Bicycle cellphone mounts have been an everyday a part of my life in bike-obsessed Amsterdam ever since 2008, after I bought my first cellphone with built-in GPS and turn-by-turn navigation. I’ve used dozens of mounts since, till they have been both misplaced, damaged, or stolen, or one thing higher emerged.
I may have saved a ton of cash and annoyance had the $49.95 Loop Micro Mount been out there all these years in the past.
For the previous few weeks, I’ve been testing the ultra-compact Micro Mount. It took all of three minutes to unbox and screw into my bike’s stem cap. Then it simply sits there discreetly, out of the way in which till I develop its jaws to assist information me into locations unknown. It held my iPhone 15 Professional securely on all kinds of on- and off-road terrain, with or with out my present cellphone case.
I connected the Loop Micro Mount to my mountain bike to check its limits. It’s designed and really useful for street use, however even commuters need to scale the occasional curb or survive a pothole. The mount by no means misplaced grip when heading down tough single-track trails rutted with tree roots.
I did handle to actually kick my cellphone into the dust as soon as after I bought knocked off my bike. These spring-loaded rubber-lined jaws will maintain your gadget securely on tarmac, cobblestones, and brickwork, however they’re no match for the safety you get from one thing like a Quad Lock case and mount.
The Loop Micro Mount is designed to be put in semipermanently on a stem cap, and it comes with an additional lengthy bolt and Allen key within the field for that goal. I like that the mount might be put in in both portrait or panorama orientations. I don’t like that putting the cellphone into the holder requires two palms to pry these jaws aside.
I additionally like that you may’t see the detachable bolt when the mount is closed and that the complete meeting disappears into the traces of the bike. This not solely seems nice aesthetically, nevertheless it helps to keep away from the eye of thieves. Many metropolis and commuter bikes and e-bikes — however actually not all — are fitted with these normal stem caps. In any other case, the Micro Mount might be connected to the handlebar with a detachable O-ring package.
Loop says the Micro Mount “suits all main telephones,” together with the present crop of heavy ultra-max telephones. The spec sheet says it helps cellphone and case widths as much as 85mm and depths as much as 14.5mm, which ought to make it appropriate for the most important iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S collection.
My solely concern is how effectively these spring-loaded jaws will work over time. The steel mount is heavy within the hand and doesn’t really feel low cost, however we Amsterdammers go away our bicycles parked outdoors yr spherical, the place they’re uncovered to rain, solar, and ice, and undergo a number of abuse when stuffed into parking racks. Loop says the mount is “constructed to resist the weather, making certain sturdiness and reliability in any climate situation.”
The Loop Micro Mount is surprisingly succesful for its measurement and has grow to be my new favourite install-it-and-forget-it bike mount for street use. Its inconspicuous design avoids the eye of thieves, and the mount disappears into the bike’s silhouette till wanted.
Images by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
