Spaghetti888
New Member
- Region
- United Kingdom
I've seen that there've been some discussions about using sports cams on bikes so here's my solution.
I live in London and regularly see cyclists and motorbikers with them mounted on helmets, obviously to record any incidents. Made sense to me - I have a dual one in my car and I've had more than a few close shaves on my bike to make me think I that it'd be a no-brainer on two wheels too. I really didn't fancy a helmet cam for a number of reasons. Aesthetics for one - it's just me. Secondly, it's rumoured that Michael Schumacher's current predicament was a result of him hitting his Gopro on a rock and puncturing through... Citation needed, but nevertheless, I didn't fancy it. I also wanted to not have to remove it to change batteries or delete files. I didn't want to remove it at all - I wanted to get on my bike and commute an hour and back without fuss. I also wanted front and rear recording so two sports cams were out of the question - two memory cards and who knows how many batteries I would've needed.
I like to tinker with stuff so in the end, I impulse-bought a motorbike DVR - the "Vsysto P6F" from ALI Express.... Full HD (anything more uses more memory anyway) and 300° capture front and back and crucially, with loop recording. Also has a handy WiFi app for file transfer straight to phone or use it as a remote control to take selfies from the bike... At this point, I didn't really know what I'd be doing. I just knew that my ebike battery would have more than enough juice to power it. The DVR unit is mounted inside a dedicated 3D printed enclosure in the frame and runs off a step-down voltage converter that has four USB ports. One powers the DVR. The ebike battery itself has a USB port but puts out a lousy 1A so I added an additional rubberised motorbike USB extension with water cover on the side. The dashcam came with a remote control that allows the rider to lock the clip that's being recorded so I incorporated this into the enclosure design.
The cameras themselves are quite large - the image quality does reflect this. The provided mounts are meant to either adhere or be screwed to a flat surface. I ditched those and 3D printed a mount under the saddle and one for the handlebar extension. I'm hoping to remove the handlebar extension at some point as it's quite cluttered up front so I might make an even more discreet mount.
The DVR unit and cabling is quite robust and heavy - makes sense as it was designed for the rigours of a motorbike. In hindsight I would've gone for a smaller car-based system but then it wouldn't have been as hardy or waterproof. I've actually had the cameras mounted on the bike for several months now and my wife never noticed....
This was my first test run...
I live in London and regularly see cyclists and motorbikers with them mounted on helmets, obviously to record any incidents. Made sense to me - I have a dual one in my car and I've had more than a few close shaves on my bike to make me think I that it'd be a no-brainer on two wheels too. I really didn't fancy a helmet cam for a number of reasons. Aesthetics for one - it's just me. Secondly, it's rumoured that Michael Schumacher's current predicament was a result of him hitting his Gopro on a rock and puncturing through... Citation needed, but nevertheless, I didn't fancy it. I also wanted to not have to remove it to change batteries or delete files. I didn't want to remove it at all - I wanted to get on my bike and commute an hour and back without fuss. I also wanted front and rear recording so two sports cams were out of the question - two memory cards and who knows how many batteries I would've needed.
I like to tinker with stuff so in the end, I impulse-bought a motorbike DVR - the "Vsysto P6F" from ALI Express.... Full HD (anything more uses more memory anyway) and 300° capture front and back and crucially, with loop recording. Also has a handy WiFi app for file transfer straight to phone or use it as a remote control to take selfies from the bike... At this point, I didn't really know what I'd be doing. I just knew that my ebike battery would have more than enough juice to power it. The DVR unit is mounted inside a dedicated 3D printed enclosure in the frame and runs off a step-down voltage converter that has four USB ports. One powers the DVR. The ebike battery itself has a USB port but puts out a lousy 1A so I added an additional rubberised motorbike USB extension with water cover on the side. The dashcam came with a remote control that allows the rider to lock the clip that's being recorded so I incorporated this into the enclosure design.
The cameras themselves are quite large - the image quality does reflect this. The provided mounts are meant to either adhere or be screwed to a flat surface. I ditched those and 3D printed a mount under the saddle and one for the handlebar extension. I'm hoping to remove the handlebar extension at some point as it's quite cluttered up front so I might make an even more discreet mount.
The DVR unit and cabling is quite robust and heavy - makes sense as it was designed for the rigours of a motorbike. In hindsight I would've gone for a smaller car-based system but then it wouldn't have been as hardy or waterproof. I've actually had the cameras mounted on the bike for several months now and my wife never noticed....
This was my first test run...
