I found dealing with the RC a bit cumbersome when I took the Mavic with me on a motorcyle ride up in the GW National Forest last week so I've rigged up a Ram mount for the Mavic remote and plan to give it a try tomorrow. I'd be interested to hear and see what others have come up with. I won't be leaving it mounted on the bars in rough technical terrain, but for normal dirt roads and such I think it will work out all right. Thoughts?

It seems risky... riding and flying. Follow and Active track still require monitor. With the Mavic only having forward object avoidance sensors ... a gust of wind, change in elevation, etc can easily take out your Mavic.  Mount looks good though, be safe.

devGOD Posted at 2017-2-5 16:17
It seems risky... riding and flying. Follow and Active track still require monitor. With the Mavic only having forward object avoidance sensors ... a gust of wind, change in elevation, etc can easily take out your Mavic.  Mount looks good though, be safe.

Indeed. This will only be for when I'm on unpaved forest roads and off the beaten track and no plans to try to actively control the Mavic while moving at all. It's more just to be able to monitor the AC when running a short active track or follow mode,  and to be able to quickly stop the bike and "Leap frog" the Mavic ahead and set it to a static hover further up the trail or off to one side to catch some action as I go by, stuff like that.  

Jdwyier Posted at 2017-2-5 16:48
Indeed. This will only be for when I'm on unpaved forest roads and off the beaten track and no plans to try to actively control the Mavic while moving at all. It's more just to be able to monitor the AC when running a short active track or follow mode,  and to be able to quickly stop the bike and "Leap frog" the Mavic ahead and set it to a static hover further up the trail or off to one side to catch some action as I go by, stuff like that.

I will be very careful... You don;t want to end up in a ditch while you focus, even for a second, was on the controller...

Be safe...

And of course you have the best bike in the world too

Wow, great ! I pack my RC onto the tank-pack fixed with straps ............. but be careful: first task: drive safely and controlling the Mavic comes last ! Anyway, with Mavic in tracking mode (e.g. profile) You can go max. 20-25 km/h. Best option would be Tracking mode "Spotlight" or position Mavic hovering in front of You at the end of a nice curve, press "record", focus on riding Your marvellous KTM, then stop and steer the Mavic back to You ............. Have fun !

Maybe I'm thinking over cautiously, but because the arms that hold the phone below the controller don't truly lock it in place, if there is a chance that terrain bumps might be a factor, I might be inclined to try to tether the phone to something by more than just friction... just in case.

Thanks. Yep, I suspect I will be doing lots of Spotlight,static hover shots, and not as much follow-me,track shots. Just something to add a dimension to capture some moments with. Maybe put together a story some day.  The KTM has been a good bike in a long line of good bikes. Had it along on some nice rides.

great shots ! thanks for sharing ...................  

I´ll come up with mine once the temps are not deep-freezing any more here in Austria

Looks like one of the most un-safe things I have seen in a while. The LAST thing you need on a motorcycle is a distraction from the road. You might as well be texting with your left hand...

Do what you will, I will not be droning and riding my motorcycles at the same time.

dana5 Posted at 2017-2-6 07:37
Looks like one of the most un-safe things I have seen in a while. The LAST thing you need on a motorcycle is a distraction from the road. You might as well be texting with your left hand...

Do what you will, I will not be droning and riding my motorcycles at the same time.

Jesus do you people ever get tired of being the Safety Police. man o man..

Jdwyier already said how he plans to use it to "Leap Frog" over him for shots.. I think it's a good setup.  Good job and and good luck.

And I'm sure with the bike he has and where he is riding, he knows what he's doing.  Newbies don't go to Colorado for a "Bike Ride"

Irish Posted at 2017-2-6 07:53
Jesus do you people ever get tired of being the Safety Police. man o man..

Jdwyier already said how he plans to use it to "Leap Frog" over him for shots.. I think it's a good setup.  Good job and and good luck.

Thanks.  Yeah, as I had said, I don't have any intention of trying to control the drone while on a moving bike. Having it mounted prevents the controls from being jostled around while the drone is hovering or tracking and puts the controls at hand instantly when I stop.  Regardless, everyone has their own take on risk management. I don't listen to music when riding, others do. I don't fly my drones around towns or cities, others do.  I ride in remote places solo, others don't. We all manage risks our own way.  

Back to topic: Worked pretty well on the test run today! It was nice to be able to glance at the screen and see/setup the shot, know if the drone was still tracking without trying to do a head check, etc.  It's still a work in progress. I want to have something I'm comfortable with and have the kinks worked out before the next big ride to someplace epic.

Great job on the setup. Can't wait to see the videos!

