Getting creative with a Garmin Varia mount (pannier rack) & up front Wahoo mount?

[Two-Wheels]

Deal with the up front first as I think that'll be easiest.

Wife not a confident cyclist. First time out in a long time for her today & she wanted to try out the Varia to see if it helped with her confidence.
Issue was, my Wahoo wouldn't clamp on to her handlebar. The mount was supplied with 2 rubber padding inserts. The thick one was still not enough but put them both together & it wouldn't close. Her handlebars are just a bit thin.

In the end I cut all 5 fingers off a latex glove, put them inside each other & put it inside with the supplied rubber insert. This was enough to pad out the gap & allow it to grip.
Looking for a better solution though. Stem mount I'm thinking?
Are they pretty universal? Since her bars are a fair bit thinner than mine and her bolts up front are at the opposite angle to mine. I can install an out front mount if I want on mine but her bolts on her handlebar grips are the wrong way round.


Now for the main one - the Varia.

I got one of these for my bike as the saddlebag was getting in the way, slipping down & being annoying. This holds it real secure & in a great location.

My wife has a pannier rack on her bike & will take her bag of bits & bobs out with her when she'd riding.
It looks similar to the one used in this listing. That is, that's the direction the bars go, the reflector is mounted to the rear in that manner.

Today she gambled no bag & no repair kit & mounted the Varia to the rear seat post. I was on standby anyway. She'd like to take her rack bag though. This would rule out the entire seat post and after putting her bag on the rack it would rule out what I have as well I'd say.

Can you think of a workaround that I can't?

 

[cougie uk]

I just use the mount that came with the Garmin and the rubber band things. Works great on the stem.

As to the varia - you can get a saddle rail mount off eBay for not much. Would that solve it ?

I have heard that it still works from inside your pocket too ? Could she secure it inside her pannier bag ?

 

[Two-Wheels]

I just use the mount that came with the Garmin and the rubber band things. Works great on the stem.

As to the varia - you can get a saddle rail mount off eBay for not much. Would that solve it ?

I have heard that it still works from inside your pocket too ? Could she secure it inside her pannier bag ?

Didn't expect that one. I'm going to have to test that out now.

I saw

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-0STTG_dkA&


Had a look at her pannier bag & there is something like that on hers. I'm not fully convinced by the material durability though. It's also not super stiff so I wonder if it'll be waving around all over the place.

Going to have to give it a test. I have a securing tie on it so in theory if the loop on her bag did split or whatever then the Varia shouldn't go bouncing down the road underneath someones car wheel.

It was ok for a one off today just to see if she likes the Varia (as suspected - definite yes) but she really wants to be taking her bag with her.

 

[si_c]

Ugly solution is to shim the handlebar manually, get some inner tube and cut it up to wrap the stem, then use some electrical tape to secure it all. You can experiment adding layers if needed until the thickness is correct.

It'll give an ugly mess on the handlebars, but she won't see it once the wahoo mount is on.

Today she gambled no bag & no repair kit & mounted the Varia to the rear seat post. I was on standby anyway. She'd like to take her rack bag though. This would rule out the entire seat post and after putting her bag on the rack it would rule out what I have as well I'd say.

Can you think of a workaround that I can't?

Have you tried it mounted to the seatpost with the rack bag in place? I think you'll be pleasantly surprised - the device picks up cars behind other cars, the bag shouldn't prove to be an obstacle. The downside is you won't be able to use the light if it has it, but I'm assuming that's a secondary concern.

 

[cougie uk]

I'm going out in a bit and I'll pop my radar in my Jersey pocket to see if that works.

Is there a Radarman in the MCU already ?

 

[Two-Wheels]

Never thought of electrical tape. Certainly would tick a box.

Been busy all day tbh so haven't had chance to give any time to this.

Regards:

Have you tried it mounted to the seatpost with the rack bag in place? I think you'll be pleasantly surprised - the device picks up cars behind other cars, the bag shouldn't prove to be an obstacle. The downside is you won't be able to use the light if it has it, but I'm assuming that's a secondary concern.

Nope, I haven't tried it tbh for the simple reason of ...

When the bag is sat on the rack, there is literally zero gap between the bag and the seat.

So basically imagine you're at your front door with a lazer pen (Varia) that's pointing straight ahead at the guy across the streets front door (oncoming cars).
...I say this as I'm in my PC room above my front door which looks on to my neighbours front door so it was the easiest comparison to make

Ok so nothing in the way, the beam hits the guy across the road's front door.

But put something in the way, be it your car on the drive, someone stood right in front of you etc. (rack bag) and that beam will hit that object (rack bag) and doesn't beam out to the guy across the road's front door (oncoming cars) at all.

That'd be the situation here. That's why I never tried it because there's literally no clear line of sight once the bag is in place on the rack.

 

[DiggyGun]

I mounted mine to the rear rack using a saddle mount Bracket. Nice and secure.

 

[cougie uk]

Works well in a jersey pocket. Slight false start when it missed a few cars but then I realized it had turned around in my pocket and was mainly facing the sky.
Them put it vertically in the pocket with a gilet padding out the rest of the pocket and it started working.

A jersey pocket probably isn't ideal as it's a bit up the back and not quite pointing perfectly at the road but the cone of detection is that wide that it hardly matters.

I think it'd be even better inside a bag on your rack if you can pack it properly.

 

[si_c]

Never thought of electrical tape. Certainly would tick a box.

Been busy all day tbh so haven't had chance to give any time to this.

