The blog post from late last week, The View from the Bottom Bracket, has had a fair bit of interest, so I thought I would explain how I managed it.
As I explained in that post, I was inspired by Tom Olesnevich, and thought I could give it a shot. I wasn’t going to mount my Canon 5D3 to the bike, but the GoPro is a little smaller and more robust, so it was the prime candidate.
When I was changing the bottom bracket, I realised there is a bit of a gap between the cranks and wondered if I could get the GoPro in there somehow. After a little mucking around, this is what I came up with using the handlebar mount.
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Obviously, that isn’t the best shot of how I mounted it, but it gives you an idea of where it mounts. Now a few shots of how it mounts.
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As you can see, it is actually bolted to the non drive side chain stay. You have to be a bit careful not to foul the front derailer cable when you do it. It is a bit tricky, but with some patience, you can get it in there. It is very difficult to tighten up the thumb screw that lets you tilt the camera. I found a screwdriver through the chainring helped, just don’t go crazy with the tension.
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Once mounted, you must remember to tell the GoPro to record things upside down. 🙂
You can see the video in the post I mentioned earlier. Here are some photos that turned out quite well from that position.
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I hope this helps others get some different shots out of their GoPro or Contour or what ever sports camera they have.
Good luck.
It helped my try it. Thanks mate I may try it on the MTB next.
I suspect you won’t be the last to mount a camera there – these are great shots.
The way the arc of the crank mimics the shape of the chainrings in the first shot is terrific.
And the way the truck is framed by the chainset in the third photo is highly serendipitous (or the shot has been very carefully constructed!)
Got any theories on what is happening in the fourth one? The front wheel appears in horrible need of truing, but the chainset doesn’t appear obviously different to the other shots. Does the GoPro have a rolling shutter from top to bottom, and the steering has wiggled part way through the exposure as you’ve hit a minor bump in the road?
I think you have nailed it regards to the shot of the wheel with a wobble in it. It is a horribly bumpy part of the road and I expect it is just the steering being moved about as the shutter captured the image.