It is kind of risky

Great post - thanks for sharing.  Would love to hear more about your experiences with riding with the Mavic Pro.  I'm headed out on a 6 week ride through Namibia - will be a lot of desert and off-piste riding.  In the past we have used GoPros a lot to film these rides, but I'm seriously toying with taking a Mavic with us this time.  The concerns I have are about how to carry it safely on a bike when riding really rough, hot and dusty terrain, how to charge it when you are out in the middle of nowhere (I see there is a car charger - but is there a way to charge via USB? I have switched my bikes over to USB ports only now), and what about that handlebar mount that you've rigged up?  How well did that work?  What is your advice?

I love how half the commentators here don't credit you with the intelligence to not fly and watch the screen while riding.
I guess that comes from living in a litigious society.

All credit to you for your ingenuity.

Mount looks good!

Looking forward to the footage you get.  I've got an R1200GS Adventure and one of the primary things that drew me to the Mavic was the potential for exactly the kinds of clips you've described.  I've got conventional footage with helmet mounts, under-footpeg-mount, etc., but would like to add something a little more esoteric (the ideal Mavic II for me would be a model with obstacle avoidance in every direction and Active Track that worked up to 60mph or so... would love to have it follow me - or fly in front of me - on a curvy road, just above head height).

Keep us posted!

Where is the footage you got so far?
Hello.... you still with us?

Going to get out for a ride today.  Winds have been really high on the few nice days we've had for riding so far which has kept flight time down. Ran one short test but nothing worthy of posting. Seems like the wind is mild today so we'll see how it goes.

dana5 Posted at 2017-2-6 07:37
Looks like one of the most un-safe things I have seen in a while. The LAST thing you need on a motorcycle is a distraction from the road. You might as well be texting with your left hand...

Do what you will, I will not be droning and riding my motorcycles at the same time.

totally agree!!  these two hobbies don't seem to be very compatible!  Oh well, fly/drone any your own risk..and dont forget to share the video with your insurance company when you auger in!

Airwolf13 Posted at 2017-2-19 05:58
totally agree!!  these two hobbies don't seem to be very compatible!  Oh well, fly/drone any your own risk..and dont forget to share the video with your insurance company when you auger in!

First of all:

Only long-term motorcyclists should comment on this thread ................
Second:

whoever - motorcyclist or not - ever took a glance on the screen of a car-navi-system/smartphone/radio-dashboard (to adjust radio-station)/lit a cigarette/took a longer look at the PAX should reconsider critizism.

Once used to MP RCing and it´s various tracking/follow-modes and confident in his/her RC/smartphone combo the tracking/follow function when riding the bike is activated at standstill and a short look at the screen just confirms one is tracked properly. On a straight open street or when driving slow You might already have seen bikers taking away one hand from the bar to lift the visor or activate one of the many electronic gadgets already built in into new bikes. As well the biker might start in such a case a circling of MP in active track mode.

I understand the KTM-Adventure rider will mostly use his MP offroads as hundreds of mountain-bikers do at the same or even more risk. He takes the risk of driving a motorcycle in proper protection outfit which basically is dangerous (as dangerous as when one walks in any terrain offroads) and "endangers" only himself. He has the right to do so and found a genious way to reduce distraction by mounting the RC to the handle-bar in a proper way ....................   

I got out and shot some footage yesterday despite it being much more windy than predicted.  It's going to be an uphill challenge to get shots solo that I think are interesting. Leap frogging along is time consuming (which is ok as long as you are in the mood to take your time and realize you're more on a drone trip with a motorcycle rather than a motorcycle trip with a drone). The real problem is the static nature of the shots which takes so much away from the overall effect.   

The mount held up fine, but I did take it off and stow it on rougher sections of trail.  I received some foam today to make a nest for the RC/phone in a small tank mounted enduro bag. It may turn out to be the best solution for the type of shots I'm interested in.  I tried active track to add more dynamic interest into the shot but where I live and ride is heavily wooded so that meant keeping the Mavic low inside the tree cover, which was... problematic.  

My next trip out I'm going to head for more open terrain and will attempt to use Litchi for it's ability to set up way point missions quickly on the fly before taking off and incorporate heading mode as well as POI for camera angles.  They will be long shots in order to have some leeway in timing but I will be able to set the cruise speed and let the Mavic fly the route autonomously and hover at the end of it so I can reacquire it and set up the next leg.

One thing is certain; I have now become completely spoiled by shooting with a stabilized camera system. My helmet mounted GoPro footage looks horrendous to me now even after applying some stabilizing affects in post.  It's fine on pavement, but on forest roads? It's down right ugly.  I didn't get any good footage yesterday but I'll throw together a quick and dirty example this evening and post it up. Fair warning though, I'm not going to spend time cleaning it up. It would be crap footage no matter how much time I spent editing it and trying to clean it up. LOL.

