In general there are 2 challenges with bicycle mounts:
Not getting the bicycle in the camera field.
Vibrations.
Vibrations are the biggest problem because they creates various forms of blur on the images.
Other people have reported that you shouldn’t drive faster than about 15 km/h with a phone mounted on a normal bicycle on good pavement, because the vibrations creates “rolling shutter” blur. I gave up using a phone on a bike the first time I tried.
My experience is that action cams work great on a bike, even in rough terrain. As long as there is normal light. In bad light, like a forrest, take it a bit easy with speed and it is often okay.
Action cameras should be mounted as firmly as possible to the bike, to avoid amplifying vibrations. Unless you have some really good equipment, that means mounting it as close to the bicycle as possible.
I had a cheap plastic mount that allowed me to pan and tilt the camera, but the camera would vibrate so much that I got blurry pictures. Usually I use a flash light mount, that holds the camera close to the handle bar.
I have also tried the Manfrotto Magic arm with the Manfrotto Super Clamp. Because the arm will put the camera far away from the bike, it is not use able when riding. If walking it can usd.
Hi
I got my bike mount from armor-x for my HTC One M9 and my Huawei Honor 6. Both are fit to the handle bar and pointing forward. It shakes on not so well underground, but mostly fine in the city with speeds between 10 and 20 km/h.
Most annoying are the outdoor areas (wood), no GPS fix and the annoying mobile running hot.
For city-mapping, using the normal phone works well, but indeed, it is often good to go slower.
I also found it useful to take images with an interval of one second, this allows you to easily delete the blurry ones that you will inevitably get.
Another issue obviously is battery life, without the option to recharge it as in your car. I have thus on some occasions carried an external battery pack to keep charged.
However, my biggest issue so far is finding a bike mount that would allow me to take pictures in landscape mode - I haven’t found anything useful yet. Currently I am using http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D4282PG?ref_=cm_rdp_product, it is rather sturdy and you can additionally fix the phone with a strap, which is nice.
The mount could be turned to put the camera in landscape, but then you end up with parts of the handlebar and/or cables in the pictures…
Maybe others can share what exactly you are using?
Not every smartphone is equal with vibrations.
My Moto X don’t like small vibrations and I could not use it on a bike, too much jello effect.
But with the same mount, I can use a HTC One mini or my old Sony Xperia Ray.
However, my biggest issue so far is finding a bike mount that would
allow me to take pictures in landscape mode - I haven’t found anything
useful yet.
I used the X-grip from Ram-Mount.
As a new user, I can’t upload pictures. You will find them here :
Good discussion on addressing the issues with vibrations when taking pictures while riding. We should start collating the best advice into the user guide.
I personally hold the phone to capture while riding but I know this is not always feasible nor the safest thing to do. Looking to testing some other set ups that people craft. We can also beef up the equipment part of the wiki with experiences on different mounts and capture devices.
I build a homemade wire isolator to reduce the vibrations with the Moto X. It was really better, but I bought a Xiaomi Yi at the same time I finished the isolator. Here it is the unfinished work :
Ok, vibration are a topic, esp. on rough terrain. I wish I´ll have a good solution to that, which is not too expansive and too ugly
About power: I got the B&M Lumotec IQ2 Luxos U lamp on my bicycle with USB power outlet (and a generator in the front wheel). Dynamo-Scheinwerfer - Bumm it is really a nice one, with the correct mobile you get endless power with >15 km/h. My HTC One M9 drains the battery too much, so I just can extend the usage of Mapillary from ~2000 up to 3500 or even 4000 in one go. Better than nothing. Or with more work: Automatiklader V5: Forumslader with a bigger battery and more power
I tried the Velocity Clip on my bike, it was quite a frustration…
The idea seemed to be perfect, but in pratice, the system is not stiff enough. In addition, the connection to the handlebar was full of backlash. Pictures were all blurry due to jello effect.
To be honnest, I was using a Nexus 5 and I’m not sure it’s the best for this kind of use.
yesterday i felt the vibration problems. my gopro support for my road bike was broken. I think by excess vibration.
this support was original go pro (not from aliexpress jeje ).
it is first time that I broke a support, i’m not sure if by the additional rubber that I add to try reduce the vibrations.
luckily, the hard case of the camera is “hard” enough
you check the rubber at first photo, this are 11 layers of a old inner tube rubber.
it was the first time I try this mod, but i’m happy, i didn’t get any blurry photo. All photos was taken without fuzzy!! (more than 8000), even at more than 59km/h !.
Glad your camera survived @dalacost. It looks like you have a good set up although @Amiga4000 raises a good point that it is always better to avoid photos of the handlebars and wires if possible.
Sure, i understand the handlebar problem. Always I try to hidden. I have just two or three sequences with the cables :). in my road bike this is a big problem, i’m trying to develop a new support for solve it
I can recommend the Manfrotto Super Clamp with a metal bar with holes pointing away from the bike. The metal bar could be cheap one from the hardware store . It should be very thick (at least 3 mm) , or you can screw several together. It should reach as little as possible away to avoid amplifying vibrations.
Here is my bicycle setup. The Garmin Monterra is powered by my hub dynamo via a Kemo transformer. Action cam (Drift HD Ghost) is discretely attached under my handlebar bag (a modded hip belt bag from Eagle creek, attached with a Klick Fix adapter). The camera is firmly connected to the frame with an inexpensive monopod (also handy as pole for my Hexpeak tent) and a Go Pro / tripod adapter.
