# GoPro placement, helmet or bike?



## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

For those that own GoPros (or any camera really) do you wear it on your helmet, chest or on your bike? I'm about to ride with mine on my helmet and the weight is noticeable. The video also makes it look like I'm 10 feet tall. I'll give it a try here but I've got a K-Edge mount on order for my handlebars.


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## Samfujiabq (Jul 3, 2013)

Mine is mounted on my bike(just personal preference)I have a mount for each of my bikes.Mine is the Gopro 3 by the way.the weight is not noticeable at all.the helmet mount is a little standoutish IMO and the film quality is outstanding.


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## bmach (Apr 13, 2011)

I like it mounted on my helmet. That way I can record what I am looking at. If I see something off to the side or something in the air (like an eagle) I can record it. Hard to do with it mounted on my bike. Try both and see which way you like it.


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## cyclophiliac (Jul 25, 2013)

I've mounted GoPro's at just about any angle I can think of and they have their pro's an con's. For me personally a correctly angled helmet mounted camera is the best. Second I would go with a mount close to the stem.


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## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

I tried the helmet mount today. Really bad crosswind, about 60kph, making it a very sloped video. Here's the scariest part of the ride...


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## s-one (Nov 11, 2011)

Wow! That stretch looks dangerous to me given the spacing you having between the cars and the edge of the road. Glad you are using the camera just in case something wrong happens. In any case it would seem to me that it really depends on what you intend to use the video for. If for security reasons then it makes sense to helmet/chest mount it so that you can look/turn in the direction of a license plate or deranged driver who wants to get out of their vehicle and challenge you. But if your reasons to video is just to enjoy the ride after (Don't know why people would consider this as it would be so boring to watch) then a bar mount would give the better road perspective. Some have even mounted it on their seatpost pointing forward to capture the cadence and hand maneuvers.


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## mikerp (Jul 24, 2011)

DaveWC said:


> Here's the scariest part of the ride...


Damn that is a bad stretch of road, one truck after another.


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

I initially went with a stem mount setup because I thought having the camera mounted on my helmet would be too ungainly. What I discovered is that that I didn't get the FOV I wanted with the stem setup, and the camera only pointed wherever my handlebars were turned. Also, every little vibration in the road was amplified in the video, so I ended up switching to a helmet mount.

The helmet mount had other unintended yet favorable consequences. In addition to pointing where my head faced and eliminating all those vibrations, I noticed an immediate behavioral change in the motorists who encountered me. With the helmet cam visible on top of my head motorists seemed to be more cautious passing me, and the few who did act aggressively immediately shut up and drove off when I pointed out that they were being filmed.


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## MTBryan01 (Oct 17, 2011)

After much trial, I've decided I like mine mounted best beneath the seat, facing backwards. No, you can't see where you are going. But after trying all different angles and generating countless hours of BORING video of a freak'n road and friends butts, I decided it is much more interesting to see other riders FACES in the video and photos. This, or course, is assuming you are riding with a group. 
Also, I am to the point the video bores me (did I mention that?), so I now mostly set my Hero 3 to take a photo every 5 seconds or so at full resolution. Then I go through the camera quickly when I get home and just grab maybe 10-15 of the best photos out and delete the rest, without using up hard drive space on my computer. It's a 'hail marry' approach to photography.
If I do take video (I am accumulating clips throughout the summer), I still set it to also take those full res photos every 5 seconds (you can set it to do both). 
Another option is to take video at a super high res, maybe 2.7, which gives you a bigger photo if you extract images. 
The mounts that come with the Hero 3 jiggle around so I bought a K-Edge Go-Big Pro Saddle Rail Mount, which is super solid. 
In a perfect would, I would have one on the front AND the back for better editing. But that strategy will have to be for 2014. 
Try different angles, and try both photo and video, and decide what YOU like. 
Enjoy that little sucker! It's a load of fun!

Oh, and my avatar was taken with a remote mounted GoPro attached to my cruiser bike and set on photo capture.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

That K-edge you're waiting on is the way to go. I tried mine on my head and found it to be plain annoying, and kinda silly looking too. When it's on the bike it's forgotten, yet there is the video when you get home. Like MTBryon01 says, the rear mount is a good perspective too, specially if you're having issues with vehicles passing too close as you get a good look at their "attack", and the plate is readable.

Another thing that I like about the bike mount is the ability to use the Go-Pro with the battery BacPac. The BacPac doubles the recording time to almost 4hrs., which is nice on a long ride, but it'd be like sticking a brick on your head if attaching the camera to your helmet.


