I tried Cat Ears for a few days…ok they work somewhat. Wind was quieter but damn, unfortunately even I could not bring myself to keep them on my straps. I gave them to my partner who commutes by e-bike (and so isn’t showing up to group rides with them on).
My wind noise went down quite a bit when I got an “aero-road” helmet (the POC Ventral, and the Ventral Air though the former was a tad quieter) versus the non-aero helmet I was using before, so that’s definitely something to consider if you don’t use one already.
Totally agree on the absolutely amazing Varia radar. I won’t ride without it!
And finally, I also have and use Loop Experience ear plugs. I’ve tested them on road rides and they’re great. Wind noise isn’t the only loud sound, roads are just generally incredibly noisy. I put these in and find a lot more peace on my rides, but have found I can absolutely still hear everything I need to, so I recommend these a lot and should remember to wear them more often.
Ear plugs or ear buds? The problem with ear plugs is obviously eliminating outside noise and for ear buds, I haven’t really found them to be effective to blocking wind noise. In fact, my AirPods make it worse, IME.
Also for ear buds, you’d have to convince people to buy your buds vs. Apple / Beats / Samsung et al. That is a tough conversion, I think.
When I did a bike tour years ago I was going nuts from the sustained wind noise on 10+ hour days. I ended up stopping at a general store and stuffed cotton swabs in my ears. Reduced the wind noise, could still hear cars coming up. Never had a convo with someone in them but I imagine I would have been able to hear them. I always took them out first because I image they looked a little funny.
Hm, I haven’t noticed shokz having an impact on wind noise but I wasn’t expecting them to so perhaps I just didn’t notice. It hasn’t bothered me on flats and on sustained descents I’ll just turn them off. I’m curious what going at high speed without wind noise would feel like; silently (ish) riding 40 mph seems like it would feel strange to me.
I really like them for being able to listen to a podcast and maintain some situational awareness, though. The original purpose was just for using on rollers though.
Following. I picked up some swix earmuffs this winter, and they are great for noise, but would be too warm in summer (they are even a bit warmer than I would like in winter). But I haven’t yet experimented with taking the interior (removable) fleece out. I’m also surprised no one has really come up with a good, aesthetically acceptable answer to this problem.
I’ve been very tempted to experiment with musicians’ earplugs, but it seems likely to be an expensive dead end.
Wind noise has always been an issue with me. I have quite large ears. They dont stick out at 90 degrees but do stick out a wee bit. Im sure they slow me down (hahahaha). Helmet or no helmet the noise is there. Ear buds, wind deflectors, head buffs, dont help. The only thing that does work for me is a fleece or micro fibre lined head band. The plain nylon ones do nothing. The head band is ok in winter but summer in Texas its way too hot. On hot days i use plain olde foam ear plugs. They block out most of the wind but they also block car noise. (not good). Since the noise from the wind is so loud I cant really hear the cars coming up behind me anyway. I bought a garmin varia. This thing is great. I dont trust it 100% so I always look when changing lanes ect…
Hope this helps you find a solution.
I’d have you try an aero helmet and putting your sun glass arms outside of your straps so the straps lay flat. Maybe put a layer or two of tape on the forward helmet straps to kicks the air out a bit. Maybe wireless headphones, even just turned off.
I’ve heard aftershokz + ear plugs is a working combo. Personally I just listen to music all the time with low volume but in a headwind the the wind is all I can hear.
I’ll probably diy some wind stoppers to my helmet straps.
The bonus is that with a reflective visor nobody will know who you are anyway.
I bet any of these products are gonna cost you a few watts of aero. I’m sure they could get away with some kind of aero ear cowling on a helmet that looked ok and at the same time blocked wind…
I ride with Aftershockz. It doesn’t reduce wind noice in any way for me. If I ride with a strong headwind, I turn the Aftershockz off, because the sound (podcast usually) hardly gets over the windnoice.
I think this sort of kills the whole idea of having bone conducting earphones. They are designed to keep the ear canal open so you could hear the environment.