Thanks for whatever you post...where was the mp a few years ago.

Speaking of Motorcyling dangers. I did manage to catch a tree branch to the face early in the day. But it didn't have anything to do with flying the drone. I had it on my back when the incident occurred. Anyways, heres a 60 second clip from the day.

The "Incident"


Profound thoughts on the matter.

Your mention of wanting to get better video of the ride itself when in the wood tells me you should put away the GoPro and grab an Osmo.  It is gimbaled, like the MP and you should be able to find a way to mount it to give some really neat stuff.

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2017-2-20 21:24
Your mention of wanting to get better video of the ride itself when in the wood tells me you should put away the GoPro and grab an Osmo.  It is gimbaled, like the MP and you should be able to find a way to mount it to give some really neat stuff.

Probably wouldn't go with an OSMO but they do make some beefier units designed for mounting that I may look into.  Before I go down that road I need to decide if I'll stick with GoPro or jump ship and move to Sony and it's optical stabilization. That combined with a gimble should provide very nice results.

This is a tough in this area to set up shots. Either there is lots of tree cover, or it's high speed dirt and too fast for the drone, or it's going up or down the mountain.  Still learning a little at a time.  Another quick set of clips from yesterday.  Next time out I'll spend more time setting up short waypoint missions. Tried a couple but the one that I thought turned out well I forgot to start recording! *sigh*

Also finding that as mentioned way early on in this thread that many of the routes I enjoy are just too rough on the remote hanging unsupported on the phone.  The foam insert I mocked up to cradle the remote inside my enduro tank bag seems to work well though. Currently running a USB cable to the remote inside the bag up to the phone mounted on the handlebar.

A few snippets from yesterday. I'll get the hang of this thing sooner or later. More likely later... LOL.

Jdwyier Posted at 2017-2-25 08:58
Probably wouldn't go with an OSMO but they do make some beefier units designed for mounting that I may look into.  Before I go down that road I need to decide if I'll stick with GoPro or jump ship and move to Sony and it's optical stabilization. That combined with a gimble should provide very nice results.

This is a tough in this area to set up shots. Either there is lots of tree cover, or it's high speed dirt and too fast for the drone, or it's going up or down the mountain.  Still learning a little at a time.  Another quick set of clips from yesterday.  Next time out I'll spend more time setting up short waypoint missions. Tried a couple but the one that I thought turned out well I forgot to start recording! *sigh*

Great rider, great bike, great vids ! Thanks for sharing ! Take Your time to clean Your Adventure and Your wound scars make bikers even more interesting ......................

Hope to share some of mine soon with You ...............

Can you post a pic of the underside of your RAM mount Mavic RC setup please? Thanx!BTW ... I'm on a 2015 Suzuki 650 Strom. Arctic Circle June/16 .. Baja Oct/16! Ride & fly safe!

Nice , now fly that thing out over a berm and jump it . I'd like to see the video of you flying over the Mavic

rydfree41 Posted at 2017-2-26 11:05
Nice , now fly that thing out over a berm and jump it . I'd like to see the video of you flying over the Mavic

LOL.  That would be an interesting shot for sure! But I'm no Chris Birch

Speaking of Chris Birch - Here's a youtube with what I am sure is some drone footage of him riding a big KTM like mine. He makes it look easy though...

Hey guys, Just found this forum by searching for Mavic RC mounting options. Ive gone wifi only and just used my iphone in a RAM mount it worked ok for short active track shots and just to put it up in the sky for a ride by. Im going to try and find a good RC bike mount for my bike and love the ideas here.

how did you connect the remote to the RAM mount? and is the phone connected to anything or just held by the remote?

Hello

you can mount it using an gopro adezsive mount on the remote, after that you need an RAP-B-202U-GOP2 ram to gopro adapter, then the ram mounting to handlebar parts.







wrote about this on my blog

http://blog.bogdanoproiu.ro/dji-mavic-pro-2

i will make an tutorial soon, about mounting the remote

Here is the video with my Dji Mavic Pro remote mounted to the handlebar

The DJI Goggles would be fun to try with that setup.  Much better view I think.  If your gimbal is pointed more or less forward, you should still be able to steer the bike too.

Irate Retro Posted at 2017-8-9 06:57
The DJI Goggles would be fun to try with that setup.  Much better view I think.  If your gimbal is pointed more or less forward, you should still be able to steer the bike too.

you can ride it like in gta )

Hi all - stumbled across this thread whilst searching for a way to get the RC onto the handlebars of my WR250R (same reason as the OP - want to active track when out in the boonies).  I've seen the tutorial using the GoPro style, was hoping for something a bit more given the off-road terrain I'll be traversing.  I sent the OP a message, but realize it's well over a year ago that this was posted.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.