A tour in Ethiopia is something special, Matt -- not a walk in the park, for sure.

I was in Ethiopia once, handling security for a convoy delivering wheat to the famished during their civil war. When I got back and with a sigh dropped into my chair at my table in the Langham Long Bar, the CIA guy for Southern Africa said, 'Only the innocent and the ruthless return from Ethiopia alive.'

When I read that from Matt, I wondered whether he is innocent or ruthless. Whichever, a bicycle tour in Ethiopia ranks way higher on the Jute Green Scale (of envy) than any circumnavigation through only civilized countries.

My late chum Andrew McCoy, the leader of that expedition, turned its events into a somewhat colored novel called Lance of God; it's out of print but I have e-copies from his (and my) publishers I can give to anyone interested; drop me a PM with your email address and it follows by return of mail.

I'm confused as to the size of this. How do you know it's a 485L?  In a sales post in 2017 someone sold a 485L with the wording: "Size 485L. This fits a person from 5ft to 5ft 5in tall. The last photograph is a size table. Look at the third line down to get the measurements."  Unfortunately the photos and table are missing. When I look at this ad on FB it states "medium frame 5'5 to 6' " . I had an earlier Sherpa (I think a mark 1) made of Reynolds 525 and it fitted me well; the frame was a 535L with flat bars.  I was interested in this one until it seems too small.

I don't advise listening to music while you ride, even with these bone conduction "earphones", which do not interfere much with ambient sound. The roads are dangerous enough without cyclists giving an assist to the man with the horns and the scythe by blocking their ears.

I ordered these bone conduction earphones in the recent heatwave to preserve air circulation in my ears, as the Stax and Bang & Olufsen and Sennheiser earphones, which I use at my desk after the family has gone to sleep, do not, and to which the in-ear types from Apple are actively hostile.

But some of you may appreciate the phone answering facilities that come built into these, without taking away your awareness of ambient noise.

So much for the lawyer-like weaseling. The photos are by the maker, used for fair comment.


Pic 1 shows what the ballyhooed device looks like from the wrong side, as all the controls are on the right hand side battery pod.

Pic 2 shows how it is worn, with the loop behind your head, two battery pods behind your ears (hidden under the model's hair), and the sound pads on or near your ears. Even as far back as the model wears the sound pads, you can see clearly that the sound canal of the ear is not covered. Ambient noise can enter and the rider can react appropriately. I wear the sound pads more forward than that, leaving the ear canal almost fully open.

I listened to the complete Beethoven discography over the last few days, using only these earphones. I have no problem agreeing that their range is from 20-20,000 Hertz as claimed, but that isn't a high barrier with modern electronics and I mention it only because we're dealing with a relatively new technology. Soundstaging is natural enough for me to be able to discern the physical width of the orchestra sitting on their chairs in venues I know. Dynamics are excellent. I don't know how these bone phones will deal with the monstrously enhanced bass of modern rock because I value my ears and didn't try bass beyond Beethoven. My test of acceptable bass is nuance in a dynamically played cello, so I look forward to wearing these to play Bach's six Cello Suites, but again don't expect any surprises except pleasant ones.

The B8 bone phone is comfortable for hours on end. I found that I quite forgot that I was wearing it for 11 hours and thought of it only when the music followed me into the bathroom. That also tells us the Bluetooth receiver in the B8 is stronger than in my other cordless headphones.

Noise reduction is claimed in the advertising for the bone phone. I don't see how that can work since the ear canal will be open to ambient noise; perhaps they mean noise on the source broadcasting into the bone phone, a different matter altogether.

I used the bone phone as control and speaker for calls on my desktop Mac, and there is nothing to report, as expected. If it works on the Mac, it will also work on my iPhone so I didn't bother testing that either. Nor my Samsung phone: if it doesn't work on that, they wouldn't sell a single unit.

The B8's parsimonious use of current is a wonder to behold. I used mine for the 11 hours of endurance claimed by the dealer (the manufacturer claims only six hours) and there was charge left to the extent that recharging the battery took some tens of minutes rather than the two hours the manufacturer states on the spec. This is seriously impressive economy in the use of a wearable battery.

The controls, consisting of three buttons, all with multiple functions, are all on the right hand battery pod. Operation is logical and the physical design is thoughtful. You can also control the other end of the Bluetooth chain by your voice through the microphone next to the on/off button if you have voice control enabled but this is merely a link to a capability built into Siri or Bixby that you've already paid for in your phone or tablet or desktop PC.

Recharging is by USB-C and a USB-A to USB-C cable is included in the box.

Some users are convinced this unbranded product is the same as the well-known but more expensive Xiaomi item. I wouldn't be surprised, as gross overproduction is a logical result of central planning, and many Chinese products at widely different prices originated in the same factory, with the same materials made on the same machines by the same workmen; it's called brand differentiation or even brand engineering.

I paid Euro 8.81 for my B8 on one of the big sales at AliExpress, including VAT, carriage, customs fees. At that price the B8 bone phone is a bargain even though it comes without a storage pouch; it does however include a charging cable and a printed instruction leaflet which is readable under a magnifying glass, and in comprehensible English.

Pic 3 is the instructions in a manipulated image I made from the unreadable netside version.

You can look up the rest of the spec and mostly glamour (= useless) photographs at
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007582608533.html

For under a tenner, five stars out of five. Over a tenner, the missing pouch or case leads to the deduction of a star, so four out of five. Cheap enough to buy as an experiment in bone phonery. Good enough to use as regular earphones.

*** Andre Jute wrote on music for newspapers around the world. He designs and builds his own valve amplifiers and accompanying loudspeakers. Ultrafidelistas may wish to look into the free circuits and texts at
https://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/The%20KISS%20Amp%20INDEX.htm

Copyright © 2026 Andre Jute
First appeared on thorncyclesforum.co.uk
Permitted to be reprinted complete and without alteration on not-for-profit sites.

I can recommend The Pier in Lairg for food. One for the ‘to do’ list.

Hi is this still available?
Robbie in Bournemouth