Just a quick preview for those of you who have an iPhone. I picked up the RAM iPhone handlebar mount for my mountain bike a few weeks ago and to be honest I didn’t have high hopes. The iPhone is a pretty fragile (and expensive!) piece of electronics and like a nervous parent I was skeptical about securing my baby to a $15 piece of plastic.
I started out taking the iPhone on relatively tame road rides with short bits of singletrack mixed in and to my amazement, the iPhone stayed secure in the RAM mount and was unaffected by the vibration. Based on the success of these tests I’m ready to tackle some more aggressive trails with the iPhone on my bars, though I’ll probably stop short of riding in muddy or wet conditions.
The RAM iPhone handlebar mount uses zip ties to attach to the bars and includes an adapter for mounting to tapered handlebars. The large plastic iPhone holder twists off the attached handlebar mount for those times when you don’t need it and is pliable enough to snap the phone in and out fairly easily. RAM also includes a small strip of rubber to protect your handlebars from abrasion caused by the zip ties. I don’t know if this version is compatible with iPhone 4 but if not, I’m sure RAM has something in the works.
Once I get more miles in riding with the iPhone I’ll be reviewing on-trail apps like MotionX that mountain bikers may find useful. In the meantime, let me know in the comments which apps you use when you ride with the iPhone or if you’ve found other handlebar mounts that work well.
