Garmin Bike Mount

Triathlon Forum
1

So, I managed to destroy my 2nd Garmin 305 last weekend on a group ride. One week after I got my new watch in the mail, it pops off my bike and gets run over by a car. It was a very FML moment.

The Garmin was on one of the Garmin-manufactured bike mounts, which was mounted onto a custom plastic platform I mounted between my aerobars. It popped off twice in the first 30 minutes of the ride; the car hit it on the 2nd.

So here’s my question: what’s to blame, the bike mount or my jerry-rigged plastic mounting platform? The platform (a coaxial cable outlet cover) was flat and rested in between my thumbs right up on the edge of the aerobar. I drilled holes in it and zip-tied the platform to the bars and zip-tied the mount to the platform through two more sets of holes in the center. I used two zip-ties to secure the mount to the platform in the same fashion as I would have if I were mounting the platform directly to the handlebar.

Does the placement of the clip allow significantly more turbulence on the mount when I hit bumps, or are the Garmin bike mounts just a lot of crap? Or is that what I get for riding an aluminum tri bike?

2

This problem baffles me. I’ve heard numerous reports of peoples 305’s popping out of the mount on the bike, yet I’ve owned mine for over 2 years now and have never once had it pop out of the mount. I use the profile design computer mount bar with the garmin bike mount between my aerobars.

3

Not an answer to your question, but the Edge 500 has a great mount.

4

This problem baffles me. I’ve heard numerous reports of peoples 305’s popping out of the mount on the bike, yet I’ve owned mine for over 2 years now and have never once had it pop out of the mount. I use the profile design computer mount bar with the garmin bike mount between my aerobars.

I have the same exact setup and have not had any problems with it in over 2 years. I also have
the Garmin mount on my road bike handlebars, no problems 2 years. The mount is pretty solid, so
I’m going to say it’s your improvised mount. The Profile mount is cheap and solid. Why don’t you just
get that?

5

This problem baffles me. I’ve heard numerous reports of peoples 305’s popping out of the mount on the bike, yet I’ve owned mine for over 2 years now and have never once had it pop out of the mount. I use the profile design computer mount bar with the garmin bike mount between my aerobars.

I have the same exact setup and have not had any problems with it in over 2 years. I also have
the Garmin mount on my road bike handlebars, no problems 2 years. The mount is pretty solid, so
I’m going to say it’s your improvised mount. The Profile mount is cheap and solid. Why don’t you just
get that?

I disagree. The mount is at fault. I went 22 months with my 705 with no problems on two bikes using the standard Garmin mounts. Guess what happened this weekend? At 35mph, I hit a small pothole, resulting in the zipties shredding through the plastic sleeve on the adapter that connects to the 705. After hitting a few cyclists behind me and then being run over by the car, the unit is pretty much toast. In my opinion, after researching this on the web, Garmin’s mounts are ticking time-bombs. I am attempting to get mine repaired so I can sell it. Fortunately Amex will cover me if Garmin doesn’t repair it for free. I’m also further pissed because I am bike computerless for my first 1/2 IM this weekend.

6

This problem baffles me. I’ve heard numerous reports of peoples 305’s popping out of the mount on the bike, yet I’ve owned mine for over 2 years now and have never once had it pop out of the mount. I use the profile design computer mount bar with the garmin bike mount between my aerobars.

I have the same exact setup and have not had any problems with it in over 2 years. I also have
the Garmin mount on my road bike handlebars, no problems 2 years. The mount is pretty solid, so
I’m going to say it’s your improvised mount. The Profile mount is cheap and solid. Why don’t you just
get that?

I disagree. The mount is at fault. I went 22 months with my 705 with no problems on two bikes using the standard Garmin mounts. Guess what happened this weekend?
Im not familiar with the 705, but I don’t think the 705 uses the same mount as the 305.
My setup is 2 years old and it is as solid as can be. I have dropped the computer off of
the velcro wristband while running, which uses a similar mount. But that is difficult to do.

7

I bought an 8ft piece of black pipe insulation at Home Depot for about $1 and cut a1" thick slice. That slice goes on the cross bar and the Garmin 305 on the insulation piece, using the armband to hold in place. Never comes off or slips. Not so fast in transition, but…

8

suunto makes a good one
http://www.amazon.com/Suunto-Wristop-Computer-Bike-Adaptor/dp/B00005N9DU
.

