They Just Flat WORK!!

I ride two bicycles, have one car and two motorcycles – okay, I had two motorcycles but had to sell one to finance a trip but will hopefully be buying another next year so I still consider myself having two.  Trying to attach my increasing amounts of electronics to these vehicles while maintaining some semblance of sanity was becoming frustrating.

As I did ever-more research for my TAT ride I kept coming back to one brand for every solution:  Ram Mounts.  The choices are overwhelming and sometimes confusing so I wasn’t quite sure where to start so I started with the Finger Grip Universal phone holder (RAM-HOL-UN4U) and the fork stem base since I was mounting it on my 2013 GSXR-750.

For the Gixxer: 2nd in from the left + the arm to it’s right, plus the holder at the far right.

Actually, I’ll stop right here and let you in on the combination nicety and nuisance that is Ram Mounts:  The modularity which is ever so beneficial is also annoyingly confusing and expensive.  Once you know which sizes things are relative to what you need and ride or drive, everything starts to make a little sense, but you’ll be overwhelmed to start.

Also, those little individual parts add up and get expensive.  This was a point of mockery between some friends and me as I detailed the initial set-up costs.  Holder at $20, stem mount $20, diamond base $7, double socket arm $13, all in at $60, for a freakin’ phone holder.  Crazy.  They showed me their $10 dash mount sand bag system and laughed.  Not sure if they’re still laughing, but their crappy system pales compared to mine.

With room for more toys yet

So back to the bike set-up.  I bought all that stuff, gave it a shot and was only moderately happy.  The installation of the fork stem base wasn’t as secure as I’d have liked and allowed quite a bit of play.  Fairly certain this was user error because the mechanics of the device are sound, but still, movement.  Also, the finger phone holder was annoying.  Two different sizes of fingers and adjustability primarily by flex and screws.  Getting the phone in, at the time a Galaxy S6, was problematic so I adjusted the end pieces a bit tall so I could slide it in.  Not a biggie and never got a chance to really test it outside of trips to and from work.  Until 2016, when I was setting up the adventure bike and had to make the decision all over again.

I was running out of space on the DR650 so I went with the handlebar clamp base, which simply replaced the handlebar bolts with RAM designed bolts and a ball where the bolt would be.  $11 for a ball and screws.  Cheap, but ouch.  I bought two since I was planning to mount a phone and a GPS.  I really like these because they’re fully secure and unobtrusive.  They really just blend into the handlebars until needed.

Yes, I went with the HDB bark busters, yes they were a royal pain to install, yes I’d recommend them in a second and yes, I’ll do a write-up of these eventually. Oh, and the ram mounts tuck in there nicely, even when not in use.

But, since I was testing new systems out I had to buy another arm but I cheaped out this time and bought the nylon arm for $10 instead of the aluminum arm previously purchased.  Since I already had the finger holder, I figured I’d try their newer X-grip phone holder, with the fancy WebGrip rubberband holder for additional security.  This thing looks scarily insecure, with mostly open space and no physical retention.  As I quickly found out, that’s of no concern pretty much ever and I’d never give it a second though in almost any conditions ever.  Yeah, it’s that secure.  Actually, I think it may be too secure because on my test ride from LA to Flagstaff AZ, all freeway with street tires on my DR650 the SIM card kept resetting on my phone.  Every hundred or so miles, usually when I was relying on the GPS the most, it would freak out and unmount the SIM, requiring me to physically stop, get off the bike, take the phone apart, pull and replace the SIM and put it all back together again.  Happened with or without the rubberband.  Point of fact, I’ve never used the rubberband ever.

I warned my brother of this potential issue on our trip and wouldn’t you know it, somewhere before New Mexico his phone gave up the ghost and stopped working, in this same mount.  I really haven’t researched it at length and it hasn’t been an issue in the last year in my Jeep, but it’s always in the back of my mind.  Frankly, due to some experiences which I’ll detail shortly, I don’t want to put any primary phone on my handlebars again, at least not off road.

