Suggestions on rear-mounting a GoPro camera?

[Shut Up Legs]

Greetings, fellow bicycle cammers!

Having recently bought a GoPro Hero3+, I've been investigating the best way to mount my existing Hero3 on the rear of my bike. I plan to use the Hero3+ on my helmet, as it's lighter. My first attempt at mounting the Hero3 was this:

During my 1 hour commute to work this morning***, the rear camera twice slipped slightly on its mount and ended up pointing down at about a 45° angle, so I had to right it, tighten one or more of the mounting bolts, and continue riding. As you can see, I'm just using the mounting parts which can be bought with the GoPro: the handlebar mount, plus one of the mount extenders. I also attached a digital camera lanyard to the GoPro's rear door hinge, and looped the other end around the rear reflector, so if the mount does break, the GoPro won't go far.

I have a few ideas about how to fix this, but any suggestions from you all are welcome! I'm considering the following:

1. Stop using the Battery Bacpac, to extend the battery life. My current commute is slightly shorter than it used to be, with elapsed time about 95 minutes, which is just inside the Hero3's battery life when in the 1080p 30fps mode (the best mode for low-light / night conditions, or so I'm told: feel free to correct me on this). Leaving the Bacpac off will make the camera about 50g lighter, reducing the chance of the mounts slipping down under its weight.
2. Put a cable-tie around the mount, from just below the camera's waterproof housing to the right seat stay, and tighten it just enough to prevent the camera mount slipping down. I'll put one of those clear frame protector patches around the seat stay just where the cable tie goes around it, to stop my already scratched and nicked frame from getting even more of them###.
3. Find an alternative mounting system, which won't change its position due to vibration. Suggestions, anyone? I admit I haven't done my research on this, although I plan to.

By the way, I couldn't find a better mounting location than the one above: too high up the seat stay, and the camera housing gets in the way of my right leg, and too low (i.e. below the brake caliper), and the camera is (a) exposed to more water and dirt and (b) too close to the rear dynamo light (just visible at the bottom of the above photo).

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*** Relatively speaking, as it's still completely dark when I arrive at work before 6am .
### I've done over 70,000km on this bke, and it has an impressive collection of scratches and nicks, a perfect example of beausage!

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

K-Edge seat rail mount is the perfect answer.

 

[mcshroom]

Try replacing the finger screws with proper tool fastening ones as they should hold a lot better

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Thanks for the tips, people . Unfortunately, I can't use the K-Edge rail mount, because I have a Topeak Dynapack saddle-bag attached to the seat post just below the saddle, so there's no room for the camera. To mount the camera under the saddle rail, I'd have to rethink the saddlebag location.

Actually, I just thought about it some more, and realised I could try mounting the saddlebag lower down on the seat post, which may leave enough room for the GoPro's rear view. I'll get one of those K-Edge rail mounts, and try it. @Mr Haematocrit, have you had any problems removing the camera from its housing when using the rail mount, i.e. not being able to open the rear hatch far enough?

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Never had any issues at all with mine, rate it very highly.

I also run the kedge bar mount with the go pro remote which makes controlling the camera a breeze. You can see it on my bars in the pic below.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Never had any issues at all with mine, rate it very highly.

I also run the kedge bar mount with the go pro remote which makes controlling the camera a breeze. You can see it on my bars in the pic below.

Have you had any problems with the GoPro remote and Garmin co-existing? Also, are you using a chest-mounted GoPro also? Nice bike, by the way .

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Have you had any problems with the GoPro remote and Garmin co-existing? Also, are you using a chest-mounted GoPro also? Nice bike, by the way .

The go-pro's have been moved to my MTB at the moment, currently a seat mount and chest mount .. The remote and garmin are OK on the bars together. No problems.
fyi...The buttons in that pic are Di2 climbing shifters.

 

[andrew_s]

I would suggest fitting mudguards of some sort.
The housing may be waterproof, but you won't get decent footage with muddy water all over the lens.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I would suggest fitting mudguards of some sort.
The housing may be waterproof, but you won't get decent footage with muddy water all over the lens.

I use them, just didn't have them on when I took the photo. This is also why I mounted the GoPro fairly high: to minimise water/dirt splatter. I appreciate the advice anyway

 

[BSRU]

My GoPro is mounted using a RAM mount installed on the "seat down tube" if that's what it is called.
I couldn't use the K-Edge saddle rail mount as I have a saddle bag in the way.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I'll have to rethink my rear GoPro mount . All the way home it kept tilting forwards, even though I'd put a cable tie around the top of the mount and around the seat stay. I'm not sure the K-Edge one would work with my current saddlebag either. Back to the drawing-board for me.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

What about using a kedge extender to clear the saddle bag, you can see the extender on the rail mount showed below.

You can see it compared to the rail mount without the extender below

Kedge are pretty good IMHO and the extenders are available in different lengths.. You could even get a local machine shop to make one for you.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Thanks again for the suggestions, @Mr Haematocrit , very much appreciated. My current saddlebag (as I mentioned above) is the Topeak Dynapack, which is about 30cm from front to back, so no extender will go that far and if it did it wouldn't be very stable, I would think. It would also get in the way of me opening the top of the saddlebag.

To use the K-Edge mount (which I'm still considering), I'll either have to find a way to mount the saddlebag as low as possible (i.e. right down next to the seatpost clamp), or find another saddlebag (which would be a pity, because these saddlebags are quite nice). In any case, I've ordered the K-Edge saddle rail mount and also the "GoPro Ride Hero Mount" which is a handlebar/seatpost mount.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

One fella on the forum who knows a lot about mounting camera is @gaz
No idea why I never thought of him before but I expect he may be able to offer some suggestions.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Yes, I know, and I expect since you've just tagged him, he may get around to reading this thread .