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review
£35.99
VERDICT:
A strong and stable mount that does a great job of keeping everything in one place
Weight:
82g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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The Topeak Ridecase Center Mount With Sports Camera & Gear Adapters is a useful and flexible mounting system that puts everything you need in one neat package.
I recently had the handlebar mount that I'd been using for my camera for a couple of years break, and so simply bought an adapter for the bottom of my Garmin mount and stuck my camera under there. It worked for about a week before the weight got too much and it broke.
> Find your nearest dealer here
Topeak's Ridecase Centre is designed to allow this kind of all-in-one mounting, and it largely works. The defining feature of the mount is that rather than just having the single bracket on one side of the bar, like the majority of mounts, the Ridecase Center places one on each side of the stem, giving it additional strength.
To fit the Ridecase Center, the brackets are separate to the main body, and the tensioning bolts from the brackets then fit into the holes in the body to secure it in place. The body can be placed either higher or lower on the bars depending on which way round you fit the brackets, so the top of the body sits either at the top of the faceplate or at the bottom of it, while also staying parallel to the ground. The brackets attach to 31.8mm diameter bars, and throughout the review they sat securely, even when I had a heavier computer and camera than usual.
Topeak has designed the Ridecase Center to work with the GoPro Hero series, Sony Action Cam series, Shimano Sport Cameras, and Garmin VIRB X/XE. Plus it 'includes G-Ear Adapter for Garmin cycle computer' in addition to a mount for Topeak lights. Throughout the review I used it for a GoPro, Fly 12 and a Garmin Edge 810, and each sat nicely without needing to force anything.
The official road.cc Scales of Truth put the mount at 82g for the mount and all accessories. Given that you are likely to be putting a computer/phone/light/camera on it, the weight of the mount alone is unlikely to make a huge difference, and what you fit will completely alter this weight.
> Find more road.cc reviews of computer/GPS/phone/camera mounts here
Although the RRP of £35.99 is quite steep, the quality of the mount and the convenience it brings makes it a justifiable price if you want to keep your handlebar tidy, like I do.
Overall, I was impressed. It's a great idea, and the strong design features work really well at keeping everything in place.
Verdict
A strong and stable mount that does a great job of keeping everything in one place
road.cc test report
Make and model: Topeak Ridecase Center Mount With Sports Camera & Gear Adapters
Size tested: Attaches to 31.8mm dia handlebars
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
A mount that allows you to fit multiple bits of technology in a single space.
Topeak says: "This RideCase mount brings everything in line, front and center to offer easier viewing of your device, a perfectly centered video frame, or a light beam cast in the center of your route."
This seems pretty accurate, it keeps everything centred, neat and in one place.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
MATERIAL Forged aluminum / Engineering grade plastic
MODULAR MULTI-MOUNT DEVICE Adapters included for GoPro® / Shimano® Sport Camera / Garmin VIRB® X / XE / Sony® Action Cam / Topeak WhiteLite™ HP Mega 420 / Mobile PowerPack 6000 / AeroLux 1Watt USB / most Topeak WhiteLite™ HP front lights / Garmin cycle computers
BRACKET For Handlebar (fits ø31.8 mm)
MAX LOAD Sport camera 200 g / 7.04 oz
ADDED FEATURES Angle adjustment (Sport Camera) Rotates for landscape or portrait viewing (RideCase) Compatible with RideCase series & PanoComp X Includes T15 wrench
SIZE 11 x 6.6 x 4.7 cm / 4.3' x 2.6' x 1.9' (Center Mount only)
WEIGHT 36 g / 1.27 oz (Center Mount only)
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
Really well made, with metal brackets and high quality materials used throughout.
Rate the product for performance:
7/10
Did exactly what I needed it to, mounted everything I wanted without any issues.
Rate the product for durability:
8/10
Made of metals and bolts, all of which seem like they would outlast plastic alternatives.
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
5/10
This is so dependent on the gadgets you use with it that the base weight is a small factor.
