Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

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PinkMoon
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Joined: 22 Jul 2017, 9:20pm

Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by PinkMoon »

Hi everyone

I need advice on buying cycle cam. Until yesterday I thought it was a rather unnecessary luxury, however on my way home a car pulled out from a side road and clipped my front wheel throwing me off the bike and buckling the wheel in the process, I picked myself up and noticed he or she had pulled over to the side of the road, but did not get out of the car, as soon as he or she saw that I was standing they drove off leaving me shaken to the core standing in the middle of the road. I finally returned home and friends asked me did you get the reg number and what make of car was it. To my embarrassment I had no idea, all I could recall is it was a light sky blue colour.

I consider myself an experienced cyclist and reflected on did I do anything wrong was my road positioning incorrect etc. My conclusion there was nothing I could have done to avoid this incident. What it has done is leave me angry that the driver did not have the courtesy to get out of the car and come over to see if I was injured or that the bike was damaged.

So I have decided to by a bike cam.

So I would like advice on the best ones out there, I am prepared to pay a bit extra for one that is reliable, weatherproof etc. Should I have it bike mounted or on my helmet and any other advice I need to know before making my purchase.


Thanks

PM
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mjr
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by mjr »

I have an SJ4000-like HD720 camera mounted on a vibration-resisting ball mount on the handlebars. It has loop-recording (the oldest 2 minutes get deleted if the memory card is left in the camera).

I've never got a body-mount camera to provide reliable steady images, plus I think it's extra faff to put it on and off (dropping the camera into the bar mount is bad enough that I don't always bother), plus I look around a lot so a head mount wouldn't work well, then you have the worries about smashing it into your head or face in a fall.

I started using a camera after a road rage incident maybe 10 years ago and the only other motorist it's helped me report in that time was another road-rage incident (abuse shouted during overtake and then a brake-check attempt). It wasn't very informative in the only collision I've had during that time because I was hit from the side.

Above all, don't spend more than you can afford to lose and don't expect it to change driver behaviour at all.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
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hondated
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by hondated »

PinkMoon wrote:Hi everyone <SNIP>


PM sorry to read this and I hope your ok but is a camera really the answer !

I just find it strange that a car suddenly pulled out on you . Really how can that happen !

If I am on my bike or motorcycle I am always riding defensively ie jnct on the left over to the crown of the road if no jnct other side.

Is this something you practice ?
PinkMoon
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by PinkMoon »

Yes it is something practice I always head towards the crown when there are side roads. Cycling in Birmingham has taught me to always be cautious. It's not a cycle friendly city.
I do not know how to post a location on Google maps, but if you take a look it was at the junction of Harborne Road, Augustus Road. I was traveling up the hill in Harborne Road, heading towards Chad Road, the car driver crossed over the junction from Augustus road heading towards five ways in Birmingham.
thirdcrank
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by thirdcrank »

Think about what you want to do with your recordings. If you just want something to support your own account if things go wrong, then something fairly basic will do: all you need is something that will show things like a vehicle emerging suddenly from a side road. If you want to record reg plates and other fine detail then something better is needed. There seems to be a natural tendency to go for as wide-angle a lens as possible, with the intention of catching everything, but bear in mind that wide angles lenses distort distances. First impressions count and no matter what other evidence may be available through expert analysis, if the other vehicle looks to be miles away, then that's hard to contradict. Wide-angle also gives a false impression that you were moving faster than was the case.

The tech is developing constantly and I'm way out of date on current models.

If you are hoping to record stuff with the intention of reporting things like bad driving to the police then I'm inclined to say forget it, but perhaps it would be more useful to say reflect on it. If you want to entertain society on youtube, there's now so much bad driving shown online it's hard to make an impact.
NickJP
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by NickJP »

Cycliq sell units that combine light and video camera in the one case. But they ain't cheap: https://cycliq.com/.
esuhl
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by esuhl »

hondated wrote:PM sorry to read this and I hope your ok but is a camera really the answer !

I just find it strange that a car suddenly pulled out on you . Really how can that happen !


I'm surprised any road user would question whether that can happen! People do crazy things.

I saw a woman stop her car to give way on a mini-roundabout to her LEFT. As I approached from her right, she started to pull off, saw me, and slammed on her brakes again, although she had plenty of time to pull out. As I was on the roundabout, directly in front of her, she accelerated into me. I could hear the car revving ferociously as my head bounced off the bonnet.

I thought I broke my thumb, was bleeding from the head, and my glasses were smashed and I'm INCREDIBLY short-sighted. So she offered to take me to hospital. And then changed her mind because she didn't want to take my dirty bike or get blood on the upholstery. So she gave me her business card (that turned out to be someone else's, and drove off leaving me a few miles from home, having to make my own way to hospital. She was never traced.

So I'd recommend a cycle cam to everyone.

------------

I got a pair of Polaroid Cube cameras. They were £37 each from Argos online. They're the shape of a cube, with ~2cm long sides. I have them mounted to my bike (on the handlebars and on the saddle rails).

They're dead simple to operate, shower-proof, and I'm really impressed with the video quality (given that my hopes weren't high, given the price and specs). The battery lasts for 90 minutes (at most), but you can connect them to a USB powerbank easily enough.

