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Sat nav handle bar mount
#1
This summer I'd like to go out adventuring on the bike to pastures new but don't want to get lost so was thinking of a way to attach my sat nav to my bike. I have a garmin nuvi that I use in the car and was thinking of ways to attach it to the bike.

I've seen these bike mounts that attach to the handlebars like a clamp and they have the little ball on top that you pop the nuvi mount on, I have a spare mount so it can just be left on the bike and popped on when needed.

I like the idea but at the back of my head I have visions of the thing coming off and dropping in the road or worse then that getting run over by a car.

Anyone else tried such a thing and was it a success?
Cannondale, handmade in USA............................................Refined in Surrey, England.
- Cannondale F500, Kona Blast, Kona Caldera-
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#2
I got an adapter for my Satnav from Maplins. But it is for a TomTom fitting.
Ride hard or ride home alone!
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#3
If you are into building things try this link there is an instructable on a holder ....
http://www.instructables.com/tag/?q=gps+holder&limit%3Atype%3Aid=on&type%3Aid=on&type%3Auser=on&type%3Acomment=on&type%3Agroup=on&type%3AforumTopic=on&type%3AforumTopic=on&sort=none
Good maintenance to your Bike, can make it like the wheels are, true and smooth!
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#4
I use a backpack mount for my Garmin Vista + self adhesive velcro on the stem + a velcro cable tie to secure it. Works like a charm on the road, not yet tested off road, though.
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#5
This is the kind of thing I was looking at, already premade and just has the little ball on it the pops onto the back of the nuvi mount.

That's the same Nuvi as I have so as long as that clamp fits on my handlebars securely it should be plug and play so to speak.

[attachment=705]

My thoughts are to fully charge the nav before I go out and it should have a reasonable battery life, also don't need it on constantly so that will help to save battery power.

I might just buy one and see what happens, fairly cheap on the bay, about £10.
Cannondale, handmade in USA............................................Refined in Surrey, England.
- Cannondale F500, Kona Blast, Kona Caldera-
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#6
Sounds good! I hope there is not the same problem as with the Vista and Etrex series. There, the bike mount is screwed into the battery cover. If you go down there is a high probability that this thing gets torn off, wrecking the case of the GPS -> buy a new one = sloppy engineering.
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#7
The one I've seen seems quite well made, attaches to the handlebar with a clamp, this is a picture of what I am thinking of getting that I found on the internet.

[attachment=706]

That little ball on top of the clamp fits into the back of the original Nuvi mount, normally they have a little sucker that attaches to the inside of a car windscreen, you pull that out and are left with a socket that you pop over that little ball.

[attachment=707]

I'd probably only use it more for on road, light off road riding then going mad on a rough trail.
Cannondale, handmade in USA............................................Refined in Surrey, England.
- Cannondale F500, Kona Blast, Kona Caldera-
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#8
OK, that principle looks much better than the one on my GPS. Also: check out openstreetmap.org, at least the tracks and trails in my area are much better cartographed than on my Garmin map, plus there is a mountain bike map (with auto routing enabled, prefers trails over roads). You might also like QLandkarte GT, which is a map display and route planning tool (still heavily under development), I find parts of it much better usable than Garmin's software. You have to integrate the altitude data on your own though, since that data is not "free" but only "free for personal use" (NASA SRTM mission data).
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#9
Got this and have it fitted to the bike, I have tried it out and it is surprisingly good, I tried it over a field at first just to make sure I didn't trash the sat-nav if it feel onto a hard surface.

Seems quite stable and for the price, only £2 it was worth the investment, when I can I'll stick a pic up of it fitted to the bike
Cannondale, handmade in USA............................................Refined in Surrey, England.
- Cannondale F500, Kona Blast, Kona Caldera-
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#10
I fitted my car Satnav to my bike for an Audax ride last weekend.
40mph downhill and Satnav goes flying.
Went back for it and a few scratches but screen O.K.
It didn't work properly so put it in back pocket and set off again.
Got to a checkpoint and had a look at the Satnav. Discovered that the SD card was missing - oh dear!
Later in the day the route returned up the same hill so stopped and searched for SD card. Must have been my lucky (?) day as I found it, plugged it in and unit worked. Phew!.
So make sure your fitting is secure and, if you can, fit a safety string to it in case it drops off.
Ride hard or ride home alone!
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#11
Sounds like you had a lucky escape CyclerUK.

I only really want it for some planned cycles up into London, I went up last summer and did a bit of sight seeing and fancied having the sat nav this year to make it easier to get to from one place to the other.

was going to put some of the pics up of my bike by famous landmarks like Big Ben and Tower Bridge, that's hoping it doesn't get nicked whilst I'm trying to take the pics of course lol.
Cannondale, handmade in USA............................................Refined in Surrey, England.
- Cannondale F500, Kona Blast, Kona Caldera-
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#12
Ye I have had that one,(a lot cheaper in USA) I was planing to use it on my motorcycle. However this mount needs to face straight at you and on my curved motorcycle bar I just could not do that. So I got a different mount.

For your application that one looks good. I always rig a safety usually using steel fishing line leaders.

Look for a way to do that such as gluing a loop to the Garmin.

http://www.cabelas.com/wire-leaders.shtml
Never Give Up!!!
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