Talk about a good time! This clip from 2007 has to be one of the best shoots I ever completed in Barstow. Go big or go home was saying it lightly!

I’ve been looking through old photo galleries lately and came across these of my old Tundra. This truck was built for Pro Comp’s booth at the 2009 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, NV. It was also a project vehicle for Off-Road Magazine and my daily driver for nearly two years. I really miss the Tundra. Tons of power, good looks and a laundry list of functional equipment.

Sponsor List
Toyota Motor Corp. (http://www.toyota.com/)
Off-Road Magazine (http://www.off-roadweb.com/index.html)
L&G Enterprises (http://www.landgenterprises.com)
Lowrance (http://www.lowrance.com/)
PCI Race Radios (http://www.pciraceradios.com/)
AMP Research (http://www.amp-research.com/)
Dirt-Tech (http://www.dirt-tech.com/)
Powertank (http://powertank.com/)
Pro Comp Suspension (http://www.procompusa.com/)
Pro Comp Wheel & Tire
Rose Racing
Line X (http://www.linex.com/)
Street Scene (http://www.streetsceneeq.com/)
Baja Designs (http://www.bajadesigns.com/)
PPG Industries (http://www.ppg.com/en/Pages/home.aspx)
Wet Okole (http://www.wetokole.com/)
Volant (http://www.volant.com/)

The Tundra was a huge success at SEMA. Photographs ended up on blogs across the world and Pro Comp received a great deal of attention. It always feels nice when your hard work pays off. Don’t let the size fool you, this truck worked very well for a big truck.

Baja Designs provided four of their large 8-inch HID lamps, light cage and actuator. This truck had no chance of outrunning that much light. Dirt-Tech did an amazing job fabricating the front bumper, rear bumper and 100% bolt-on bed cage. Using the actuator, I could control the position of the light cage from inside the cabin. The cage would also fold flat to save on wind resistance when not in use.

Lowrance provided their GlobalMap 8200C, 8.4-inch color GPS unit, which we mounted in the dash. Who needs a passenger side airbag, right? The 8200C is an incredible machine for plotting a course and finding your way around the world. All wiring and mounting was done by Rose Racing of course.

Dime over dime baby.

The new front bumper lined up perfectly with the cut factory bumper. Four additional Baja Designs Fuego HID lamps were added in front. Sadly, all four of these lamps were stolen at a desert race in Barstow. It really hurts losing almost $2,000 in lights! Stop it! You are probably asking yourself, why no paint on the fab work? All of the bare metal you see was powder coated clear to keep the raw look I was going for. It grabbed a lot of eyes.

The early stages of the bed cage coming together.

Volant provided the intake and exhaust system for the project. I chose the turn down style exhaust to save on the giant chrome tip sticking out the back. Boy did that make the truck rumble! Haha

Theresa Contrares of L&G Enterprises has been laying fresh coats of paint across some of the best customs you will see on the SEMA showroom floor. Her work on the Tundra was nothing short of spectacular. Did I mention she painted the entire truck in less than a week? Yup. I gave her a few notes and drawings of what I had envisioned for the truck and let her loose. The final product was jaw dropping.

Powertank supplies more than just tanks. Their mounting systems are top notch and ready to work with most applications. Having a Powertank onboard is often a lifesaver. Thanks Steve!

The factory bottle jack had no chance of helping change a tire on this truck. Ryan at Dirt-Tech came up with this aluminum slide-in rack for the standard size Craftsman Aluminum floor jack. Worked great and even had an option to lock your jack to the truck.

The guys at AMP Research are always a pleasure to work with. Their automatic steps are the best. Be careful of the numerous imitations out there.

Found a shot of it getting loaded up before the show!

So, where is this truck now? Destroyed. Sad, I know. The truck was given to me on a two-year loan basis to complete the project for Toyota. At the end of the contract they wanted the truck back. It was a pre-production unit, which meant it could never be sold and could only hold a license for a short period of time. The truck was stripped of its modifications and delivered back to Toyota. Hopefully, another project will come down the pipeline from them soon!

I hope you enjoyed this brief look back. Now if I can only track down photos of a few others…

The past few days have been a little stressful on the mind. I needed a stress free easy day. Why not climb a mountain! It had been a while since I spent time admiring the view from the highest place in Orange County. That would be Santiago Peak, not what is commonly referred to as Saddleback Peak. Saddleback is the nickname given to the mountain because of the shape it forms between Modjeska Peak and Santiago Peak. Yes, a saddle, you guessed right.

