ducatipaso.org

Hey Guys, today I rode to work as I had to go to one of our remote sites about 80 km away on one of my favourite roads. As I fuelled up I saw some earplugs in the Servo & remembering a mate with a Monster telling me how he always uses them to cut down on wind noise (while still hearing the V-Twin growl) so I paid the 49cents & thought that I would give them a try. Well they certianly did cut down on the wind noise & I could still hear the Staintunes resonating through the hills nicely but what I discovered was that my average cruising speed increased by approximately 20 kilometres an hour. I would normally cruise this road at around the 130km/hr mark but today I found that every time I looked at the speedo I was sitting on 150 easy. certianly "the Mistress" would be happy to motor at this speed all day but this road has some pretty dodgey sections at the moment, there has been plenty of rain & little maintainance so the Pot holes are big & frequent (the road is actually called "The Bucketts Way" they say it is because it heads towards - or away from - a mountian range called "the Bucketts" but I reckon it has more to do with the size of the potholes)

does anybody use earplugs & if so do you have this problem or was I just getting a bit caught up in my "Paso Moment"?

The Old Girl is certianly on song right now & evrything is just soooo good when I ride but I think that might be a little something for "Aiming for the Apex" :lick:

i ride with earplugs in unless it's less than 10 miles. i actually enjoy hearing the bike without all the wind noise. and i do find that i ride faster with plugs in because i dont have the wind noise as an audible 'speedometer'

Well, i worked in "Hearing-Aid-Business" for about 10 years. Even though a had a lot to do with Earplugs over the time.
There are many types and filters on the market, the mostly used are this standard foam plugs. I don't like them because:
- squeezing them and fit them into the ear is not very comfortable.
Often they make the hearing tube of the ear a lot wider by pressing against its walls when using them daily.
- they are not quite hygienic by using them more than "one-way"
- As you explained, they only cut the high range of acoustics.
So the use of them in traffic could be critical. There are to much noises in that range that give you "accident warning"
- you can't really talk to other people with this shit in the ear :toofar:
look for "Ear Claasic II" here: http://egger-labor.de/enplace/1101/en/productlist.jsp


If you like riding with plugs, look at your local Hearing-aid dealer to get a more effective and comfortable plug.
There are some made of plastic with silicone fittings and filtertubes.
In Germany they are about 10-40 Euro a pair. But some of them are a bit long, so they will hurt when you wear a helmet.
Look for "ER 20 S" here: http://egger-labor.de/enplace/1101/en/productlist.jsp

The most comfortable and effective thing is to get some custom-made-ones with changeable filterparts. They are a bit expensive but worth the money. They don't cut noises, they even lower the whole band of frequencys for 5-35dB, in order of the used filter. The 15dB is mostly used.
Fitment is great, wearing is very comfortable, talking is no problem.
Look for "Elacin ER-15" here: http://egger-labor.de/enplace/1101/en/productlist.jsp

Give it a try

I wear ear plugs ALL the time when riding. I have 2 pair of custom plugs that work great and are easily cleanable. I also keep a few of these Hearos Good Ear Plugs in a zip-lock in my jacket.

Hearing damage is cumulative so you need to protect yourself all of the time. I also wear ear muffs when running the tractor or any powert equipment. I just went thru some training recently that stated that any time you need to raise you voice to be heard (shout) then you should have hearing protection. They also cut down a fatigue.

I can't ride with ear plugs, I lose all sense of balance and wobble around corners. Apparently about 10% of the population can't function with things stuffed in their ears!

I HAVE TO USE earplugs every time, i drive my Ducatis! Maybe, cause i have open exhaust in all my Ducatis :laugh: And open clutch covers!