Best way to fit a Varia to a non angled seatpost 'replica'

daniel_b

Afternoon all,

I have a tailfin rear rack thingy on my commuter bike, and added on what is referred to as a 'seatpost mimic' as when I use the top bag, the seatpost will be obscured.





However, what I did not consider, is the fact that the mimic part is exactly horizontal.
The issue being that the garmin mount is angled to absorb the angle of the seatpost, meaning that were I to mount it on the above, it will be pointing up into the air, and presumably the radar may well be less effective, though I guess it could pick up birds, helicopters, and or planes.

*Edit - now I look at the 'mimic' part in more detail, I realise it is not round, but more d shaped so I don't think there are many options open to me

As far as I can tell, there is no obvious Varia mount for this situation, so currently the best way I can think is to use a garmin out front mount, designed for a gps unit, secure this to the mimic part, and then have the radar stuck out more to the right hand side of the bike.

Am I missing anything obvious?

I could approach a 3d printer place like raceware and see if they could knock me something up I guess, but I suspect it would be at least twice the price of an out front mount.

I'm not keen to go for one that mounts on the seat rails, as at the weekend I may well want to use a saddle bag.

super_davo

Wouldn't a regular stem mount for a Garmin computer (the old style with rubber bands) do it?

I use them on my Varia on the seatpost on most of my bikes.

There is no angle on them so the Varia points down but seatposts are still quite steep and it's OK to point down slightly to not dazzle cars.

daniel_b

That's a decent shout, and I have some knocking about, I'll certainly have a look.

I was hoping to do away with rubber bands, and go for something a bit more solid, though I may be able to either cable tie it on, or potentially use a couple of very thin jubilee clips, if such a thing exists, as both those securing options (along with the ubiquitous rubber bands) would accommodate the unusual D shaped seatpost mimic.

me-109

Just stick a thin wedge of ribber between that mounting strap and the underside of the rack. Just around the centre point where the accessory straps on. That will create an angle for you.

daniel_b

I had a look at some options for this, and didn't ever to get to anywhere 100% satisfactory.

Bit disappointed with Tailfin, bearing in mind how much I have spent with them - they were pretty quick to respond to queries and give advice prior to purchasing, but they have failed to respond to the e-mail I sent a few weeks back now, explaining the fact that the seatpost mimic is not actually a mimic, and whether they had any alternatives.

Anyway, I digress, I was speaking to Martyn from Raceware Direct about a mount for another bike, and mentioned this - he has made a complete replacement for the tailfin bracket for a customer, that had a horizontal fitment for a exposure light.

None of my rear lights are of that style, or none than I use regularly anyway, but on the one he made for the other customer, he put the light off to the right hand side, so more into the traffic, so I have asked if he can make one up for me with a permanent (bolt on) garmin mount for the 515 on the traffic side, and then a more generic mount that I can use on the other side, as I like to run with at least two rear lights, and with the bag in situ, the seatpost is significantly obscured.

He's going to mock something up, and send me the details in a few days time.

I'll try and remember to update with pics once I have it all fitted etc.

daniel_b

Here we go - Raceware have come up with this with a bit of input from myself, they already have another buyer for it.

Will replace the tailfin bracket underneath, and allow the mounting of the Varia plus another light on the left:


Only minor issue may be that there is not enough room to change the mode/access the power button which is on the top of the unit, but may just have to rotate it/remove it to do so.