Ear plugs - recommendations....

[CKBear]

Hello all!
I was wondering if you knowledgeable guys and ladies had any recommendations for ear plugs. I tried cheap ones and they hurt like hell!
Thanks

[DrDonnyBrago]

I can't wear reusable plugs without it feeling like my eardrums are being damaged every time they go in/out.

I use 3M 1100 disposables. I get a week or two out of each pair, buy in bulk on ebay for about 10p a pair. Dump them when they are dirty or they have lost their "memory foaminess".

[waffles]

What is your budget?

When you say cheap ones, I presume you mean the foam jobs that you roll up and they expand slightly in your ears? I would definitely recommend moulded ear plugs from now on. I had some moulds made at one of the bike shows by Ultimate and the guy ran through many options with me (colours, separate plugs or headphone versions) before I settled on the ones I liked. They arrived a couple of weeks later in a little zip up case. Cons - expensive. Pros - swift turnaround, aftersales care is fab, takes into account the stupid piercings I have in my ears so they modified my plugs and I have a full shell for one ear and a half shell for the other.

There are home kits you can do yourself for much less money like this one on Amazon. But it is a similar deal. Mix stuff together, put in ears, allow to set, Bob's your uncle! Several people on here have made their own and should be able to give you a bit more information about how they work out.

But give moulded plus some serious consideration, either go with a company or do it yourself but I think you will be much happier with something custom made for your ears
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Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[DrDonnyBrago]

By "reusable" ear drum poppers I should qualify that I mean the "Stielhandgranate" shaped pieces of rubber, not the moulded to your ear silicone type.

[Matt B]

https://freemarket.kiev.ua/images_message/2400/216311/808326/1710585.jpg

Moldex Spark Plugs, about £7 for 50 pairs on ebay. They are shaped and soft so they feel nicer inside the ear. Decent 35dB noise attenuation - that's more than a lot of other foam plugs. Disposable but they do last a few uses before needing to be binned.
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stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people.

[groovylee]

i bought one of the DIY kits for about £7

they are a bit of a faff, but i managed to get a good set of normal ones, and then a set with my headphones moulded in.

tbh, i find the normal set i made to be a bit too airtight, and they make me feel a bit ill. i use the headphone ones a lot though, and theyre great.

I would seriously consider getting some pro ones made and having headphone ones done.
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Past - 1988 honda revere 600, 1996 kawasaki gpz500s, 1999 Yamaha R6

Current - 2002 Aprilia RSV1000R & 1999 Kawasaki ZX6R

[Rogerborg]

£2.94 delivered.

Mix, put in ears, wait, remove done.

16g is enough for two pairs, or one pair and glooping over a pair of ear-buds for playing bangin choons.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[ScaredyCat]

I got a box of 200 (individually wrapped) 3m EarSoft FX for 24 quids with free delivery, arrived in 2 days...

Tried others but they don't seem as good to me.
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Honda CBF125 ➝ NC700X
Honda CBF125 ↳ Speed Triple

[-Matt-]

Found these Howard Leight ear plugs are good and pretty cheap. (May be cheaper sellers than the link).

[bamt]

[Icon]

I got a pack (3 pairs) of these foam ear plugs a year ago. I'm still using them and they weren't expensive. They're easy to wash with warm water, very comfortable and still work well (35dB). I can wear them for 10 hours a day no problem. I honestly don't why you would bother buying a 200 pack of cheap uncomfortable earplugs when you could just buy these.

https://www.quies.com/product/foam-earplugs/

[Llama-Farmer]

[ScaredyCat]

[Bigvern72]

[Llama-Farmer]

[BTTD]

I've used Howard Leight foam earplugs. They fit my ears well and felt comfortable.
At the moment I'm using some rubber earplugs with a filter in the middle. The idea is to cut out louder noise while allowing you to hear the quieter normal stuff.

Used these ones
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00MIQ4O7Y/ref=aw_st_pd_dx_bx_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51tQrCfaCEL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_SL500_SR100%2C69_&refRID=NN1A7CMBG5R64ZB1QWKH

And these ones
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D8F550O/ref=ya_st_dp_summary

I've started using the second ones today, think I prefer the first ones though. The first ones just seem to be a nicer plug with a better seal in my ear. They also seem to let more normal level sound through while cutting the same amount of wind noise.

[Matt B]

A few of you seem to be using them happily so I've ordered 10 pairs of the Howard Leight plugs for a few ponds to compare with the Moldex ones
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stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people.

[talkToTheHat]

You can get selection packs on ebay and amazon. Tried everything, nothing disposable much better than sparkplugs, but that's my preference. I like disposables. I'd much rather shrug and get a spare set out from under my seat than try to clean a dropped reusable one.

I used to use musician's ear plugs when doing anyhing at playing with a drummer volume, or indeed playing drums. Was always annoying if one came out on a filthy stage. They were moulded and pricey, really balanced sound. Don't need that on a bike. Disposables take a lot of the top end off the sound, so make bikes sound much beefier.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[bamt]

I used musician's re-usable ones for a while, but as you say they really aren't optimised for on the bike. Disposables protected my ears (as in noticeably quieter and less temporary hearing loss on longer rides) better.

I carry a spare set in my jacket, under my seat and in my desk at work. If they get wet they can lose their sponginess, so I don't even attempt to clean them any more than brushing lose debris from them. I have a thick resealable bag in my jacket (a small metallised anti-static bag for components) that I put them in as soon as they come out of my ears.

[JasmineJasmin...]

I use downbeats. You can get them on Amazon, they are cheap and come with a keychain carry case. I like the short stem version but both are great IMO. The only thing better will be custom plugs.

[inline4]

I've tried different variants of Moldex ear plugs and they are ok but I think Macks ear plugs are a little better.

The Macks ones are a touch (pennies) more expensive.

[CKBear]

Cheers all. I will have a look at various options. I kinda dont fancy going deaf

[Tierbirdy]

Cheapish JVC XXtreme "noise cancelling" in-ear headphones connected to iphone tucked inside jacket pocket, decent-ish protection from road noise and can have a little bit of helmet karaoke to keep me entertained on long boring motorway rides.

Theres probably reasons why thats a bad idea but oh well.

[thepuma]

I wear the pinlock ones and they are really good.
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YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
765 RS

[recman]

3M E-A-R Classics for me, very good expansion and noise blocking.
I can't get on with the tapered type, they fall out way too easily.