9

suunto makes a good one
http://www.amazon.com/...daptor/dp/B00005N9DU]

Yeah, you can also use the 405 mount, which is near identical to Suunto’s, but it sucks cause (like Suunto’s), it’s not quick release.

The 705 was argueably an improvement over the 305’s mount, except it seems to fail much more wildly than the 305’s poppping problem. While they both kinda suck, one has to give credit were credit is due in that the newer 310XT and 500 mounts are pretty sweet. I’m still waiting to hear of a story where someone popped one of those off.

Unfortunately, there’s no functional way to remold a 310XT mount to a 305 back (DIY anyway), as it would block the pinouts on the 305. :frowning:

10

Okay, so to summarize I have:
1 person who thinks the Garmin mount is at fault
1 person who thinks my custom mounting platform is at fault
1 person who has no idea
5 people who tell me to buy something else, without telling me what the problem is

Thanks, guys… :wink:

Seriously, though. Now that the dust has settled and the initial fury has passed, I really don’t want to go indefinitely without a GPS watch just because I can’t stop breaking them. If I get around to it, I’ll take a picture of my mounting platform and post it. It looks ugly as hell, and if my bike cost more than $1,000 and/or had I not bought it off Craig’s List practically sight unseen, it might be embarrassing to have there; but for my bike right now I don’t think it’ll get any double takes. More importantly, it’s SOLID. The only thing that would detach it on a ride would be a head-on collision with a tree, in which case I’d have bigger problems.

I would try the Profile Design mount if I thought it would be any easier, but I’m not convinced it would be. My question was whether the positioning of the mount (ie out on the edge of my aerobars vs tucked back towards the center of the bike’s gravity) would cause any more turbulence to it. If so, I might could just move it back and call it a fix. Not priority 1, though, as I like that it’s right in my current line of sight.

I’ve been trying to rationalize getting a 310xt for months now. Is now the time? I’ve seen a picture of the 310xt mount, but am not familiar with how you get the device on and off of it. I understand it’s not quick release. Is there a way to get it off that you could do in a race? If it costs me a few seconds it’d be fine, as I’m primarily just training for IM-Louisville and wouldn’t care to spend the extra moment in T2. If it takes tools, it might not be worth the convenience.

With regards to buying a 310xt: I’ve never trained with power before, so that opens up a whole new can of worms…

I really want to put this issue to bed. Thanks to all who’ve given advice thus far. Please keep it coming. (in case it’s not evident, I’m non-impulsive almost to a fault. Feel free to tell me to just f*cking do it already.)

11

Okay, so to summarize I have:
1 person who thinks the Garmin mount is at fault
1 person who thinks my custom mounting platform is at fault
1 person who has no idea
5 people who tell me to buy something else, without telling me what the problem is

Thanks, guys… :wink:

Seriously, though. Now that the dust has settled and the initial fury has passed, I really don’t want to go indefinitely without a GPS watch just because I can’t stop breaking them. If I get around to it, I’ll take a picture of my mounting platform and post it. It looks ugly as hell, and if my bike cost more than $1,000 and/or had I not bought it off Craig’s List practically sight unseen, it might be embarrassing to have there; but for my bike right now I don’t think it’ll get any double takes. More importantly, it’s SOLID. The only thing that would detach it on a ride would be a head-on collision with a tree, in which case I’d have bigger problems.

I would try the Profile Design mount if I thought it would be any easier, but I’m not convinced it would be. My question was whether the positioning of the mount (ie out on the edge of my aerobars vs tucked back towards the center of the bike’s gravity) would cause any more turbulence to it. If so, I might could just move it back and call it a fix. Not priority 1, though, as I like that it’s right in my current line of sight.

I’ve been trying to rationalize getting a 310xt for months now. Is now the time? I’ve seen a picture of the 310xt mount, but am not familiar with how you get the device on and off of it. I understand it’s not quick release. Is there a way to get it off that you could do in a race? If it costs me a few seconds it’d be fine, as I’m primarily just training for IM-Louisville and wouldn’t care to spend the extra moment in T2. If it takes tools, it might not be worth the convenience.

With regards to buying a 310xt: I’ve never trained with power before, so that opens up a whole new can of worms…

I really want to put this issue to bed. Thanks to all who’ve given advice thus far. Please keep it coming. (in case it’s not evident, I’m non-impulsive almost to a fault. Feel free to tell me to just f*cking do it already.)

Yes, you need to HTFU. You’re doing an Ironman, you’ve already got beyond rationalizing unrational things.

