Mounting a GoPro on My Brompton with Rixen & Kaul (Plus a Kickstand)

Cycling · Published 11/27/2022 ·

This is my GoPro mounting saga — which I’ve now failed at several times.

Honestly, at this point I’m not even sure what I’m doing. Do I actually want to carry a GoPro, or do I just want to fiddle around? ^^;;

Anyway, I’m trying out a Rixen & Kaul accessory that a friend recommended.

My handlebar is one of those curved jobs that’s gotten a fancy new name — the “M-bar,” or mid-bar. The distance from the stem out to the left and right grips is really short. And here’s something I only just discovered…

It’s never level. There isn’t a single flat section on the thing to begin with.

So, my star player for today: Rixen & Kaul.

Its strengths are a rock-solid grip and the fact that you can mount it pretty much anywhere.

It’s German-made, no less, and the packaging is top-notch.

Here’s part of the manual. Basically, it comes with parts to fit a range of different lengths.

You can mount it just by looking at the pictures in the installation guide.

This is the Trigo product I’d been complaining about. And here’s another thing I learned… Trigo did nothing wrong.

I ended up making the mistake of throwing that part away. The funny thing is, you really have to try a bunch of things before you figure out what actually works.

Poor innocent Trigo ㅜㅜ

While mounting the Rixen & Kaul, I’m once again putting a ton of scratches on my handlebar.

Just like with the grips, I keep doing the same old thing. ^^;;

A few turns with the included hex wrench and it’s clamped down nice and tight.

I have no choice but to mount it right next to the left stem-clamp area. But… that’s exactly where the trouble starts.

It causes interference.

I fixed the Rixen & Kaul piece to the GoPro and tried mounting it.

At a glance I figured there was no problem — at least, that’s what I thought up to this point.

I can even charge it without detaching the mount, and I love everything about it.

The GoPro really chews through battery like crazy. I’ve only got the one battery, so keeping it running is even harder ^^

I have to charge it often.

This is the Rixen & Kaul mount. It locks down at four points, and it’s a genuinely solid setup.

If you give the red lever on the outer edge (in the photo) a firm squeeze with your fingers, the lock releases and you can pop it off easily.

Now I’m going to install a kickstand.

It’s already a pack mule anyway, so I’m not even going to worry about left-right balance.

I got a ratchet wrench ready, but… I didn’t need it at all.

Looks like it’s a product from a place called Mr. T Parts.

And there it is. You just undo it with the hex wrench you got when you bought your Brompton.

A long shaft comes out… and if you look on the left, there’s a washer. When fitting the kickstand, you just leave that one washer off when you assemble it, and it fits perfectly.

Alright, I stood it up. Hm? It stands fine, but… the angle feels way too tight.

From the back, it doesn’t even look like it’s leaning 10 degrees. I was hoping for a stable lean of around 15–20 degrees, but I guess that was asking too much.

I’ll either have to grab that metal arm holding the mount and bend it in further, or cut down that rod and use it that way.

I’ve spent over 100,000 won trying to mount a GoPro and sort out my cockpit, and I still haven’t landed on a setup I’m happy with.

I’ll have to keep tinkering. I want to hang all sorts of stuff on it — a speedometer, the GoPro, a dashcam and so on — but a Brompton is a bike that’s all about folding, so it can’t have any interference when folded. Between all that, it’s turning out to be really hard to come up with a setup I’m satisfied with.

With anything, there are things that work and things that just don’t.

With a road bike, you can mount a Garmin computer, control your front and rear lights, use a radar, and ride in style. But in exchange, you can’t fold it, you can’t take it on the subway on weekdays, and it’s enormously bulky.

A Brompton’s biggest advantage is that, being a folding bike, you can carry it folded onto the subway even on weekdays.

Of course, you shouldn’t use it during the rush-hour commute when it inconveniences other people — and I don’t, either.

I’m putting in the thought, time, and money to combine everything I used to do on a road bike with everything I do on a Brompton, all into this one bike. Not that any of this feels like a hassle or a waste of time, mind you — I’m just doing it for fun.

I’ll tinker a bit more and then make a decision.

Honestly, the odds are high I’ll end up just letting it go.

#브롬톤 #브롬톤P라인 #킥스탠드 #고프로마운트 #릭센카울

Contact: bumseok.view [at] gmail [dot] com