RaceWare Garmin Edge Stem Mount - Review
RaceWare is a small UK-based company that specialises in mounts and accessories for cycling computers, lights and action cameras made using the 3D printing manufacturing method. More accurately, it’s additive layer manufacturing (ALM) and we’ve seen quite a few bike companies investigate the possibilities of using this state-of-the-art technology to develop bike components in recent years, including Charge with its titanium dropouts and Empire with a complete bike.
This is Raceware’s Garmin Edge Stem Mount, a smart alternative to the standard Garmin mount, and is especially handy for anyone with a very short stem on their bike, because the Garmin simply doesn’t fit very well unless you've got a cross-country length stem. Even the smaller Edge 200/500 can be tricky to fit, and forget it if you’re trying to squeeze an 810/1000 on a short stem. You can, of course, mount the Garmin to the handlebar, but there it can look a bit precarious, plus it’s off-center and doesn’t fit well with some riser bars. RaceWare’s mount fits right over the stem, fixing to the steerer tube, and floats the Garmin above the stem.
The mount retails for is £19.99 (approximately $31 USD) and it is available in 11 colours from www.racewaredirect.co
Small and light it doesn't take up much space on the stem
But it keeps my Garmin Edge 500 in a prime position over the handlebars
Pinkbike's Take:
 | It works really well, and installation is a breeze. Simply whip off the steerer tube top cap, remove a spacer if you have one there, and tighten the RaceWare mount into place. I've swapped it between different bikes with different styles of stems and not had any issue with the mount fouling the top of the stem - the Garmin mount section is raised just high enough to provide the necessary clearance. The only issue I've encountered has been on a bike with a particularly sunken star fangled nut and a too short bolt. In use, I much prefer having the computer centrally mounted: it's easier to view the screen when riding then having it hanging off the handlebars to one side; it's also much more secure, doesn't rattle about and won't ping off in a crash. There's certainly no shortage of aftermarket Garmin mounts, but the Raceware is a neat and smart way to attach a Garmin to your mountain bike, and it's available in a wide range of colours. - David Arthur |
Author Info:
Member since Apr 12, 2015
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
The K-Edge insert design might give in certain directions, e.g. rotating forces, but if it is a shear-impact, it's going to be the computer housing that gives first.
I've had to replace a Garmin for this very reason, which is why I don't use stem-cap-direct-mounts anymore, period.
Mounts w/ rubber bands or extended plastic arms allow the mount to flex on impact.
There is also another significant reason why I'll never buy an aluminum mount for my Garmin, or GoPro, for that matter:
They weigh 2-3x what plastic mounts weigh. Take for example K-Edge's out-front mount which costs $45 and weighs 300% more and costs 50% more than 3D printed options.
I haven't had 3D printed mounts fail any faster than Garmin's stock plastic mounts, but I have had overly-stiff mounts snap off my Garmin's mount tabs.
Chose your own risk / reward scenario.
Im really impressed with mine and never had an issue in the 2 years ive used it. The fact that people are complaining about the mounting break when they crash is just silly. Would you rather break a £15 mount or a £300 computer?
I have some 3D mounts that I've 3D printed, no I've not broken any yet, but I can't see it lasting longer than an injection moulded part that costs half as much as these guys are charging. The great thing about consumer level FDM printers is that you can knock parts out for pennies. What's the point if you're going to charge £30 for them?
You mentioned about printing the injection moulds, however this is incredibly expensive as well. Plus the surface finish of the part isnt up to the standard required for injection moulding so theres still alot of machining required. Even if you did take this option you wouldnt get much change from £10k for the tooling.
I hadn't realised these parts were SLS - they don't look quite as nice as I'd have expected. Their website doesn't really go into a great deal of detail on that.
Who in their right mind decided that it's okay to charge for a product this dangerous?
I work for a 3d printing company so quite lucky to have a insight to whats possible now and whats to come
I'm a design engineer by trade, but haven't managed to have a go with any top end 3D printers yet. The place I do most of my work is having an Objet Connex (350 or 500, can't remember) delivered very soon though, so excited to see what that can do!
And no, i haven't cracked a spacer by tightening it up. I won't ever, since i don't use plastic there, and even if i would, i wouldn't crack it by tightening it up. Riding it is a different story though.
......perhaps its like driving whilst using a phone because I dont use a Garmin and subsequently (though I never realised it was the reason) I dont crash very often.