Riding a Brompton with impaired hearing

This isn’t Brompton-specific, I know, but with the nature of the bike, I thought it might be of use to a lot of its potential demographic!

To give some context, I’m in my early 60s, returning to cycling after a long time away. 

Roads are obviously noisier, busier and more dangerous than when I was last cycling this much on them, and my lack of confidence cycling (which IS getting better) was partly due to that, but also due to the fact that I have impaired hearing.

Due to receiving radiotherapy about 20 years ago for salivary gland cancer, I have major hearing loss in my left ear. A particular victim of that has been my spacial awareness. 

That means it can be very difficult for me to determine whether I have a vehicle behind me, making unexpected, sudden close passes extremely disconcerting and nervousness when preparing to change road position, whether to pass parked vehicles or make a turn.

Obviously, I always look over my shoulder, but my lack of recent experience riding out makes this a necessarily brief glance, or I start to veer off course ahead, which is obviously not great either. So I’ve tried a couple of strategies to get an idea of what’s behind me:

• Rear view mirror mounted on the handlebar. Unfortunately it’s difficult to find one which doesn’t interfere with the fold. I ended up trying one of the little fold-out mirrors which mounts to the end of the handlebar. But far too tiny to be of use, in real life experience, and vibrations from the bike made it difficult to see the reflection anyway.
• I then tried a pair of ‘TriEye’ sunglasses, which have a small rear view mirror built into the bottom of one lens (this will vary depending on which side of the road they drive on in your country). It sounded like a great idea but in reality there were so many variables regarding angles to master that it wasn’t really that great. 

I ended up biting the bullet of getting a rear light radar. I already had a Wahoo Roam computer so I bought the same company’s Trackr radar. 

For those not au fait with these devices, they detect traffic approaching from the rear (they can also pick up several different vehicles at once), with an extra warning if something is approaching at an anomalous speed.

I have to say I was sceptical about this gadget when I bought it, but to my delight it’s proven a real benefit. Not only do I get warnings when something is behind me, it also indicates when the road behind is clear. 

Obviously, I still do a shoulder check as ‘belts and braces’, but the radar has really helped boost my confidence out on the road. My only issue is I wish I could fine tune the volume of the alerts, which are really loud when riding in most conditions. 

All in all, I can really recommend a bike radar, especially if you’ve already dropped the cash on a computer anyway – and especially if, like me, you struggle to hear properly when out on the road. I should add that I both the Roam and the Trackr with my own money.

One of my most recent YouTube videos features the Trackr in action if you’re curious; even if you watch just the first half – the second is more frivolous, I admit!

Bromptoneers with hearing disabilities, or those just simply nervous, definitely give this idea a go!

https://youtu.be/7XWvlb2hvos