Modern Buddy

I am in the process of mounting my phone/gps to the bike via ram mounts and an aqua box.

i've got a small write up about it at my website
www.cannonballbuddy.com

How would you rate the ease of use for the GPS on your Buddy ?

anyone know where i can get a good ram mount that works well with the buddy. I just bought a Garmin nuvi 260.

jperkins wrote:anyone know where i can get a good ram mount that works well with the buddy. I just bought a Garmin nuvi 260.

http://www.ram-mount.com/

Would love to see a pic of it mounted.

those are nice but I just made my own mount for my nuvi 200.

I ordered a ram mount kit but the piece that is supposed to hold onto the mirror stem just doesn't get tight enough. Was thinking maybe one of the bits that screws into the mirror hole is what I need instead?

This:

RAM .87 X 2.25 with 11mm Hole & 1" Ball Mirror Frame Mount

or

RAM Base with 9mm Hole & 1" Ball Mirror Frame Mount


Anyone use Ram Mounts on a buddy with those? If So, is it the 9mm or 11mm one?

I am working on a mount for my TomTom ONE for my Stella.

I have part of the RAM mount from a previous project:


And I am using it plus a custom metal bracket and one of these:


The part that comes with the TomTom that holds it just doesn't have the gripping power for use on a scooter. Unless I want it to come off and turn into a $150 paperweight after smashing into bits.

I also like that I can customize the GPS itself graphically to make it more "mine".

This unit is very simple, and priced accordingly. But it has large easy to reach buttons, the display is large enough to read quickly on the go, and is pretty simple to work.

The only time it's not glove friendly is when you are entering your destinations and such. But on the go, it's easy to work with gloves on.

It's not waterproof or anything, but I think for the price it will be great for when I go on rides and come September when I go out to OKC.

Rob, did you get yours figured out yet, mountwise?

I played around with the mirror stem mount piece and got it on my bike. I used some semi hard rubber to fill in the gap a bit. Really doesn't work well at all and the TomTom piece pretty much rests on the buddy. Due to bouncing it has now put some gouges in my paint (nother topic, anyone know how to get some touch up paint?).

I'm still waiting for e-mount to ship the 9mm mirror hole thingie. I'm hoping that will work well because I'm really unhappy with the mirror stem one.

As for gripping the TomTom. I've been putting about 60 miles a day on my buddy using it for my commute and I have had any issues at all with it popping out. I've hit some pretty nasty bumps and it seems just fine.

Are you just using the stock 'holder' it came with? Mine's loose enough that it's popped out of it in my car. Maybe I just got a loose mount, I dunno.

alienmeatsack wrote:Are you just using the stock 'holder' it came with? Mine's loose enough that it's popped out of it in my car. Maybe I just got a loose mount, I dunno.

Stock holder? You mean the one that came from Ram Mount right, not TomTom? Yeah, I just ordered the holder for a TomTom 1 V3 and I'm using that. Oddly they sent me two, but my order clearly shows 1 ordered.

RAM Mount TomTom ONE Series Cradle
P/N: RAM-HOL-TO4U SKU: RAMHOLTO4
PRICE EACH: $7.98

That order came from gpscity.com. The other part I'm waiting on is supposed to be coming from e-mount but I've now been waiting 10+ days for them to just ship the damn thing.

Ah, ok that 'splains it. I thought you were using the mount that came with the TT itself and not a nicer one. I have the RAM one ordered as well. Just waiting for it to arrived.

I think what you have is what I have ordered too... It looked like it whould hold the TT for me nice and snug for riding on bumpy roads as well as normal cruising.

The Stella's glovebox top would make a great mounting point, plus keeping the GPS out of the wind and such. But I'd have to look down to see it. I had considered using some industrial velcro and just mounting it to that. But I am weary of anything that might damage/modify the scooter itself.

Heh, I was using industrial velcro for my original poor man GPS. I just printed out directions on little cards, put them in a plastic holder and velcro'd it to the bike under the speedo. Thought about trying to just velcro the GPS to the same spot but wasn't sure it would hold up to bumps well enough.

Hadn't tried yet, but hoping I can get the velcro off now without damage.

Driving me nuts now. Was gonna just order the mirror hole part from gpscity since e-mount doesn't want to send it to me. But, can't find what I ordered on either site now and don't know the part number. Ugh.

The mirror hole is 8mm and I ordered the 9mm part (comes in 9 or 11)... So thinking it simply works by taking the mirror off and then screwing it back in over the mount.

As long as it's just a matter of putting the piece over a bolt for the mirror, I don't see any reason why a larger one (or smaller with some drilling) would not work?

I am just going to put a bracket on my Stella to accomplish this similarly. I did order a u-bolt mount but I dont know if it will be able to squish down small enough and tightly enough to hold it to the mirror post or not.

