YouMotorcycle Motorcycle Blog – Motorcycle Lifestyle Blog, MotoVlog, Motorcycle Reviews, News, & How-Tos
This is awesome, and I’m really excited, again.
Back in 2015, I ordered a dual USB-charger that could be easily wired to a motorcycle battery, and mounted to my motorcycle’s handlebars even more easily. That was great, but it required another addition to my handlebar: an actual mount to hold my cell phone or GPS device. This made for quite the cluttered handlebar. There must be a better way, right?
And now there is.
For $20 (ok, $21 and FREE two-day shipping if you’re an Amazon Prime member), I got this kick-ass, all-in-one cell phone mount with USB charger built in.
Features:
- Fits phones from 3.5″ to 5.5″
- iPhone 5 to 7 Plus
- Various Android sizes
- Mounts to handlebar
- 3/4″ bar mount U-bolt
- 1″ bar mount U-bolt
- Can also be mounted via mirror stem
- 8 mm mirror stem
- 10 mm mirror stem
- Water-resistant USB charger
- Built in on/off switch
- Can hold phone horizontally or vertically
Some snippets from reviews from Amazon:
“I took this on a 5 hour round trip this past weekend and my phone never budged even at 90mph.”
“I use an iPhone 6 Plus with a big otterbox and it fits perfectly!”
“Fit and finish not as good as the RAM mounts but good enough to enjoy the price savings without sacrificing functionality.”
“Works as it should put it to a 100 mile ride test on my bike it’s rock solid the only thing I don’t like is the power wires are too short.”
UPDATES COMING: I wanted to include two positive as well as two negative reviews. I have a RAM mount (you can use them for anything) that’s about ten years old, and I’ll be comparing this mount to that one once it comes in. I’ll also update this article to mention whether or not the wires were too short to reach my battery.
Why I wanted it:
Truthfully, my miles in the saddle have been decreasing for the last few years. I wanted something that would let me feel more comfortable on longer rides taking me further away from home. No more worrying about missing my exit. No more worrying about being stranded with a dead cell phone because the GPS functionality ate up my battery. I bought my dream bike, a Harley-Davidson Night Rod, so it’s time to start burning some rubber again.
There are two other, less important reasons why I’m buying it …I like to listen to music on long rides (see: What to listen to on a motorcycle ride), but skipping through songs blindly is annoying. Problem solved!
Here’s one that might be a little easier to relate to, though. Have you ever been riding and feel your phone vibrate? Ever get that little nagging voice? “What if it’s my wife, or my mother, and it’s an emergency?” You concern for your loved ones wins and you pull over, take off your gloves, and take your phone out of your pocket. It’s a voicemail from a telemarketer.
NEVER. DOING. THAT. AGAIN.
How to Install:
I haven’t received my phone mount and charger yet, but my assumptions on the instructions would be as follows.
Mount the charger to your motorcycle’s handlebars. You should consider whether you want your device to be mounted via one of your mirrors or to your handlebar itself. Use the appropriate size U-bolt depending on the thickness of your handlebar, if you choose to go that route.
Run the wiring along your wiring harness. Don’t have a solo wire just running along off on it’s own, try to find the path your existing wiring harness travels to get to your battery, and follow that. You may need to temporarily lift or work around your gas tank and motorcycle body panels. Don’t be a putz, it’ll be worth it, and you might just learn a thing or two about how your motorcycle works while you do it.
Don’t cut the wiring harness. Seriously. Keep that wiring harness shut and away from sharp objects! One cut wire in there today could give chronic electrical issues that are hard to diagnose and trace back tomorrow (See: 5 Reasons why your motorcycle won’t start and goes to the shop). Zip tie to the wiring harness instead. You’ll be glad you did.
Connect the connectors to your battery terminals. Red goes to positive, black goes to negative. If you’re not sure which terminal is which on your battery, just look for a + and – sign.
***** UPDATE ***** Here’s how to install it. I installed it on a Harley-Davidson V-Rod but the principles will apply anywhere.
Where to buy it:
USA: Get it right here for only $20.99. If you’re not already an Amazon Prime member I highly recommend it as you get free two-day shipping and the service basically pays for itself along with giving you a variety of other perks (a video service similar to Netflix, a music service similar to Google and Apple’s, and more). Clicking on any of the pics will take you to the product on Amazon as well.
Canada: Canadians pick up similar at this link for $29.99 CAD (roughly $22 USD) right here. Again, with a Prime membership you get a ton of perks, including free two-day shipping, so consider going that route as well.
It’s only $20!
I want the one in the picture advertised, I don’t want to search for it
This article first came out a year or two ago. Since then the one pictured stopped being sold so I updated the link to ones that do the same thing but cost less. If you want the old model you’ll have to look.