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I frankly hate having to have several devices with me to do different things–that’s what this whole convergence of devices is supposed to be about.  So when the weather starting clearing up and I took to the outdoors again on my bicycle, I wanted a way that I could listen to my music, track my speed and distance, and still have my phone with me in case of emergencies.  Naturally the iPhone seemed to be the solution for this problem.

Now the goal for me is to be complely wireless, and when exercising its often ideal.  Unfortunately, the 3.0 OS hasn’t been released yet so my bluetooth headsets won’t work with the the iPhone and I had to resort to use wired headphones (eww).  I initially purchased an athletic arm band which had an enclosure for phone and worked pretty well, but once I found some nice cycling apps that would double as a GPS device showing me my current rate and distance, having to look over at my arm repeatedly became a chore.

Enter the bicycle handbar mount, designed for the iPhone and sold at USBFever.  Its touted as an ‘iPhone’ mount but its really a universal holder for any device.  What sold me on this model was its ability to rotate 90* so I could view an app in landscape mode.  The display video they provided seemed proof enough, so I ordered one.

Today it arrived.  Shipped straight from China, and how nice of them to include a tasteless image behind inside.

First and foremost is the mounting–to attach the base to the handbars is quite simple, you unscrew the retaining knob and place the tubular mount over the handlebar and retighten.  Included is are two rubber strips to place between the handlebar and the mount, but the fit is so tight that I found them impossible to use.  Just make sure you tighten the mounting nut all the way.  I can’t imagine this fitting handlebars thicker than normal.

Afterward, you just snap the mounting bracket to the tube mount and you’re ready to go.  The mounting bracket expands and contracts so many different devices can be used.  It will ’snap’ into place when properly connected to the base.

Now for the test ride.  I started my typical cycling easy, smooth level roads.  I had my GPS application running as well as the iPod and I have to admit, this was feeling pretty nice. Thinking tomorrow the new 3.0 OS would be released, I wouldn’t be tethered with earphone wires, I could get used to this.

And then I hit a bump.

The mounting bracket came unconnected from the base unit and flew off into the road.  Fortunately I chose to use my silicone based case this day for such a catastrophe and my phone was unharmed.  Hmm . . . I thought I had that snapped in tightly, let me try that again, ‘click’,  yes, thats solidly on there.  Went another 100 feet and it came off again from a bump.  Clearly the mounting unit was not going to stay on–and I’m on a public road here!

I ended up stopping at a local store to pick up some super glue to permantly fix the bracket to the handlebar mount but found that one of the holding arms was cracked badly and a firm grip was no longer possible.  Back into the store for some velcro to create some sort of monstrosity that could at least get me home.

Bottom line, product is a great idea, lets you view your screen while you ride, the bad is that the connector is so lousy that it comes unhinged from a tiny bump.  I’m tempted to return this one and demand a replacement and make sure to superglue the bracket on before I use it again.

Oh, and the GPS on the iPhone is pretty lousy unless you have complete unfettered sky for miles around.  So much as a mailbox in the way and you lose signal and it’ll pull from the nearest cell tower which can skew your results up to miles.  My hopes is that the new 3gs model has a better receiver.