Geezer with a Grudge: Techmount Mini Handlebar Mount

Apr 24, 2011

Techmount Mini Handlebar Mount

This cute little bracket fits all 7/8" handlebars and the blank mounting plate will accept anything that will mount on a 2.25" x 3" flat plate. If you care, it comes in two colors, anodized black and chrome and two "flavors," the 30996M standard mount and the 30996MX off-road version. The manufacturer claims it is suitable for mounting "GPS, Radar Detectors, Toll Transponder, Cell Phones, Radios, Cameras, Change Holders, Garage Door openers, PDA's" and the like. I bought mine from RiderWearhouse in Duluth for about $80.

The mount comes with Velcro^® strips for attaching your farkles and the necessary (allen wrench) installation tools. Techmount claims that their "handlebar mounts use a machined clamp designed to clamp onto round handlebars without damaging the bar. They require only 1/2" of bar space." The "universal" mounting plate is universal in that it's possible to drill pretty much any set of holes you might need to mate the Techmount to whatever you're trying to mount. The Techmount's plate is connected to the handlebar bracket with a ball mount that is positioned by a trio of very small Allen screws, so practically any angle is possible for your farkles and electronic equipment. That's the good news.

The bad news is that this mounting system is not made for moderate weight accessories (like my Garmin 2610 GPS) and it's not tough enough for rough road use. The screws are too small to provide much torque on the mounting ball and that allows the plate to sag under mild vibration. I hoped to mount my 2610 with my Mini Handlebar Mount, but I was continually disappointed with the inability of the mount to hold the GPS in position. The Mini Mount was totally useless on rough roads. In fact, even smooth freeway vibration eventually caused the GPS to droop out of sight.

I tightened and re-tightened the setscrews on this thing in the eight months I owned it and it always gave up after a bump or so. This makes the unit more irritating than useful. I'm considering drilling out the ball mount's Allen screws to install larger screws, in an attempt to increase the mount's strength. Eventually, I gave up on the Techmount system and installed a Ram Mount, which a lot of folks (including me) think is the most durable, flexible equipment mounting system available.

2 comments:

Chris said...: I'm a big fan of ram mounts for cameras and gps on a bike. work great and can stick them almost anywhere; 4/26/11, 8:54 AM
T.W. Day said...: Me too. I have a RAM on the V-Strom and one on the WR.; 5/3/11, 3:45 PM

The Geezer Story

I stumbled upon this column name (Geezer with a Grudge) almost 20 years ago, in 1999. The first Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly editor I worked with, in late 1999, complained that the magazine was getting no mail and the editors wanted to know if any readers were still out there. I fired off a sarcastic note, as a joke, intended to provide a little humor and some feedback. He published it as an article and later called me to say he'd received more mail on that letter than he'd received in the past year! I followed that with an offer to write a monthly column attempting to piss off a particular section of the magazine's readership to see if that tactic would generate some mail.

It did, probably more regularly than the magazine wanted at times, and I wrote a monthly column for MMM until the magazine died in 2018.

I plan to post an occasional old Geezer article into the blog, followed by short comments about the current status of my perspective on our activity/sport/vehicle of choice.