Bicycle telephone mounts have been an everyday a part of my life in bike-obsessed Amsterdam ever since 2008, once I bought my first telephone 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 might 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 increase its jaws to assist information me into locations unknown. It held my iPhone 15 Professional securely on all forms of on- and off-road terrain, with or with out my present telephone case.
I connected the Loop Micro Mount to my mountain bike to check its limits. It’s designed and advisable for street use, however even commuters should 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 telephone into the filth as soon as once I bought knocked off my bike. These spring-loaded rubber-lined jaws will maintain your machine 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 within the field for that goal. I like that the mount will be put in in both portrait or panorama orientations. I don’t like that inserting the telephone into the holder requires two fingers to pry these jaws aside.
I additionally like which you could’t see the detachable bolt when the mount is closed and that the whole meeting disappears into the strains of the bike. This not solely seems to be nice aesthetically, but it surely helps to keep away from the eye of thieves. Many metropolis and commuter bikes and e-bikes — but certainly not all — are fitted with these normal stem caps. In any other case, the Micro Mount will be connected to the handlebar with a removable O-ring kit.
Loop says the Micro Mount “matches all main telephones,” together with the present crop of heavy ultra-max telephones. The spec sheet says it helps telephone and case widths as much as 85mm and depths as much as 14.5mm, which ought to make it appropriate for the largest iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S sequence.
My solely concern is how properly these spring-loaded jaws will work over time. The metallic mount is heavy within the hand and doesn’t really feel low-cost, however we Amsterdammers go away our bicycles parked outdoors 12 months spherical, the place they’re uncovered to rain, solar, and ice, and endure numerous 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 dimension and has change into 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