One of my goals is to keep it simple and make it less ugly than it needs to be, since when I take the mount off, the ball part that hooks it to the scoot will remain.

Good ole google. What did we do before it?

Here is the mirror hole part I am waiting on to try.

http://www.gpscity.com/search-rammotorc ... ads+female

THAT is what I should have gotten instead of this u-bolt thing!!!

I am going to try and use the u-bolt peice on my mirror as if it were that but it may require some drilling.

I wish I had researched a bit first. I could have probably got both parts I needed in one feld swoop.

Same here, spent quite a bit of money (those bits n pieces add up) that I really didn't probably need to. I did do some googlin before hand but wasn't having any luck.

The base of that mount looks pretty thick. I hope it isn't too thick for the mirror to screw tightly through it. There is a 11mm version also, hoping that isn't the one I should have gotten instead, if so, it's another $20 mistake.

Another thing I wish I had done differently was to had gotten a shorter stem, the one I got is ok but half the length would have worked better.

Not sure what it is you plan on drilling on the ubolt mount to make it work?

This is the u-bolt piece. (Just arrived)



What I was planning on drilling was one of the holes the u-bolt itself goes into on the mount portion, leaving off the u-bolt and plastic piece and just putting the ball portion onto the mirror stem like the peice you showed.

However, I looked at the mirror and there's not enough to put it on there and get a nut over it to tighten it down.

But, the mount the mirror goes onto will work, if I use the whole part above mounted sideways on it.

How much extra threaded end does your Buddy have now on the mirror? Like you said that piece looks pretty thick.

Oh. . . meant to mention earlier. If you are using a Tom Tom 1, do you know about this program:

http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/index.php

It lets you set up routes to take using google maps. Really nice but there is one downside. It only works with the TomTom v7 firmware, not the latest v8. It is simple to downgrade your TomTom to v7 though.

Apparently, TomTom removed custom itinerary's from v8 for TomTom 1 in order to convince people to buy the more expensive versions.

alienmeatsack wrote:How much extra threaded end does your Buddy have now on the mirror? Like you said that piece looks pretty thick.

Not sure, hadn't actually taken them all the way off yet... But, I gave up on e-mount.com and just went ahead and ordered it from gpscity. I'll update the thread when it comes in and let you know if it worked or not. Another $20 down the drain... This whole saving gas on a scooter thing isn't really working out so well yet...

Mine came from GPS City, shipped UPS ground 2 days ago and arrived today.

Good luck on yours!

Ok, I decided when I got home to give it a whirl. I don't have the actual TomTom's mount part yet, but you can see how it will work...


A view from the front of the scooter with the ram mount in place:


A bit closer:


The ball mount on the mirror bracket. It's snug, and out of the way when I don't need it:



I'm going to pull it off and put some lock washers on too for safety.

Here's a "from the seat" view (sans GPS). I think it will work nicely. I held the GPS up to the mount in it's approx position and it was visible more than my speedo is, helmet wise.


If I need it to come closer to me, I can get a 2nd extension or possibly even reverse the ball mount and bring it under the handlebar and then up in front of the bar more inside towards the speedo. Dont have the long parts I need for that at the moment.

but it's promising!

Sorry I totally hijacked the thread, but it was relevant for the most part i think... just not a Buddy.

Short update... Finally got the 9mm Ram Mount bit that the mirror screws into. Fits perfectly and much much cleaner looking when the rest of the bits aren't connected. Just have a tiny little ball when not using the GPS.

Finally got a nice stable working GPS mount for my Buddy.

Now just have to find a matching cream nail polish to touch up the gouges the previous poorly fitting mirror stem mount left in my buddy.

Post some pics?

I am still considering getting one of the mirror ball mounts for mine and using it on a non-mirror bolt possibly. But the u-bolt seems to work nicely. I clamped a heavy object onto it with some zipties to see if it would vibrate and it didnt, well, nothing more than the vibration I get normally.

hopefully it does not vibrate my GPS to pieces

I just got an email that my TomTom ONE RAM mount had been delivered at the house. Woot!

I need to go down to the scooter shop for something, so i am thinking about going home a bit early, setting up the GPS and then riding down there. I didnt get to scoot in today because it was raining when I left home this morning.

Now I just need to go on a nice long ride planned out with the GPS!

Well, the TomTom ONE's RAM mount's contents were misleading. It has no means to fasten the mount itself to the rest of the RAM parts without ANOTHER part that has the ball on it.

I am glad I had a part here to use or I'd be very unhappy. At this point I could have ordered the whole kit from online and saved money.

I did get it put together and on the scoot. Now, however, I need to find a new piece to help angle it towards me better to avoid glare and such. I may just need a longer clamp piece for the middle, may need a extension, not sure.

But, either way, here's where it's at for now...