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Old 05-03-15 | 09:46 PM
  #8  
Daniel4
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Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 3,498
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From: Toronto

Bikes: Sekine 1979 ten speed racer

I can’t give you any specific models but I can offer some advice in what to look for.

Any holders will do fine if you are using it for a smart phone or one of those flat gps units. I had put a bulky gps (Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx) on one of those clamp-type mounts with the spongee sides. And just riding around in my neighbour hood roads, the gps fell out of the mount after a few bumps. But I don’t think you’ll have any problems with the Galaxy note 2, smartphones, Nuvi, etc

Check the ease of the clamp that goes onto the bicycle handlebar. The plastic on Ram Mounts are hard, inflexible and brittle. I broke it trying to put it on. Not sure why they don’t use the same type of plastic as bicycle bells. Well I fixed it using cable ties – which is what Ram uses now. I've seen clamps with real joints and a thumbscrew.

Check the connection between the handlebar clamp and the smartphone holder. One joint should be enough. Mine has three and I’m wondering why. One is a ball so it should swivel in any direction. The other is a joint for side-swivel. And the third is the actual connection that locks to the holder which rotates. The ball joint usually means the other two should not be required. The problem I have with mine is the lock nut that’s supposed to lock the ball in place after you’ve positioned the smartphone. Holding the entire assembly in your hand all the locks seem secure. But mounted and after riding over some bumps on the road and all that jiggling, it's obvious the ball swivel doesn’t hold the smartphone in position. Yet when you make adjustments, it still feels tight. It’s hard to tell in the store even when it’s mounted. So my suggestion would be to look for a mount with only one joint. And if there's a locking nut, make sure it can screw in tight until it stops. Mine falls off the threads.
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