The drive to the gate at Maple Springs from my house is roughly 30 minutes. It would be less if it wasn’t for numerous slow, twisty roads running between the mountains. Just before reaching the turn at Silverado Canyon Road, I realized I had forgotten my cycling shoes. Doh! I wasn’t going to get far very up the mountain without them. Back home I went. Part of me was glad I forgot them as it allowed me time to stop at Rock N Road Cyclery in Mission Viejo and visit with Chris and Zionna. Bikes For Boobs!

Now that I had all of the necessary bicycle gear with me, back to Silverado I went. Parked at the gate I noticed my friend Vickie’s Toyota Celica. The littering of cycling related stickers across the rear make it unmistakable. I was hoping to run into her most likely training for Vision Quest just a few weeks away. Typically, I don’t carry a bag with me for this ride. Two bottles and a jersey filled with snacks is enough. Today however, it was cold and I wanted a few extra pieces of warm clothing. I was also riding solo and having a few safety devices like a solid knife and my SPOT Satellite Messenger with me is always a good idea. The mountain is a former Mountain Lion habitat you know. Did you know?

Leaving the gate the sun was out and the temps weren’t too shabby hovering around 57 degrees. Looked to be a perfect day on the mountain. The Art Director’s on both of the previous two magazines I worked for always wondered why I submitted so many photographs of trees with my stories. I love trees! Most of them will last longer than you, me or our children. Respect. Covering trail rides across the country usually included forests filled with trees, so why not give them a little love as well, right? Some of them are just as nice to look at as a well-built 4wd Landcruiser.

The sun was out, my legs were making light work of this climb and I must of had a smile going from ear to ear. I am at peace on my bike. There’s no place I’d rather be. Honest.

This mangled mess of what looked like a fence rail was screwing up my Chi. WTF. I don’t recall a rail ever being set in place anywhere near this area of the trail. How did it get here? I really hope someone didn’t drive 6 miles up the mountain to dump this on the side. Horrible.

Most local cyclists know about the Hummer that once was. I don’t know the story, but this white Hummer H2 has been at the bottom of this drop off for years. 3-4 years back it still had all of its doors and tires. It has since been stripped of most of its panels, doors, tires, wheels and bumpers. Its safe to assume someone was either having too much fun and went over or it was stolen and dumped. Most likely the latter.

They look good enough to eat! You go first.

If this is your first time visiting my journal and have never taken this route up the mountain, its short but one of the most scenic drives in OC. Big Bear and Baldy are not in OC. The route is 14 miles up with 4,300 feet of elevation gain. Its a slow go on a bike or in a car. 4wd isn’t required but I wouldn’t take your Honda Civic up the mountain. The trail is scattered with deep holes, rocks and a few steep turns. Just enough to warranty a worthy truck or SUV with all terrain tires.

As I reached closer to the gate at Four Corners, the looming cloud cover grew thick ahead of me. At this point, I knew the extra jacket I packed in my bag was going to be a worth lugging it up the hill.

Both the gate at the bottom and at Four Corners were closed today. This meant an even better day for people on bikes. No crazy truck drivers attempting to be Ivan “Ironman” Stewart would be on the mountain. As you know, I am an off road guy as well. This mountain will not give you HERO status. It should be cruised so you can enjoy the view. If you want go fast head out to the desert!

Before reaching Modjeska Peak, the clouds came over me. The temperature must have dropped 10 degrees instantly. As I was snapping this photograph, a girl came up behind me on a Niner One 9 decked out in a Path Bike Shop jersey. Her name was Kimmy and she road with me until we reached Modjeska. Thanks for the company Kimmy! I recognized her from the recent 12 Hours of Temecula race. She turned around at MP and I continued on.

Caressing my way through the “saddle” portion of the ride, the cloud cover increased as I noticed three riders coming ahead. Two passed and the third was my friend Vickie. Just as I assumed, she was training for Vision Quest on her new Niner One 9 SS. The threesome had just come down from the peak and was making their way to the Motorway. A solid VQ training route. She has already passed the age of 50 and does rides like this on a single speed. What’s your excuse? Vickie warned me of the cold temps and possible rain. As soon as she left I dropped my bag and zipped my jacket on. Thanks for the warning Miss V!

