Adam…if you’re a serious cyclist…get yourself some biking shoes with cleats on the bottom and cleat type pedals. Much more comfortable than the old toe clips or toe baskets and also easier to adjust for maximum effect and minimum strain on your lower legs. They take a little bit to get used to initially…but basically you rotate your heel outward to disengage the cleat and it pretty quickly becomes muscle memory.
I resisted using a Varia based on the cost too. But a friend loaned me an old one of his, and found it worth it and bought one (on sale of course). It doesn’t replace my eyeglass mirror, but supplements it by alerting me to the car behind me instead of having to constantly check in my mirror. If you’re riding even once or twice a week it’s well worth it.
I had knee problems when I used toe clips w-a-a-y back in the day. As far as modern pedal/cleat combos I found that Wahoo Speedplay pedals are especially good for my knees. They allow free float (foot rotation) that allows your knees to work naturally, and they don’t use springs to try to keep your foot centered. Down side - they are expensive
I have some nice, noise-cancelling earbuds that alledgedly reduce wind noise too, but I’ve never tried that and I ain’t gonna make it easy for you to find 'em since I’m agin the whole idea and want you to keep safe. 
Interesting what you say about electric cars–unlike most people (apparently) I can hear the tire noise they (and any other car) make when they’re coming up on me just fine, whether I’m out walking around the neighborhood or out riding my bike, anywhere and at whatever speed they’re moving. Also, as noted, overtaking cyclists . . . And my audiologist says I’m borderline hearing aid material, too. Maybe I just know what to listen for?
Hereabouts, and even in the country, dodging potholes and patches of wet leaves, sand, or ice can make it extremely important to know if someone’s passing on your left at the same moment.
I guess one approach to this sort of dilemma is to have a passing mirror on your helmet or left-side bar. I’ve seen a lot of folks with those.
I just used the wired Apple headphones - they aren’t noise canceling by any stretch of the imagination.
I suppose tire noise depends on speed and pavement condition. A gas powered car is definitely louder. And I’ve only lost a tiny bit of high pitched hearing in one ear so far!
I’ve honestly cut way back on road riding in the past two years. The drivers are just too crazy around here. Instead I spend money and time to drive somewhere safer.
Diane
I agree. I live in Belmont, MA, and although I spent ten years commuting into Boston along the river and enjoyed it in all weathers before I retired, I don’t ride in the city any more–I drive out to Concord instead and bike around the neighboring towns. I can get out there 3-4 days/week, weather permitting.
If there’s one out your way, your might consider joining a local bike club for group rides. Good company of all abilities, safety in numbers!
They work fine with my helmet. I put them on first, and the straps just fit over the headphones neatly. The thin bar in the back fits under the back of the helmet, so it doesn’t bother me. There is a nice, easy to access pause button on the left earpiece that makes it convenient to pause my music when needed. I can answer phone calls with it as well.
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I absolutely don’t trust silicone strap mounting systems. They all work fine until they don’t. It is not hard in Maryland to find pavement capable of dislodging the phone from the mount.
Quadlock is a much smarter mechanism and worth the dough when you consider how expensive screen repairs are. You buy the bike mount once. When I upgrade phones, I always have to buy a new case and then I slap the QuadLock mounting device on the back of the case for $15 or $20 bucks.
In terms of using the Fitness app as a bike computer, it does present a nice big readout, but there does not appear to be any way to customize the screens and I have to flip to the fourth one for my preference (which is really the only useful screen in my opinion). It also seems to tax the Watch battery slightly more vs. simply recording the workout.
I made a shortcut that pops up when I launch iCardio (I can’t seem to quit using it) which starts a bike workout on my Apple Watch, closes the garage door, and texts my family that I am leaving on a ride. I also record the ride in iCardio, handy for when your Apple Watch runs out of juice mid-ride. I have another shortcut that opens the garage door and tells everyone I’m home when I’m done.
I’m a right AirPod rider, podcasts mostly. I use a silicone ear horn thingy for a secure fit, leaving my left ear open to traffic noise. I can’t believe no one has given you a hard time for blasting music on your phone speakers.
You should be able to customize them in the Workout app on the watch itself. Open workouts, tap the three dot icon on the upper right of outdoor cycle, scroll down the list to get to “preferences”, and tap “outdoor cycle workout views”.
I haven’t done an outdoor cycle workout with watchOS 10 yet, so I can’t confirm from experience, but from here you should be able to choose which screens show on the watch, which should be mirrored to the iPhone.
As I said, there are no pedestrians where I ride, and very few cars. I live in the country. And much as the iPhone speakers are pretty good, we’re not talking about a boombox. If it’s a comfortable volume for me to hear two feet away, it’s hard to imagine someone 30-40 feet away even noticing for the few seconds that I’m passing by.
