Re: Cell Phone Mount for Accessory Bar
If you're a DIY kind of person, you can make your own accessory bar mounts. I have ball mounts at several different points on the bike to accommodate different devices, or to give me the option to move a device around if I want it in a different spot.
As far as the ball mount goes, it's mostly made from standard hardware store stuff: A u-bolt, 1/4" acorn nuts, a piece of 1" x 1/4" aluminum, a piece of 1/2" aluminum tubing, and a 1/4"-20 bolt. The 1" ball came from McMaster-Carr; my hardware store doesn't carry them. The bolt threads through the aluminum plate, through the aluminum tube, and into the ball. JB Weld is spread on the threads to lock it all together. Once it dries, it's never coming apart. If you look under the aluminum plate there's what looks like a section of tubing; that's what it is. It's just a piece of 1/2" ID tube, reinforced with epoxy putty and sanded. The section of tubing helps grip the accessory rail so you don't have to overtighten the acorn nuts that hold the mount to the rail. I spread a thin layer of E6000 cement on the surface of the tubing section that contacts the rail, for additional grip. I put some sections of heat shrink tubing on the u-bolt for the same reason, to help it grip. I've been making ball mounts like this for several years, and they work great. They are compatible with the RAM socket mounts. I spread a thin layer of that same E6000 on the inside of the RAM socket mounts for extra gripping strength.
The other mount is a different type, and I made it to mount our riding mascot to the accessory rail. It's simply a couple pieces of 1/4" ABS sheet plastic, glued together into a block. I then bored a hole through the center of the block with a 1/2" spade bit, and cut the block in half. That makes two pieces, each with a half circle cut out. Holes were drilled down through both blocks. The aluminum piece on the bottom was tapped for two screws. The aluminum part at the top of the mount is so the mascot can slide on and off the mount, and the top and bottom aluminum pieces strengthen the plastic block. Put the two pieces around the accessory rail, thread the screws down through the block into the tapped holes in the lower aluminum piece, and tighten it up, and it's on. It grips very securely.
A couple years ago I made my own cell phone mount out of aluminum and plastic, because I wanted one that would be really durable over the long term. So far, it's still going strong.
I did find that for anything mounted to the accessory rail, you really should have some sort of support system in place, or else the vibrations can be excessive. A member on here, Propsoto, made a really nice set of support arms that I installed on my accessory bar. They work perfectly, and the accessory rail is solid as a rock when you're riding.