Getting closer to Santiago, the temps took another significant drop. I decided to pull my iPhone out and check. Yup, 36 degrees. Brrrrrrr. It was getting increasingly damp and as I rounded the final corner before the top, hail. I was hoping to get a peek at what I heard was snowfall the night before. Instead, I received chunks of ice smacking me about the face. Joy. I didn’t stick around at the top for more than a moment and failed to grab a photograph. Sorry. I could barely see 10 feet in front of my face so just imagine it.

Making my way down the mountain freezing my butt off I noticed the Moon. Yes, the Moon. It was peeking its way through the thick cover just long enough for me to grab my Canon S95 for a snap. Thank you Moon!

This is my least favorite section of the route. I do enjoy going downhill but not over fist size rocks for miles. Even if your bike is super plush, vibrations get to you. There must have been a good number of service trucks on the mountain recently, the tire grooves were deep.

The ride down was fast and cold, which resulted in only a few photos. The extra gears on the 2012 Stumpy were very kind to me and left me feeling fresh at the end. Aside from my feet freezing I felt great and my stress free easy day was accomplished. Don’t let a little wet weather scare you off the mountain. Get out there and ride!

A quick update to the review I posted the on the Stumpy. Both the tires and the R1 brakes were a joy both up and down the mountain. I was pleasantly surprised at the traction even when the dirt turned to mud near the top. Riding the brakes the entire way, okay most of the way, down the mountain I never noticed fade. Glory. It confirmed my decision to look into both when mine need to be replaced.

Ride your bikes!

2012 Specialized Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29 (link)

With over 1,000 miles in the saddle, I can finally write a few words about the new Stumpjumper. For the past 30 days, this bike has magically found its way to my garage. I cannot thank my friend enough for allowing me to spend quality time with his ride. You know who you are. I’ve been riding a 2009 Stumpjumper 29 Single Speed (picture here I am on the far right) over the past 3 years that has been very good to me. Originally, I purchased the SS frame to build a nice lightweight climbing machine. After owning only a single speed for 3 years, I got tired of standing for every climb. I ditched the single speed gearing and converted it to a 1×10 with the use of a simple derailleur hanger and a few other parts. Thank you Specialized for making it painless. Please keep that derailleur mount on all your frames! Around the same time I purchased the SS frame I also came into a complete S-Works Stumpjumper 29 HT that I used for races. That bike had cheetah speed, cat like reflexes and was light enough to chuck down field. This 2012 Stumpy fits perfectly between both of the bikes I have owned over the past few years.

I have had a love/hate relationship with carbon frame bikes for years. As much as I love having a lightweight bike, I am drawn to old school aluminum and steel. Some of you probably think I’m nuts. Well, you may be right. That same craziness is what drew me toward owning only a SS for a number of years. That bike was also fully rigid at one point as well (no front or rear shocks). At 18lbs, the bike was amazing uphill. Downhill, well thats an entirely different story. It felt like riding a giant BMX bike and I loved it. Just couldn’t handle it day in and day out with the kind of miles I put on bikes. (I currently average around 200+ miles per week)

Before I could take the new bike out for a spin I had to make a few changes. To make things easy, lets call the bike I own the SS. The top tube length on my SS is 586mm and on the new bike it measures 590mm. My SS also uses a 90mm stem, while the new bike came with a 105mm stem. In order to get my fit correct, I swapped my Thomson stem on the new bike and adjusted the seat forward. Close enough.

With my reach now ready to go, the next step was to swap out the standard Specialized round grips for a set of Ergon GX1 grips. I’ve been using these grips on all of my mountain bikes for years and have a hard time using anything else. Can’t wait to try the new GS1 grips! A quick spin around the block and I quickly recognized the handlebars were not as wide as my Niner Flat Top RDO bars. I thought about swapping them out but if I kept swapping out parts, I would no longer be reviewing THIS bike. The Niner bars are roughly one inch wider and have +/- 3mm less sweep. One inch does make a difference but nothing I’m worried about. Yes, I realize thats what she said.