:wink:

That said, it’s just a quarter turn mount on the 310XT quick release kit. Which means you turn it 45* and it pops out. It’s pretty snug and tight. It uses the exact same mounting system as the Edge 500, which means you can use either Egde 500 mounts or 310XT quick release kit mounts. The Edge 500 mounts are nicer because there are no zipties to deal with. In any case, to see how the whole mount quarter turn thing works, I included a video in my Edge 500 review. The 310XT works exactly the same way using the same system.

12

This problem baffles me. I’ve heard numerous reports of peoples 305’s popping out of the mount on the bike, yet I’ve owned mine for over 2 years now and have never once had it pop out of the mount. I use the profile design computer mount bar with the garmin bike mount between my aerobars.

agreed, I struggle to get mine off of the mount, once it clicks in.
I would suggest 2 things.

1 - did you change the pins on the garmin as they say in the instructions. They are different size and need to be changed for the bike mount to work.
2 - are you sure your clicking it in. It should very solidly pop into place.

If you are doing both of those things, then maybe you have a bad mount, or perhaps with your setup it’s flexing the mounts someway that makes it not hold properly.

FishHog

13

I’ve been using 305s and 705s on my road bike for many years. Only one problem with the original mount: after several years the lever that depresses to release the unit had flexed enough that it was too weak to release. The end bent up and down. (So no problem with the mount holding the unit; but it was danged hard to get the unit off.) I did slip up once and not insert the 305 all the way into the mount; bike and 305 parted company on a pothole. The 305 was no worse for the wear, though, except for a few minor scratches.

OTOH, I seem to remember Garmin bragging that the new 500 had a more secure mount. I can’t find any such claims on the Garmin site today, so either I imagined it or they had second thoughts about hinting that the 305/705 mounts were less than secure. If that really was the case, then it may be a tacit admission to some problems with the 305/705 mount.

14

Thanks for that. Sometimes I need it. Good review, btw. Way more information than I needed…

Is that thing (the bike mount) bombproof, or do you think I have a reason to pay a few (more than a few) extra bucks and buy it straight from Garmin? If I buy the watch and the mount straight from Garmin (vs. Amazon, etc) and have a pop off (twist off?) issue, I’d have a lot more leverage to negotiate a replacement. You’ve seen it, I haven’t. Is it going to be no worries this time around?

Also, is the 310xt compatible with the 305 cadence monitor? I don’t know why it wouldn’t be, but I want to know now before I haul off and buy everything.

15

Thanks for the 500 review. My only question is if the plastic tabs holding the mount down will shear off :slight_smile: I would never have expected the zip-ties to break through the plastic pass-throughs on the 705 mount. Looks like I will be getting a 500 soon…

16

Not esure which mount your referring to, if:

  1. It’s the 405 mount (molded large piece plastic that works with all Garmin wrist watches): Then yes, it’s bombproof. But it’s also a pita to get a watch off quickly in transition.

  2. It’s the Edge 500 mount: Then yes, it’s much more secure and the device isn’t going anywhere. You get a box of 2 sets of them for $9 and it includes a few dozen extra rubber bands.

  3. It’s the official 310XT quick release mount: Then yes, it’s just not as ‘clean’ as the Edge 500 mount kit as you have to use zipties which I find to be a PITA long term on multiple bikes.

Re: Cadence sensor, yes - all the same across all watches. So your 305 one will work with the 310XT or Edge 500 or any various.

Re: Support, Garmin doesn’t care where you get it from if there are issues. But you won’t have a twist off issue. If you do, I really really really want to know what you did, but then I suspect that if you do have a twist-off issue - you may not be in such a good position yourself to tell us about it. :wink:

Enjoy!

17

Mine has popped out of the wrist clip at the start of 2 marathons (still managed to qualify for boston after scrabbling around on the ground of ooo
.

18

This problem baffles me. I’ve heard numerous reports of peoples 305’s popping out of the mount on the bike, yet I’ve owned mine for over 2 years now and have never once had it pop out of the mount. I use the profile design computer mount bar with the garmin bike mount between my aerobars.

agreed, I struggle to get mine off of the mount, once it clicks in.
I would suggest 2 things.

1 - did you change the pins on the garmin as they say in the instructions. They are different size and need to be changed for the bike mount to work.
2 - are you sure your clicking it in. It should very solidly pop into place.

If you are doing both of those things, then maybe you have a bad mount, or perhaps with your setup it’s flexing the mounts someway that makes it not hold properly.

FishHog

x2 on remark 1.