How about wind noise, aka the "silent killer?"

I recently installed a Dart fly screen on my Scrambler.

I always wear foam ear plugs when I ride. Noise reduction ~30 dB.

This web site ( http://earplugstore.typepad.com/got...th-smart-ear-plugs-for-motorcycle-riding.html ) says that wind noise on a motorcycle can reach up to 120 dB.

My files indicate that:

So even with earplugs that reduce noise by 30 dB, if I'm on the bike and wind is at 120 dB, I'm still getting 90 dB at my ears. And for sustained lengths of time that damages my hearing. More than it already is.

Also, and this is the question re the Dart, I swear that the wind noise is now much greater than it was before. I'm 6'6" tall and have a correspondingly longer torso.

Have any of you noticed more noise with the Dart?

What??

I won't argue with the article but I don't think I have hit 120db however I use a windscreen and have pretty quiet helmet....

Had my hearing checked a year or so ago.....even at 47 its still in the near perfect range....at least thats what the doc said.....he was impressed it was still that good at my age.....one of the few things still working at factory spec.

Wind noise is different for each size of rider, the bike, the windscreen or fairing AND the helmet combined with the jacket collar configuration.
It boils down to how the flow of air hits you and then, what it does.

You probably aren't up at 120 dB but that is a WAG.

The decibel scale is logarithmic. Cutting the volume in half shows up as just a 3 db drop on measurement the scale. So if your helmet provides only an additional 3 db of noise attenuation and your earplugs give you 30 that drops the worst case from 90 db at the ear to 87, which is half the volume. That is why we see that only a small increase in the db means damage can occur in a much shorter time span.

Silent But Deadly?

Alright, who cut the cheese.


Seriously, I always wonder about riders without helmets on straight pipe bikes. They must be causing themselves big time hearing loss.

If you do a lot of riding invest in a pair of custom made ear plugs. You can get them filtered to allow voice level conversations but block just about everything above that. Just about any hearing place can make them for you.

I've never had much success with any other plugs as they tend to work their way out from my ear canal, so I go with the custom ones.

It is dangerous out there, be careful.... Silent killer-that is a joke, right????

i wear earplugs every time i ride . . . like a helmet , i wouldn't consider riding without them .

doing avalanche control , i detonate explosives on a regular basis in the winter time and have always been careful to cover my ears . we get our hearing tested every year and mine at 56 is still pretty darn good , just showing normal aging .

So much less fatigue with ear plugs. Custom ones are like $30 , I won't ride without them.

i sold my bike because of this.No matter what i tried,ear plugs,custom air plugs whisper kit s all screen positions,no screen...too loud I guess it was perfect storm of helemt bike and my height,(6 3 long body).I even tried a different helmet one day...not much difference

I think those decibel limits only apply with brain-buckets or no helmets at all. I have a modular helmet and have been riding without a shield on lately. Without plugs in I would still estimate that it's under 100dB.

For me, it's not the loudness, but the length. Anything over about a half hour at highway speeds I put plugs in.

Google "wind noise the silent killer" and you'll get a ton of articles about hearing damage and motorcycle riding. I thought it was curious as well but that's what "they" call it.

WHAT???

CAN YOU PLEASE SPEAK UP!



I can't ride without earplugs. Occasionally I'll forget to put them in, and when I get up to about 35mph, it just drives me crazy. Feels like I got in the shower and forgot to take my clothes off. I have to pull over immediately and put them in. I use the Hearos Xtreme with 33NRR. Only plugs I've ever found that are effective on my oddly shaped/oversized left ear canal.

my helmet is my ear plug, sometimes I wear ear plugs when I ride without headgear

I just put ear plugs in my tank bag and ordered a quieter muffler yesterday. My ears always ring, but I noticed the ringing is worse since I started riding a 500 EXC with FMF 4.1 RCT exhaust.

Hearing loss is one, way, irreversible, permanent. Between motorcycles and shooting, I've been around a lot of loud noises. Today, I won't ride without earplugs (30NRR) and at the range I wear them under muffs.
I'm 57, still have good hearing, and no ringing in my ears.
Even 'half an hour at freeway speeds' is doing damage.


1911fan

I don't like the disposable foam plugs (can never seem to get them to sit right) and I didn't want to splurge for custom plugs with no real guarantee if they'd work or not, considering the cost. So recently I tried these:

http://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Finest-Plug----Sample-Pack/dp/B003FYNLYK/

They're a bit of a pain to put in, but once they're in, they feel great and stay put. I now wear them 100% of the time I'm on my bike. I've worn them 30+ times before tossing them for a new pair so they end up cheaper than typical foam disposables.

It's amazing the difference it makes to have plugs in, it really cuts on fatigue and aids concentration. I've heard people say they didn't want to miss "important" noises but I've found I can hear normal-volume stuff better with the plugs in, since they cut out the wind noise and other droning sounds (exhaust). I can still hear my exhaust well enough to have a feel for RPMs without having to look at the gauge, and I can hear all kinds of things I couldn't hear before - the thing that stuck out the most is I can now hear gears click in as I shift, before the ear plugs I couldn't hear that.

At any rate, earlier in the thread someone mentioned custom plugs for $30 - I'd be curious to know a source. The local places I contacted wanted a lot more than that (like, $300+) and the online vendors I found were cheaper but not $30 cheap - more like $100 - $150. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places?

I didn't use to wear ears plugs. I had the typical "I don't need that shyt" attitude. Yeah... Now I wear them almost all the time on the bike to protect what's left of my hearing. For me it's the wind noise that is super bothersome.

I've found that helmet choice has a huge bearing on how much noise gets to your ears as well. My RF1100 is much quieter than my Bell Star for example. I'd rate my rf1100 almost as quiet without earplugs as my Bell Star is with earplugs.

Edit: Haven't pulled the trigger yet though. I'm terrible about loosing things... I buy packs of foam ones from the local building supply store. Sometimes I'll buy the cheapy reusable rubber ones as well.

Yeah, I thought that was a phrase only used for farts! :huh