggle with listening to music while riding. I thought I would want to hear the bike more. Turns out it actually works well for me.

Interestingly though (and why hands free phones are probably worse than music) I ride with an intercom with my mate and we both stop talking to each other when pressing on, on technical roads. I tend to start my inner monologue at the point and stop talking 🙂

well done GolfChick, the first few times are the tough ones and then it slowly becomes normal and you can relax little.

I have expensive Bluetooth earbuds but first time I used google to direct me I used an old set of headphones plugged into the phone in my pocket. the Bluetooth ones have touch controls and I didn’t want to check my blind spot and switch on slipknot. haha.

They actually worked well and with one ear connected it felt fine. I could hear well enough to both the road and the instructions and even began to think music interrupted by instructions from google would be fine. Not tried it yet. Like my tunes. 🙂

The airpods thankfully don’t have any buttons just siri always listening but I’m not sure he’ll understand me in the helmet.

I’m glad I picked half term for the first journey to ease me into it a little with the quieter roads. Ride in again friday as the weather looks biblical tomorrow and will pop out over the weekend to hoepfully prepare me for next week and the traffic being back.

@kilo out of interest what level were you trained too, standard or advanced?

Advanced, probably the hardest course I did – from a leisure biker straight to advanced. Being civil servants we didn’t have any standard riders, it was advanced or nothing. Did it at TVP with Vfrs for the first two weeks and then I had a break due to a court case and was allowed to use a pan European as the vfr was so small I was getting crippled after a full day on them! After that it was straight on to a variety of bikes on my HMC&E surveillance team, mainly in the Turkish badlands of North London. Not masses of high speed work but lots of making ground in traffic which is probably more risky. Kilo was the designated call-sign for the bike on the surveillance plot in C&E language (and anyone else who ever learnt EST Brevity – some select bits of army possibly)

Having done this it does make me a firm believer that riders should try and get advanced road training if possible – IAM etc

Earplugs all of the time, then a Sena 10s bluetooth headset in the helmet.

Tomtom rider on the bars for sat nav on longer trips, plus phone connected for calls (if needed which has been less than 5 over 50k miles) and music, either commuting or motorway work.

If I’m just going local and need sat nav, just the phone connected and I can control it via OK Google.

Neither earplugs nor music has ever stopped me hearing emergency vehicles, normally well before I can see them, I’ll be looking round for them 30 seconds or more before they’re visible.

A decent long Spotify playlist and audible and visible sat nav instructions make days like Fribourg in Switzerland to Kent in a day much more bearable.

I use bluetooth creative earbuds with a mic module near one ear.

Works really well for me, and a necessity as my Schuberth flip up lid is really noisy, despite being claimed as the quietest in class. There is a Schuberth speaker and mic kit but I can’t see that making the wind noise go away.

It would be useful to be able to answer a call but I haven’t found out how to answer an incoming call with this setup and an iPhone. Siri ignores me.

If your Schuberth is noisy then i suggest getting it checked.
Bugger all is quieter. One of the Shoei gets close but only close.
Their collar system works very well and has some of the best sound quality out there as well so is clear at 100+ with earplugs in.