Rate the product for value:
5/10
It is a strong mount that's likely to last for years, so although on the more expensive side, it is probably worth the extra money.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Very well. It did exactly what I needed it to without any fuss.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The stability it has regardless of what I put on it; it dealt well with setups that broke other mounts and adapters I have used in the past.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Would be nice if it included a phone mount as standard.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your score
It performed well throughout testing, took everything I put on it with minimum fuss, and nothing needing to be forced to make it fit.
About the tester
Age: 29
I usually ride: Mercian King of Mercia or Cinelli Gazzetta My best bike is: Cannondale Supersix Evo
I've been riding for: 5-10 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mountain biking
George is the host of the road.cc podcast and has been writing for road.cc since 2014. He has reviewed everything from a saddle with a shark fin through to a set of glasses with a HUD and everything in between.
Although, ironically, spending more time writing and talking about cycling than on the bike nowadays, he still manages to do a couple of decent rides every week on his ever changing number of bikes.
Latest Comments
- john_smith 2 hours 38 min ago
Straight into the sun is perhaps an exaggeration, but at that time it would be about ESE, and there are bits of the road which head roughly SSE, so...
- john_smith 2 hours 47 min ago
7 October was just a bit of harmless fun until the "msm" ramped it up.
- hawkinspeter 2 hours 47 min ago
It's not censored if you just pirate it
- stonojnr 3 hours 52 min ago
an example of Kesgraves "best cycling infrastructure in the country" https://maps.app.goo.gl/GsCMbzDUTPdq59qS9
- ktache 3 hours 55 min ago
They are not going full gas at every point. They would destroy themselves. And tactics, they save themselves for when effort is really needed....
- wookey 4 hours 24 sec ago
It turns out that that is national police policy. We found out from this process that there is national 'secured by design' policy which causes...
- mtbtomo 4 hours 39 min ago
Been available for quite a while, full GRX mechanical 12 speed. Probably around the same time as 105 mechanical 12 speed if I were to guess.
- TheBillder 4 hours 45 min ago
Less harmful citrus degreaser is easy to find at £8 or less for 5 litres. Works ok for me, even diluted up to 4:1. Both paraffin and white spirit...
- Veganpotter 4 hours 51 min ago
Nope, it's to keep your straps down and quieter. Plus most sunglasses are polycarbonate and aren't going to shatter like glass anyway
- Steve K 5 hours 22 min ago
And, more seriously, where's the coverage of the closure of the cycle lane which forces you to cycle on the Totton bypass.
Add new comment
7 comments
^ To counter this, be interesting to know whether Topeak tried a version where the phone/computer mount was backwards, over the bars and stem, but still leaving a forward projection for the go-pro mount. I have the bracket which affixes to the top cap, so the ‘phone is over the stem, and the usability is fine. It can also rotate to allow route filming.
I was fiddling with one of these at the NEC recently and it had the centre mount with a 'phone' on the extension then a camera in front of the phone and the amont of flex at the bar clamp was shocking. The guy from Extra I pointed it out to wasn't impressed when I told him that although I was probably putting a lot more flex into the mount than usual having a camera 3" from the clamp won't help vibration issues.
Nowadays, metal bar mounts all seem to assume a 31.8 mm bar. I know that they often come with a rubber adapter for 25.4 mm, but that introduces vibration. It would be nice to find two part metal adapters to fill this space.
I think exposure do hard plastic semi-circle spacers that do this job (with their own rubber strip to give some grip. Might be able to buy those separately.
Give it a few months prices will come down, I need a Wahoo and Gopro combo mount.
You've shown this with a Wahoo computer, but no mention that I can see of Wahoo in the article. Does it come with what is needed to mount a Wahoo (Elemnt in my case), or is an adabptor required. If an adaptor is required, then what is that? And would that then stop you using the Wahoo in one of their own mounts?
I looking for something to mount a Wahoo and a gopro at the same time, but the few things that I have found are either expensive, get poor reviews or both.
Try a FormMount F3. That will fit a go pro and Wahoo (Garmin/Wahoo inserts supplied with product).
It is relatively expensive in comparison to a simple mount (but not moreso than this item) and very adaptable.
It mounts to the faceplate of your stem so leaves your bar space free.
(Go pro session 5 fitted with Ecstapro extended battery and cage....just in case you were wondering about the camera set up).
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