#Earplugs

Ear plugs were essential while standing next to the cement fence on Chuckwalla Valley Raceway’s front straight while our resident fast guy, Troy Siahaan, put down laps for our latest middleweight naked comparo. With amateur and pro racers sharing the track on their purpose-built machines, the difference between the decibels varied from ear shattering to Euro 5 compliant. Being able to switch between 25 dB of attenuation at the turn of a dial, to 17 dB which allowed for discussion with the folks at track direction made a world of difference – and had me sold on the idea behind the Loop Switch ear plugs.

We here at Motorcycle.com are huge fans of our hearing. We wear earplugs any time we ride, and Boss-man Evans has gone to the extreme of testing multiple different kinds of earplugs. He swears it’s for science. The rest of us think he likes taking pictures of his ears (fortunately for you, dear reader, we’ve blocked him from actually posting those pictures all but one time).

As it does every year, Father’s Day is coming up fast (it’s June 21 in case you didn’t know), and if you’ve got a moto-loving pops you care about, a moto-themed gift will undoubtedly put a smile on his face. Let us help with this collection of gifts for all the moto dads out there. With prices running on the gamut on the affordability chart, there’s bound to be something here for any budget. So, without further ado, let’s get started:

In terms of rider education and injury prevention, a great deal of attention is paid to motorcycle safety by the government, motorcycle industry, and media. However, the subject of hearing loss among motorcyclists is rarely discussed. Yes, riders sometimes make passing remarks about ear fatigue after a long day in the saddle, and recent years have (in my subjective opinion) shown an increase in earplug use among riders. Still, the subject and the use of actual, provable scientific numbers have been relatively overlooked when compared to safety items like body armor and helmets.