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## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

velodog said:


> That K-edge you're waiting on is the way to go. I tried mine on my head and found it to be plain annoying, and kinda silly looking too. When it's on the bike it's forgotten, yet there is the video when you get home. Like MTBryon01 says, the rear mount is a good perspective too, specially if you're having issues with vehicles passing too close as you get a good look at their "attack", and the plate is readable.
> 
> Another thing that I like about the bike mount is the ability to use the Go-Pro with the battery BacPac. The BacPac doubles the recording time to almost 4hrs., which is nice on a long ride, but it'd be like sticking a brick on your head if attaching the camera to your helmet.


I have a K-Edge on order but it's for the handlebars. The helmet mount makes me look even sillier than before, something I didn't think possible. I did wear it with the BacPac and yes, it's pretty heavy. That's not the reason for the angled view, that's how much the sidewind was affecting me. :mad2:


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## Samfujiabq (Jul 3, 2013)

I think all of the responses were good and like I,they said its all personal preference after trial and error.The nice thing is that they have a great variety of mounts and you can switch back and forth,I even have a mount in my car so I can use it there as well.


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## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

Samfujiabq said:


> I think all of the responses were good and like I,they said its all personal preference after trial and error.


I hope you're not misinterpreting the :mad2: emoticon as it was not aimed at the previous poster but rather at the crosswind. I agree that all of the responses were good & appreciated.


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## Samfujiabq (Jul 3, 2013)

DaveWC said:


> I hope you're not misinterpreting the :mad2: emoticon as it was not aimed at the previous poster but rather at the crosswind. I agree that all of the responses were good & appreciated.


Oh no Dave I understood sounded good to me,thanks


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## s-one (Nov 11, 2011)

You could do what I'm getting ready to do. I'm purchasing(in route) a Mobius Action Camera for the helmet which has a lower profile and from the reviews seems to have better video qualities than the GoPro's. Then I'm going to also purchase a rear facing seatpost mount camera that I have yet to decide on. (waiting on the garmin virb/sony action cam 30v reviews). In any case, the combine helmet/seapost cams will be perfect for my needs. To take it into another step, the seatpost cam that I'll purchase will stream the rear video to my smartphone that's mounted on the stem. It'll serve as just a quick glance that there are cars behind me.. you know like those silent Prius's. Btw, the Mobius was cheap.. like $69 from ebay and $90 from amazon.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

DaveWC said:


> That's not the reason for the angled view, that's how much the sidewind was affecting me. :mad2:


Well, yeah, with the sail on your head and everything.


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## Roland44 (Mar 21, 2013)

DaveWC said:


> For those that own GoPros (or any camera really) do you wear it on your helmet, chest or on your bike? I'm about to ride with mine on my helmet and the weight is noticeable. The video also makes it look like I'm 10 feet tall. I'll give it a try here but I've got a K-Edge mount on order for my handlebars.


Mounted on the helmet is the way to go. More stable video and you have the freedom to record everything you look at...


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

Roland44 said:


> Mounted on the helmet is the way to go. More stable video and you have the freedom to record everything you look at...


I've read the "more stable video mounted on the head" from others also, but the k-edge mount is such a solid platform that it weakens that argument. At least that's how I see it.


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## Burnette (Mar 25, 2013)

*Bazinga!*

s-one, thanks for the tip, for that amount ($68), the Mobious is worth playing with.
Only 80 minutes in 720, but hell, I can get two Mobious cams, one for helmet mount and one for seat post or under saddle rear facing, all for a hundred forty bucks. Will have to turn on/off at times though to conserve battery life, it's a trade off. If it doesn't work out as a good bike cam, it wil make an excellent car cam.
OP, as much as it sucks to have the camera on your head, for me, those are the best vids to look at as a viewer.


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## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

velodog said:


> I've read the "more stable video mounted on the head" from others also, but the k-edge mount is such a solid platform that it weakens that argument. At least that's how I see it.


I think the instability of the handlebar mount location comes from the rattling and bumping of the bike rather than the mount itself.


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## MTBryan01 (Oct 17, 2011)

velodog said:


> That K-edge you're waiting on is the way to go. I tried mine on my head and found it to be plain annoying, and kinda silly looking too. When it's on the bike it's forgotten, yet there is the video when you get home. Like MTBryon01 says, the rear mount is a good perspective too, specially if you're having issues with vehicles passing too close as you get a good look at their "attack", and the plate is readable.
> 
> Another thing that I like about the bike mount is the ability to use the Go-Pro with the battery BacPac. The BacPac doubles the recording time to almost 4hrs., which is nice on a long ride, but it'd be like sticking a brick on your head if attaching the camera to your helmet.


