Known best for their aftermarket Bar Fly Garmin mounts, Tate Labs’ Sea Otter booth was full of neat – and surprising – little ideas. The company’s new SLi Fly combines an aluminium frame and retention tabs with a Delrin engagement mechanism. Both long and short Garmin models are accommodated and the US-CNC’d model is only 22g- no heavier than the comparable nylon mount. 31.8mm and 35mm clamps are available for $50 and $55.
Beyond adding sex appeal to metal fetishists, the shift to CNC’d aluminium construction provides more stability to the computer mounts while opening the door to mounting other accessories below the computer. In the future, the company expects to add camera and light mounts to the SLi Fly, making for a tidy navigation, illumination, and video package.
An interesting idea, Tate Labs was also showing a 3D-printed prototype bottle top GoPro mount. Maybe a bit silly at first blush, the Tate Labs guys were excited about the idea, claiming that seat tube mounting makes for some neat perspectives on the trail- the down and head tubes taking up surprisingly little of the video frame. Off the bike, a water-filled base acts not unlike a tripod- making for easy self-filming. We’ve been promised footage and will share when we have it.