New Gear: RAM Tough Claw with X-Grip Phone Cradle.

I had some extra cash burning a hole in my pocket recently. With all of the rain Southern California has had and my recently busy work schedule, I haven't had much time to ride. The next best thing is buying motorcycle gear. This next piece of kit was something I've been thinking about for a while and it was on sale. Follow along as I discuss the RAM Tough Claw with X-Grip Phone Cradle.

Here it is. The Ram X-Grip Phone Cradle is something I've tried out in stores, but never purchased due to the need to get a bunch of extra accessories for the RAM mount system. With the FZ1's handle bars and layout, I had extra room in the dashboard area for the X-Grip using the Tough Claw. I mounted the entire unit quite easily and have extra adjustability for the perfect set up.

First try at getting the unit in position put the phone in my view line for the gauges. It was very easy to see and if I wasn't concerned with knowing my speed, it would be fine. With the way the FZ can go from legal to light speed with a minor wrist motion, I didn't find that idea prudent. I was able to get the Tough Claw adjusted so that a quick glance would give me a view of the phone, but not get in the way of the gauge cluster.

Another aspect of this arrangement was getting power to my device through my tank bag and under-seat extension cord. You can see my iPhone charge cable coming from the tank bag with slack to spare that allows for proper left and right handle bar movement from lock-to-lock.

This is a good view of the phone in the X-Grip and my gauge cluster from the rider's mounted position. This mounting method wouldn't be great for intense navigating situations as my head would be pointing down too much. For a quick reference of the map however it works fine. With the adjustability of the device, I could change that if I ever needed to focus more directly on the phone. The app I'm displaying here is the Track Addict app. It can give me lap times based upon GPS for most tracks in the U.S. and even things like sector times or 1/4 mile drag race. In the past I've used the app with my Ninja 250 Race Bike, but have had issues with the GPS. I'm hoping that by mounting the phone to the bars, I can eliminate the issue.

Unfortunately you can see from this shot that the Ninja's handlebars are not going to cooperate. No matter how much I tried the phone would obscure the tachometer or block handle bar movement. The tach is the only gauge I have working in the cluster and the most important for riding at the track so I can't have anything getting in the way of it. 

After thinking it through a bit, I came up with this possible idea. I could mount the phone with the Tough Claw to a subframe bar under the rear tail section of the bike. That way I could get a relatively clear GPS signal AND use my phone's front mounted camera to record the scene behind me. Most of the footage would be of multiple other track riders passing me, but it will be cool to have the video. The Track Addict app allows me to record and overlay track data onto the video. Having track position, G-force and speed with the video would be a cool addition.

Anyway, I have just returned from a week of notional war and haven't ridden my bike in almost three weeks. I will be getting some seat time on it this weekend as I have an extra day off. I'm thinking of heading into Lompoc and will try out the Ram Mount system on the trip. I have two more projects in store for the FZ and will be looking at getting in some track time soon. Stay tuned for more coming right away!

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