It’s just a freaking GPS! Does it need really three options to mount? Does it really need three separate posts? I get it. The truth is – one was a fail, one was a success and then this one, well you’ll just have to read.
But first of all a little recap…
OPTION 1
Option 1 was me buying what I thought would work. They were some really solid, connecting rod looking aluminum bars that did everything right from Rally Moto Shop.
They would have been a great and easy answer to putting the GPS where I wanted it to go (just above the dash). The 12mm crossbar is standard stuff and there’s plenty of mount options for that and the Garmin Zumo XT.
The problem was – and it’s my problem, not theirs, is that I also have Highway Dirt Bike “Barkbusters”. These are the most robust around and part of their strength is that they mount to the Top Clamp. Their Top clamp is wider than the stock one. That made it impossible to use the bars I bought from Rally Moto Shop.
There just wasn’t enough real estate for them on the flat section of the bar. I could move them out, but I would hit the section where the bar starts it’s up swing and there’s no way that would clamp.
And so, I returned the RMS bars and started looking at fabbing my own.
OPTION 2
For Option 2, I fell back on my headlight mount experience (which is working awesome!) and decided to use HDPE which is essentially a plastic you will find used in cutting boards. It’s soft, it’s strong and it’s easy to work with.
I started with a thin piece and it almost worked. I mounted it to existing holes in my handguards, trimmed it to fit behind the profile of the windscreen, placed the GPS mount where I wanted it, gave it a little bend and it was just about perfect!
Just about. The 1/4 inch thick HDPE with the GPS weight at the top, just wasn’t stiff enough to keep the GPS still. With every bump it would oscillate back and forth making it almost impossible to read. The form was right, not the function.
So I doubled the thickness of the plank to 1/2″ thick. It’s available in just about any thickness. Locally my shop has it in up to 2″ thick. I happened to have a spare piece of 1/2″ on my bench so I started with that. I took off the first version, used it as a template and cut out the new one.
I also added a bit more of a angle to the mount – which turned out perfect to view while standing or sitting.
The first test of this GPS mount was 40 miles of road where I tried to hit every bump I could. I also hit the freeway so I could see how that worked. So far I’m really happy with it. I may pull it off and trim it out a little better, but overall I think it’s going to work! I’m done right?
Maybe. Maybe not. You can read all about that here. Honestly I convinced myself that this was the one and only option. If the 1/2 thick doesn’t work I’ll go to 5/8ths and then 1″. What is it that the Mandalorian say? “This is the way“.
Option 3:
Looking back, there’s a simple reason why RMS clamped to bars. It’s a solid mounting place but it also allowed them to run a thinner piece up to the GPS, with the strength in the bar being somewhat along the face or plane (think front to back).
In Option 1, when I ran into moving the bars further out, I ran out of flat space and with my limited brain power I knew I couldn’t go into the upward bend. That’s why I moved on to Option 2.
But I was wrong. Dead wrong.
REMEMBER: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
It turns out I could craft a clamp for way out on the bar after all. If I did it would also secure a little better in that it would need less clamping force to resist rotation.
I’m not sure if he found me via Google or if he subscribed to my newsletter but a guy named Dennis sent me an email. I asked him if I could share this and he said yes, but I still want to protect his privacy.
Me and my hammer just didn’t get, so Dennis and I had a little back and forth conversation. I kept going back to my thought that there just wasn’t enough room for a proper clamp. I was stuck in my thinking.
But then…
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I have a lot of tools. I have most every woodworking tool you could want. I have most every auto tool, most every moto tool, most every bicycle tool, most every garden tool. I can do some pretty cool things. But those are all “hammers”. Does that make sense?
As for Dennis, he’s looking things from a very different perspective. I live in a world with a lot of straight lines. Call it 2D. Dennis lives in a world with curves and flows and… well, let’s just say 3D.
Dennis saw the problem and saw the answer completely different. Here’s a mock up of his idea. Don’t look at the “blockness” of this as crude and unrefined. The end product would be shaped and smoothed. This was just his quick and dirty way to illustrate the idea.
That’s just brilliant. Once again, ignore the bulk of the block and focus on just the interface between the bar and the clamp – everything else can change.
This design would allow for a better clamp on the bars – as the bend and the form fit of the clamp around would eliminate any rotation. It would require less clamping force than clamping on the flat horizontal part.
The upright sections (not part of the drawing) could then be more streamlined and thinner, focusing most of their rigidity on the forward to back motion.
You could then tie to the two uprights together with a 12mm crossbar like the RMS does and you are done!
Right now, I’m not sure what the material would be. I don’t even know how I would create such a thing or who would create such a thing if I had the plans.
I guess the point I’m trying to make out of all this is…
There’s always other ways to solve a problem, some might be better, some not as good, and some like this that were never even on your radar. Thank You David!
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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