Mounts are definitely in full swing here at Sea Otter this year, and Bar Fly is here showing off a bevy of new mounts aimed at offering greater compatibility to more and more head units and accessories.
If you look back at the history of Bar Fly (well, technically Tate Labs), you’ll see that while it started off in the Garmin mount world, it’s really shifted in the last few years to offering accessories for pretty much any head unit, light, or action camera in the market. No doubt competitor K-Edge has expanded their lines as well, but I think it’s fair to say that Bar Fly goes just a bit further in accessories and compatibility department.
They’ve now got mounts for Lezyne, Pioneer, SRM, Polar, Mio, Cateye, PowerTap and more. But most pressing of the new mounts is the one for the Wahoo ELEMNT.
They’re offering two ELEMNT options here, a $29 standalone out-front mount, and then the $39 GoPro/ELEMNT combo out-front mount.
Now technically you’ll be able to mix and match a bit on the lower accessory portions going forward. So you could do something other than a GoPro mount (for example, Di2 junction box support, or other lights). But it’s clear that Bar Fly sees strong demand for the ELEMNT, a position that K-Edge also mirrored.
The key difference though between Bar Fly and K-Edge in this case is price, with the Bar Fly out-front offering costing about 40% less than the $49/$69 price points of K-Edge (for same non-combo/combo variants). On the flip-side, the K-Edge units are aluminum, which will give you a bit more stability for the GoPro side of the equation. But more on K-Edge in a later post.
Below you can see the Bar Fly mounts with the GoPro mounted below it. Of course, you can use any action cam with a GoPro compatible mount. So it could be a Garmin VIRB X/XE, a 360Fly, or even the PowerPod.
Bar Fly expects to start shipping the new ELEMNT mounts in the next 10 days (at the very latest). So very near term.
In addition to Wahoo, they’re also on the verge of shipping a new Pioneer bike computer mount. This one will start at $29 as well, and also offer a GoPro combo version for the same $10 more. That mount is expected to start shipping in the next 4-5 weeks.
Finally, we’ve got a triathlon/TT bike combo mount for Garmin/GoPro units (both at once). You’ll remember I’ve lamented the lack of such a mount recently. And it seems this is the week for new such mounts, as PowerPod is also coming out with their combo GoPro/Garmin mount (more on that later). In the case of Bar Fly, their unit will run $39 for the combo mount.
I’m definitely looking forward to trying both mounts out, as right now there just isn’t a good (or any) solution for doing dual GoPro/Garmin on the triathlon/TT bike scene. Or just for using a PowerPod with a Garmin on a triathlon bike.
In the case of Bar Fly, they plan to start shipping these new combo mounts by the end of May. Of course, do keep in mind that some races do prohibit use of action cams in them – most notably WTC events (owner of Ironman races). No, it doesn’t really make sense given that their key championship race is actually the “IRONMAN World Championship Presented by GoPro”. Sigh.
But that’s another fight for another day.
With that – thanks for reading!
—
Check out all my Sea Otter posts here! Plus I’ll be tweeting throughout the day…well…assuming my phone battery doesn’t die shortly after lunch again.
FOUND THIS POST USEFUL? SUPPORT THE SITE!
Hopefully, you found this post useful. The website is really a labor of love, so please consider becoming a DC RAINMAKER Supporter. This gets you an ad-free experience, and access to our (mostly) bi-monthly behind-the-scenes video series of “Shed Talkin’”.
Support DCRainMaker - Shop on Amazon
Otherwise, perhaps consider using the below link if shopping on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot. It could simply be buying toilet paper, or this pizza oven we use and love.
Rec-Mounts is also another company that makes bicycle mounts. In fact, they have more variations than any company I have come across. I have purchased a few mounts from them and they are solidly built mounts.
They sell some of their items on Amazon so if you append /dcr07-20 on the item link you can support Ray.
Here are some links.
Catalog: link to an-y.com
Home page: link to rec-mounts.com
Amazon Store Front: link to amazon.com
They are a Japanese company so best to translate the webpage if possible on your browser. They used to have an english catalog in 2014 but I guess they didn’t put the effort to release a new one in english with their last few editions.
Let me also add that I believe most of their mounts are dual sided meaning you can add a Garmin mount adapter to the top and the bottom has screws underneath to attach a multitude of adapters which include the GoPro. Their catalog shows all the different possible types of configurations.
For a TT Garmin/GoPro mount, you could get something like their Type1 TT bicycle mount then attach a GoPro GP-K400A mount to the underside. The mount is solid aluminum (except the garmin adapter part) so it should be pretty sturdy.
Here’s a picture of this setup on my bike. They used to have the TT mount on Amazon but I don’t see it currently.
TT Mount Top Garmin View. Has screws to interchange with other adapters.
Bottom View with GoPro Adapter.
I have bought a few Rec-mounts. They are sturdy mounts. Another benefit to their mounts is the use of thin rubber padding under the clamp, protecting your handlebar slightly.
I’m looking to save some real estate on my handlebars with a combo mount for both ELEMNT and a light, so does anyone know of an adaptor that can be used to attach a light to the GoPro mount?
