What’s On Your Riding Playlist?


It’s been awhile since I wrote about adopting earplugs into my standard gear, but I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten pretty good at the habit now. With that being said, I’ve got to admit that after a few months, it had gotten a little … well, boring.

Enter the Old Lady.

I was … discussing the ear plugs and the Catch-22 of wearing them at the dinner table a few weeks ago and She Who Must Be Listened To pointed out that she had some noise cancelling ear buds she used when traveling on airplanes that would allow me to listen to my iPod or a music app while I rode and still cut out most of the noise from the bike to save the hearing I have left.

Needless to say, I asked to borrow them and take them for a spin the next day. I’m hooked!

Now, I know that earphones are a safety concern – and different states and provinces have different laws about what you can and cannot do. We can’t forget that, but since I was wearing ear plugs to save my hearing and they certainly drowned out pipes, horns, and sirens, I figure that a noise-canceling ear bud ought to allow me to hear all those over the drone of a V-twin under my seat on the highway.

In my diesel dually, I have a stereo system that will make the neighbors wet the bed, but all these years on a bike? I’d never even thought about it.

A whole new world of riding opened up to me now.

There’s just one issue – what I listen to isn’t “riding music.”

As a matter of fact, if I hear Steppenwolf tell me to get my motor running one more time in at a biker function, I’ll probably stab myself in the neck with a pencil.

Who decided that this was the anthem for motorcyclists? Sure, a version of it is in Easy Rider, but can we move past that? With THAT out of the way, I’m putting this out to you guys – what do you listen to and how are you listening? I’m going to have to give the Old Lady back her headphones soon and I’m trying to figure out the best stuff out there on the market that actually works on the road and under the helmet.

What do I need you guys to do? Two things – what are the best ear buds that cancel out the noise and what are you listening to while you wear them? Do they fit under your helmet? Flop around in the wind? Stay put? If you’re like me and live in the boondocks, then the other question is are you using an iPod or a streaming service like Pandora – and how is it working out for you?

You guys know that I’m old fashioned (and not quite old), but this is a whole new thing for me and I’m almost ashamed to admit it was such an “ah ha” moment when I started listening while I rode. I’ve seen where the big touring bikes have had this sort of stuff in place for years, but never thought about it since open pipes drown out any other options – or so I thought.

Let me know what you have that’s working because I’m suddenly in the market and loading stuff into my iTunes account like a teenager.

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