Thursday, April 21, 2011

Some assembly required

Start by disassembling the mic adapter. The piece that you needed is the 5/8 inch threaded bolt.











After removing the 5/8 inch threaded bolt, then disassembled the Nuvi bike mount.  I found that strap was a bit long, so using a pair of wire cutters, I cut a few inches off.







Using the wire cutters and an exacto knife, cut a notch to cradle the 5/8 inch threaded bolt. Use the screw from the Nuvi to attach the 5/8 inch threaded bolt to the Nuvi bike adapter.

With that completed, you can now attach the two pieces.








Two more steps remain, connecting the cradle from the desk stand to the apparatus and to secure the iPhone into the cradle.
The case that I chose was a simple plastic case that was flexible enough for me to easily take the iPhone out. I found that on Monoprice as well http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10831&cs_id=1083111&p_id=7104&seq=1&format=2
I cut some slits on the side and bottom of the case and secured it to the desk stand cradle with some zip ties http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-43036-Cable-4-inch/dp/B0002GX1XA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1302320662&sr=1-2-catcorr





Some additional pictures






Thursday, April 14, 2011

Genesis of my iPhone mount continued...

Picture by Amazon.com
    So I got a cradle for the iPhone, and a posable/adjustable multi directional swivel piece of hardware that's meant to attach cameras on to microphone stands. How do I attach it to my handle bar? Knowing that the nut size of the camera adapter was 5/8 of an inch, I search Google images for 5/8 microphone adapters and clamps. I figured there's bound to be an option to clamp the camera adapter to my bike. My search resulted in a microphone adapter that's used to mic drum sets http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CKPD9A
As soon as the piece arrived, I attached the three components (The camera adapter screwed onto the drum mic adapter and the desk stand cradle screwed onto the camera to mic stand adapter) to my handle bar. All seemed well enough, using the wing nut I secure my apparatus to the handle bar. While the adapter worked, I did not feel secure about the wing nut bearing sole responsibility for keeping everything mounted to my bike. Most importantly though, the wing nut interfered with real tight turns on the motorcycle.

Picture by Amazon.com
    Back to the drawing board. Looking for a more secure option and a suggestion by one of by buddies yielded this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KNT0M4 the Garmin Nuvi bike mount. But I was only interested in the strap portion of this GPS mount. To get the 5/8 inch bolt of the microphone adapter and the wrap around strap of the Nuvi bike mount, I'll have to combine the two.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Genesis of my iPhone mount

It all started when I stumbled across the On Stage camera adapter. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GWCC4I/ref=ox_ya_os_product 
As I examined the pictures, I figured I could rig a way to mount it on my handle bar as well as attach it to an iPhone case
Picture from Amazon.com






Several trips to the Apple Store, Best Buy, those mobile phone accessory mall kiosks, yielded no iPhone case that would work the way I envisioned.

Quite by accident while ordering some cables at MonoPrice, I found the next piece of the puzzle. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10831&cs_id=1083113&p_id=6862&seq=1&format=2
Picture from MonoPrice.com

Monday, April 11, 2011

BMW S1000RR iPhone Mount

Summer of 2010 I decided I was going to a lot more riding and maybe even dabble in track days. I decided I was going to say goodbye to my trusty 10 year old CBR 600 F4 and upgrade to litter bike.

After weeks of online research and a few trips to local bike shops, the choice was between 2010 Aprilia RSV4 and the 2010 BMW S1000RR.
Seeing as I would also be commuting on this bike, the comfort of the S1000RR won out in the end.

As I ride long distances into areas unfamiliar to me, I find myself pulling over to the side of the road, removing one glove, reaching in to my pocket, pulling out my iPhone in order to get a clue as to where I was. It was then that I started seeing the need for a GPS solution.

I knew that I did not want to carry multiple devices, so my phone was going to have double as my navigation device.

Winter quickly came and my attention shifted to finding the perfect iPhone mounting system that would fit my bike.


As it turns out, I’m very particular about certain things. None of what I found seem to fit the bill. They were either too pricey, too bulky, they did not fit exactly where I wanted or all of the above. That’s when I decided I would make my own.