------------

I've also found it helpful to review footage of close passes, near-misses, etc. -- to see if I could have predicted what was going to happen, or positioned myself better, and often to just reassure myself that there wasn't something I didn't see at the time.
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hondated
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by hondated »

esuhl wrote:<SNIP>

" Mini roundabout " yes they can be a pain literally it seems. The OP didnt mention one but rather that the car had pulled out from a side road.
I dont think it was an unfair question.
reohn2
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by reohn2 »

Sorry to read of the OP's RTI,but if this is the same camera as MJR mentions then it's not worth not having one or even two on the bike and in the car:- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SJ4000-HD-10 ... Sw9A5cocCv
Last edited by reohn2 on 25 May 2019, 2:25pm, edited 1 time in total.
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fastpedaller
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by fastpedaller »

hondated wrote:I just find it strange that a car suddenly pulled out on you . Really how can that happen !

If I am on my bike or motorcycle I am always riding defensively ie jnct on the left over to the crown of the road if no jnct other side.

Is this something you practice ?


Crikey - have you never had it happen?
About 20 years ago, I saw a motorist waiting at a junction on the right, I gained eye contact and she had clearly seen me. Next thing she pulled out in front and I was able to swerve and get up the outside, rather than pull the brakes even harder, maybe hit the rear of her car and fall in a heap. I bashed on the side of the car with my hand and she stopped. She threatened to call the Police, and I actively invited her to. Plod arrived and her words were "I saw him coming and I thought I'd get out before him" Plod seemed to think this was acceptable practice and wouldn't take matters further.
Be safe out there.
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hondated
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by hondated »

<SNIP>
I,d be a liar to say it hadn't happened to me FP but probably count on one hand how many times. That doesn't say a lot really as it's all dependent on how many Mike's you do a week, whether it's in rural or urban environment etc etc.
Dare I say one of the times it happened was on a mini roundabout. I am approaching it see the car on the left aimed for centre and car enters as I reach the middle. Quick flick right and I avoid it. Yes it was SMIDSY.
Another time early one Sunday morning 5am approach roundabout on dual carriageway to go straight across. Entering roundabout notice car speeding into it on my left just knew the driver hadn't seen me so rather than go straight on I turned right and the car came up my inside.
Both accidents could of been far worse if I hadn't been riding defensively. Which as you can see by one of posts OP clearly also does.
Just seen your comment about police taking no action. Disgraceful that's undue care & attention surely!.
fastpedaller
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by fastpedaller »

hondated wrote: . . . .
Another time early one Sunday morning 5am approach roundabout on dual carriageway to go straight across. Entering roundabout notice car speeding into it on my left just knew the driver hadn't seen me so rather than go straight on I turned right and the car came up my inside.
Both accidents could of been far worse if I hadn't been riding defensively. Which as you can see by one of posts OP clearly also does.
Just seen your comment about police taking no action. Disgraceful that's undue care & attention surely!.


More a case of "couldn't care less about whether I injure him" :twisted:
tim-b
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by tim-b »

Should I have it bike mounted or on my helmet and any other advice I need to know before making my purchase

Hi
This reply is one that I've used before...

"IMHO they only boost your perceived safety, but they might be useful for insurance purposes
IME you really need front and rear-mounted cameras to cover all eventualities, and few standard cameras, if any, will continue to work without charging for a long cycling day
The video loops, so an incident recorded early in the day needs to be saved or it will have been recorded over later in the day
I wouldn't mount one on my helmet for safety reasons, but I couldn't show you any evidence for my reason :) "

I've got several of the Aldi Cycliq Fly-6 clones that I bought cheaply in-store after they failed to sell, and they're brilliant with a 3-year guarantee. I use one on the front with the light switched off (there's a little red LED to say that the video is recording, but few would notice it). I haven't seen them in Aldi this year

Sound drives the file size up massively meaning that you can keep fewer incidents before they are recorded over. Road noise and vibration through a bike frame is incredibly noisy, so either isolate the camera from the frame/seat pillar as much as poss with foam, or mount it on an extended plastic mount.
Regards
tim-b
~~~~¯\(ツ)/¯~~~~
dim
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by dim »

I have a Garmin Virb Ultra 30 front camera, and a Cycliq Fly 6 camera for the rear (I have the older version of the Cycliq)....

both are very good however bear in mind that if you do opt for the Virb, and buy new, it does not come with an SD card (I ended op paying close to £100 for a card as I was too impatient to buy online, so I popped into John Lewis :oops: (it's a good one though) ....

I looked at the Go Pro, but opted for the Garmin as it connects to other Garmin gadgets .... battery life in the waterproof case is approx 1hr and a bit when filming in HD, however with the open case, you can connect a powerbank and film continuosly... you also need to buy an SD card that is compatable with the unit (Garmin gives recomendations)

The Cycliq Fly 6 is very good however, you need to have mudguards as the lens becomes dirty when the roads are wet from spray off the rear tyre..... battery life is approx 6 hrs on mine, and it cannot be connected to a powerbank

another must have (IMHO) is the Garmin Varia Radar .... I have the older version and it is one of the best accesories that I have bought. It links to my Garmin Edge 1000 and takes a lot of stress away from cycling

the cameras don't stop you getting knocked over, but it's a bit of insurance if you need to go to court or the police
thirdcrank
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Re: Advice For Buying A Cycle Cam

Post by thirdcrank »

" ... another must have (IMHO) is the Garmin Varia Radar . ...."

I had to look that up. I'm speechless.
================================================================
PS For anybody else as out-of-touch as I am it "Alerts You to Vehicles Approaching from Behind"

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/518151
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