I been hearing talks about people wearing plugs when they ride… is there any facts that they help…I ride a 125 CBR and my ears are fine… or shall I wait untill I get a bigger bike?
Start wearing them now, protect your ears from as young as you can. Don’t get to 30 and find you’ve got tinitus.
i have tinitus 
dunno if its down to the bike tho.
Try them for a couple of weeks, and see what you make of em. Make sure you fit them properly though. Different brands also feel different. Check out the RiDE review of recent times.
You won’t really need them around town because you don’t go very fast but if you do a long motorway run then the wind noise can add to fatigue and it is very irritating after a while. Ear plugs reduce this effect and the ringing you’ll experience afterwards.
Isolating headphones like Etymotic not only reduce noise but allow you to enjoy Madonna on the motorway which relieves fatigue.
eh?
I didn’t wear plugs for a while, but when I moved up to something that could do motorway speeds it was clear the helmet noise would cause problems. And it has. So now I wear those squidgy bullet plugs on motorway trips, but leave them at home in town. You can get a huge bag of about 50 pairs for no money at all in some shops.
I did try in-ear headphones as a solution, but for me even the decent isolating ones would come loose inside the helmet and really p!ss me off. Plus I think the volume compensation needed on the iPod might be doing more harm than good.
I’m looking at a set of Green Leopards / Ultimate Ears / Duocom custom moulded plugs but these are all in the £150-200 bracket…
i dont wear earplugs in town as dont go that fast or have load cans… but def need them on motorways.
pmsl! 
I guess this is a personal thing but I have never felt the need to wear ear plugs, wind noise never seems to be loud enough to reach anything like the level where harm can be done to the ears. Besides, I prefer to be aware of what is going on around me, eg I would hate for a siren to be blaring behind me and I don’t even hear it (and have crap mirrors so wouldn’t see the lights).
But there again I have been to many live concerts, both as an audience member and as a musician (bassplayer). Now THAT is proper noise that can do harm. After 25 years of that, no harm so far, so I must be lucky I guess.
Pardon? :hehe:
I have experienced intense prolonged ringing in my ears on two occasions, one after riding from lancaster to london motorway all the way the other after a motorhead concert .
I wear them when I remember 
they do make a tremendous difference especially after 4 of 5 hours on the motorway, having worked in noisy boiler houses and blowing the wax out of my ears on the range for years I think its the least I can do for my ears in their dotage 
PS you can hear sirens with them in, in fact my helmet speakers actually are easier to hear with earplugs ?
Luckily the Armed Forces look after our ears for us, we get ear plugs moulded to our ear canals (instead of them big old green sound amplifiers) that are for anything from an engine running up to the drone and fire of a Challenger 2. Protected.Tinitus, is not worth it. Look after your ears, protect them at all costs.Ps: For those interested then this is the company and address and telephone number.RACAL Acoustics LtdWaverly Industrial ParkHailsham DriveHarrowMiddlesexHA1 4tr02085156200
Another quality thread/post on London Bikers!
googled up a couple of places that do custom earplugs. 2 that stood out are ultimate ears and ACS. does anyone have any personal experience of this companies? also what are custom molds like with regards to hearing such noises such as sirens/horns etc? do they mask these completely or can you still make them out?
Sure there is. Exposure to >85db noise levels continuously is a common source of industrial deafness.
http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/hearingloss.cfm
Hearing loss usually refers to future hearing loss - not now. Of course your ears are fine now.
As well as the obvious benefits for you hearing, I find it much easier to ride with earplugs. I find it’s easier to concentrate on the riding and less distracting. You can still hear the important bits like ambulances etc.
I use the disposable Motrax ones and find them very comfortable, but it’s all up to personal preference I think.
the bike sounds nicer with them in 
little tip for usage, moisten the plugs before you stick 'em in your ears (i’ll leave your choice of moistening agent up to you).
much better seal/less chance of them coming loose just as you get your lid done up…
Do we really need earplugs?
Not if you’re fkn deaf already…
WOW didn’t expect a high response rate…
Thanks for all your comments…
I’ve not tired the plugs I wear an Arai Condor helmet which I purchased last year Sept. I’ve been riding since then and the noise of my can has not effected me.
I recently purchased an Oxford wind mask, goes over my head.
As soon as I rode out with the mask the noise from the can effected my ears which was noticeable…
I’m 21 and my father has tinnitus. in his ear, so it may be likely that it may be passed down to me.
Most of my time commuting to work is speed above 30 - 50mph… 30 miles a day.
Does it limit your hearing when on the roads…? (Police cars, horns etc… women?) 
As has probably been said before, ear plugs are designed to damp out the wind noise over the helmet itself, which is particularly damaging because it is a constant frequency. Other noises, such as your exhaust, sirens, cars, etc, are damped out to a much lesser degree. My recommendation…wear ear plugs every time you ride to prevent tinnitus, especially if you ride every day. 
Simple answer - yes!
There is solid evidence that prolonged exposure to even apparently reasonable levels of noise will damage hearing over time. Unfortunately such damage is not felt until later in life when it appears as premature loss of hearing.
It’s not one of those things that’s debatable either - you WILL loose significant levels of hearing if you don’t protect your ears!
I have used foam earplugs for some time but do find they can make you feel ‘shut in’ and separated from the world - not good on a bike!. Nowadays I use plugs based on the accelerated resonant decay principal that reduce all sounds to a safe level without blotting them out.
My personal favourites are Hock’s Noise Breakers but there are lots to choose from.
Doug