UPDATE: I found a better mouse trap bike mount. Read my post on how I configured a RAM mount for my Colorado.
Now that my move is over and the baby is a little older, I’m getting back out on the bike and putting my Garmin Colorado 300 to the test. I really like the Colorado, but at this point I can’t recommend it for mountain bikers, due to the backcountry navigation issues I posted earlier this week, along with problems finding a decent mount.
Garmin Colorado bike mount
There’s really no need to beat around the bush here. For mountain bikers, Garmin’s Colorado bike mount sucks. It’s held on by two zip ties. I kid you not. The result is that after a few good bounces, the unit slides around as pictured below. Despite repeated attempts, I haven’t been able to get it tight enough to avoid this. I haven’t tried it on pavement, but at least one commenter likes the Colorado mount on his road bike.
It looks like RAM has a mount coming out around the end of this month, but I’m not sure about the handlebar mounting system yet. I certainly don’t want this monstrosity. I think that their standard rail mount will work, unless you’ve got a bike with 31.8 mm handlebars. Anyway, I’ll try out that combo once it’s available and will report back.
About Rich Owings
I had a tough time tightening down the zip ties on the Colorado mount, but I finally got it perfectly secure. After I tightened them as much as I could by hand, I used pliers and a wide flat-blade screwdriver to tighten it the last couple of clicks. I grabbed the tongue of the zip tie with the pliers, and wedged the wide screwdriver blade against the locking part of the tie. Then I pulled with the pliers and pushed on the screwdriver, and the tie tightened down nice and snug.
If I were doing it again, I’d probably wrap a thin strip of rubber under the tie, like the pieces that come with the older handlebar mounts. Then I wouldn’t have to work quite as hard to get the tie super tight, and would protect my carbon bars from the hard plastic zip tie.
So far it is holding up fine on the road. I’m taking the Colorado on and off every time I ride, and the mount doesn’t budge. I suspect the plastic rails of the mount may start to wear eventually — after a couple of years or so, but the mounts are inexpensive, and I tend not to keep a particular GPS unit that long anyway.
I can see where the mount is pretty flimsy for mountain biking. The zip tie fasteners, combined with the weight and bulk of the Colorado trying to rotate around the handlebars, makes for an unstable combination on rough terrain. Hopefully a better mount will come along.
I do not have the bike mount for the Colorado, but from the photos I have seen of the mount it would appear that it can be placed on either the stem or the handle bar. If the mount is placed on the stem it would likely be much more stable as it would prevent the GPS device from rotating front to back. It could rotate to the side but given the weight distribution of the stem mount and the forces normally encountered while riding it would be much less likely to slip in a side to side direction. Put a thin piece of rubber under the mount between it and the stem and slippage should be nearly eliminated.
Troy and Manatee,
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll work on the mount some, see if I can get it tighter, and may try moving it to the stem.
Does anyone know if these are available in Australia?