GoPro Hero Mounting on the RT Limited

[Spyder RTL]

I've been trying different mounting locations and mounting methods for my GoPro Hero 3+ Black camera. My goal was to have a wide field-of-view with minimal vibration. Since I don't have unlimited funding, a gyroscopic camera gimbal was out of the equation. I tried the GoPro suction mount, Powr-Grip suction mount, and a Cardellini clamp as mounting methods. The results had too much vibration for my liking. I found that as the distance between the camera and the mounting point increased, so did the amount of the vibration. And when I mounted the camera to my helmet, I got dizzy watching the video. I guess my head moves too much.

Turns out that I always had the solution...the GoPro adhesive mounts. I did not use them before because I was afraid that the adhesive would damage the paint. But after surfing the Internet, I learned that the mounts can be removed with a heat gun (or blow dryer). So on went the mounts and I am happy with the results. There still is vibration but not as much as with the other mounting methods I tried. And, by the way, the mounts do come off with no damage to the paint when you carefully use a heat gun.

I was getting about an hour or less of recording time with the camera's battery (with WiFi on). My mounting locations gave me the added bonus of being able to power the cameras through the bike (I use the skeleton case to access the USB port). For the rear, I simply run a USB cable to the USB cigarette lighter adapter that's plugged into the trunk's outlet. For the front, I have a SAE connector in the frunk for my Battery Tender. I have a USB SAE charge adapter that allows me to power the front camera. I bought USB cables with right angle, deep well mini-USB connectors. These cables give a cleaner look. For short trips, I just use the camera battery (as shown in the below photos). We are in a drought in California so rain has not been an issue. I will use a different housing and run on camera battery when it rains.

Here's a sample video: (Click on the gear to change Settings to 1080p)




Flat Mount
DSC_0552a.jpg

Curved Mount
DSC_0553a.jpg

USB SAE Charger
DSC_0559.jpg

Ryde Safe!

Dave

[sscheuer47]

I like it. Been thinking about this myself. Where did you get the flag holders?

[Spyder RTL]

I like it. Been thinking about this myself. Where did you get the flag holders?

Thanks. Flag holders are from RIVCO. Super easy installation. I bought the flags from http://www.united-states-flag.com/outdoorflags.html

[gened4288]

Great ideas!
One thing I learned the hard way...ALWAYS use a tether on the camera! I lost a GoPro off the front of my other bike when the mount broke while riding. It was an expensive lesson for sure!

Gene

[Spyder RTL]

Great ideas!
One thing I learned the hard way...ALWAYS use a tether on the camera! I lost a GoPro off the front of my other bike when the mount broke while riding. It was an expensive lesson for sure!

Gene

Thanks for mentioning the tether. That's an excellent tip that I forgot to include. I do have both cameras tethered...fortunately it wasn't because of an expensive lesson like you had (ouch!).

I'm using a coated stainless steel wire as my tether. I think you can see it in the photo of the front camera.

[rbob]

I pondered for months on how I was going to mount my Sony and at the last minute I discovered that if I took a bolt out of the upper wind deflector and replaced it with another longer bolt that would run through a small length of pipe and through the Sony mount and tighten into the original bolt hole. Fortunately, the bolt mounts parrallel to the road so that the camera is square to the direction of travel and my piece of chrome pipe looks kool.

[sscheuer47]

I pondered for months on how I was going to mount my Sony and at the last minute I discovered that if I took a bolt out of the upper wind deflector and replaced it with another longer bolt that would run through a small length of pipe and through the Sony mount and tighten into the original bolt hole. Fortunately, the bolt mounts parrallel to the road so that the camera is square to the direction of travel and my piece of chrome pipe looks kool.

How about a picture?

[vided]

nice

and always tether!!goprospy22.jpg

[Lin]

I just bought a Gopro last week. I went out with it yesterday and mounted with a suction cup to the bottom center of the windshield. It attached securely, but I used a lanyard for piece of mind. I was pleased with the view and steadiness after a quick review when I downloaded last night. The only drawback I see, the inaccessiblity of the camera controls.
Life is a compromise.

