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Biologic Bike Mount Weathercase

6
£32.00

VERDICT:

6
10
Keeps the rain off your phone and the phone on your bike, but the clunky mount lacks versatility
Weight: 
112g
Contact: 

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Mounting a smartphone worth several hundred quid to your bike's stem asks some hard questions of the device you use to do it. Biologic's Bike Mount Weathercase answers some of them. It won't fling your iPhone into the gutter and it'll keep rain and dirt off. But the AnchorPoint mount is bulky, fits semi-permanently to one specific bike, and doesn't release the phone instantaneously. Rough-stuff tourers and mountain bikers should note that there's scant impact protection too, although it is padded against vibration. For a £32 mount, it's about what'd you'd expect.

My iPhone usually travels wrapped in a plastic bag (cost: nil) in a zipped jersey pocket. That way it can't fall off, or get smashed to bits if I fall off. If I want to track my ride, I can just leave the Strava app running, or more likely, depend on a Garmin Edge 500 instead. But I can see the navigational advantages of a smartphone up front for touring or for finding your way around an unfamiliar city, something I do a fair bit of on my Brompton.

Unfortunately, the mount is a bit bulky for an M-bar Brompton, though it should fit the stem or handlebar of most bikes. Stem fitting is best if possible.

The AnchorPoint mount attaches with cable ties. These won't come undone, so you'll need another AnchorPoint at £17 to switch the Weathercase easily between bikes. The weight of the phone can make the whole AnchorPoint rotate on the handlebar when you hit bumps. Since it's on a different axis, stem fitting prevents this problem. Note that the stem needs to be at least 80mm long for the AnchorPoint to fit. If you've slammed your stem, a steerer that sits 35mm-plus proud of that stem can also cause fitting problems.

The top of the AnchorPoint is a clamp. Four flat prongs, two each side, engage with indentations in the plastic back of the Weathercase. A knurled knob screws the clamp in and out, a bit like a G-clamp. It took me 10-20 seconds to get the Weathercase on and off the AnchorPoint. That's annoying when you're momentarily leaving your bike. On the plus side, the clamp never released the phone by accident.

Apart from its plastic back, the Weathercase is a soft-case made from welded-seam waterproof fabric. The zip is rainproof. It's a two-way zip, so you can leave the bottom end slightly open to fit the iPhone's charging cable through. The front of the Weathercase is clear and the touchscreen works quite well, if a bit spongily. (There's some give as the case is padded underneath the phone.) The camera works fine through the rear window too.

You can talk easily on the phone when its in the case, and it's thin enough to fit in your pocket without removing from the case. On the other hand, removing the case from the AnchorPoint leaves a lump of plastic scaffolding fixed to your bike's stem. Low-profile it isn't.

You can choose to attach the Weathercase in portrait or landscape mode. Unlike Topeak's Ridecase (£49.99 with mount), you can't switch between them - or not without removing the AnchorPoint from the bike and adjusting it with an Allen key. Similarly, you can change the viewing angle of the Weathercase by 10 degrees, but only by reassembling the AnchorPoint.

Using the Bike Mount Weathercase was a faff compared with Garmin's quarter-turn GPS bike mount. I wanted something similar here. It is available: check out the Quad Lock Bike Kit (£49.99), which leaves an inconspicuous mount when the phone is removed and comes with a host of alternative mounts, even a tripod mount for taking action shots of yourself with your phone when you're on tour. For road or mountain bike use, I'd also consider Cateye's Strada Smart (from £69.99), a head-unit that links to your pocketed phone via Bluetooth.

This Bike Mount Weathercase is for the iPhone 5/5s/5c. There's an identically priced one for the iPhone 6. Biologic also do a variety of other cases, such as a hard case for a variety of Android phones.

Verdict

Keeps the rain off your phone and the phone on your bike, but the clunky mount lacks versatility

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Biologic Bike Mount Weathercase

Size tested: n/a

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?

