RAM Mount for TomTom One

[derf]

Ok so in the other thread Zukimon asked that we post up our GPS mount. Well I recieved my RAM mount for my TomTom One today, and since I love playing with new toys I naturally installed it as soon as I had the chance.

First of all, this thing is solid but not too heavy. The attachment points are solid and hold tight, the balls and the clamp are all made of metal with some kind of rubberized coating on them, and once the knob is tightened it will not move at all. The actual holder for the GPS is made from regular old plastic, the same type that would be used for a belt clip for a cell phone, with one exception, it is slightly thicker. It also clips on both sides of the GPS which means that it is easy to remove with either hand. Overall it is a good quality unit.

Mounting it wasn't hard either, although the bolts are way too long and are slightly intrusive. Once the lower ball goes on it can easily take 5 minutes to get this thing off. I did have a hard time getting an open ended wrench around the bolts, and it definately took longer than it should have to install. It also came with two rubber nums to go over the U bolt. On the other side of the Ubolt is another little fitment thing that keeps the mount centered on the bar it is installed on. (It also came with another longer U bolt which isn't picture nor did I use it),

I tried a few different positions to mount this thing, but in the end I decided to leave it as it is pictured bellow. I don't really have much space to put anything in my dashboard area so finding a position to leave it that didn't block anything else or mess with the controls wasn't easy. Right now the only control that it blocks is the choke, which I can still get to quite easily.

My plan is to loop a small piece of string through itself and around the bikes windscreen support as a backup in case it ever lets free, this should keep the GPS from ever having to bounce down the road after me. I also find that by twisting the knob in the center of the arm I can rmove the arm and the GPS mount leaving just the ubolt and the ball on the bike.

That was the good, now here is the bad.

1 - I can see sun glare on the GPS being a problem, there really is no place to put a visor on there to block glare. I am going to look at places to move it further under the windsheild and closer to gauges, right now I really don't see a way to do that.

2 - That stupid ubolt is just a plain ubolt. It should have been chrome or plain black, it really stands out.

3 - Articulation of the arm. I would have loved to have more articulation out of the arm. It only really bends one direction between the two balls. I would love to be able to bend it in more directions. If I could turn it at a slightly different angle it would have made mounting real easy.

[Mr Lefty]

yeah I had the ram mount that goes in the stearing head nut... worked ok... not great... just ok... the part that went down in the stearing head wouldn't get tight enough to stay... and with my charging cord pulling on the gps... it would move... but not too bad.

I'm tempted to get the same thing again for the RR... but I wish I could try it out first.

[derf]

If I could find some place that sells this connector, that would solve my mounting issue and I would be able to put the U bolt on the right side, and run it across so the GPS sits on the left side.

[Dave]

i love fairing braces

[derf]

Yes I'm looking for a 2nd one that I can cut up and weld back together so it is more gadget friendly

[ZUKIMON]

Thanks for that write up man. I was actually thinking about this today when I was out for a ride with the wife. I notice that ebbs mentioned a mount that goes in the steering head nut. This is exactly what I was thinking about building. It would be fairly simple do make such an item with nothing much more than a long bolt, washers, Nyloc nut and a peice of rubber that will fit into the steering head. It would be a compression fitting of sorts. I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I also worry that I would have lots of glare on the screen from this type of setup. ???

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by ZUKIMON

Thanks for that write up man. I was actually thinking about this today when I was out for a ride with the wife. I notice that ebbs mentioned a mount that goes in the steering head nut. This is exactly what I was thinking about building. It would be fairly simple do make such an item with nothing much more than a long bolt, washers, Nyloc nut and a peice of rubber that will fit into the steering head. It would be a compression fitting of sorts. I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I also worry that I would have lots of glare on the screen from this type of setup. ???

yeah what mine was was just a long bolt with a piece of rubber and a pice of plastic that had teeth on it... when you tightened the bolt... it pulled the plastic into the rubber... the teeth kept it from not turning (the bolt was counter sunk into the plastic so it wouldn't turn) and the rubber expanded with every twist.

however... the one thing i didn't like about it... was the mount still spun... you couldn't pull it out... but no matter how much you twisted it... the mount still spun... so if you mounted the gps just so... over time it'd creep down to another angle...

[Snafu]

The stem mount moved around on me too much so I mounted it to the tank bolts.

[Dave]

yesterday i modded a magellan mount to accept a tom tom head. works soo much better than the shitty stock tom tom mount.