Quad Lock Out Front Mount

The Quad Lock Out Front Mount puts your phone where you can see it, and de-clutters your bar by also holding GoPros or other compatible-mount devices. It's an excellent solution for short stems too.

Nearly a year ago Chris reviewed the original Quad Lock iPhone Bike Kit and gave it a 9/10. Prior to that Dave reviewed the Universal Bike Kit and likewise gave it 9/10, but lamented the stem-only position and longed for something 'out front'. Lo and behold…

> Find your nearest dealer here

> Buy this online here

The Out Front Mount has been in development for over a year, and the result shows that Quad Lock has done its homework. At 37g it's light for what it is, having a very secure locking mechanism that's designed to pair with the matching phone cases or Universal mount. Pushing down the large blue tab allows the phone to be rotated through 45 degrees and released.

Garmin's quarter-turn mount does a good job, but it's a protruding lock mechanism built into what is a much smaller, lighter device – you can't do that with £500 phones from different manufacturers. As Chris found in his review, the Quad Lock Case works really well on its own. My iPhone lives permanently in one, as does my wife's – they are great phone protectors in their own right, the mount bit only adding a 2mm bulge over a small area of the back of the phone.

The Out Front Mount is offset to position your phone central to the stem, 4cm out from the handlebar. The band that clamps around your bar is only 12mm wide, allowing other accessories alongside if needed. The clamp fits 31.8mm-diameter bars natively, or 25.4mm with the supplied adapter, and is just under 4mm thick, so fits under gear and brake cables where they exit the bar tape.

One way or another

A bonus of the design is that it can be flipped around to position the mount over the stem. This is a perfect solution for stems with less than the 50mm of free length required by the standard Quad Lock mount. (My wife's bike has a 70mm stem but there's only 25mm free of welding and clamp at either end; her bike also has a narrow bar and cyclo-cross top brake levers either side of the stem, so not much room to mount anything there.) This also positions your phone in a more protected space.

The optional GoPro Adapter (10g) is an excellent solution for accessories using that mount type. It tucks a GoPro in underneath with 15mm between the rear of the camera and the handlebar. With the GoPro removed, the adapter is almost invisible.

The securing cap screws and metal threads used in both mounts are high quality, and the overall feel is premium with tight tolerances.

I found that the blue release lever was easier to use with gloves on than the original mount, where you had to curl your fingers around the phone and push down on the lockring to release the phone. Not that that was 'hard' to use, but the lever is even easier; even in 'landscape' mode with the lever obscured, a phone can be released and replaced with one hand.

I never used zip ties to attach the original mount, and the rubber o-rings never quite held the phone one hundred per cent stable. This new mount corrects that – it's rock-solid.

I want that, man

At time of writing you can get the Out Front Mount plus GoPro Adapter for £28.75, including postage, using the seemingly permanent 10 per cent discount on the Quad Lock website. If you don't opt for the GoPro mount you have to pay shipping, which totals £26.06. So you can basically get the GoPro mount for an extra £2.69 by shopping smart. You'll also need the correct Quad Lock Case for your phone (from £19.95, less 10%).

> Like gadgets? Check out our Christmas gift suggestions here

Having invested in the Quad Lock system for cycling and running, across four different phone models, I'm sold. New phone cases are released pretty quickly once Apple, Samsung and others bring out new hardware, and they are always compatible with the existing mounts.

Rapture

As we've covered in previous reviews, the security of your device in a Quad Lock mount is top-class and the stability of the Out Front Mount only improves on this. Quad Lock isn't selling a waterproof solution though. If you need genuine waterproofness either go for an IP-rated phone (as Dave does) or an aftermarket case and use the Universal adapter.

The Quad Lock Out Front Mount has to be the best whole-system solution for multi-vendor phone, camera and light mounting on the market today. At £28.75 all-in it's great value, to safely and securely hang many hundreds of pounds' worth of electronics on any bike.

Verdict

The Quad Lock Out Front Mount is an excellent solution for phone, camera and light mounting in various orientations