RAM Mount for my phone and underseat storage

The parts

So, this week a little package from http://www.rammount.com/ came in the post.
It contained some goods I ordered when I ordered the bike. I knew they were going to be late because one of the products on the list wasn't yet in stock.
As I use my Samsung Galaxy S II as a GPS on the bike, I wanted to be able to see it while riding.
My order looked like this:

RAM-HOL-AQ7-2CU RAM AQUA BOX PRO 20 WITH CRADLE $33.33
RAM-B-342U RAM CYCLE STEM BASE WITH 1" DIAMETER BALL $16.59
RAM-B-180U RAM 9MM MOTO ANGLE MOUNT WITH DIAMETER BASE $29.13
RAP-B-224-2U RAM 3" DIAMETER SUCTION CUP W 1" PLAS BALL $11.11

So that's about $ 90 without shipping.
I'll break it up:
RAM-HOL-AQ7-2CU RAM AQUA BOX PRO 20 WITH CRADLE
This is their new "aqua box". The "20" is the larger one, the smaller one only fits very small phones (like some Nokia's, some Blackberries, iPhones, ...). This one fits anything up to the Galaxy S III (which is a bit of a push but it fits without forcing! This means that it's a "lot" bigger than needed for the SGS2, so it could easily fit one that's in a case. It comes with a clip that is attachable to the rest of their product range.

RAM-B-342U RAM CYCLE STEM BASE WITH 1" DIAMETER BALL
This is the part that goes in the stem of the VFR. Little remark on this one: it doesn't really fit the VFR out of the box. But I wasn't going to the regular installation so for me it fitted perfectly.

RAM-B-180U RAM 9MM MOTO ANGLE MOUNT WITH DIAMETER BASE
This is actually a combined item. You can combine some things in one item on their site, and it could save you a couple of $.
1) The most important part of this is the "arm", it's a very very solid piece of metal. I was quite pleasantly surprised as I expected it to be plastic. I could have ordered a shorter arm but this one's actually pretty good.
2) Also important: the ballmount diamond base. This allows to attach various RAM products, such as the Aqua Box.
3) Just a bit extra, because it was just a couple of quid and wanted to keep my options open with the RAM mount, was a ballmount with an "eye", just to mount it on top of a screw for example. Could be useful if I want to install the mount somewhere else.

RAP-B-224-2U RAM 3" DIAMETER SUCTION CUP W 1" PLAS BALL
Again to keep my options open with the RAM mount, a suction cup.

All in all I'm very happy so far with the service, prices (though delivery was steep at over 30% of my order :/) and products. For what it's worth I think they are well worth the money and I wouldn't hesitate to buy again.

Mounting

So, as for the mounting on the stem.
Most remove the plastic "stem cover", I wanted to keep it because I thought it looked better. So I just took the plastic cover and drilled a hole in it. The plastic cover has a couple of plastic flaps that secure it to the inside of the stem, much like the ram mount would do. So what my construction does, instead of trying to "press" itself directly to the stem, it presses those flaps to the stem. As I mentioned before, this also solves the issue that the stem mount is too small for the VFR. The securing was a bit of a hassle, but it's only a one-time deal. The trick is to get it as tight as possible, jam it in the stem (some force may be required ;)) and then try and get it tighter still.
Mine is absolutely secure and would need an allen/hex key to be removed.

VFR1200 RAM Stem Mount

VFR1200F RAM Mount with arm

VFR1200F RAM Mount without case

VFR1200F RAM Mount with aqua box pro

Top view

Verdict and use

 It's actually a lot bigger than I anticipated, which is the only bad thing I can say about it. It's actually more my fault than the mount :). When mounted like this in the stem, and then put in portrait mode (as I like my GPS best),  it covers the entire tach. I don't really mind actually, I'm used to the bike and the tach really isn't necessary then, especially when you have a gear indicator. 

As you can see, it's pretty high up. This is due to a combination of the arm, and the positioning of the attachment on the case. It's ok for me as it clears the tank bag, without the tankbag I can flip it 180° and it's a lot more recessed, only downside then would be that the key isn't as reachable. This is perfect though if riding without a tankbag:

When riding, even with the arm and mount fully "stretched", it doesn't move at all, no vibrations, nothing. Operation through the plastic is a breeze, never would've thought it would be that easy. As said before, it's quite a lot bigger than needed for my SGS2. But the S2 is a very slim profile phone. If you have a thicker phone (like a BB Torch) or use a protective case ony almost any phone, this'll fit and then some. I have no doubt in my mind that this can fit 2 SGS2's. In fact, I'll put my wife's SGS2 in tonight as well to show you. So, a bit of space and a nice case, handy for a bit of cash, an extra battery,...

Underseat storage

A little note about the underseat storage, well, I fit a luggage net , a disk lock (a huge Detecto 8000, one of the biggest disk locks you can find nonetheless) and now the RAM mount there:

VFR1200F underseat storage

So, in short, I can very much recommend RAM and their products, the mount is great and very versatile, installation took me about 30min (1h30 if you add in the "test ride" ;)).

Disc Lock

Little update re security.
I've got a Granit Detecto 8000 which I found to be brilliant on the VFR.
It actually looks good (not that that matters but hey...), it fits over the front disks easily and fits under the seat no problem. It does however not fit on the rear disc.
However, I lost it this week and I thought I opted for the one with the additional chain:

Now, I thought that was brilliant, very practical and because you can loop it through for example a ground anchor, it is actually very long. On a "normal" chain you can only use half the length as you have to make a full circle, on this you can use a lot more.