[Spyder RTL]

I just bought a Gopro last week. I went out with it yesterday and mounted with a suction cup to the bottom center of the windshield. It attached securely, but I used a lanyard for piece of mind. I was pleased with the view and steadiness after a quick review when I downloaded last night. The only drawback I see, the inaccessiblity of the camera controls.
Life is a compromise.

I use the GoPro Remote to control my cameras. The camera can also be controlled through the GoPro app. Having WiFi on does affect battery life, though.

I noticed that GoPro does not include the remote with the new Hero 4.

[Cruising RT]

I've been trying different mounting locations and mounting methods for my GoPro Hero 3+ Black camera. My goal was to have a wide field-of-view with minimal vibration. Since I don't have unlimited funding, a gyroscopic camera gimbal was out of the equation. I tried the GoPro suction mount, Powr-Grip suction mount, and a Cardellini clamp as mounting methods. The results had too much vibration for my liking. I found that as the distance between the camera and the mounting point increased, so did the amount of the vibration. And when I mounted the camera to my helmet, I got dizzy watching the video. I guess my head moves too much.

Turns out that I always had the solution...the GoPro adhesive mounts. I did not use them before because I was afraid that the adhesive would damage the paint. But after surfing the Internet, I learned that the mounts can be removed with a heat gun (or blow dryer). So on went the mounts and I am happy with the results. There still is vibration but not as much as with the other mounting methods I tried. And, by the way, the mounts do come off with no damage to the paint when you carefully use a heat gun.

I was getting about an hour or less of recording time with the camera's battery (with WiFi on). My mounting locations gave me the added bonus of being able to power the cameras through the bike (I use the skeleton case to access the USB port). For the rear, I simply run a USB cable to the USB cigarette lighter adapter that's plugged into the trunk's outlet. For the front, I have a SAE connector in the frunk for my Battery Tender. I have a USB SAE charge adapter that allows me to power the front camera. I bought USB cables with right angle, deep well mini-USB connectors. These cables give a cleaner look. For short trips, I just use the camera battery (as shown in the below photos). We are in a drought in California so rain has not been an issue. I will use a different housing and run on camera battery when it rains.


Here's a sample video: (Click on the gear to change Settings to 1080p)




Flat Mount


Curved Mount


USB SAE Charger


Ryde Safe!

Dave

Thank You SOOOOOOOO Much for the photos, and Video. I've been trying for weeks now to come up with a good solution to mounting a action camera to my RT. I've been very relucent about putting tape on my bike, but after seeing the quality you acheived by mounting to the front, I've decided to try the tape. Quick Question, By tetherring the camera, where and how did you attach to bike to secure? Thanks Again

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Thank You SOOOOOOOO Much for the photos, and Video. I've been trying for weeks now to come up with a good solution to mounting a action camera to my RT. I've been very relucent about putting tape on my bike, but after seeing the quality you acheived by mounting to the front, I've decided to try the tape. Quick Question, By tetherring the camera, where and how did you attach to bike to secure? Thanks Again

One downside with that mounting scheme that I discovered. Mine is mounted in the same location, albeit with a little bit different configuration. The camera can't see over concrete barriers and guard rails along the highway because that part of the bike isn't high enough. I missed a lot of good scenery shots on my travels because the camera is too low. I have a setup where I can pan my camera from side to side so that's why seeing over the barriers is important.

I have no pictures of my setup, and it's not mounted on the bike right now. I'm thinking about a mounting system to raise to camera 6" to 12" and still be able to pan, but don't have it all worked out yet.

[Bob Denman]

I just got a Go-Pro, and my mount from JT is on it's way...

[Tracey@Leader]

Always love to read how people solve problems! We have a a ton of mounting options for Spyders. Just in case your ingenious solutions does not work out

http://www.leadermotorcycle.com/blog/most-popular-gps-mounts-a-comparison/

[Cruising RT]

Always love to read how people solve problems! We have a a ton of mounting options for Spyders. Just in case your ingenious solutions does not work out

http://www.leadermotorcycle.com/blog/most-popular-gps-mounts-a-comparison/

Sounds Great! So what do you offer to fit on a spyder to mount a action camera, where the camera has clear visibility and is securely mounted. Where exactly does your product mount? Thanks in advance for your response. I'll check out your website.

