Custom earphones/hearing protection for motorcycle riding

RomaLKS9

New Member
Hey, just wanna ask you guys if you've tried using these custom earphones from Big Ear? I was just curious about them and I wanna know first if they're good before I give them a call. Anyway, if you haven't can you recommend something that is also custom made. Thanks!

 
That's a bit more than the earplugs I always wear on a bike. It's way too noisy inside even a good helmet to ride without them.

Noise cancelling sound like a good idea, but don't just crank up the volume to cover ambient/wind noise.

On the shooting range, I used to just use normal over the ear protectors, but with some guns, ear plugs plus defenders are still not too much. Protect your hearing.
 
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I'm going to get some custom molded earplugs, as I have yet to find any off the shelf that are comfortable or stay in my ears. I got some NoNoise plugs and paid $30 for them, but find them uncomfortable.

Not planning to spend $350 - I see these guys at the motorcycle shows every year that have custom molded plugs, but haven't checked the prices.

I don't want anything with electronics etc. Some have a filter in them to allow some level of ambient noise in for safety, but it's a mechanical device (a tube) not some fancy electronics that cost money and will fail.
 
I ride with cheap disposable expanding ear plugs when I'm going any farther than commuting to work (25ish miles one way). I know its apples to oranges, but even with the disposable ones, it took me a couple tries to find the brand that I like the best. Once I did, i bought a large container of them. I think it was still less than 10 bucks, and disposable keeps the infection risk down compared to not cleaning reusable ones as much as you should. I'm not trying to tell you what to spend money on, but $350 will get you a big ol thing of disposables + about $340 to spend on cooler things. lol
 
As a past long-haul rider I learned to value ear plugs very highly. There was simply no comparison between several hours in the saddle w/o earplugs and w/ them; for me fatigue was always much, much greater w/o the hearing protection. I won't consider riding w/o a helmet anyway, but even if it weren't important to protect the ol' gourd in the event of a tip-over, having the wind constantly roaring by the ears would have me heading back home w/in less than a mile.
 
I wear the softest, smallest plugs I can find (but then, I have tiny ear canals). I wear them any time I expect to go over 35, even on my GL1800 (stock exhaust, very quiet). VA refuses to cover the hearing loss that I suffered in the Navy, and I don't want to loose any more!
 
I do like the idea of noise cancelling well fitted are plugs/pods/buds, but I'm not the demographic that can afford $350 silence, let alone the $2,999 top of the line model.

I have had a few different sets of noise cancelling headphones for air travel and a friends has them in his helicopter, so I know how well they can work, but my budget doesn't stretch that far unfortunately.

That said, I guess my noise cancelling set of Bose headphones cost $300 so it's really not that much of a stretch. Maybe the issue for me is that I can be on a plane for hours and need to save my ears and sanity. On a bike, I do more 1/4 mile at a time type miles and earplugs are adequate for that task. Maybe if I rode for longer, my budgeting priorities would be different.

That's worth thinking about.
 
I wear the foam disposable, and a buddy shelled out $100 or so for the molded, only to be told the foam work better. I use them and I can still have music play on my BT speakers and answer a call, hear sirens but the wind noise is completely gone. they block the damaging levels and waves of sound, designed for factory machines etc. they allow the regular stuff to come through and like Hurco550 says, $10 is more than one seasons worth.
 
I am in the foam disposable group too. I run an open 4 into 1 and it will do some damage is the ride is too long without some protection. I hate to admit this but I had a green pair of disposables in my tool box. They fit and felt the best of any brands I found ...so I reused the pair the whole season. They were more of an earwax and grease color by October. "GROSS! " she says. My wife was real impressed. A job which I take very seriously;)
 
No ear plugs or phones for me....its bad enough having to cover your senses with a helmet....If I don't see em, I wanna hear em coming. I also like to hear the bike talk ;)
 
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