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Suggestion for Stem Head Phone Mount?

Hello,

I am doing my research into buying a Stem Head Phone Mount & Case for my Asus Padfone 2 (phone dimensions are 137.9 x 68.9 x 9 mm).

I am looking for something which is sturdy and offers some vibration-dampening. I don't really mind about weatherproofing, but it's a plus.

I have found three cases/mounts which fit the bill:

http://www.thinkbiologic.com/products/bike-mount-weathercase-galaxy

http://www.amazon.com/Ibera-Spring-Loaded-Bicycle-Smartphone/dp/B00GQOWB...

http://topeak.com/products/bags/smartphone_drybag_5_bk

All three confirmed to fit my Padfone 2.

Does any have have suggestions/pros-cons against these cases, or any other suggestions on how they mounted their phone on the stem securely?

Thanks,
vibecy

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8 comments

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Blue_Brevatto | 9 years ago
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Whatever you do be wary of anything where the weight of the phone is overhung and therefore creates a significant bending moment within the support bracket. Your preferred option definitely does this.

I bought one of these
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/smart-front-bracket-for-oversize-headset-moun...
to mount a 2W (2xAA) smart light (probably similar weight to a smart phone + case) and it failed in less than 2 months (road use only). Fatigue crack starting from an internal corner located co-incident with one of the bends approaching the headset. On examination there was another crack on the other side that had also opened. Clearly a poor design in lots of ways. But it illustrates just how much vibration comes up through the steerer (this was an AL fork but with 32C tires and no more than 60-70 psi most of the time). But it still failed.

It IS possible to have a successful design with over-hung mass - Hope and Exposure manage it on a number of their front lights - I've never heard of one of those failing. But they engineer their products to last and they have years of experience designing bike-specific hardware.

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vibecy replied to Blue_Brevatto | 9 years ago
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Blue_Brevatto wrote:

Whatever you do be wary of anything where the weight of the phone is overhung and therefore creates a significant bending moment within the support bracket. Your preferred option definitely does this.

I bought one of these
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/smart-front-bracket-for-oversize-headset-moun...
to mount a 2W (2xAA) smart light (probably similar weight to a smart phone + case) and it failed in less than 2 months (road use only). Fatigue crack starting from an internal corner located co-incident with one of the bends approaching the headset. On examination there was another crack on the other side that had also opened. Clearly a poor design in lots of ways. But it illustrates just how much vibration comes up through the steerer (this was an AL fork but with 32C tires and no more than 60-70 psi most of the time). But it still failed.

It IS possible to have a successful design with over-hung mass - Hope and Exposure manage it on a number of their front lights - I've never heard of one of those failing. But they engineer their products to last and they have years of experience designing bike-specific hardware.

Interesting insight Blue_Brevatto, thanks.

Do you reckon a http://bit.ly/1wrTz7Z or http://www.paulcomp.com/stemcaplightmount.html with a finn would be more stable/not so prone to fail?

Is anyone around with a physics degree to enlighten us which option is better?  1

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parksey | 9 years ago
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So far as I can see, neither that Biologic case nor that Topeak one attach to the actual stem cap though? Both use a broadly-similar system to the Quadlock, i.e. a mount which is attached to the stem itself, to which the phone/case is then attached.

I don't see how attaching it specifically to the stem cap would offer any greater vibration damping either? With comparatively primitive systems such as this, the damping would surely come from the case in which the phone sits, irrespective of how it is mounted to the bike?

I certainly wouldn't consider Quadlock as a last option against those others, as I can't see how it is deficient? I use one of their universal kits to mount my Sony Z2 to my bike, the adaptor being attached to a Spigen case which allegedly has shock absorption properties. The phone remains nothing but rock-solid, and I've had no adverse issues in using it (which would have resulted from vibration) in the near-6 months of daily riding that it has so far endured.

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vibecy replied to parksey | 9 years ago
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Hi parksey,

You are correct about the biologic mount - the pictures fooled me  7

The Topeak has an additional attachment for stem mount, the F66 stem cap fixer (scroll down on the link I posted initially to see it under compatible products).

The reason I leave Quadlock as a last resort, is the shape of the stem on my bike, which is not cylindrical (more like elliptical) - I tried something similar and did not hold well. I might be wrong with the Quadlock though, who knows..

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MuddyGoose | 9 years ago
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Quad Lock.

Unfortunately they don't do a case to match your phone but they do have a universal kit - http://amzn.to/1DgkPuI

As long as you pair the universal adapter with a suitable hard case (polycarbonate or aluminium back) then it will all stay together fine.

See this page - http://poggiodelre.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/review-of-the-quad-lock-syst... on my blog for more details.

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vibecy replied to MuddyGoose | 9 years ago
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Thank you for your reply!

As I mentioned, I am looking for a stem head cap mount type, please see other products mentioned in my post.

Quadlock and finn are a last option for me - this is the official response of Quadlock regarding vibration dampening:

Hi,

Unfortunately the Phone will only remain as steady at the bike itself, as this is connected directly to the stem of the bike and the mount does not offer shock absorption or vibration dampening.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks

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glynr36 replied to vibecy | 9 years ago
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vibecy wrote:

As I mentioned, I am looking for a stem head cap mount type, please see other products mentioned in my post.

Only one of the 3 you link to mounds on the topcap of the headset...

Quote:

Quadlock and finn are a last option for me - this is the official response of Quadlock regarding vibration dampening:

Hi,

Unfortunately the Phone will only remain as steady at the bike itself, as this is connected directly to the stem of the bike and the mount does not offer shock absorption or vibration dampening.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks

Which is about right, for a £50 phone case and mount you won't get anything that's vibration damping (I can't see that any case would offer this anyway, it would need to be hideously bulky to offer damping worth having)
What's your need/want for damping?

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vibecy replied to glynr36 | 9 years ago
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The reason for damping is using my bike on rough gravel terrains (not MTB-style roads mind you) and using Runtastic as an offline positioning system (no 3G/LTE needed) to know where I am going.

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