Anyway, I tried to fit it and... it doesn't. It's hard to describe but let me just say that the part that goes through the disc lock is in the way for fitting it properly. I just wanted to give this heads up, so that you don't have to go back to the store like me.
So a little tip: try and fit it at the store if possible, or in front of it when you purchase it so you can return it immediately. Tbh looking at the design I think there's a lot of bikes it won't fit. The VFR is on the "ok" list for the disc lock, but there's no way it'll fit with the attached chain.

So, I'll go back to the store and just get the disc lock without the chain.

VFR1200F purchase and plans.

Hi,

I've created this blog to share my experiences with my new Honda VFR1200F.
To begin, I'm not a regular blogger, nor a professional writer or reviewer. I'm also not a native English speaker, so if you happen to see an error or weird turn of phrase, don't hesitate to point it out to me as I'm happy to correct it.

Now, I've only been a "biker" since 2011 as the visits to my customers became more and more cumbersome in traffic, and the "freedom" of riding a motorcycle has always appealed to me. Also, I'm now 26, have owned a couple of cars (7), I felt I was also mature enough not to kill myself within the week.
So I had to chose a bike that would do about 500km/week, or a good 25k km/year, not to powerful, some weather protection, and not to expensive.

That landed me on my first and current bike, a CBF600SA (S= half faired, A= ABS). It has done well for me, have had to drop it couple of times (luckily at slow speeds or even standing still), but suffered minimal damage during the process. The bike was great overall, returned good mileage: 5,5l/100km or 18km/l, had a little under 80hp so as someone new to biking it felt very fast, my only gripes I'd say is that the chain does require regular maintenance when doing those kinds of miles, and two-up you could really feel the "lack" of power. (I use "lack" very loosely here as it would still be faster than most cars, it still picked up speed pretty well).

Come 2012. I've always lusted after the VFR800 when I was looking for my first bike, but I thought, I'd get something cheap with not that many miles and sell it on and get myself a VFR800 after half a year. Well, almost a year has passed and I started to look for a bike. Looking at my options I saw that a new one wouldn't be too bad a deal, but what bike? Well I had some new requirements, as a new one would mean that I can't sell it after a year, losing too much of it's value. My new requirements:

• Fast, also fully loaded two-up
• Good weather protection
• Looks good
• Not too big a footprint as I have limited space to place it, ruling out most tourers that can't fold their mirrors
• Reliable
• Shaft drive

So, my list quickly got narrowed down to the K1300S and the VFR1200F. Up close, the VFR somehow looks a lot more expensive than the BMW, and when I saw the deals I could have on the VFR, the cashback I could get for the CBF and the 3-year (no miles limit) warranty we get on it, I decided to go for it.

I could get very decent deals on the MY2010 (there was no MY2011 afaik), but in the end I decided to go for the 2012 for a couple of reasons*, most of all traction control. As it's a significant power hike, about 120% more power. (that would be like going from my 159 to a 911 Turbo)

So, almost a month ago I placed my order. The bike would be here in two weeks, but it still isn't (I'm not too happy about it although the weather is pretty shit so that's ok). So I really hope I can pick it up this week.

Here, I will try and tell my stories, experiences and share pictures on a regular basis.

The bike I ordered:

2012 VFR1200FC

• 6-speed manual
• Black
• Heated grips
• Screen spoiler
• Centre stand
• Rear hugger (yes, I do find it preposterous that the latter two are optional extra's)

Some extra's I'm deciding on:

Panniers:

I didn't order the luggage yet, but after doing some reading up I'm going to fork out he cash for the original panniers, based mostly on the fact that there are no racks required for them and I've heard they are very well made and very easy to attach/detach. Also, at 2x29l, they'll be sufficient for the weekend out. The original panniers' list price is 900 €.

Top case:

I'm not going to get one right away, but if we go touring for longer than a weekend I think I'll go for the GIVI MAXIA 3 E55 Tech. As, if the panniers aren't sufficient, I'll want a LOT of space, and the regular case is just pretty small (31l iirc) and very expensive (750€ incl bracket). The GIVI, giving me a lot more space, is 450€ incl bracket.

Tank bag:

Well, I've made the mistake of getting me a cheap magnet bag for my CBF600 and, while it was a brilliant bag, it scratched my tank pretty bad, so I'm not going to repeat that mistake. Also, since most of the VFR's tank is the plastic fairing covering it, it wouldn't work anyway. Now the original bag is only 120€, and that's also a small one, but I have a couple of problems with that one:

1. It's VFR1200F specific, so no putting it on other bikes
2. No map holder
3. At 7L, it's very small
4. If you get a tank ring, you can get several bags for it

So I looked at a couple of tank ring solutions and decided I'll probably go for a GIVI T489 Tanklock (see a theme here?) as they are pretty cheap and you have some choice.

GPS

So, the standard navigation was about 450€. But I've got a perfectly fine Samsung Galaxy S2 that I'll go and get a holder for. I ended up at ram-mounts, their Aqua Box in combination with a stem base mount seems like a winner. The total will be about $70 + shipping.

Anyway, as you can see and as any biker will understand, I'm very eager to have a go!

* 2012 changes summed up on this VFR owner's blog.