There’s a guy in our bike club that always rides with music playing via a bluetooth speaker mounted on his handlebars.
I understand where he’s coming from - when I ride indoor, I always have music going. I’d understand playing music while riding solo outside, even though I don’t do it. I’m mostly okay with his playlist, too.
But to play music while riding with a bunch of other people? Are they not interesting enough for him? It’s hard enough to hear each other if we want to chat without music playing. And if someone calls out a safety item (car back, hole, debris, etc.) he and others near him are less likely to hear the call, so there’s a potential effect on safety as well.
Fortunately, I’ve gotten fast enough that he’s never in my ride group any more.
I went on a river float (tubing) with some friends last weekend, and a guy who I respect very much produced a BT speaker and let it play much of the time. Thankfully it was too underpowered to hear unless you were right by it, but yeah people really think a tinny ass speaker is going to be pleasant for others to listen to.
There’s a guy in our bike club that always rides with music playing via a bluetooth speaker mounted on his handlebars.
I understand where he’s coming from - when I ride indoor, I always have music going. I’d understand playing music while riding solo outside, even though I don’t do it. I’m mostly okay with his playlist, too.
But to play music while riding with a bunch of other people? Are they not interesting enough for him? It’s hard enough to hear each other if we want to chat without music playing. And if someone calls out a safety item (car back, hole, debris, etc.) he and others near him are less likely to hear the call, so there’s a potential effect on safety as well.
Fortunately, I’ve gotten fast enough that he’s never in my ride group any more.
This is like the exact case that bone conducting headphones are for. You can hear everything, and no one has to hear your music.
I also have some earbuds that have a passthrough mode, but I wouldn’t trust them to stay in while running or biking.
I went on a river float (tubing) with some friends last weekend, and a guy who I respect very much produced a BT speaker and let it play much of the time. Thankfully it was too underpowered to hear unless you were right by it, but yeah people really think a tinny ass speaker is going to be pleasant for others to listen to.