I’m a distance cyclist and I’ve been using my iPhone in lieu of a dedicated bike computer…pretty much as long as I’ve had an iPhone. I’ll respond to some points made upthread.
The best phone mount is from Peak Design. The second-best is from Quad Lock. I’m currently using a Quad Lock because it allows for more customization in my cockpit setup.
I use and enjoy a Shokz bone-conduction headset. It’s not perfect, but it’s good. I pretty much forget I’m wearing it. It doesn’t interfere with the helmet. I go on rides long enough that I need to be able to charge it in mid-ride, which can be a problem—they draw so little power when charging that some power banks don’t recognize they’re plugged in. If this is a concern, look for a power bank with a trickle-charge mode.
I’ve seen a few people who use JBL bluetooth speakers lashed to their handlebars for audio.
I’ve tried one product that purports to keep wind noise out of my ears—basically a furry strip that wraps around the helmet strap in front of the ears to disrupt the wind flow. I found it completely ineffective.
Although I won’t ride without cleats just because that’s what I’m used to, there’s no scientific evidence that they offer any biomechanical advantage except in sprints (and even then, not by much), when compared to flat studded pedals. The notion that we apply power on the upstroke with cleats has been debunked: for the most part, we just unweight the pedals.
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re. phone holders for any type of phone case.
(while the image shows no phone case, you can use it with any phone case you generally use when not cycling.)
https://www.amazon.com/Zewdov-Motorcycle-Protection-Rotatable-Compatible/dp/B0CD15VPFT/
Loads of similar ones on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bike+phone+holder
While not pretty, this style of holder is best IMO, for several reasons:
- Use your normal phone case.
- Holder has soft silicon in corners holding phone, so doesn’t damage your case.
- Holder secures the phone’s corners (not just single point of failure tiny clip-type thing on the back).
- Whole screen is fully accessible (not covered by straps).
- Holder has a quick slide-lock on back to secure it, add/remove device quickly repeatedly.
- Holder ball joint means switchable between portrait/landscape.
- Holder itself is quickly removable for switching between bikes.
- Cheap, so affordably replaced if broken/stolen.
- Can hear speakers clearly.
I use one like this on my ebike with a 15 Pro Max and it’s great. Additionally, it’s great for trips when having to do multi-stops and taking my phone off/on repeatedly.
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True but. For as much as there is to know about pedals of any kind and anything else bicycle, see as always Sheldon Brown/John Allen here and passim, including a color photo of Sheldon in his winter biking sandals and John’s own tale of knee pain.
But beware; this wonderful, quirky resource is addictive, and searching under “headphones” will bring you to John’s article on “Synching Audio and Video from Separate Recordings . . from forward-facing and rearward-facing cameras . . . mounted on different bicycles. . . . [including] real surround sound without a multi-channel recorder.” Firmly OT, but maybe of interest to people here. 
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I wanted a pair of those sandals in the worst way! I think Louis Garneau also had them. I think at the time, REI carried them. I used to ride in my Keen sandals when I was beach riding or just tooling around and always hated sliding around on the pedals when I wasn’t wearing cleats. But none of the bike sandals fit me, they were all too narrow! Probably saved me from breaking more toes though as I would have used them in inappropriate-for-sandals places.
Diane
Thanks for the tip, but this seems to change the order that the screens appear on the Watch. There doesn’t seem to be a way to change the order of the screens that appear on the iPhone.
Actually, changing the order on the Watch also changes the order on the iPhone. Thanks for the tip!
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I’ve been using Varia radar for years, first a RTL510 and when that recently died a RTL515. Radar alone isn’t enough, since it doesn’t tell you what or left/right where, but combined with a helmet mirror (I’ve used helmet mirrors for about 40 years) it keeps you very aware of what’s behind. I use a Garmin Edge (gone from 705 to 800 to 1000 to 830 to 1040 at about 4 year intervals) as the radar display. Garmin also has a Varia iOS app if you want to risk your phone that way, but as usual if you use one app you can’t use another (can’t record and use radar at the same time).
Garmin isn’t the only one who produces radar units, but they’re the best. The also make a combined radar/rear camera device.
As for headphones, I’d never use one when cycling. I did buy a Shokz Open Run for times when I want to listen but don’t trust my AirPods not to fall out (primarily cross country skiing) where there’s no traffic to deal with.
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Interesting gadget, Paul. How does it perform in city traffic, I wonder?
I’ve read that in city traffic, not so well, since there’s just so much behind you. On the other hand, you know in a city that there’s lots back there so it’s not telling you much that you don’t already know.
For me, it’s very useful when I ride in the mountains on gravel roads or worse. Up there it’s mostly the case that I don’t see any traffic during a ride, so getting a warning that there’s something back there is valuable.