When I looked at what was available for DIY moulding ear plugs I had no way of distinguishing between the various offerings on Ebay (and Googling didn't help) so, in a justification of the marketeer's art, I went for the most eye-catching advert.

Here's what turned up a few days later -



Just out of shot is small velvety bag to keep the finished plugs in. At least I assume that's what it's for as it isn't mentioned in the instructions. A nice touch anyway and when you're only charging £12 with a few profit margins to be taken out along the way every penny must count.

The instructions were easy enough - take out a quarter of the material from each pot, mix the two bits together to a uniform (pinkish) colour and push / prod / mould it into your ear. You have two minutes to do this before it sets. Not knowing what to expect I had a medical professional assisting with this but her assistance only amounted to scribing an X into one of them so I could tell left from right.

It says in the instructions that you'll get a better fit if you can hold your mouth open slightly (1-2") during the 10 mins curing time and it suggests finding something of suitable thickness to bite on, battlefield surgery style. I found a plastic electronics box and spent the cure time dribbling over my shirt. Those 10 mins seemed like an eternity.

This is what emerged from my ears -



It was at this point I was glad I had the medical professional to hand as they really looked like something a biologist might be interested in. Quite what ontology was recapitulating we're still trying to work out.

So, how well did they work? Well they block my ears up but not quite as well as properly fitted expanding foam plugs. Whether that's intrinsic to the design / materials or whether I cocked up the 2 min rush to get the stuff into my ears I'm not sure but they do provide enough gloop in each pot for a second go so I'll try again at some point and compare. They are however a lot easier to fit than expanding foam plugs which is a huge plus.

Out on the bike (and again compared to the foam ones) I got slightly more wind noise and slightly less engine noise so there's some frequency selection difference between the materials. On balance it makes for a more relaxing ride if I can't hear the rattles so that's another plus. I haven't yet tried to mould earpieces into the material so that may be the next stage.

How long they last, whether I lose them or whether my opinion changes over a longer ride (only 10 -12 miles so far) I'll find out when I try them on a ride to the south of France in 10 days time.