Handlebar mounted speakers

Dan said:

I ride my bike a lot and I was thinking about getting speakers for my
bike to use with my discman. I thought about getting some small
speakers that I could attach something to and mout them on my
handlebars. I looked at Sonic Impact's Gen 2 speakers -
http://www.si-5.com/frontEnd/cm_productDetail.jsp?productID=15 - but I
don't know if these are any good for outdoor use. So does anyone know
of a small, good sounding pair of speakers that would be good for such
use?

Thanks, Dan

And what makes you think the rest of us want to listen to music in the
outdoors? Think headphones. At least then you'll be the only one
that gets smeared when you don't hear overtaking traffic.

.... say you use just trails? Hearing some idiot playing amplified
music on a bike is on an even par with the self absorbed cell-phone
using twit who'd parked herself for an extended converstion dead
center in the middle of the trail and was deaf to the outside world,
including my LOUDLY ringing bell.

Should have allowed Darwin to do his thing & run her down.

Dan said:

I ride my bike a lot and I was thinking about getting speakers for my
bike to use with my discman. I thought about getting some small
speakers that I could attach something to and mout them on my
handlebars. I looked at Sonic Impact's Gen 2 speakers -
http://www.si-5.com/frontEnd/cm_productDetail.jsp?productID=15 - but I
don't know if these are any good for outdoor use. So does anyone know
of a small, good sounding pair of speakers that would be good for such
use?

I did this this with a walkman about 10 years ago. I had a handlebar
bag that I put some small car speakers in and hooked them up the
walkman. Unfortunatly, the sound wasn't loud enough to overcome the
wind noise if I rode over probably 10mph. Alhtough I'm guessing a
small amp would have solved that issue, at the time I was in grad school
and had little money.

I don't have any solution, but if you find one, post here. I'd be
interested in doing it again. I still have the bag, and am looking for
a reason to get an apple shuffle....

Rich

Bill Davis said:

And what makes you think the rest of us want to listen to music in the
outdoors? Think headphones. At least then you'll be the only one
that gets smeared when you don't hear overtaking traffic.

I don't think it'd be that loud. I'm guessing you'd never hear on the
road due to wind and traffic noise unless you were right behind him.

Rich

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 22:13:15 -0600,
<[email hidden]>,

Bill Davis said:

And what makes you think the rest of us want to listen to music in the
outdoors?

With only 2 Watts RMS, you're not going to be within range for very
long. The experience I've had with amplified mobile music has been
while riding in large groups. It was easy enough to get away from the
sound or to hang with the rider if you wanted to hear it.
You've got the option.
If you're riding solo and overtake a rider with a boom box on their
rack, just keep going. You'll quickly be out of earshot.
--
zk

It'd be about as annoying to other people as a car going by playing
music with the windows down and much less annoying than those cars with
the bass pumped way up.

I don't have a car so why can't I annoy people with my bike? Hehe =p

Dan said:

It'd be about as annoying to other people as a car going by playing
music with the windows down and much less annoying than those cars

with

Quoted message said:

the bass pumped way up.

I don't have a car so why can't I annoy people with my bike? Hehe =p

The power requirements of loud, low frequency, sound are kind of
outside pedal power. The thing to do is use a PA speaker and listen to
a talk radio station, preferably one that has liberal leanings.

Creative Labs make a nice set of powered speakers called 'travel sound'
they work on four AAA batterys and sound OK not Bose, JBL, or HK but
they are loud enough to hear over wind and some traffic. cost about
$100.

Mounting a diskman or anything shock sensitive dirrectly to the bike
can be annoying as it will get jarred, however somehow attatched to the
body IE: backpack lessens the jarring.

Hmm.. Those look pretty good; they have great reviews on Amazon.com and
I found the TravelSound i300s on ebay for about $25 including shipping
(for now anyway - I'm sure the price will go up...) So I might try
those out unless anyone has any other suggestions. Thanks Roadie

Dan said:

I ride my bike a lot and I was thinking about getting speakers for my bike
to use with my discman. I thought about getting some small speakers that
I could attach something to and mout them on my handlebars. I looked at
Sonic Impact's Gen 2 speakers -
http://www.si-5.com/frontEnd/cm_productDetail.jsp?productID=15 - but I
don't know if these are any good for outdoor use. So does anyone know of
a small, good sounding pair of speakers that would be good for such use?

Thanks, Dan

eh, too much hassle.

I just sing to myself which entertains me and keeps other far far away.

Usually it's some rock and roll, but yesterday in a stressful city
situation, I resorted to the Sound of Music which did the trick. The look
of horror on the pedestrian's faces was delish. 🙂

Maybe I'll mount a music stand on my bike instead... =)

Rich said:

Dan said:

I ride my bike a lot and I was thinking about getting speakers for my
bike to use with my discman. I thought about getting some small
speakers that I could attach something to and mout them on my
handlebars. I looked at Sonic Impact's Gen 2 speakers -
http://www.si-5.com/frontEnd/cm_productDetail.jsp?productID=15 - but I
don't know if these are any good for outdoor use. So does anyone know
of a small, good sounding pair of speakers that would be good for such
use?

I did this this with a walkman about 10 years ago. I had a handlebar
bag that I put some small car speakers in and hooked them up the
walkman. Unfortunatly, the sound wasn't loud enough to overcome the
wind noise if I rode over probably 10mph. Alhtough I'm guessing a
small amp would have solved that issue, at the time I was in grad school
and had little money.

I don't have any solution, but if you find one, post here. I'd be
interested in doing it again. I still have the bag, and am looking for
a reason to get an apple shuffle....

Rich

Small units such as the Walkman are designed to drive headphones, not speakers.
What you want are so-called amplified speakers. They require a power source, of
course, but that's easy to provide. Find a small pair designed to be connected
to a PC's sound card. I tossed an old pair of 4" x 3" recently. :-(

What kind? Were they any good? Do you think they'd be any good for
outdoor/on-the-road use?

Dan said:

Maybe I'll mount a music stand on my bike instead... =)

rofl!

Now that would be cool!

Or how about a tiny bandstand and some very short musicians?

maxo said:

Dan said:

Maybe I'll mount a music stand on my bike instead... =)

rofl!

Now that would be cool!

Or how about a tiny bandstand and some very short musicians?

If you raise the specter of ten inch pianists, we're going to get all
cross threaded with the spandex shorts arguments.

I have had success with 6volt computer speakers plugged into my pocket pc.
They are common at garage sales and such and can be bought for under 10
bucks.

RK

Umm yea... The question is where can I get some that are small and
tough enough to mount on my bike?

I may also get a portable battery pack that I can plug stuff into via a
cigarette lighter adapter, so power is not much of a concern.

I think I'm probably gonna go with the Creative Labs TravelSound
speakers that were mentioned but I'm still looking for ideas.

Thanks for the advice on the TravelSound speakers; I got them and they
work great so far. Since it's so small I was able to secure it to my
handlebars with just rubberbands wrapped arount the unit and my
handlebars (and a foam packing sheet between the two.) With the stereo
widening effect turned on it really does sound like the music is coming
at me more from the sides even though the speakers are only two inches
apart. I'm not sure how well these will hold up but for now they work
great! Thanks, Dan.