Ultimate ear plugs

Ultimate Ear take an impression of your ear canal and then from the impressions make up a custom-made set of ear plugs which you can reuse again and again.

In my 11 years with them, they are my number one piece of riding kit. I’ve lost them more times than I can mention, but always made an effort to find them again – and thankfully have found them, as I’ve lost the original impressions! They fit more comfortably than traditional ear plugs which means they block out much more extraneous sound. I’ve probably done 500,000 miles in them around the world when riding a bike but they have other uses too. I’ve used these when I’ve wanted a good night’s sleep (when the daughter was younger and it was my turn for some kip), at race events with unsilenced motorcycles, on flights abroad as well as in the garage when I’ve been banging something ferociously with a big hammer. You can choose them to be colour-coded and inscribed with your name. To clean them I put them in the dishwasher every so often, which probably explains why I’ve recently become single. Bertie Simmonds

They cost £59.99 and you can get more info from: www.ultimateear.com (01689 876885)