How to stop cycling wind noise / Airstreamz review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ส.ค. 2024
- Riding your (e)bike at high speeds can damage your ears and your enjoyment. Luckily there are solutions on the market, as well as some DIY options. We tested the Cat-Ears Airstreamz and take a (very) brief look at the Wind-Blox Pro, the Helmet Angels and the Aeropex Aftershokz.
Check current prices (affiliate links):
- Cat-Ears Airstreamz: amzn.to/3yw4jIr
- Wind-Blox Pro: amzn.to/3CdcifI
- Aeropex Aftershokz: amzn.to/3rUCEyv
- McGyver - The complete collection: amzn.to/3yw4yDl
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Filmed with (affiliate links)
- Sony A7III: amzn.to/3ozcW10
- Sony 35mm f1.8: amzn.to/3DeUnW9
- Sony 85mm f1.8: amzn.to/3Hi1Y8K
Easy way to see if they work.
1.Put them on helmet, put helmet on head with sunglasses over straps.
2.While riding, pull one side down on the strap so that it's not in front of your ear. Notice how you are getting significantly less wind noise on that side.
3.Then put it back in place, repeat with with other side.
4. Put both back in place and be happy you bought them. 😃
In the (very) long run wind noise can damage your hearing. For people who are sensitive to that there is an existing solution. Get some bespoke earplugs. Good ones have a small filtered channel to hear your environment through. The filters cancel out wind noise frequencies while keeping the sound of conversation and traffic (somewhat muffled) audible. Works fine, but I wouldn’t use them in heavy traffic like in a city (your speed is probably lower there anyway).
Agreed. And really: anyone who's into live music should own a pair already. People take crazy risks with their hearing.
I made several prototypes using different faux fur coming from old hoods : a rectangular piece folded around the strap in front of ear, velcro to fix it. It partially covers my ears. The thickest one is very effective but really warm. The thinnest one is a little bit less effective but I can wear it during hot summer. Regarding the style... just forget it...
Something very surprising is lot of people asked me what were these devices and were really interested because they suffer from the wind too.
I will probably start a new trend !!!
I also bought WIndblox Focus to test. It's somewhere between Los Angeles and my home...
Great job on the DIY! I hope you manage to start that trend, makes it a lot easier to enjoy the ride.
I bought Windblox Focus. Not satisfied at all, my own devices are way more helpful to reduce wind noise.
The universe is practically forcing you to start your own company 😄
Great video. I have the airstreamz for almost 7 tears now,use them for commuting so almost daily. The have held up just fine! Double up on the glasses recommendation! Where did you purchase them? In europe/belgium?
Wow, 7 years of daily use, that counts as a vote of confidence! 👍🏻 I bought mine at a small Dutch webshop, CXC Supply.
Great vid! Does pulling down the visor on your ABUS helmet reduce some wind noise as well?
Oh that’s a super interesting question! I actually don’t know since I don’t use it anymore (too heavy) and I didn’t use the visor often. I’ll try it out once it stops raining and report back!
I did a quick test. No real difference in terms of noise level with and without the visor. A very wide one would probably do the trick, but that would look pretty weird. That seems to be the one thing all these solutions have in common 😂
@@BelgianHikers Thanks for your time mate :))
Great video! I also have the bone conduction headphones and there's one more question I still have. Is it possible to have a phone call on the bike with these on? I get that it decreases the wind noise for yourself, but will the mic be able to work with this?
(Without them there's no chance to understand anything on the other end of course.)
I've only had one phone call with these on (stopped by the side of the road, so not while riding). It was usable, but not ideal. Certainly worse voice quality than AirPods, for example. I would expect calling while riding to be rather unpleasant for the person on the other end, since the microphone is bound to pick up a lot of wind noise.
I have some of the helmet angels but they were pretty useless. Still trying to find a good solution - I suffer from tinnitus on one side and wind noise from cycling really aggravates it. I just came across another strap based product ("earshield") that I might give a go, although I doubt the efficacy would be any better than home-made, and it's going to look a bit weird either way.
These earSHIELD models look nice as well, I wonder how well they stay put. Also thinking about trying out some helmets that cover the ears completely.
In Canada, is it against the law to wear music earphones while riding a bike. Way too dangerous. Not sure what country (if any) allows this.
It's not illegal in Belgium - though obviously not recommended. Listening on bone conduction headphones is like playing music in your car imho: there will always be some added distraction, but it's hardly a cardinal sin.
D’accord ! Merci.
Controversial take: modern earphones with transparency mode make you basically able to hear (almost) as well as riding with nothing in at all.
Some people use transparency mode as a kind of hearing aid, so you might be right. It’ll depend on the settings of the earbuds though: some favor human voices over traffic noises, which might give you a false sense of security.