As I mentioned early, I have put more than 1,000 hard miles on this bike. For local riders, this has included Blackstar Canyon, Maple Springs, various other sections of the Main Divide, Whiting Ranch, STT, Luge, Aliso Woods, Ladera Ridge, Bell View and a ton of road miles in between. My SS and this bike share a nearly identical geometry. If you compare both 19-inch varieties on the Specialized website, the numbers almost perfectly match. Although the geometry is close, the plush carbon frame and much newer components make this a completely different bike. Being back on a carbon bike has been a joy. I forgot what its like to climb on a light bike. Not to mention having a full set of gears again. The geo is very complimentary to someone looking for an XC hard tail with speed in mind. This bike wants to go fast. It needs to go fast. I have a hard time riding this bike at a slow pace. Unless of course I am bonking. Don’t tell.

This is the first bike with Brain technology I have spent a considerable amount of time riding. Last year, I borrowed a 2010 Epic Evo R 29 that used Brain shocks both front and rear. I was left very impressed at the amount of control and confidence the bike offered. The Custom RockShox SID 29 Brain fork on this bike features inertia valve technology with Brain Fade adjustments just like the other. If you’ve never thrown your leg over a bike using Brain tech, think of it as a shock with steps inside. The harder you hit something the more steps the shock allows you to take in order to soften the blow. Almost as if the shock gives up for a split second when you hit something but quickly responds. The first couple of rides are going to feel weird. Once you get the hang of it, your control will increase beyond what conventional shocks offer. The 90mm of travel is plenty for the trails around this area. The roughest downhill trail that I usually hit is the Luge. The Luge is a combination of switch backs, drops, rocks and exposure. A few small sections are also steep. All of these combined means, you better have control over your bike or else. In comparison, I would choose this RockShox SID Brain shock over my current Fox 100mm shock any day of the week. Not to mention, its lighter.

Looking at the new Renengade tire, the word confidence doesn’t come to mind. Low, fast rolling knobs are great for hard pack XC racing but usually suffer on most average trails. This bike comes with a light S-Works version in front and Control in the rear. Both are 29×1.95 and 2Bliss (tubeless) ready. In the past, I have replaced several S-Works model tires because they simply didn’t hold up over time. Sidewall tears and flat happiness caused nothing but wasted time. This time around I am happy to report I have yet to suffer a flat and traction is way above par for a tire such as this. I haven’t noticed the bike slipping on any of my local trails, front or rear. Kind of incredible looking at this tire. The low knobs allow for speed while still providing enough traction to keep you moving through the corners. When my rear tire wears out I am going to grab one of these. It should be perfect for the soft over hard pack SoCal trails.

Another Specialized feature that has never lasted long are factory Roval mtb wheels. Rumor has it the new Roval Control 29 wheels have been beefed up without adding weight. After watching friends taco these wheels and riding them out of true rather easily, I have to say this time around they are staying nice and true. I thought for sure my last trip down the Luge or Whiting was going to result in wobble wheels. Nope. So far they are still straight and wheeling strong. Either Specialized upper their game or maybe I finally learned how to pick better lines?

Having a full set of gears has been a joy. The SRAM Carbon S-2200 crankset comes with 38/24 chain rings, a removable spider and either 170 or 175mm arms. As you can see, the bike has been through quite a few miles already in its short life. Shifting has been spot on and I only managed to drop the chain once over 1,000 miles.

The SRAM XO rear derailleur and X9 shifters work in unison without flaw. I am running the same combination on my SS, er 1×10. If you’re looking to drop weight, consider a SRAM XX cassette and lose the heavy PG-1050 11-36t cassette it comes with. Factory bikes usually come with weights attached to the rear, otherwise known as lower level cassettes. Upgrades! I love the built-in chain stay protectors Specialized seems to be adding to most of their bikes now. No more electrical tape wraps. Score.

The Phenom saddle has made its way to a number of Specialized bikes these days. The Comp Hollow Cr-Mo version comes standard on this bike. I’ve been using the Hollow Ti version for years. My former road bike was even sporting a Phenom. Very comfortable on long days.

Purchase tip: A good number of parts can be swapped out to fit the rider during the time of purchase. Any authorized Specialized store should be willing to make sure the bike is dialed in to your specifications. Have your sit bones checked in store so they can make sure you ride away with the proper saddle. Stem length can also be changed. I would highly recommend getting fit to your bike. Ask your dealer for more info. 

