Revolutionary New Camera Mount System

Long story short, I was dissatisfied with just about every camera mount system available or on instructables or other DIY sites. I have tried helmet cam mounts. I have tried stem mounts. I have tried MANY handlebar mounts. Most were junk! I even went to Lowe’s three or four times for ideas. (Someone once told me: “Try finding answers outside of the comfort of your expertise.”) My first nontraditional mount involved worm gear clamps from the plumbing isle and a L-shaped corner brace mounted on the bottom side of my fork. It was nice, but with the mild vibrations and movement between the clamps, the brace bowing and wiggling, and the camera itself wiggling made it a mess. It was not a complete waste of time though. I really learned a lot about the angles at which the camera would film the best footage and a couple of other vital things necessary to make a camera mount.

What I found out is that it is necessary for the bike or your body to take the brunt of any force in order to dampen camera shake. This automatically meant some parts of the frame, and the bottom part of the fork were now out of the question. At this point, everyone is like LOL WHY DON’T YOU MOUNT IT TO YOUR HELMETS??????
I have done several pieces of footage with a camera mounted to my helmet. I have now determined that with my Kodak Zi8, that this is not as advantageous to do as compared to other cameras due to how much flex is capable of being used to shake the footage. All in all the Zi8 is a TALL camera. (4.45 inches tall)

The camera is light enough to be on the helmet, but honestly it is not a preference of mine. You have to be aware of what you are looking, how fast you are moving you head, and have to take your helmet off to do any real tinkering. This is when I came up with the design below. I was like: “The bike has suspension to help eliminate some shock. It has a mount where I can stick my L-bracket.” Originally, I was deciding on wedging the L-Bracket arm up into the steering tube to keep it still. This makes me laugh now. I then went to my LBS, and asked if he had ever mounted fenders or anything at the bottom of a steering tube with a star nut. Nope. I bought a star-nut and M5 screw, then went home.

The problem with my design was how to mount something to a star-nut that was wedged into the steerer tube. The nut was deeper in and I know I needed to use a M5 screw to reach it, but what would I mount to it? back I went to Lowe’s. I ended up buying a different type of mending plate and cutting and bending it to size.

After I had the plate bent and holes in it where I wanted… I had to devise a screw mount for the camera itself. I used a thumb screw, washer and two nuts to keep everything in place. The first nut keeps the mount tight to the plate, and the second keeps the camera mount tight. Less chances of something wiggling or loosening this way, I said.

Once that was done and tested, I mounted it and went out on my bike to test it. It took a couple times to get the bend right, but eventually everything was peachy. (the first two bends still only allowed the camera to film the sky and some house siding. )


The picture below was the end result. I am very satisfied with my mount, and I am amazed that no one has tried to do this before. If you try it, let me know and at least link back to me to give me some credit… sheesh!

Best of luck to you DIY’ers out there! Now for some footage!

(It’s really nice to have 1080p footage right on the bike!)

Don’t forget that wvcycling’s freebie contest ends Feb 1st

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