This looks like a person at the driver's wheel of a car... and it's scary because it looks like he's about to crash into the bus on the right.

Dooga

Cool in concept, but your options are to take your chances of losing a $200 camera via a big bump, or huge mud puddle. I'm not willing to put my camera at risk like that (His instructions are to leave "1/4 inch of the screw" showing. But after 10 big bumps offroading, will your camera still be there?).

MCWHAMMER

haha, this is one of the geekiest posts I've seen on lifehacker in a long time. And that's saying something, considering this is lifehacker. Can you just imagine someone riding around on their bike trying to take pictures and then crashing over their handlebars into a fire hydrant. hahaha I can't stop visualizing that situation in my head haha

strabes

@Dooga: Bike commuters are a different breed of human that have no regards for their lives. At least, the ones in my town are, we don't have many bike lanes, so they take up roadways at their own risk.

I got scared too when he lunged toward that bus :D

MCWHAMMER

@Charles: Yeah, but it looked like he was busy messing with his camera no doubt, and then had to swerve to avoid the parked bus.

I don't know, we're dissecting a 50 second video here, this is ridiculous.

MCWHAMMER

And I'm still trying to figure out what the big bad scary bus part is -- that black bus at the beginning? It's not even moving?

I'd ridden my bike lane-splitting between cities buses, now THAT'S exciting :-D

Charles

I bike commute through downtown Seattle, and this video looks like some SUPER tame riding, nothing that makes me even slightly nervous.

If LifeHacker/Gawker wants a really exciting video, get me a camera and a handlebar mount, and if it can hang on for the ride, I'll give you a video of 25 mph weaving through rush hour traffic!

Charles

i think he is starting to turn the camera to the right (as shown later) and when he first moves it it's just a little jerky. hes still like 5 feet away from it the entire time.

theRIAA

@Charles: exactly my thought.
I wish more people would use the bike though, and that more cities improve the biking infrastructure. Talking about a lifehack ...

catchmeifyoutry

This just seems like a dumb idea to me. Who in their right mind is going to risk their camera to all the pounding and jarring of a bike ride? Plus, there is nothing really I'd want to film on a bike ride. And you cant aim it. Put the camera in your back pack and stop every once and a while to take a photo.

fleetwood

@fleetwood: Oh my god, are you like this at parties too?

Those of us who have upgraded and/or are camera junkies probably have at least one lower-grade camera we wouldn't mind getting messed up if something awesome came of it. Take a look at camera tossing - cool as hell, but very easy to destroy the camera by flinging it.

DogHead

Followed the link and saw that he mentioned using it on a Critical mass ride.

I'd never heard of it before but it does sound pretty cool. I think I'll try to make one of these and go to the one here in Denver. I have a tiny camera that this would work great for.

Now I just need to look over bicycle laws again and bust out my helmet so I don't get arrested. 5 minutes of research showed me how likely that is to happen. I don't plan on being one of the assholes that disregards the laws. I just want a fun ride through downtown.

egyptomix

I always wondered how Google Earth footage was filmed.

Jim (The Canuck One)

Looks like a great, doable project, but bikes shake a lot. To shoot on a mountain bike trail is better handled by a mount on a backpack strap. The rider and the pack would have more shock absorption.

@ MWHammer. The areas of San Fran in the videos are practically deserted and nowhere near a busy downtown. Also, remember that the camera doesn't show where the rider is looking.

pjarchrn

Are you guys talking about the 2 feet between him and that parked black bus at the beginning? That never made me nervous in the slights.

And I work indoors in front of a computer!

I like the idea though... a lot of shock from the vibration, but whateva'
Bring a ziplock bag or a condom that fits over your camera in case it rains and you should be perfectly fine as far as moisture is concerned.

I'd like to see some links of videos from the bike messenger guys and gals that decide to do this.

thyme3421

Hmm. I made one like 5 years ago that tilts and swivels. I used an old headlight mount:

[backamp.com]

edmenard

This is incredibly cool. Seriously.

Christmas-Tree-Guy

Great idea :) although I would prefer a helmet mounted camera like these reality-tv shows...

qugeist

I'd check to see if my camera mount was plastic or metal. If it were plastic I'd be sure to either a) only use a camera I didn't mind destroying, or b) avoid large bumps, potholes, and offroad use. The cheap plastic threads on most point and shoot tripod mounts are not very strong.

mrknowitall

Almost forgot to say I mounted it on Honda CB 1000 bike.. Cars look funny at speeds 200-220 km/h

bodykit

It's a lot more fun to mount the camera to record what happens behind your back. Have really cool photos from my trips with "ass-camera" :)
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bodykit

I've been using a Gorillapod to do this same thing - however I did not quite trust the 'pod to hold my old Canon SD1000 onto the bike. I used a few zip ties to strap the 'pod onto my handlebars. I recorded a few movies, of road biking, and the quality of the video is still a bit shaky. Was it cool? Yeah, kinda, but riding a paved bike path gets a bit boring unless you like trees whizzing by.

calittle

The action mount for the flip video looks secure and a standard tripod mount. Has anyone tried it?
[www.amazon.com]

stressgal

i tried this with my video camera after reading the article,

reflector clamp $0.25
1/4 bolt screw + 2 wing nuts $1.50
setup time 10 minutes
result: really shaky footage and lots of wind noise

you have to be riding on some pretty smooth pavement to get good footage

fallofsamsara