Yes, good additional points. The perspective from under the seat is great. I've tried to get it lower but then you get the tire in the pictures (which is OK but I didn't like it as much). And the GoPro without the battery bacpac only lasts about 90 minutes.


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## genux (Jun 18, 2012)

I thought the K-Edge was overpriced. Unfortunately, the stock, plastic handlebar mounts sold with the GoPro gave up on me after a long ride due to too much vibration. I realized too late my GoPro was lost in the trenches. The K-Edge mount, however, has been rock solid.

With the plastic ones, I had to put rubber inserts to dampen the vibration for a more stable video recording. I haven't had to do that with the K-Edge.

I mount mine on the handlebar mostly because it's "set and forget," and a bit more stable for me since I tend to move my head a lot.


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## InfiniteLoop (Mar 20, 2010)

I have a gopro mounted under my saddle facing rear. With a bit of tire in the image it gives a pretty good indication of where I'm riding and how close cars are passing (you can see their tires on the road in relation to mine and pretty easily calculate actual distance). Cops will ticket based on this. I had an iphone on my handlebars to use it as a rear-view camera as well, but stopped doing that. I'll try it again with the current software one of these days.

For vibration on handlebar mounted cameras just get a heavy rubber band and stretch from the bottom of the camera to the front brake nut. Vibration gone.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

InfiniteLoop said:


> For vibration on handlebar mounted cameras just get a heavy rubber band and stretch from the bottom of the camera to the front brake nut. Vibration gone.


I have 26mm bars with two wraps of fizik tape under my k-edge mount. Dampens beautifully.


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## Floppybike (Jun 11, 2013)

I love the Go Pros- they make excellent videos---I wear them on my bike


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## s-one (Nov 11, 2011)

Cool! Received mine and have to say it's form factor and video quality is great. I don't want to hijack the thread but the idea of the Mobius was to suggest it for the helmet and keep his Gopro for the rear. 



Burnette said:


> s-one, thanks for the tip, for that amount ($68), the Mobious is worth playing with.
> Only 80 minutes in 720, but hell, I can get two Mobious cams, one for helmet mount and one for seat post or under saddle rear facing, all for a hundred forty bucks. Will have to turn on/off at times though to conserve battery life, it's a trade off. If it doesn't work out as a good bike cam, it wil make an excellent car cam.
> OP, as much as it sucks to have the camera on your head, for me, those are the best vids to look at as a viewer.


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## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

s-one said:


> Cool! Received mine and have to say it's form factor and video quality is great. I don't want to hijack the thread but the idea of the Mobius was to suggest it for the helmet and keep his Gopro for the rear.


As the OP I can say don't worry about hijacking anything. I'd love to see a sample video of a ride with the Mobius.


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## s-one (Nov 11, 2011)

Thanks OP! Yesterday I rode with the Mobius and I have to say there is no reason to spend a lot of money on an expensive cam. This little cam has beautiful bright, crisp video. However, because I don't have my helmet mount yet I had to resort to the handle bar mount which did suffer from vibration and jello effects. But the helmet mount should take care of that. At 1080p 30fps I believe my recording time was right around 1 hour 10 minutes. As soon as I get the helmet mount I'll provide the link to the video clips.

Side note: Interesting thing happened yesterday while out riding with our local group. Someone noticed around the 12 mile marker that they thought someone was following and filming us. So I went back to the Mobius cam footage and saw it too. I then backtracked it and noticed it wasn't just one vehicle filming us, but it was three. All doing their James Bond work leap frogging each other at different points of our 25 mile route. They filmed us from our starting point and the Mobius was able to capture their license plates. SPOOKY and it isn't even Halloween yet!


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## EastonZ16 (Aug 11, 2010)

Question for you guys using a GoPro. Are you using it for enjoyment/video editing/fun? Or are you using it in case something happens on a ride?

I have been thinking of buying one for a while for the in case scenario. I think it would be extremely beneficial if I were to ever not be able to speak on what happened. Having a video of a situation could be extremely useful for insurance issues.


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## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

On a related issue, I find it near impossible to read license plates on the GoPro. They look legible but when you zoom in they are too blurred to be sure. I started at 1080/30fps and today tried 2.7k/30fps (my battery only lasted 20 minutes at this level). If the goal is to identify a vehicle that cuts you off or tosses something at you I'm not sure that's a viable goal. Anyone have clips where the plates are viewable? What parameters do you use?


