Within our current offering, there are no identified issues. But if a phone were to be mounted onto specific machinery or equipment, potential issues could arise. Broadly speaking, no issues have been observed thus far.

Bar spacers are included allowing the standard version to fit 22mm (7/8”), 25mm (1”), 28mm (1 1/8”) and 32mm (1 ¼”) diameter handlebars, with the Pro also accommodating up to 35mm (1 3/8”) bars. Is it the bike’s engine vibration that’s causing the issue when it happens, or vibration from the road? When you add in all the elements that form this system, it’s not cheap. However, it is a very convenient and well-engineered system that makes using your phone as a sat nav or camera on your bike incredibly easy.With an anodised machined aluminium arm and reinforced nylon pivot, this mount fits over the clamp that holds the brake and clutch levers in place on many bikes. It’s a system that’s long been used by RAM mounts for sat-navs, and supplied spacers allow it to fit both my GS (despite these also being the mirror mounts) and the VFR800. Construction is predominantly reinforced nylon with stainless steel pivot pins and threaded inserts, the powder-coated steel base expanding and contracting between 38mm to 70mm, which suits both of my VFR’s reservoirs great. Generally speaking, the more advanced the camera technology is, the more sensitive it is to high-frequency vibrations. Although there were occasional reports of issues in earlier versions, our team began to identify the major impacts of motorcycle frequencies on phones starting from the iPhone X model and onwards. The effects of frequency in earlier versions were relatively lower compared to subsequent models.

With the amount of tech built into modern smartphones, many riders only need them on their bikes instead of standalone sat navs, for example. I’m one of those – I use Google Maps or an app called Waze to navigate by (both are free) and regularly stop to take photos of the route or sights and listen to music fairly constantly. So access to my phone on the bike is essential. The RAM universal X-Grip mounts are popular with many (including road-test legend Simon Hargreaves), but they’re far from a subtle design, and some users report the phone’s buttons being pressed by the mount’s arms. Purely anecdotally, I have been told by a dealer that they had some instances of iPhones (I don’t know which models) experiencing issues while using a dampener, but I haven’t been able to verify them and there are a huge number of people using them without any problems. Peak Design has a small selection of motorcycle mounts for its range of phone cases, though some of the prices are quite high. There are lots of mounts around, ranging from super cheap to super expensive. However, there are several key aspects to bear in mind. One is weather protection; some smartphones, such as later iPhones, purport to be water-resistant but frankly, are you going to risk it? I’m not.I’d recommend having the USB head connected to an outlet that’s disconnected when the bike’s turned off (or go for the hard-wired version). The wireless head does ‘remember’ its last state when powering up, so you could leave it turned on and ready to charge if you have a switched auxiliary supply. The arm itself can be rotated through 360° in 10° increments, and the head, which mounts on the other end, can also be spun in the same way. There’s no pitch adjustment in the head, but you can of course rotate the bar clamp to suit. Two screws are used to fit the base, with a pair of 16mm and 18mm-long M4s supplied to replace the ones fitted to your bike. Make sure you use the right length, and don’t force them if they seem to be bottoming out. The extension arm pivots at both ends, and rotates where it meets the base, so combined with the rotation in the head you can set this in a surprisingly wide range of positions. On the VFR, space is very tight when the bars are turned due to the screen, but I was still able to get the phone to fit (if only vertically). The issue is attributed to the vibrations generated by the bike's engine, rather than the vibrations from the road. This is evidenced by the absence of any vibration issues occurring to phones when riding a bicycle on and off road.

Once you have your case, you start to choose your options. First is mounting; there are various options, such as a mirror mount, an ‘out-front’ mount on an arm or a straightforward bar mount, such as the one seen here. It also keeps the battery topped up and the rain away. However, most importantly, it reduces the vibrations that can kill an iPhone in as few as a couple of rides, and that alone has to be worth the investment. Mous has also developed a range of motorcycle mounts to suit its cases, though options are rather limited for now, and prices seem to be on the high side. The mounting boss is raised slightly, though not as much as the previous version. It doesn’t interfere with handling the phone at all and traditional wireless chargers work fine through the case. Speaking of poor weather, if you don’t fancy risking your phone out in the wind and rain, you can get a waterproof ‘poncho’ to keep it completely dry and safe. Verdict

Wrap Up

These issues seem to be predominantly with iPhones, and when I spoke to SP Connect, they confirmed that the vast majority of problems they’d come across were with Apple devices, and of these they were mainly the iPhone X, 11 and 12 series, but not the 12 Pro Max, which has Sensor-Shift OIS. They told me that issues with the iPhone 13 are very rare, with none reported on the 14, both of which use Sensor-Shift. They also pointed out that unlike on Apple devices, the OIS on Samsung is deactivated when the camera’s not being used.

Designed to fix in place of the screws that hold the lid on many motorcycle and scooter brake / clutch reservoirs, this mount is a very clever design that opens up even more options. The charger has a 1.5m-long cable that terminates in an SAE connector (the same as used on Optimate chargers), with a second cable about 20cm long that has the corresponding SAE connector at one end and a pair of ring terminals to connect to your battery at the other. You could wire this into an auxiliary switched supply on your bike if you want, but I found that without a phone connected, the USB charger pulled about 1.5mA, so would take a good while to flatten the battery. Finally – and this is a biggie – as many riders know and Apple confirmed in 2021, vibrations from your bike can kill your iPhone. The issue seems to be with bigger engines and the image-stabilisation system; Apple recommends vibration dampers if you mount your phone on a bike. What I can tell you is that I’ve had no problems over many thousands of miles with a Samsung Galaxy S21 and a Google Pixel 7 Pro fitted to a BMW R1250GS using a dampener.

Both versions of the mount come with two sets of expanding spacers, but the Pro’s are a different design with a slightly larger range of 12.4mm to 25.4mm. For either to work, the tube must be smooth internally with a minimum depth of 45mm – if there’s any lip inside it won’t fit. The advantage here is that if the weather is a bit dodgy, you can keep your phone on charge at all times – essential if using a sat-nav app, for example, as they are notoriously heavy on batteries. Ultimately, vibration damage seems to depend very much on the model of phone and the bike’s engine. Those few I know of who’ve had problems – using any mounting system– have all been using older generation iPhones, and have had them repaired under the Apple warranty. While it should be positioned with the USB-A port angled downwards – so water and filth don’t collect in it – the case itself is IP66 rated (dust-tight and resistant to powerful jets of water), and the port is IPX8 (not dust resistant as it’s open, but fully resistant to immersion in water). There’s no USB cable supplied, though you’ll almost certainly have one to suit your phone already. Is it more of a problem with some devices than others due to the construction of the OIS? If so, what is the difference in the devices?