All of our mounts are born out of a desire from someone in the cycling community. Over time the mounts have changed in no small part from the feedback from our customer base. Suggestions and problems lead to new and better solutions that everyone benefits from.
Recently we started posting surveys to capture more specifics related to the desire of the majority. This page captures the results and the impacts of those decisions and expands on the reasons for each survey. They also describe the impact the community has had on the products available on this website.
This survey asked whether we should design mounts or adapters for the Garmin Varia RCT715.
Begun July 2022 - November 2022
The Garmin Varia RCT715 is a new model radar, camera, and light that is much bigger and heavier than all previous Varia systems. It weighs 2-4x more than previous models, is much bigger, lacks image stabilization, and uses a proprietary connection that is different from all previous Garmin devices. Before we invest in developing a commercial solution, we want to gauge the interest in the new radar.
Approximately 46% voted for a new mount, 37% didn't want the RCT715 at all, and 17% wanted an adapter of some kind.
This survey asked whether we should include the straight Gopro extensions in the kit or make them an optional add-on.
Begun May 2022 - July 2022
Including the plastic extensions is done for convenience. However, some customers complained that we added them unnecessarily and raised the pricing as a result. We have also had cases where some people using them broke these extensions and were disappointed. Others insisted that we included metal ones which would raise the price even more. Relying on inexpensive 3rd party mount parts can potentially result in a unfavorable view of our products since customers won't necessarily know we don't make them ourselves.
Over 55% of respondents wanted us to stop including the extensions.
This survey asked whether we should use lock nuts or regular nuts with thread locker. The former is harder to assemble and the latter is easier but messier.
March to May 2022
Regular nuts and screws are much easier to assemble, but we still had random reports of a screw falling out. Putting together the mount with lock nuts is definitely more difficult, but also much more secure with virtually no chance of self-loosening.
Over 90% of respondents wanted lock nuts.
This survey asked whether we should include disposable hex wrenches in the kit along with, or in addition to, thread locker (aka Loctite).
January to March 2022
It seemed wasteful that we included steel items when most ended up in the trash or weren't used. However, we also wanted to ensure that we included everything necessary to install the mount and didn't want to assume that customers had these. The thread locker was added because of customer feedback that a screw loosened despite our instructions suggesting using a thread locker.
The 80% of respondents agreed that the hex wrenches were unnecessary and 60% thought the thread locker should always be included. We also determined that about 40% of our customers never open the thread locker we supply.