Is this a silly idea? [bicycling]

[rebeccmeister]

Following up on my questions about book scanning - I wound up using my smart-o-phone for the project (although now that I'm allowed back on campus I might use the photocopier-scanner instead because it can do an automagic right-sized PDF).

Part of using the smart-o-phone involved balancing it precariously on the camera stand. That got me thinking about smartphone clamps that interface with a camera stand and whatnot. And that got me wondering whether there's a way to then hook up a smartphone clamp to bicycle handlebars, instead of purchasing a purpose-built bicycle smart-o-phone holder.

But would that cause too much futzing, or would it actually be a nice way of simplifying bike handlebar bracket life?

I could then imagine using the same handlebar attachment with a GPS or something of the sort, too. I mostly just like the thought of having more versatility in the bits and brackets that I buy, so I don't wind up accumulating quite so many random chunks of plastic.

Hmm.

Comments

[graydon]

RAM mounts have an array of "hold the thing" devices and common "fasten this to the big thing, the hold-the-thing device connects to it" mounting points. I've had reliable results from prior generations of their smartphone and GPS device holders (no tendency to rattle loose, etc.) while cycling.

They have such a broad range of products I find it easily gets bewildering but sticking "bicycle" in a search term simplifies things. (Unless you for some reason want to put a fish finder on your bicycle, anyway. :)

[rebeccmeister]

Nice! Thank you so much!

I guess I'll have to keep looking for something for my fish finder, then. :^)

Reminds me of my roommate, who studied stormwater in the metro Phoenix area. She figured out that one of the best ways to reach her stormwater sampling sites was by bicycle - she could get to places that couldn't be reached by car! The only downside was that she went in deeper than her bottom bracket and wheel hubs, and had to replace a lot of cables and housing sometime thereafter.

[graydon]

Oh, RAM has fish finder mounts, in bewildering complexity, and the modularity means you could stick one on your bicycle if you wanted. For some reason the fish finders won't show up if you search for bicycle, though.

(and I now have a disturbing mental image of fitting a fishfinder to the handlebars on one of the tandem hydrofoils various human-powered-speed-record people get up to.)

Soggy hubs is not the best, yeah. Also the stuff that sometimes gets up into either the down tube or the seat post tube and doesn't come back out with the water and commences to rot. Improvising a pull-through with a sponge was not a fun time. (and I still wonder how it got in there! I had not gone over the bottom bracket, even.)

[twoeleven]

As soon as you mentioned fish finders for bikes, human-powered hydrofoils sprang to mind. "Damned trout is *not* getting away this time!" :)

[graydon]

I think the trout would have grounds to consider the whole thing somewhat unfair at that point.

I can imagine wanting to have some kind of anti-grounding sensor for a pedalled hydrofoil; those things are way up there on "tippy" and "fragile". Run the hydrofoil into anything and it's likely going to be a ballistic dismount.