OK, I've not had the bike long and this is my first how to on this forum, take it easy on me folks.......
After watching my GPS bouncing around at idle on my Buell XB12XT on the run to the Emporium last weekend, I decided it wasn’t going to last long if I didn’t find another way of mounting it. Most aftermarket ‘adventure’ type GPS mounts incorporate some sort of rubber dampers to help protect the GPS from shock and vibration. The good news is that those same rubber mounts are available very cheaply and are easy to fit to most types of existing GPS mounts. The rubber anti-vibration mounts are sold in model shops and also elsewhere as motor / pump isolators for stuff like pressure washers. (loads on ebay). When you buy your mounts make sure their size will give you enough clearance on the back of your GPS cradle for connectors and cables etc.
My GPS cradle has a standard AMPS bolt pattern that uses M4 bolts to attach it to a RAM type mounting plate. TomTom and Garmin use the same mounting pattern for some of their units. I bought four male to male, M4 10mm x 10mm anti vibration mounts for £7.65 posted from ebay I then made a pair of 1.5mm aluminium plates drilled with the four hole AMPS pattern to spread the load as my mount and cradle are made of plastic. You could probably get away with just fitting the anti vibration mounts without the plates.
Unit components
Unit assembled
M4 Anti Vibration mounts
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-pcs-RUBBER-MOUNTS-10mm-Dia-x-10mm-Long-M4-4mm-boat-aircraft-m-m-antivibration-/361222574685?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item541a8b125d
Something else I found recently was that you can get 25mm threaded balls that fit RAM mounts for £1.80 each. When you get them they are shiny and slip around in the mounts, but five minutes with a piece of 80 grit wet and dry paper roughs them up and makes them grip better. The genuine RAM balls are made of some sort of hard rubber and are as a result quite grippy. The balls are glued solid on to the M8 studding I used with permanent stud lock, but you could use any sort of strong glue that remains a bit flexible when it has set.
25mm Ball
http://www.rosscastors.co.uk/25mm-ball-knob-with-an-m8-plastic-moulded-thread.html
Couple of mounts I made
This one is on the Buell XB and is just temporary, I had already ordered a ram mount to fit this 14mm rail, but it won’t be delivered for a couple of weeks. This mount is made of a 25mm threaded ball bolted to a heavy duty cable clip. I used it for the 200 mile round trip to the Emporium last weekend and it worked brilliantly.
This is a double ball adapter (unsanded 25mm ball at top of photo)
Cue jokes about ram balls, double ended, vibration etc………..