Biologic say:

The WeatherCase protects your iPhone 5s/5c/5/4s/4 from rain, sweat and grime and fits on your bike with the AnchorPoint™ mount. Lightweight and easy-to-pocket, it's the perfect way to keep your phone safe and dry on rides or workouts.

Features:

Slim, pocketable design – slides easily into a pocket when you're off the bike

Weather protection – sonically welded waterproof fabric with rain proof zippers

CushionFit™ padding keeps phone snug in case and protects from vibrations

Full access to touchscreen, front and rear cameras

Hard sides for side protection

Clear voice quality with phone in case

Dual zippers allow on-bike recharging of phone

Attaches to handlebars with included AnchorPoint™ mount

I say:

It's probably best for recreational road bike use, touring, and commuting.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
6/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
6/10

Good rain resistance - good enough that I didn't panic in a light shower. Doesn't eject phone by accident.

Rate the product for durability:
 
5/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
5/10
Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

It does the job, just not very elegantly.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

My iPhone didn't get wet and short circuit.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

The AnchorPoint mount.

Did you enjoy using the product? It was okay.

Would you consider buying the product? No.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? With caveats, yes.

Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?

Above average weather protection is enough to make it above average as a whole, as that's a massive deal for UK cyclists.

Overall rating: 6/10

About the tester

Age: 45  Height: 1.78m  Weight: 67kg

I usually ride: Ridgeback Solo World fixed wheel  My best bike is: Planet X Pro Carbon Track. Or Whyte M109

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, cyclo cross, commuting, touring, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb,

 

Add new comment

5 comments

Avatar
harrybav | 9 years ago
0 likes

I like the handlebar phone case for letting me glance at incoming sms without taking gloves off etc.

Topeak Drybag, does this pretty well. £10-£20 depending on how recent your phone is.

Avatar
Paul J | 9 years ago
0 likes

Given water-proof phones are increasingly common, at a range of price points, I'd really like to see phone back-covers made that incorporate the male bit of quarter-turn mounts. I.e., I'd like to be able to directly attach my Sony Xperia into my range of Garmin mounts.

Avatar
crikey | 9 years ago
0 likes

In the words of Danny Glover 'I'm too old for this shit'...

Sean Yates once said 'Never put anything on your bike that doesn't make it go faster' and the fashion for sticking your £500 phone in a place which makes it more likely to get damaged isn't one I can agree with.

Avatar
KiwiMike replied to crikey | 9 years ago
0 likes
crikey wrote:

In the words of Danny Glover 'I'm too old for this shit'...

Sean Yates once said 'Never put anything on your bike that doesn't make it go faster' and the fashion for sticking your £500 phone in a place which makes it more likely to get damaged isn't one I can agree with.

Haven't come off the bike once. If I did it's insured, and in a crash bad enough to smash a phone in its case between the bars/hoods, that's the least of my worries.

The alternative is either only riding roads we know, or stopping to retrieve phone from pocket every 2 minutes to check the next turn. And in a pocket is no promise of protection either.

Who's Sean Yates when he's at home, and why should me / my clubmates care what he thinks? what is this - a race or something?  1

Avatar
KiwiMike | 9 years ago
0 likes

"My iPhone usually travels wrapped in a plastic bag (cost: nil) in a zipped jersey pocket. That way it can't ... get smashed to bits if I fall off. "

Erm...unless you roll onto your back?

May I be the first to say:

****MY_EYES*** that is an ugly, enormous mount.

And zip-ties only? The Quadlock mount is held on with two rubber bands. I take it on/off frequently, swap between bikes, take overseas to use on rental bikes etc. Any mount that's 100% zip-ties only is dead to me.

The Quadlock case lives on my phone as general protection, and it gets the poncho when it's a bit damp. For full-on rain and impact protection the Lifeproof Fré + quadlock Universal stick-on looks to be the optimal solution. Sure, this may be 1/3 the cost of the Quadlock/Lifeproof combo, but you'll know you compromised every single time you use it. For a (typically*) £500+ phone, that seems a false economy.

* yes yes cheap androids are available. But a straw poll of riding friends says either iPhone or high-end Android are increasingly the norm.

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