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Varia RTL 500 - Extended Mount ?

Hi,

Recently installed a dropper and all the real estate reserved for the regular Varia mount is gone, taken by the dropper's cassette right down the center with only about half an inch of usable seatpost available to strap something. Under the saddle I have a bag which I don't like moving.

I have a question - what would be the best solution in order to extend the radar a bit further back?

So far I have the following combo based on online searches but I fear it'll mount vertically or won't match at all:

K-Edge Go Big On-Center Mount and a Garmin quarter turn friction mount...

I'd really appreciate any ideas. Thanks! ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1465950.png ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1465951.png

0 JRat1 over 5 years ago

Here are a couple of photos of my version 2 saddle mount for the radar (version 1 uses a wrist strap as shown in another thread). It's made from a light saddle mount which clamps on the saddle rails onto which I screwed and glued a standard quarter turn mount (sold for fitting onto a stem top similar to this). The radar sits a bit lower than I would like as it's slightly obstructed by a bag I carry on the rack so I'm planning a version 3 with a spacer between the saddle mount and the quarter turn mount which will move the radar out and upwards so the top is at the level of the top of the saddle. Or maybe I make a mount to go on the back of the rack. The easiest fix is a bolt through the reflector although this would partly block the reflector (not a big issue when it's covered by a big flashing light!).ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1466908.jpg

0 GeorgeB778 over 5 years ago

Thank you, JRat1! That is quite a well thought placement! I'll give it a try!

0 JRat1 over 5 years ago

Here's my version 3 saddle mount using the saddle light mount plus a stem cap mount (see links I posted above) joined with a steel mending plate bent to the required Z shape. It raises the radar a couple of inches compared to my version 2 mount.
ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1468849.jpg

0 dbgeo over 4 years ago

After few rainy days and lots of thinking...here is my setup inspired after all the great ideas from this forum and especially the posts above, hopefully it'll help someone in a similar situation.
Used the supplied Garmin Seat-post Quarter Turn Mount For Varia, 010-10644-11 with no mods ( even thought about cutting it in half ).

The pouch has a plastic backing where I've made an incision and inserted half the mount in one side then drilled a hole in the other side in order to secure it with the screw.

Holds surprisingly solid, doesn't bounce around and has a clear view for back traffic - I'll be sure to take it off while doing off road biking :)ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1481361.jpg