I picked up a ContourGPS cam (
http://contour.com/camera/contour_gps) this week to shoot video of group rides, track events, and general shenanigans. It's an awesome camera with a bunch of features I like more than the GoPro I've used before, but they slack pretty heavily on giving you suitable mounting options right off the bat. GoPro isn't honestly much better, and it is tough to find a good spot on a naked bike to mount that awkward brick of a camera.
So Contour makes a rollbar mount that would probably work pretty well for fork mounting, but it's rather spindly and they want $50 for what is essentially a hose clamp and an articulating arm.
Turns out I know where else to buy hose clamps for a lot cheaper, and I can machine something a bit sturdier than that arm without too much trouble. I took a piece of 3/4" aluminum round stock and 1 1/2" x 1/8" flat stock aluminum I had in the basement to build an uber rock solid mount.
Here's the recipe:1 Fernco 2" rubber pipe joint (comes with two hose clamps)
~5" of 1 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum flat stock
~2" of 3/4" aluminum round stock
2 split ring lock washers
2 flathead machine screws
red threadlocker
Using a vice and a long handled adjustable wrench I slowly bent the aluminum flat stock. Then I drilled and tapped the round stock on both ends to match the machine screws. Drilled and countersunk the holes in the flat stock ends, then assembled the whole shebang with lock washers and red threadlock at the joints. Used the Fernco fitting (which I cut out about an inch of to allow it to slip over and tighten down on the forks) and hose clamps to strap it to the bike, and voila, ready to stick on the Contour rotating mount.
The design allows me to slide the mount up and down the fork for adjusting height, flipping it inside the fork for a more centered view (there is just enough clearance that it won't hit the fender under full compression), and the Contour mount rotates to adjust the angle relative to the ground.
Final cost was about $6, it would be probably $20 if you don't have aluminum stock handy (shame on you). You would be left with enough material to make about 8 more of these if you were so inclined.
And the final result -
I'll post photos of the camera mounted and video once the weather here stops sucking.
