Hello, and welcome to another episode of Simplified on PowerDrift where we take automotive concepts
and break them down into bite sized pieces so you can digest them easily. Now every time
we do this, we ask you, what would you like us to do next? And the last time somebody
asked us, do you think music on a motorcycle is a great idea or not. So let's attack it
head on. Now when you play music in a car, usually it's not perceived as a huge problem
because the music is not pumped directly into your ears, you are aware of the ambient sounds
that are going on, and yes, of course, you can turn the music up so high that you can't
hear anything else and at that point, you're being a total fool. But in a motorcycle, once
your helmet is on, and you put earbuds inside, you are cancelling a lot of the sound out
and that is actually a problem, because your situational awareness, your awareness of what
is going on around you is a crucial part of how you're safe in a motorcycle. So, should
you be listening to music or not? Let's get your plugs out of the way first, because as
you know, I am a huge proponent of using earplugs on motorcycles because earplugs don't
block sound, they block volume, which means you will be able to hear everything on the
motorcycle, it's just that the volume levels are lower, which means your stress levels
are lower and just feels more peaceful to ride a motorcycle like that. The tip is to
never put a earplug in and go straight on the motorcycle when you're not used to them.
Put them on in the house, hang around the house for a couple of hours before you need
to get on the motorcycle, allow your brain time to understand that this is the new volume
level of the world that you've temporarily created with the earplugs before you get on
the motorcycle and things will go just fine. It is unsettling on the first couple of rides,
and I promise you by ride number five, you'll never ride without earplugs again. But the
situation changes when you bring either Active Noise Cancelling, or just music into your
helmet through earbuds. Again, if you have little speakers in your helmet, for example,
with your intercom system and you're playing music on it, it's just a matter of controlling
the volume and if the volume levels are low, I think it will be fine, because all the data
says helmets do not really cut out any specific sound frequencies, they reduce the volume
a little bit, maybe add a little bit of wind noise and that you can deal with. But once
you start playing music, the first thing that happens is a distraction. If you are thinking
about the music or humming along to the music, you are paying some small amount of attention
to the music that is playing rather than to your riding and I don't know that, that is
a very good idea and that is something that you should be doing to yourself on the motorcycle.
Now comes the question of what happens when you turn up the volume. Now, a lot of riders
in Europe and America will tell you that they listen to music on the motorcycle the whole
time and that's perfectly okay and you have to remember that the big difference between
us and them is that they are riding in a very very non-chaotic traffic environment where
most of the drivers have to go through a very strenuous process of training before they
can get their licences and they are trained to look out for motorcyclists because they
are vulnerable people in traffic, which means that a guy in an Audi driving really fast
with the music turned up is conditioned and taught to look out for motorcyclists and try
to protect them if he can. It means every motorcyclist, who's also listening to music
is also extremely aware of other people in traffic, and there aren't that many people
in traffic along with them on the usual case. We are the exact opposite of that, we have
full on chaos, our traffic is heavy, and most people are not skilled and they are not taught
to look out for motorcyclists, which means you're already in a lot more danger than you'd
be in Europe and America doing the exact same thing. So, do listen to music, if you want
to because you are an adult and you will take a good decision, I'm sure of it. But, me I
would never listen to music on the motorcycle, I would never use noise cancelling of any
sort, I would never use earbuds inside my ears. These are just to me bad ideas, ideas
that remove me from the immediacy of what's happening on the motorcycle, remove me a little
bit from the situation that is evolving around me constantly and to protect myself and to
have a really long motorcycle career, I need to be on the motorcycle 100%. I like to say
that motorcycles are a 100% mutually exclusive activity, which means when you're riding a
motorcycle, that's literally everything that you're doing right now in your life. You could
be a husband, a father, have troubles before you get on the motorcycles, you will become
a husband, a father and have troubles after you get off the motorcycle, but, during the
phase that you're on the motorcycle, that is the entirety of your being, that is all
you're doing with your life. I hope this helps you, do tell us if this helps you decide whether
you like music on the motorcycles or you're going to decide not to listen to music anymore
on the motorcycle. In either case, PowerDrift Simplified just takes an idea and breaks it
down into bite sized pieces. You have to do the digesting, thank you so much for watching.
Do subscribe to PowerDrift if you haven't, hit the bell notification icon because India's
best automotive content is right here, and we can find you if you do that and if there's
any specific topics that you'd like us to take on in Simplified just leave us a comment.