The light in this case is a SeeSense light that normally uses a silicon strap to wrap around the handlebar.
Light and Motion do.
This is such a great idea…
A quick google search turned up this – link to shapeways.com which seems like what your asking about. I’m going to keep searching but something like this will almost certainly be my new light mount.
Found an even better option here – link to thingiverse.com
With your Shapeways link you can at the very least buy it already printed. Don’t forget you have to arrange for printing or already have a 3D printer if you use anything from Thingiverse. There is a growing collection of stuff both on SHapeways and Thingiverse. There is also the opportunity to work directly with a ‘designer’ to come up with something size specific or some unique combination that can eliminate the use of multiple adapters.
Hi Mike,
If your light is roughly cylindrical we (Bar Fly) currently make a universal light adapter that mounts directly underneath the Bar Fly 4 (so you’d use it instead of the GoPro mount). Here’s the product: link to barflybike.com
It can be bundled with either the Max (Edge 1000/810) or Mini (Edge 510/520).
The new light adapter that you can see in the bottom of the first post mates with the GoPro mount. This product will be available within two weeks.
I hope that helps!
-Ford
Ray – quick question, as an FR920XT quick release user I need by 1/4 turn rotated by 1/2 turn, otherwise I have to look all wonky – do Bar Fly mounts accommodate this?
Hi Andrew,
Absolutely. The Bar Fly 4 platform has top, bottom, left, and right holes to accommodate all the different computers. All you’ll need to do is unscrew the garmin disc, move the nuts on the underside from the top/bottom to the left/right, and screw the garmin disc back on 90 degrees from where you started.
Please let me know if that doesn’t make sense.
-Ford
I cant make out whether Barfly have ditched the 1/8 turn mount approach? In particular for the TT/tri options, it’s a real help when in races I want to use my forerunner, versus a training ride when I want to use the edge.
How is the new TT/tri combo mount designed? From the picture, it looks to have gone back to 1/4 turn? Thanks
Hi Steve,
Our current TT/Tri mount uses the 1/8th turn interface but the new one will go back to 1/4th turn. This was done so that we can support all the other computers out there with a single platform and interchangeable discs. We’d like to still do an 1/8th turn on the new platform but it just doesn’t work with all the other computers out there and the underside GoPro mount.
Thanks,
Ford
Only related to Tate Labs. At Interbike they made a reference to a bike bag “The Porter System” was there any news on this. The only link I have found is a picture and a short mention.
link to singletrackworld.com
Maybe they dropped the idea. Just wondering
certainly looks interesting
If these latest barfly mounts are as brittle as the others I would stay well clear. Mine cracked last month whilst I was out riding in the dark. Garmin 810 was never seen again, 30mph with ditches either side of the road, not a chance in being able to find it. Sent 3x emails to barfly, called them out on Twitter and heard nothing. Customer service, non-existent.
Thanks for the post Ray.
It’s amazing that some companies don’t understand the power/danger of social media, one post like the above, boom, and I would be more interested in looking at a major competitor.
How hard would it be to have customer service so they don’t get nailed by word of mouth.
My guess is that a good response and we wouldn’t hear about it
Well, they had ample opportunity to respond. Even sent them 4x pictures of the broken mount and cited the UK sales of goods act to them, i.e. They are not fit for purpose. K-edge with a lanyard for added security now. That’s £255 of unnecessary expenditure there….
Totally agree with your post, that is why they have to pay attention, your loss, will guarantee I won’t buy one and how many others, that’s because they didn’t want to deal with your complaint, their loss imo
Hi Steve,
Sorry to hear that. Please send us an email at info@barflybike.com so we can get this sorted.
Thanks,
Ford
Hi Ford,
I would appreciate a reply to my previously sent email to yourself on 21/04.
Thanks,
Steve
Could someone show me where I can buy the mount on the bottom left (night rider to go pro)
Hi Trevor,
That is our new universal light mount which will be available within two weeks. You’ll be able to buy it on barflybike.com and through most local shops.
-Ford
Hi Ford,
Thank you for your response. I have sent an email following up on this request to the provided email address, I hope to hear from you soon.
Regards,
Steve Pomfret
I’m pretty late to the party, but has anyone here actually tried the Bar Fly Wahoo mount? I bought a Bar Fly 4 in July 2017 to use with my new ELEMNT, and was disappointed. While I liked the mounting system in general, the Wahoo insert just did not hold the ELEMNT securely at all. The problem seems to be that the little bumps that are supposed to click into the squarish holes on the backside of the ELEMNT (shown clearly in the third picture in the article above) are just too big and don’t fit firmly into the holes. As a result there’s little or no resistance to rotation. After a couple of hours riding, I was able to knock the ELEMNT askew a couple of times just by bumping it with my hand. I don’t think this was a manufacturing defect because I also bought the Bar Fly MTB mount and it had the same issue. Either that or I was using the wrong insert, but all the other ones that came with the mount fit even worse, so I guess that was the Wahoo one (they didn’t bother to label it). I ended up returning both mounts and getting a K-Edge, which holds the ELEMNT even more firmly than Wahoo’s own mount.