F3 Cycling FormMount – Bicycle Computer Mount

ASSEMBLY & INSTALLATION

My daughter’s Cervelo R5 is a 51cm frame which she likes her setup to be a slammed -17°stem. This causes extremely tight cable routing, so much so that we had to mount her head unit onto the stem.

The main problem with mounting the head unit on the stem is that she hits her chin on the head unit when descending in a tucked position, so I have been looking for a good solution to solve this problem.

After completing a test on the PowerPod power meter, John Marsh of Road Bike Rider asked if I wanted to test the FormMount. Based on his description of the mount, this seemed like it might be the perfect solution.

So, after unpacking the FormMount, I laid everything out on the workbench.

The FormMount was very easy to assemble and the directions were straight forward. But that’s where it kind of ended.
There were 2 sets of different length headset cap bolts.

One set short, one set long. I started with the short.

Unscrewing the top 2 head cap bolts, I mounted the unit in the ‘up’ position. She looked at it and said way too high.

Taking everything back apart again, I mounted in the ‘down’ position. Height-wise better, but now the unit was so close to the stem cap that we couldn’t mount the Bryton GPS head unit.

So, I removed the FormMount and took it completely back apart, this time assembling it with the longer bolts. So, back onto the stem.

This time, I again mounted in the ‘down’ position using the top stem cap bolts. Completely interfered with the cables. So, again, I took everything back apart and reattached the cap to the stem.

Maybe the third time is that charm? Next, I unscrewed the bottom stem cap bolts and mounted the FormMount in the ‘up’ position. This worked perfect (see picture to the right).

PROBLEM

When tightening the M5 bolts, both ‘arms’ wanted to turn causing the whole unit to twist and lean sideways. After several attempts at tightening, I finally resorted to holding each ‘arm’ with a pair of channel lock pliers. This worked, but scuffed up the arms. One final check with the torque wrench and channel locks and the FormMount is straight and set to 4nM.

HOW DID IT WORK?

There are 2 insert mounts that come with the unit, one for Garmin and one for Wahoo. Turns out that the Bryton 310 works perfectly with the Garmin insert.

For the photos below, the left photo shows a BEFORE and the right photo AFTER.

BEFORE: Since the cabling is so tight on the Cervelo, the only place to mount the Bryton was on the stem. There is just enough room to mount the PowerPod but it is not an ideal location since the cables want to block the front of the PowerPod.

AFTER: Mounting the GPS head unit onto the FormMount really cleaned up the cockpit. With the optional GoPro mount, I was able to mount the PowerPod under the Bryton.

ALMOST

The FormMount almost hits the nail on the head. Except for its share of small issues, it’s a pretty good product. Some of the drawbacks I have experienced follow;

1. The current version has no tilting adjustability. Depending on stem angle, your head unit will be best case level or worst case tilted down and away from view. I have heard that F3 cycling is working on a new model to correct this issue.
2. Hopefully. After reading this review, you won’t have to spend as much time and effort to get the FormMount installed in the best location. It was a real pain reconfiguring the stem 3 different times.
3. When applying final 4nM of torque to the FormMount bolts, the arms move causing the FormMount to be at a sideways angle. Use a pair of channel locks or pliers to hold the arms when tightening.
4. Can only be used with 4-bolt stem caps AND those with parallel bolt axis. A minor issue since most stems come in a rectangular 4-bolt pattern.
5. Stems must be M5 bolts. Again, most stems already come with this size bolt.
6. With the basic FormMount coming in at $59.95, this seems a little costly since you will probably want to add a GoPro mount or the phone component.
7. Only 2 mounts are available, Garmin and Wahoo.

SUMMARY

I’m sure the pricing seems a little high especially since handlebar mounts typically range from $15.00 (Lezyne) – $30.00 (Garmin). Even the BarFly ranges from $40-$60. For $60 you get a road mount that includes inserts for Garmin, Wahoo, Magellan, Cateye, Bryton and Joule head units. You also get the GoPro camera mount included as well as a Di2/EPS mount.

On the plus side, mounting a unit using the stem bolts really does free up the handlebar. The FormMount can be configured in any of 4 positions; two using the top stem bolts and two using the lower stem bolts.

With its use of over-molded stainless-steel arms, the FormMount is SOLID. Its unique design allows the arms to adjust to stem cap bolt distances from 16mm-41mm!

In its current configuration, it’s useful for those special purpose solutions like with my daughter’s bike.

I mentioned ALMOST before. I think they almost hit the nail on the head. I think this is a great idea and with a few tweaks to the product, they will have a 10/10 rating!

Rick Schultz

I have always enjoyed bicycling and, through a series of coincidences, became a Bicycle Industry Consultant and Product Tester. I test prototype products for companies and have published only off the shelf production products on biketestreviews.com.