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[Buy early]

It's taken me a few weeks to get this thread going but it's really cool so hang with me. My riding buddy Ray & I & 3 other buds did a western tour this year that included the Rally, Cody, Yellowstone, Tetons, Jackson, Steamboat Springs, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park and a few less notable spots (ride report to come eventually). The day before we left Ray purchased an iPad 2 with the intent of using it for tunes and GPS on his 2003 CVO Road King.

Mounted up it look like this except in the vertical aspect. He changed it to horizontal after we got home (more on that later).

[Buy early]

The tunes and GPS were working out quite well when he discovered another cool use. Movies! Since the iPad 2 has a front and rear facing camera, Ray began to experiment with video while riding. There's lots of open space for that going through central SD and Wyoming. By the time he got to Yellowstone, he was getting pretty good at it. A few of the more interesting videos here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW__U7BLFKM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvo92IFKYEw&feature=related

That's me in front of him in RNMP.

[Buy early]

Photo of the mount. Made by RAM ( http://www.ram-mount.com/NewProducts/AppleiPadMounts/tabid/2614/Default.aspx ). I am quite firmly convinced that iPads will be seen/utilized more and more on bikes in the near future.

[Buy early]

Fat Baggers Inc (FBI - http://store.fatbaggers.com/fbiifatohoyo.html ) was showing their new integrated iPad inner fairing for the batwing out at Sturgis this year. This was a gorgeous implementation. They have a custom app that displays speedo and other instruments, the ability to put together killer sound and the iPad pops right out and charges while in the fairing. Very slick!

[Buy early]

For us guys getting up in years and having difficulty reading the smaller screen of some of the bar mounted GPS units, this is really the way to go. Plus you get tunes, internet, camera, and tons of other apps in a package that has enough storage to carry a lot of video, photos and data.

I had my customized tank bag with my iPad 1 in it the whole trip. It overheated twice (air temp over 100) and shut down but that was only when the sun was shining directly on the screen. Ray's Road King mount was more vertical and didn't suffer from overheating.

[Buy early]

Ray did say that mounted horizontally, the iPad does pick up more windshield glare while doing video while riding. He prefers the display that way for GPS but I see a rotatable mount in his future. Gotta love technology!

[Mr John DEUFF]

Great installation but what about the vibrations, because electronics stuffs don't really like them, the always in trouble Harman Kardon unit is the proof of that...
Need to avoid the rain also!
By the way did your friend made movies with the front side camera also?

[Buy early]

Great installation but what about the vibrations, because electronics stuffs don't really like them, the always in trouble Harman Kardon unit is the proof of that...
Need to avoid the rain also!
By the way did your friend made movies with the front side camera also?

Because of the way the iPad is made, there are very few moving parts that would be impacted by vibration. Memory is all chip-based so no spinning hard drive. I've dropped mine 3 feet onto concrete (left a nice dented corner) without serious damage. Thought the screen would have cracked but it did not. I do purchase these types of electronics (iPads, cell phones) with the Best Buy damage coverage because they do eventually fail and then BB will replace with new product if it happens within the warranty period.

As far as rain goes, it takes less than 30 seconds to take the iPad off the mount in case of serious rain. We hit light rain a few times and the windshield kept the iPad from getting wet.

My buddy did take a cute movie with the camera facing back but he didn't publish it on youtube. It was a love note to his wife while on the road.

I am not saying this installation is as bullet-proof as a Garmin designed for the bike or the GoPro HD camera for great looking movies but I do firmly believe it is where we are headed as far as electronics on a touring machine.

[Mr John DEUFF]

Ok thanks for your reply !

[Jcarl08]

I just wanted to take a few lines to say how brave you are to mount your iPad. Thanks for the website with all of the mounting accessories. Three-weeks ago I purchased another iPhone case with the zippers, but not as brave as you to mount my pad. With you pad mounted you can use great stuff like Dynolicious, Music Library, H-D Maps, Tom-Tom, VisualMap, Geo Measure, and if you do not have traffic with Tom-Tom, Intrix, Weather, Whistle, and more. It makes for a great large display for easy reading. Last count I had 510 apps, and it would be nice to mount that on my bike and hit the roads, but I do not have the courage.  I will continue to use the iPhone punch and keep my pad out of the sun. QUESTION; do you have any reservation about the sun’s affect on the display? I will continue to use my iPhone tank pouch and place my pad in the bags.
The video looks great and the quality is also. Is the reason to mount horizon due to video orientation?  I use my Mossy Oak video recorder glasses, which does not have the iPad quality, but I feel more at ease.

[Buy early]

Thanks for the comments Jcarl. As far as the safety and security of the mounting goes, I actually think the mount on the Road King is safer than having mine in my tank bag. There is both a grip portion and a velcro portion to the RK mount and my bag is just magnetic. If you saw the entire RK mount and saw how stable and secure it is, you would feel better about mounting yours.

The other ting I will restate is getting the damage/loss insurance on the device when you buy it. I don't worry about that any more as it will be replaced if it fails, gets damaged, or stolen. I think the cost is worth it for these frequently used devices.

As far as the orientation of the iPad. My buddy prefers horizontal to vertical because of his preferred view for the GPS application and I agree with him on that. As I said, I am sure someone will come up with a rotatable mount in the near future that would allow for switching orientation on the fly. Using the iPad for movies was not even on our radar when we began trying to figure out how to mount these devices on bikes. It's a nice bonus. I am also sure companies will begin to develop some biker specific apps think nearby biker bars and nearby roads not to miss) based on location services and coordination with other apps. There will be some cool apps to have along for the ride.