Let me add a disclaimer here.  There are many people that are opposed to  this kind of thing.  Like many things, safety depends on how something like this is used.  Do I plan on having conversations on the phone during my commute? Nope. But it sure would be nice to be able to answer a call in case of an emergency, or easily tell someone I’m running late without having to pull over, take off my gear, and place the call.

How about GPS? I’ve seen the TomTom Rider, but it’s $650, bulky, and I already have the TomTom iPhone app.  With either one, it would be dangerous to manipulate while riding.  Pulling over before trying to change your route is the wise thing to do (in a car too), but especially on a motorcycle.

Finally, I really want to listen to music when I ride.  It really isn’t dangerous on the freeway, since there is wind noise anyway. I wear earplugs,(Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER•20 High Fidelity Earplugs) to save my hearing and I have some headphone speakers mounted in my helmet. The problem is, I have to start my music, put my iPhone in my pocket, and have no way to stop the music, let alone skip songs.  Since my commute is 95% freeway, it hasn’t been a problem, but I wanted something more.

Next, I looked at power solutions.  I’ve asked Santa for a J&M Bluetooth Headset, and I know that will suck down the power.  I almost purchased a Pashnit iPhone Harness, but realized the dock connector plug would be too big for the Biologic mount.  I could have used one of their mini-USB harnesses, a “USB type A Female to USB type Mini B Female Adapter”, and then a standard Apple USB cable, but decided to make a harness myself.  As it turns out, the former option may be slightly better, but I’ll get into that later.

I headed to Radio Shack and purchased the Y adapter, accessory cable, mini fuse holder, 10A fuses, and a pocket multimeter.  (I could have used one many times over the past few years, so this seemed like a great time to pick one up.)

Also, I got my Biologic mount in the mail, and I was excited to see if it would work as planned.  If not, my plans were foiled!

I proceeded to install the mount, and had to play around with the location; ensuring that I would have full turning range of the handlebars, not block my view of the cluster, and the phone could rotate if needed. Ultimately, I found that I will not be able to ride with the phone in portrait view or I would risk it making contact with the fuel tank... but that’s OK. Oh, and don’t over-tighten the mount.  You want to be able to adjust your screen. It’ll still be very sturdy.

I had wanted to install the mount more to the left, however, I realized that if the mount was in the airstream and unprotected by my (small) windscreen, water could be forced into the mount when it rains.  I did a few tests with the hose, and the case is not as waterproof as I would have hoped.  It’s “weather-proof”, and although I feel that the silicone seals are good, they could be better.  A catch-22 is that I think the pressure of the phone inside the case helps keep water out, but that’s hard to test. I am fairly confident that in it’s current location, there won’t be any water intrusion, and I could always pull over and put the phone away in case of rain. We’ll see.

A bit more about the mount... I think the build quality is very good.  The clear film on the screen allows touches to be passed even with leather gloves on. Your mileage may vary. If your gloves don’t work with the iPhone, perhaps try this: DIY Touhscreen Gloves . There is a hole for the camera, but my mounting location precludes recording of the ride... that would be pretty cool, and may work on some motorcycles.  There is a rubber stopper to plug the power hole if it’s not in use. And when it is, you can put the plug in a hole... it’s connected by a “leash”.  You cannot access the volume, but rubber passthrough buttons allow the top button to work, and the headphone jack is useable with a silicone plug.

Now, all I need to do is make my power cable and install it.

First, let’s check the polarity of the accessory cable.  The positive lead should be the enclosed one, but just in case.... a negative number would indicate it’s installed backwards.

Nope...it’s correct!

Time to cut up the Y-adapter, determine the polarity, and solder on the fuse holder.

Just a note... the Cold Heat soldering iron doesn’t work well with thicker wires.  It doesn’t have the umpphh to heat up the wire and allow the solder to flow.  Heating up the solder only and allowing it to harden on the wire will result in a “cold joint” that is brittle and unreliable. It won’t look pretty either.  I switched to a traditional soldering iron, and used heat shrink tubing on the wires.

And the final product.  Afterwards, I decided to seal the connected lighter adapter and USB plug with hot glue, to keep out moisture.

It was at this point that I realized a small problem.  The USB adapter is directly wired to the battery.  I put my multimeter inline with the battery and found this harness draws 25 mA of current when not in use.  That’s not too bad.  My research concluded that a 50 mA key-off battery drain on a vehicle is about the most you want. I’m not sure what the parasitic drain of the Monster’s cluster is, with it’s flashing LED, but I’m assuming it’s not much. (And I didn’t want to take off the fuel tank to get to the battery and find out.)

Now, I could have added a switch to the cable, but decided to leave it as-is, and simply disconnect the harness if my bike is sitting for an extended period.  I’ll probably leave it plugged in during my work day.  I’ll post an update if it causes problems.  Luckily, the Monster 696 has a battery voltage display, so I can monitor the drain, if any.

Almost done! Just have to take off the tank cover, route the wire, use some zip ties to secure everything, and put it back together!  Enough writing, let’s explain in pictures:

Taking off the tank cover only requires removing a few screws. It slides backwards to remove.

Decide how you want to route the wire.

See the fuse adapter? Barely noticeable.

Didn’t want the adapter to bounce around. Zip-tied to fuel tank mount.

Accessory adapter, also fairly out of the way.

The charging cable is just visible through the frame, but I liked the mounting location.

I routed the white wire with the others.

I zip tied the excess cable and pushed it up under the dash.

And finally, some shots of the functioning mount with the iPhone being powered:

Costs: 

Dahon Biologic iPhone Mount: $59.99

Belkin Micro Auto Charger: $24.95

Inline Fuse Holder: $3.59

Accessory cable: $7.09

10A Fuses: $2.39

Vehicle Power Y-Adapter:$7.99

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Total: $106 (+ shipping and tax)

Well, that’s it!  Please ride safe!

Please leave a comment, if you have any! Perhaps there are some ideas to improve upon the design.

UPDATE: Here’s a video of the mount in action!