Lowercase^Gutter^ CreditApple’s AirPods Pro $249While I was sitting stationar y, each brand’s earbuds let
in an equal amount of ambient sound. But when I began
riding, the Jabras pumped mostly wind noise into my
ear canals. By contrast, the AirPods Pro allowed a little
wind noise, but I could still hear Raab’s bell and voice
(and I could tell his position relative to me). —D.R.HOW TO BUY: BALANCE BIKE
There’s no better way to get a kid riding than on a
tiny pedalless bike. In the past 24 months, we’ve
evaluated more than two dozen of them. Here’s
what to look for, based on our testing.
LOW SEAT HEIGHT: You want your kid’s feet to
comfortably touch the ground when they’re
starting. The lower the seat goes, the sooner
they can start ripping.
SOFT TIRES: Air-filled pneumatic are the best
because they’re soft and grippy. Foam ones like
Strider uses are okay (and won’t flat) but can
slip on hard surfaces; avoid plastic options.
RIM BRAKES: Teach proper braking from the
start. They add some complexity compared to
bikes without them, but they’re safer.
UPRIGHT POSITION: “Balancing happens in the
brain,” says Mathias Ihlenfeld, CEO of Woom
Bikes USA , so keeping a kid’s head level (instead
of leaning forward) helps limit wobbles.
LONG WHEELBASE: Stretching the wheels far-
ther apart makes the bike more stable. That’s
a good thing for first-timers.Cold-Weather Testing
To evaluate the best winter
socks, we wanted to test
each model’s ability to
reflect your foot’s ther-
mal radiation. Socks that
conduct lots of heat aren’t
ideal for frigid conditions,
so we set out to discover
which socks reflected body
heat best (or conducted it
worse).
To simulate body heat
radiating off a foot, westuffed 11 socks with
foot warmers and used an
infrared thermometer to
measure external temper-
atures. As we expected, the
thickest, wooliest socks
gave off the least heat,
indicating they’ll be warm-
est during the winter. Ourstantial sock with best-
in-test heat retention.«
WINN
ER
DO
AMBIENT
SOUND
MODES
WORK FOR
CYCLING?
Apple’s new AirPods
Pro are packed with
features, but one facet
sticks out for cyclists:
Transparency Mode.
Despite using sound-
blocking silicone ear tips,
the new buds let you hear
your environment while
you jam out, employing
a microphone to amplify
nearby sounds.
Other truly wireless
earbuds have included
the feature, but on
a bike, sound quality
tends to suffer as wind
noise increases. So we
organized a test, pitting
the AirPods Pro against
Jabra’s Elite Active
65t—a popular earbud
with an ambient aware-
ness mode.
We used a decibel
meter to set each set of
buds to 70dB and simu-
lated the sounds of an
outdoor ride—Bicycling
photographer Trevor
Raab rode behind me,
ringing a bell and shout-
ing, “On your left!”20 BICYCLING.COM • ISSUE 1 | 2020