GeorgePatton

I'm thinking of buying a Gopro or something similar to record my road bike rides. Has anyone done this before and/or have any recommendations on which way to go with this? I think mounting the camera on my helmet would be best? I saw some cameras for half the cost of Gopro's on Amazon. Are they just as good?

Litespud

I bought one of those little cube-like GoPros - Hero 5 I think. Filmed a few rides with a handlebar mount. Utterly boring video, as it turned out. Also, wind noise was an issue. I think if you want to make good cycling video, then that has to be the sole purpose of the ride - just sticking a camera on your bike or helmet and going for a regular ride will produce monotonous low-quality footage. Sure, it’ll record the ride, but it won’t be a very compelling vid (unless you’re riding through some spectacular landscape)

atwl77

Recording for entertainment purposes (vlogging, cycling video, etc), or strictly for documenting the ride (e.g. insurance, reporting)?

pdlamb

If you just want something to document your potential demise, it needs to be terribly simple. Plug it in after every ride and push a button at the beginning of a ride is likely all you'll put up with (after the new box smell wears off).

If, on the other hand, you want to create thrilling documentaries and inspire millions, good luck. Start by getting something to play with. Invest in a newer, faster computer (unless you're already a semi-pro gamer). Invest some more in video editing software. Take some cinematography classes at USC, UCLA, or on-line. You'll want to make sure you have a superb music library, and then get an account with one of the music licensing firms so you can use all that music in your videos. Again, good luck!

waters60

Spot on. High quality video can be an expensive endeavor!

tkamd73 

Wait, your goona go on a bike ride, record it, and watch it again, or even worse, make someone else watch it? Why not just go on another bike ride? I think I’d rather watch golf, just as boring. But what do I know, maybe your planning some screaming descent down the Pyrenees, which would be fun just for the crash potential. It could also be useful for recording licenses plates of the cars cutting you off. or the one that hits you. I guess in today’s world you do see quite a few people with little cameras on their helmets, but they are usually doing something a bit more risky, say skydiving, mountain climbing, skiing, whitewater kayaking, or bungee jumping. I guess riding on a busy highway would also count, seems risky enough, have fun!
Tim

BobbyG

I mostly bike commute and have been recording my rides for years. The goal remains the same, to document trouble, just in case. But in 6 years I have not had any sort of serious trouble in traffic, or the in the 28 years I have been seriously bike commuting, or since I started bike riding as a kid in Chicago in the 1960s, even though I should have ended up as a smudge on Lincoln Avenue the way we rode so irresponsibly in traffic the way kids do.

What I mostly learned from the camera is how I reacted to rude and aggressive drivers, and it wasn't pretty. Reviewing my rides made me more tolerant and relaxed when riding. What looked like close calls, weren't really so close. Adrenaline has a way of distorting one's perception of time and space, and how we remember incidents.

In reviewing the videos I also occasionally saw better ways to deal with riding on certain streets, and the traffic patterns of various locations.

Since my goal is to document my rides in the event of trouble, I decided mounting the camera on my hemlet works best for that goal. It is always pointing where you are looking, so that if something is happening off to the side, you can point the camera, just by lookling. Also, your body acts as a shock mount for the camera.

Early on I tried mounting the camera on the handle bars and behind me on a pole, but I fond the helmet mount has worked best for me and my goals.

I also experimented with multiple camera positions including hand-held poles off to the sides and in front. While that makes for good variety, the editing process can get very time consuming, and I'd have to stop riding to change camera positions. And I was thinnking too much about the camera and not enough about the ride.

If I could find a good way to mount a rear-facing camera that could easily go from bike to bike, I'd like to do that for documenting purposes.

I have been using a Contour Roam, which was good in its day, especially the rotating lens and battery life, but Contour seems to be a shell of its former self. The battery of my unit is not long for this world, so I have been looking around and I like the "Drift Ghost" series of cameras, they are small and light, and it looks like some of the models have the ability to preview on one's smartphone...and the battery is removable, which means I could carry extra batteries for long rides. And when the battery does get old, a new one could be purchased.

Even though my goal is documenting trouble, one nice benefit is editing and saving the nice and memorable rides to enjoy and share. The key word is EDIT.

Here they are...

https://www.youtube.com/user/bgvideo62/playlists

Good luck...let us know what you chose.

Here's on of my favorite ride videos:

chaadster

There are plenty of cheap action cams out there, and while finding something that records in comparable quality to GoPro isn’t hard, the real trick is in finding something with software to make managing and editing the footage a tolerable experience. I think GoPro has pretty good software that makes knocking out watchable vids pretty easy, plus integration with other apps, so for anyone other than a hardcore geek or pro vid editor, the premium for GoPro is worth it, IMO.

Daniel4

No matter what you're looking at, pay attention to the little details:

1) batteries, how long does one charge last? One hour isn't a long time so it's a hassle changing or charging the battery. Does it have or come with a separate battery charger? My Kaiser Baas doesn't. I have to use the camera to charge the battery. And it takes longer to charge the battery than the duration of the battery charge.

2) settings, does it retain the date and timestamp when you change the battery? What a hassle to reset the date and time everytime you change batteries.

3) Resolution, can it read car license plates? You never know when your recreational joyride may turn into an incidence with a bad driver.

sean.hwy

I would probably go with 360 camera on my helmet.

Miele Man

Some people like to record their rides or portions of their rides to share with others or to watch later. It's no different than in the old days when people filmed things. The big difference today is that the cameras are much smaller and you don't have to send a film a way for processing. I have a sister who can't ride anymore and she really enjoys looking at images of places I've ridden to or things I've seen. I'm following this thread with interest because the one I started on the Electronics forum where I asked about video cameras was stillborn.

Cheers

wsteve464

I have a GoPro Hero 7 the battery is good for about an hour. Also they use a lot of memory space even when recording other than 4K video, a 128 GB card is good for 4 hours. I carry a small auxiliary battery, Anker brand, and plug it into the charge port on the side. You can change batteries but it is a PITA to dismount the camera, take it out of the mounting case and pull the battery.

Most of the time I use it on the bike I just delete the recordings. The camera is capable of some reasonably high quality images, there are editing programs that can pull stills from the videos. Or you can use it like a regular camera and take stills. Mostly if I see something I like I'll pull over and point the camera at it and video it and pull the stills when I get home.