25cent wind noise mitigation

I don't know about you, but if I'm (routinely) exceeding 30 mph on an ebike I find wind noise extremely unpleasant. Indeed hearing damage can occur above that speed. I always wear earplugs for shop work, but they're ineffective at killing wind noise, which is transmitted right through them by conduction. As an aside, plugs work great under a motorcycle helmet which of course shields most wind, and is my approach on my ICE toys.

So a bit of experimentation ensued, and youtubing turned up the CatEars helmet strap "silencers". Sadly, there's currently no good solution to this problem that doesn't look dorky and only reduce the deafening rush by 25-30%... I'm not claiming to have advanced the science here, which is deceptively complex, just a trick little iteration of this concept.

For some reason I don't wear a bicycle helmet, decades of riding without one I guess. I may reconsider that in the not too distant future. I do wear some fairly cool optically great dark googles over my glasses to keep my eyes from watering in the wind, but I digress.

Pictured is the rapid evolution of a simple DIY wind damping "headset". Grab a length of 3/32" aluminum welding rod. Bend. Attach various materials by piercing, wrapping or taping. Couple sets of shaped foam deflectors that don't work, fairly dumb looking bits of thick washcloth that sort of work. Go to Walmart arts and crafts section an stumble upon a baggie of Pom-Poms. Skewer a pair of stylish safety orange furry puffs and call it a day. They're self locating in the ears. Unit is practically weightless. Approx 25% damping without much ambient hearing reduction. My hope is the public deems them an unreleased $700 pair of Apple unobtanium.

If you wear a helmet you can make these wind disruptors for the front straps:

Yes, note my reference to CatEars in second paragraph above, but thanks for the link to the other thread. I had not done any search on the topic here.

My simple design of course works without a helmet and is faster to put on, more hygenic, and more effective than earplugs- which are a PITA... It still looks a bit odd, but flashes of bright color at head level are also a safety feature- being seen is paramount on the street, though I always assume I CAN'T be seen and ride accordingly. My most recent Hyper 29er build is capable of over 60mph- a whole 'nuther level of awareness is necessary. And the wind noise is extreme. If I switch to a helmet, it would need to cover the ears to add any hearing protection, and I'm trying to still resemble a cyclist...

Barncat said:

My most recent Hyper 29er build is capable of over 60mph- a whole 'nuther level of awareness is necessary. And the wind noise is extreme. If I switch to a helmet, it would need to cover the ears to add any hearing protection, and I'm trying to still resemble a cyclist...

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If you are going over 60mph you need a full face helmet. Full stop.

JackFlorey said:

If you are going over 60mph you need a full face helmet. Full stop.

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Oh man, I'd better tell Ponch and John!

60mph on bicycle tires. There you go.

Let's not get our knickers in a twist guys. I said 60mph "capable". I may open it up for 10 or 15 seconds once or twice a ride in a straight line on level terrain. Not much hysteresis. Good quality tires with excellent tread, properly inflated. It's not like I'm at sustained speeds cornering up in the mountains- I save that for my motorcycles. I know where the limits and risks are; I've owned/built at least 50 two wheeled vehicles.

At any rate, if anyone has any fresh elegant ideas re reducing high speed wind noise, chime in. My "headset" doesn't cut the db as much as I'd like.

Barncat said:

At any rate, if anyone has any fresh elegant ideas re reducing high speed wind noise, chime in. My "headset" doesn't cut the db as much as I'd like.

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Try a combination of "fluffy" ear muffs over earplugs? Your previous experience with earplugs transmitted the wind buffeting into your ear canal, so I'm thinking that by covering them with a fluffy cover (the fluffiness disrupts and breaks up the wind flow) they will not be subject to direct wind buffeting.

A few months ago, I was displaced from my central city neighborhood and had to move about 14 miles away from my workplaces. Everything about my new commute is worse than before: driver behavior, traffic snarls, bike lane conditions, trash and debris, lack of available routes, etc. But I also have to go faster so I don't have a third unpaid part time job just getting to and from work. My cruising speed is now about 30mph when it was about 20mph before.

In my old central neighborhood, I didn't wear a helmet because the extra wind noise diminished my situational awareness more than the added safety value of the silly hat. Now that I'm moving much faster over more hazardous roads, I found I couldn't hear much at speed anyway, so I started wearing a helmet. The only casualty so far has been my hair, which now makes me look like a mental patient a lot of the time. But before introducing the helmet, I started using a mirror which makes up for a lot of the awareness I lost in the increased wind noise.

One unanticipated side effect of the helmet is that now I'm perceived as a cycle commuter (from a tribe that wears helmets) rather than a homeless bike bum (from a tribe that doesn't wear helmets). It doesn't reduce drivers doing callously indifferent dangerous things, but it reduces the incidence of suspicious side-eye from normies.

99t4- yes, plugs under the fluffy headset would probably be more effective. You of course described the problem correctly. There's a reason why outdoor mics are covered in thick fluff.

If I do resort to a helmet, I will at least not have to be concerned about a hairstyle problem... And always ride with a left side mirror.