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

EastonZ16 said:


> Question for you guys using a GoPro. Are you using it for enjoyment/video editing/fun? Or are you using it in case something happens on a ride?


All of the above.


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## s-one (Nov 11, 2011)

Well I still haven't received my helmet cam but the Mobius does have slots on the attachment to allow Zip Ties/Velcro. So I used Velcro strapped to my helmet until my actual helmet mount arrives. Here's a raw clip.

Mobius-Helmet-Raw-Footage01

At the 29 sec mark there's a Nissan Frontier truck that passes by one lane over to my left and you can make out the plates.

If anything this little cam does makes an excellent dash cam for cars too. Here's a couple of raw clips driving.

Mobius-Dash-Cam-Raw-Footage01
Mobius-Dash-Cam-Raw-Footage02

Anyhow, I don't want to sound like a Mobius Rep, but it does make a good addition to the OP's existing GoPro scenario.


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## wetpaint (Oct 12, 2008)

I use a K-Edge mount on the handlebars, keeps it out of the way and works really well


No screen shutter, nice and smooth on the road.


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## DaveWC (Sep 21, 2012)

What are you using to embed the speedometer etc. on the video?

edit: found it, dashware right?


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## ericTheHalf (Apr 5, 2008)

I just got the Rec-mounts skewer mount for my GoPro. It replaces the acorn nut on the quick release. It is a very stable mount. Compared to the handlebar mount, there is no vibration.


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## Samfujiabq (Jul 3, 2013)

ericTheHalf said:


> I just got the Rec-mounts skewer mount for my GoPro. It replaces the acorn nut on the quick release. It is a very stable mount. Compared to the handlebar mount, there is no vibration.


Can you post the link please.


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## ericTheHalf (Apr 5, 2008)

Samfujiabq said:


> Can you post the link please.


Amazon.com: Rec-mounts Quick Release Skewers Mount [Rec-b63] for Gopro Hero3+ Hero3 Hero2 Hd-hero Gopro3 or Light: Camera & Photo


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## ericTheHalf (Apr 5, 2008)

Samfujiabq said:


> Can you post the link please.


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## MercRidnMike (Dec 19, 2006)

It really depends on what you want to capture and what you're willing to accept for weight placement. I have one of the original (SD) GoPro cameras and use it a bit here and there. Here are some of my observations...

On the mountain bike, I run it through a bolt hole for my suspension (I have an adjustable geometry bike in the Knolly and can run a "tripod mount" to it). It gives a unique view of the terrain and fork, so you can see the fork work its magic in the hits. I've tried it on the helmet, but I didn't like the angle as much and it was a bit harder to edit out every time you move your head.

I prefer under the bar for my road bike, fairly close to the stem, especially when doing a time-lapse run....seems a bit more stable than having it off to one side or the other. I also don't capture all the looking around that way  

The factory mounts can work well (if you use a screwdriver, not just fingers), but the k-edge is a bit stronger / tighter.

I have a few examples on my youtube channel (not that I'm a big publisher). The link is: k200mtbman's channel - YouTube

The "2012 Ride Experience" video is from the bolt hole on the mountain bike during the 2012 Ride to Conquer Cancer and catches excerpts of the Ride when it wasn't raining. The "2013 Ride Video Final Cut" is a time lapse (under bar) of the entire 2013 version of the same charity ride. My 2011 vid there shows a bit more motion as it was further away from the stem and I wasn't time-lapsing anything....when I'm slogging up a hill, you can tell 

I have a friend who swears by the chesty mount....says it is easier to carry than on the helmet and moves less than on the bars. He's got a Hero 3, so I don't know if the lighter weight plays a part, but his videos seem pretty good.


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## addxyz (Jan 6, 2014)

Kind of a noob question, but I'm also interested in mounting a GoPro at the bottom of a saddle to protect myself, but that negates the use of a saddle bag. For the people that have mounted a camera at the bottom of a saddle, where do you move the saddle bag stuff? (I don't own any jerseys with back pockets).


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## genux (Jun 18, 2012)

You have a couple of options:

1. Depending on the size of your saddle bag, you can mount the GoPro lower on the seatpost or seat stay, though you'll be recording a lot of your wheel that way.

2. You can get a bike frame bag: either mount it on the top-tube or elsewhere on the frame, such as where the top-tube meets the seat tube.

3. You can mount the GoPro on the rear of your helmet as well, if you don't mind the weight.


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