[Bob Denman]

I just got a Go-Pro, and my mount from JT is on it's way...

[Spyder RTL]

Thank You SOOOOOOOO Much for the photos, and Video. I've been trying for weeks now to come up with a good solution to mounting a action camera to my RT. I've been very relucent about putting tape on my bike, but after seeing the quality you acheived by mounting to the front, I've decided to try the tape. Quick Question, By tetherring the camera, where and how did you attach to bike to secure? Thanks Again

I'm glad you liked the my post. There are a couple of options for the tether. One is to loop around the holes in the windshield support. Another is to bring the tether into the frunk.

I am no longer using my GoPro as my front camera. My Garmin Virb XE camera is mounted in the same manner using the Garmin camera adhesive mount.

Here's my write-up on the Garmin:
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/s...-my-GoPro-Hero

My Virb XE is tethered and I run the tether into the frunk. I have a mini-carabiner at the end of the tether. I attach this to the power cable (inside the frunk) that supplies power to the camera. There's enough pressure on the power cable from the frunk lid that it should hold the camera in case of a mount failure. Plus the carabiner can't pass through the closed lid.

Ryde Safe!

Dave

[Tracey@Leader]

Sounds Great! So what do you offer to fit on a spyder to mount a action camera, where the camera has clear visibility and is securely mounted. Where exactly does your product mount? Thanks in advance for your response. I'll check out your website.

Yikes! What a delay in getting back to you!! So sorry. This month has been crazy! There are lots of different options on where to mount your gopro.
http://www.leadermotorcycle.com/blog/motorcycles-and-video-six-advantages-to-a-bikefixedmount-camera/

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving-Tracey

[PrairieSpyder]

I just ordered the GoPro4 Silver and will get it on Wednesday. So this thread is timely for me. I was thinking I'd mount it to the top of my side mirror to make it high enough. I have JT's accessory bar, but then it would depend on how clean my windshield is. The 4 Silver is supposed to be better stabilized, so I may try it on my helmet. Since someone mentioned it can be removed with a heat gun, that removes my main misgiving about that.

I'm thinking with the GoPro app on my iPhone, I can use that as a view-finder and I ordered the remote control so I can operate it from my wrist.

[Bob Denman]

Patti,
I've been shooting through my (typically) filthy windshield... it seems as if it's not a really big issue, until the layers of dead bug guts start piling up...

[frelancr]

been trying all sorts of different spots to mount the gopros....

-thru the windshield means schmutz & glare & reflections
-clamping to the rear hand grabs is too much vibration
-low in the air scoops is ok, but really just too low....too much road...might try that one again....
-off the saddlebags is pretty good, but I want another couple inches off the side....
-tried a hard mount to the fender---pretty cool, but fenders are prone to a bunch of vibration too
-clamped a wee c-clamp (think a small, cheap Mafer) to the base of the windscreen....good position but didn;t like the clamp....did a sticky mount there today and worked pretty well
-any arming out or extension from the mount just transmits more vibration and results in jellocam....yay rolling shutter CMOS?
-did a sticky mount just below the license plate...that was pretty cool
-used a suction cup with just a touch of arm just below the passenger 'arm rest'...that came out pretty well....

[PrairieSpyder]

Has anyone tried mounting to the top of the side mirror?

[cognaccruiser]

Personally, have not tried that place Patti because I suspect there will be too much vibration but give it a whirl. It might work. It seems that the further away from a very solid placement results in more vibration. The mirrors are already extended from the bike and they do bounce a little when going over bumps.

Gary

[Bob Denman]

Has anyone tried mounting to the top of the side mirror?

Hi Patti!
I'd be nervous about using the mirrors...
If you hit a good enough bump in the road; would the extra mass of the camera help to unseat the mirror from it's mooring?
I'd really hate like the Dickens; to see that happen!

[Yelhelp]

Has anyone tried mounting to the top of the side mirror?

I have my go pro on the left side mirror , I did have to add a zip tie to steady it because of the vibration but worked fine.