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Cheapy Digital Camera Mount for Your Bike

This might just prove what a geeky guy I am but I just had figure out a way to mount my camera on my folding bike. Oh, just the thought of it ran shivers up my spine! I could take videos while zooming down a scenic bikeway. I could use my bike as a tripod and take photos of me standing in front of some majestic peak. Yes, I just had to have a handlebar mount for my digital camera.

And how simple it was!
mount.jpg
A Google search quickly brought me to this site. As luck would have it I was in the proud possession of a headlamp clamp that I got free of charge from a local bike shop. During an earlier project (it's too grusome to discuss here) I belt sanded off the channeled section on the top of the mount so that I had a flat surface. All that was left to do was get some hardware at my local Ace. I decided to go with stainless steel -- more bucks, less rust. About $4 was the final bill. I bought:
  • 1/4" x 3" stainless steel machine screw (1)
  • stainless steel wing nuts (3)
  • flat washers (7)
I began by drilling a pilot hole through the mount. I then drilled with a 1/4" bit. The hole was widened with a rat tail rasp (not necessary but it'll make removing the mount from my handlebar a lot easier). The five flat washers assured that the wing nut on the bottom of the mount moved freely. A second rubber spacer was added just to make sure the mount fit snugly on my handlebar. Within about 20 minutes I was done.

Time for field testing.

I got on a bike/pedestrian trail in Tucson and took five videos and a bunch of stills. It worked great. There was surprisingly little jitter with the videos. The stability of the bike was perfect for stills.

So do you look like a dork riding around with a camera mounted on your handlebar? My answer to that is that if you're riding a folding bike you're used to curious glances!

Note: To see what the bike looks like with a camera mounted on the handlebar see the image on the home page. Go to the Links page to see a close-up of the mount on the handlebar.

Update: It's been a month or so since I made my camera mount. The mount is now  permanently attached to my handlebar but I don't ride around very often with the camera mounted. I've found that I use the mount mainly as a tripod so I can take photos in low light conditions or put the camera on timed exposure and take a photo of myself in front of something that I think is awesome looking.