Which brings me to the fingerling holder thingy.  I was rocking this holder on my DR, leaving the X-grip to be forlorn on the handlebars when 10 miles outside of Indio my phone decided it didn’t like me and just woop!, it was gone.  Hit my shin and then the road somewhere hidden from me.  Yup, I lost a phone using the finger holder.  Seeing as how it was a newer Galaxy Note 4, I wasn’t too happy.   To be honest, I’ve now relegated the fingerling to the spare parts box, mostly for when a passenger in my Jeep wants a place to hold their phone.

But before I move on to the Jeep, I’ll finish with the DR.  Not yet trusting the X-Grip for my phone, especially considering my phone wasn’t waterproof, I went with a different solution for that, but did use the RAM system for my GPS unit (another $10 for the cradle and $7 for the base).

I should note that the GPS failed in New Mexico, probably having been shaken to death by the motorcycle – since all thumpers tend to shake everything to death.  However, I’m planning on placing a rubber spacer between the base and the cradle in the future, just in case.  Then again, it was a Garmin GPS 64S – it’s supposed to handle a few shocks here and there (and was replaced under warranty).  The cradle did leave some rub marks on the Garmin but nothing too severe considering 4K miles of abuse.  Maybe I’ll spray some liquid rubber in there.  Maybe not.

The 2^nd handlebar bolt went unused because I couldn’t afford a second Yi Cam (offmarket GoPro), but I’m glad it’s there because adding on an action camera or additional device is ridiculously easy – and is the point of the RAM cult which brings me to my Jeep and my friend’s mockery.

Not the best picture, probably accidental, but hey – Ram mount in action with my GPS.

When I bought my Jeep, I specifically purchased a Vector Offroad JKE dock because it was designed around the RAM system.  I purchased their stubby version (no longer offered for some reason, now only offered with the extended right arm) but I’ll let their own picture speak for me on the usefulness of the RAM system.

https://vectoroffroad.com/collections/all/products/jke-dock-2011-2017

Here’s where the getting gets good.  Know how I’ve been complaining about the piecemeal pricing this whole time, if in $6-20 increments?  It’s here where that becomes beneficial.  All of those arms and holders used on the bikes – the fingerling, X-grip, GPS cradle – are now swappable to the Jeep.  That’s right, all I had to purchase was some U-Bolt mounts and balls ($14 each) and the arms and holders would just mount right up, which they did, nicely.  And firmly.

Pick your condition:  Snow, road, washboard, rock crawling, mud, steep ups and downs, crazy side-angles, LA traffic, doesn’t matter.  Where I put the phone, camera, or GPS is where they stay, unmoving, stoic.  Granted, I spent more than the $10 my friends did, but then again, they’re constantly readjusting a sagging or falling phone in a holder which takes up their entire dash basket, and if you’ve ever been in a Wrangler you know how precious space is.

Yes, the initial costs will feel high and you’ll probably start at $60 before setting anything up, but if you do it right you won’t have to spend much more.  Oh, did I mention that I splurged and spent $28 to get a quick release clamp with ball?  Now I can swap the ball itself onto my mountain bike (like I did at Cyclavia in 2016) and just use the bar and X-Grip I already own.  The quick clamp is a little bulkier than I like, but it works on my Jeep, DR650, probably my road bicycle, any bar smaller than the clamp itself.

See the Ram Mount?

How ’bout now? Recognize that X-Grip from the Jeep?

All told I’m some $200 into this system, but which allows me to swap gear across what, 6 vehicles, with each new vehicle thereafter requiring at most another $10 mount?

So yeah, RAM mounts just flat work.  Now, you could show me this system here which works a tad better in the Jeep, or that system there for the motorcycle (such as the Interphone case I used), but none reach the overall flexibility, quality, longevity and usefulness of the RAM system.  Thing is, they just flat work, no questions asked.