Don\'t shout Im not deaf
 

Or will you be in 10/20 years time . How many riders go out and ride the bike occasionally with out ear plugs. I admit I have done, so as not to "waste all that lovely noise". But just how much damage do we do to our ears. PLENTY believe me. OK so Im a little older than some on here and its a well known fact that as you get older your hearing slowly goes down hill. Its not only the hairs on your head that decrease but also the hair like structures (nerve endings)called the Organ of Corti within the Cochlea that can be damaged . Sound vibrations by the time there reach the inner ear are 20 times greater than when there began in the eardrum. Maybe now you can see where this is going.

Popping in ear defender's then makes sense and it will stop me having to shout when Its my turn to buy the beers in 4D

Thanks for that Pete,i'll make sure i take more care when i get to your age!

Poor old Monty must be deaf as a post at his age!!:lol:
Butch

mine is already going, but thats from the jet engines that used to run in the room next door.

earplugs are good, the important bit that they cut out is the higher frequences from wind noise.

must admit i've never used ear plugs, always considered them for touring or long journeys. I only ride on the road a few times a month and not for long trips.

Are the benefits going to be as much for short runs, track days for example??

yes the benefits are on short runs as well. hearing damage is cumlative, so six seperate ten min trips are the same as a one hour run. should really use them on every trip.
btw a quite bike with a loud helmet is probably worse that a loud bike with a quite lid

"Poor old Monty must be deaf as a post at his age!!
Butch"-it's got nothing to do with my age mate-more to do with following that baby 'R' of yours-112db indeed.........

John

Whats everybody saying................I cant hear a thing man!!!!!!:P

i like licking mine and sticking em in...................:devil:

how do you do yours..................!


:lol:

[Edited on 3-10-2005 by fil2]

I have always worn ear plugs on the ST becasue i find it physically painful if i don't. However i find the monster quite hard to ride with them in becasue i can hardly hear the engine and it doesn't go fast enough for wind noise to be a problem.

I did some minimoto racing (briefly) and the things were so loud that it became second nature with earplugs...

I have tried many times using them on the road, just cannot get on with them - must try again though!!!

must try harder:yawn:

I also can't get used to them - i might try again on the trackday this week.

A lady friend of mine now has to wear hearing aids in both ears due to tinitus caused by years of touring on the back seat of a Goldwing. She didn't wear earplugs and her head was above the riders and hence was more exposed to the wind than his was.

My nan had tinitus, made the last few years of her life an absolute misery. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy

not sure whether the custom fit ones make any difference to balance. I've been buying 40 pairs of the squidgy foam ones from e-bay for less than a fiver. I noticed it was taking longer and longer for my hearing to return to 'normal' after riding without them. My problem now is remembering to get rid of the 'used' ones and not leave them lying in the tankbag or in the pocket of my jacket....'nuf said !!

One thing which has not been mentioned is their use as a performance aid.

Years ago I rode without earplugs and once just before a ride was given a pair to try. Popped em in and off we all went with me at the front for a change ( I always went at the back cos I was the slowest and got in everyones way )

We all arrived at our destination and as I was taking off me helmet and removing the aforesaid plugs I was greeted by the others with such comments as '' You got a rocket up your ar*e today or something? and '' That's the fastest I've ever seen you ride!''

It would seem that subconciously I was using the sound of the engine as a barometer of my speed and was using more revs than normal to achieve the same sound level.

So there you have it guys - Ride to the race track with no earplugs in and put them in just before you go on the track and beat everyone else!:lol:

I get mine from a safety equipment company and they work out at less than 10p a pair (ok so it was a box of 300, but five of us clubbed in and it was worth every penny).
If you go to the safety equip shop be sure to check out the noise ratings on each - cheapest is not best.

Is there a Ducatsi follower working for teletext who decided the subtitles page in teletext should be 888 - just for a laugh?

I SAID....IS THERE A DUCATSI....oh never mind.

Eh?

I've got custom made ones, very comfy but perhaps not as great at sound reduction as foam ones. Been wearing plugs (in my ears!!) for years so its second nature to me now.

never really wear them
i've got a half decent helmet and it aint that loud.........UNTIL
marko gave me a couple of sets he had floating about, popped a set in. and then realised just how much noise there normally is.

Good tip i saw in the of the bike mags if you have never worn or are wondering what all the fuss is about go on a fast ride preferably over 70mph with just one earplug in !.

try it you will be very surprised

I always wear ear plugs and have spares ones in my leathers, under the seat and in my tank bag. Its a shame they werent readily available when I left school and started work as thats when I damaged my hearing both in a noisy workshop and on my AP50 with a ****pot helmet.

I have tried a number of bog standard foam ear plugs but like the Laser Lite yellow and pink ones so I bought some for work and keep them in my garage.

The moulded ones look good but im sure you have to clean them and they are expensive so you would be ****ed off if you lost one/both wheras the litle puppies are cheap and utterly disposable.

Just make sure you dont pick mine up on a ride out by mistake cause it wont taste like bee honey all though it may look like it :lol::lol:

All ways wear them,just so I can`t hear myself talking to myself,"what did you say?""Come on then if you want some!""Alright then outside..............................."

Always used 'em and now swear by the rubber ones (Quiet) made by Howard Leight. No more sqidging the foam around to get in. By 'em in bulk and they're cheap as chips.

http://www.howardleight.com/products...cts2.asp?id=10

Rgds, Rob

Yep highly recommended u either going to get tinnitus or not if u not has it for years u probably wont. My dad rode for years never got it I rode for one year on my first bigish bike a vfr400 and have had it since, mines bot so bad yet the noise in the office is loud enough so i dont noitce it but when its quiet u hear this light rining/buzzing very annyoing.

I do have a hearing loss as well inherited from my Mum so maybe a weakness there, so now i always wear them:D

I use howard leight ones laser light flo pink/yellow

Top tip rather than licking them u vaseline for a real tight seal avalible in little tins:D

[Edited on 3-10-2005 by Lee1980]

I've been using them since I started riding. I occasionally ride for 5 mins or so without them in every now and then so I can hear the engine and to check if there's any strange noises going on. Then I pop a pair back in (always have about 6 pairs dotted in my leathers, on the bike, up my ar$e, wherever).

After having tried countless pairs, I now swear by Soft FX, they have a great db reducing rate. Get them from here: http://www.earplugs.gb.com/index.html

If it's your first time, they do a trial pack of all 21 differnet designs, good way of working out which ones fit your ear'oles the best.

Ade.