Regards:


Nope, I haven't tried it tbh for the simple reason of ...

When the bag is sat on the rack, there is literally zero gap between the bag and the seat.

So basically imagine you're at your front door with a lazer pen (Varia) that's pointing straight ahead at the guy across the streets front door (oncoming cars).
...I say this as I'm in my PC room above my front door which looks on to my neighbours front door so it was the easiest comparison to make

Ok so nothing in the way, the beam hits the guy across the road's front door.

But put something in the way, be it your car on the drive, someone stood right in front of you etc. (rack bag) and that beam will hit that object (rack bag) and doesn't beam out to the guy across the road's front door (oncoming cars) at all.

That'd be the situation here. That's why I never tried it because there's literally no clear line of sight once the bag is in place on the rack.

Maybe, but it's worth remembering that these are radio waves, so will pass through the objects to the object immediately behind.

I'd give it a test and see if it works. Like I said before you might be surprised.

 

[Two-Wheels]

Maybe, but it's worth remembering that these are radio waves, so will pass through the objects to the object immediately behind.

I'd give it a test and see if it works. Like I said before you might be surprised.

Ahh, didn't know that actually. Genuinely didn't. Lol.

And it turns out you're right - I am...

Works well in a jersey pocket. Slight false start when it missed a few cars but then I realized it had turned around in my pocket and was mainly facing the sky.
Them put it vertically in the pocket with a gilet padding out the rest of the pocket and it started working.

A jersey pocket probably isn't ideal as it's a bit up the back and not quite pointing perfectly at the road but the cone of detection is that wide that it hardly matters.

I think it'd be even better inside a bag on your rack if you can pack it properly.

So then, we ran the test this morning.

Wife basically just put it up her top in the living room as I walked towards her from outside - it beeped.

Surprised me a little but then you could see the light so I thought I'll test it now - and put it inside her bag.

Set her bag up and walked towards it and sure enough, it beeped.

So as you say, just need to pack it in such a manner that it doesn't budge where it ends up pointing in the wrong direction.

That's handy to know. Saves me any nuisance mounting headaches.

Just leaves the question of up front now. I'm thinking stem cap mount rather than handlebar.

1) it's cheaper
2) it does the job
3) she doesn't bike often - I think this week is the first time she's been out in 2 years. She intends to go out more frequent but it's early days so there's every chance that may not happen.

However if we go out on a ride together there's a slight problem - she'd have to use my Wahoo as she'd need a display for the radar. She'd be at the rear. This means I'm without my bike computer.

I begrudge paying a hefty sum for a bike computer if she doesn't use it much.

Can you think of a decent bike computer that works with the Garmin Varia RTL515 that:

1) is £100 or less (even if that means second hand)
2) shows when there's vehicles behind you, how many & their positioning in relation to you (like the Wahoo does)?
---2a) as if it just lit up orange/red to say there's a car there but didn't give you say a picture of a car on the side indicating its location, then that'd be no good really as she wants to have an idea how close it is to her.

 

[si_c]

Try an Edge 130, compatible with the Radar AIUI (best to check).

Reconditioned on eBay a touch under £100.

 

[cougie uk]

Ahh, didn't know that actually. Genuinely didn't. Lol.

And it turns out you're right - I am...


So then, we ran the test this morning.

Wife basically just put it up her top in the living room as I walked towards her from outside - it beeped.

Surprised me a little but then you could see the light so I thought I'll test it now - and put it inside her bag.

Set her bag up and walked towards it and sure enough, it beeped.

So as you say, just need to pack it in such a manner that it doesn't budge where it ends up pointing in the wrong direction.

That's handy to know. Saves me any nuisance mounting headaches.

Just leaves the question of up front now. I'm thinking stem cap mount rather than handlebar.

1) it's cheaper
2) it does the job
3) she doesn't bike often - I think this week is the first time she's been out in 2 years. She intends to go out more frequent but it's early days so there's every chance that may not happen.

However if we go out on a ride together there's a slight problem - she'd have to use my Wahoo as she'd need a display for the radar. She'd be at the rear. This means I'm without my bike computer.

I begrudge paying a hefty sum for a bike computer if she doesn't use it much.

Can you think of a decent bike computer that works with the Garmin Varia RTL515 that:

1) is £100 or less (even if that means second hand)
2) shows when there's vehicles behind you, how many & their positioning in relation to you (like the Wahoo does)?
---2a) as if it just lit up orange/red to say there's a car there but didn't give you say a picture of a car on the side indicating its location, then that'd be no good really as she wants to have an idea how close it is to her.

Or you could get the RTL500 head unit fairly cheaply off eBay ?

 

[Two-Wheels]

Or you could get the RTL500 head unit fairly cheaply off eBay ?

Not sure if I'm searching the wrong thing as I searched RTL500 and it returns results of a rectangular radar.

I already have a radar though. If my wife was out on the bike on her own or even with me then she'd just have my RTL515 as she'd be at the back.

It'd be a bike computer for up front that she'd be needing to allow me to keep using the Wahoo.

 

[cougie uk]

Not sure if I'm searching the wrong thing as I searched RTL500 and it returns results of a rectangular radar.

I already have a radar though. If my wife was out on the bike on her own or even with me then she'd just have my RTL515 as she'd be at the back.

It'd be a bike computer for up front that she'd be needing to allow me to keep using the Wahoo.

It's meant to be the head unit that's just some led lights solely for the radar.
Perhaps I've got the item number wrong - but it was that in the ebay listing I saw.