Where to Mount Unit on TT Bike with New Gizmo

[mfez]

I bought the new tube gizmo, and still can't figure out how to mount my ibike. My tt bars are too close together to mount in between (I can't twist the unit on and off). I was going to mount it on my top tube, but it's a little too wide for the unit to be secured. I was thinking I could glue it on the top tube, but don't really want to do that to my carbon bike. Does anyone have any ideas? This is what the bike looks like:
http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/review ... 09-230.jpg

HELP!!

[Steve_Davidson]

Lovely bike

I've got the same problem on my TT bike that I have to remove one of the arm rests to twist the unit on and off the mount when it's on the stem as I like the armrests close together.

The top tube is not ideal as you wouldn't be able to see the unit very well. Only things I can suggest if you can't remove one of the armrests is to mount the unit with shims on one of the extensions (not ideal) or failing that get a handlebar mount and mount a piece of tubing between the extensions with the mount then sitting in front of the stem.


cheers


Steve

[coachboyd]

You could use carbon steer tube from a fork on top of the stem. Whenever you get a new bike, they always cut the fork steer tube down, your local bike shop probably has tons of them laying around. You can mount the stem to this steer tube (with a shim in-between), then you can just zip tie (heavy duty zip ties) the carbon tube to the top of your stem. The iBike will sit above the pads and can twist freely, but your hands will still be sheltering it from air so you're not adding to your cda.

pardon the cell phone picture, but this is how it looks on my bike.

[mfez]

Thanks Boyd. Not sure I got that from your description. Can you send me a copy of the photo? It didn't come out on the forum, where it just says "image" with no .jpg. My email is markfeatherman@gmail.com.
Thanks.

[ludlaw]

I fashioned a mount to bridge my aerobars using lightweight 1 1/4" pvc pipe. It is thinwall pvc used for kitchen/bath drains. I cut the pvc to match the outside width of the aerobars and then used a Dremel to grind out notches to correspond to the aerobar shape. I then drilled holes in the top and bottom and secured the mount to the aerobars with zip ties. I finished securing the mount to the aerobars by wrapping it with electrical tape. The mount is just forward of the stem. The iBike is easily attached/detached from the wireless mount and it is rock solid. Total cost: $2.49.

I then attached the RWS to my third brake lever (which allows me to brake without getting out of the aero position--nice for TTT). I get perfectly clean air and my tilt readings are solid.

See attached photos.

[Norm]

pardon the cell phone picture, but this is how it looks on my bike.
[img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/ ... 801329.jpg
AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1245444597&Signature=946ynTPbeke6hawfNU0%2BcrhuM9E%3D[/img]

Boyd, would you take another crack at uploading the photo of your TT setup? I'm having trouble imagining how zip tying a steer tube to a stem will create a rock-solid mount and I'd like to check it out.

[coachboyd]

Sure, let me try uploading them instead of trying to hotlink them.

[coachboyd]

Well, those are pretty big.

Right click on the image and choose save as, then you can view it in your regular picture viewer.

[R Mc]

So . . . would it be possible to do something similar with a shorter length of steerer tube and a handlebar mount?

Obviously, you'd have to rotate the steerer tube 90 degrees . ..

[coachboyd]

Yep, ludlaw posted some great pictures of how to do that with the handlebar mount.

[ludlaw]

The neat things about using thin wall 1 1/4" PVC is that 1 1/4" = 31.75 mm so the sizing is perfect and thin wall pvc is really easy to work with (cutting, grinding, etc).

[Norm]

Boyd, two questions about your setup:

1) Is anything holding the steer tube to the stem besides zip ties? If not, it sure seems like it would rotate around the stem or twist a bit in the zip ties and throw off your riding tilt. I must be missing something.

2) Are you finding that the air is clean enough where your RWS is? I have a similar bars -- maybe a somewhat shallower "S" shape -- and I was worried that the air would be turbulent there so I opted for installation on the wing. BTW, electrical tape rules; those velcro squares weren't secure enough for me either.

[coachboyd]

Nope, it's just the zip ties although I used the really strong ones and really cranked them on. For my next revision I will drill a hole through the carbon tube on the side to run the zip ties through. That should add some stability.

Also, where I mounted the RWS gave me good clean air as I grip the bar ends as high as possible. With the new UCI rules arms have to be horizontal (level to the ground). It's more aero to have them pointing upwards a bit. So when I go to get measured I grip the bar ends at the lowest point (so my arms are horizontal), and then when I race I pretty much only grab the aero bars with my pinky.

I could have made a little attachment to go on the bottom of the bars below the S-bend. This would put it another inch or so lower and no matter what I would have good clean air then.

[JR_70]

Hey guys...I also have this new little unit with the RWS - however, I am finding that as I ride in the aero position - I sweat a lot over top of the unit - as such on 2 of my longer rides - there is a lot of sweat getting in between the mount and the unit - and it will konk out on the ride. Does anyone else have a similar problem - or what would you suggest to avoid having such a problem? I was thinking of wrapping it in something like saran wrap or something....

Cheers!