Let’s get down to what really makes this bike work. The oversize head tube and bottom bracket. Much like the S-Works bike I had for a while, the power to weight transfer is wonderful. I never feel the bike flexing under me or sluggish. As soon as I crank, the bike explodes out of the gate. The wide head tube gives the rider additional control while traversing hard corners. The bike goes exactly where you point it. I never get that “hanging on for a ride” feeling. The carbon frame does this better than my current aluminum frame. However, the hate portion of the love/hate relationship with carbon I mentioned earlier is witnessed in the rear. While the front end sticks like a pin in a pegboard, the rear seems to scatter itself around rocky terrain. My aluminum frame does a much better job controlling varying size trail debris. I do realize this is a hard tail bike. Having owned mostly hard tail bikes, I can feel the difference in every one. I’ve learned having a loose feeling rear is something you have to deal with riding most HT bikes. Some do it better than others. This bike doesn’t do it poorly, it just does do it as well as its aluminum counterpart. I would still choose this bike over mine on race day, but would rather take mine down a rocky hill.

Whats that you say? Not SRAM brakes? OMG! Well, I have heard all sorts of rumors as to why SRAM brakes didn’t end up on these bikes. I am not going to share them. Most likely, unless you work for either company you don’t know the reason so shut it. I will say that I am very happy these Formula R1 brakes showed up. One word, tacky. These single-finger brakes stop on a dime. Modulation is great. The 160mm rotors have been more than enough for my 185lb body. I typically have to run a larger rotor up front in order to get decent life from brake pads. They have faired well through mud, sand and even held up after going through quite a few water crossings. I wonder if they will make it on 2013 models?

I have really enjoyed my time with this new bike. It makes me want to throw a leg over the S-Works model really bad. As well as the new Epic 29. I can only imagine an even more plush carbon frame with super lightweight goodies attached. Pure bred race bikes. Here’s to hoping I can throw my leg over some competitive bikes one day and give you some side by side notes. If you see a HT in your future, and this bike is in your price range, definitely grab a loaner from your local bike shop. Use that try before you buy program if available!

Thanks for reading!

Rocky Patel Renaissance Toro 6×52 (link)

I don’t post up a great deal of cigar reviews. In fact, have I ever? The Cigars & Smoke section of my site is rather dismal. Why? I don’t smoke as often as most regular cigar smokers. That would be my best guess. Cigars are expensive. Especially in California, with the outrageous cigar tax. I am a newb when it comes to cigars but I thought I would share a few notes on this particular stick and some future smokes ahead. Enjoy.

Cutting the end of my RP using a guillotine style cutter left the end nice and tight. I have never been able to properly use a punch style cutter. The cigar ends up looking like a badger went after its last meal. Complete user error. Using my triple flame lighter, the burning process went well. Very even light and the initial puffs were smooth. Breaking into the first inch of the cigar I picked up a strong mocha/coffee flavor. It just so happened I was drinking iced coffee at the time which paired extremely well at the start.

Somewhere around the middle section of the smoke I noticed the wrapper starting to come apart on me. Bummer. This medium to full bodied cigar was just settling in nicely and now I was spitting out bits of wrapper. Dammit. I had performed a great cut, so this time around I wasn’t to blame. Moving on. The mocha flavor was now complimented with hints of cinnamon and possibly nutmeg? I couldn’t quite get a grasp on the exact flavor that was coming across my palette. However, it was very pleasant and with a smooth draw, kept this cigar smoker happily puffing away.

Roughly 40-45 minutes later, I was getting into the final portion of the stick. I don’t often smoke cigars down the the nub. Why? I feel like most of the flavor of the cigar has been smoked out and all I taste is fire. The reason I light up is for flavor, not to just be smoking. If that was the case I would smoke disgusting cigarettes. Yuck. When the flavor is gone, I am gone. The RP did a good job of carrying its mocha flavor right up to the band. Thats a pretty good spot to aim for. The wrapper issue got worse and then stopped. I dealt with part of the leaf sticking out the back through half of the cigar. Not the end of the world but not something you want on a regular basis. I ended up removing the band and smoking the cigar down to around an inch left. More than my usual.

Overall, this medium flavored cigar lasted roughly one hour and smoked well throughout. I would smoke this stick again. It won’t make it to my must have list but its not something I would put anywhere near the bottom of the barrel. I don’t have an official 1-100 scale rating like the top cigar aficionados do, but if I did I would rank this stick somewhere around the 87-88 mark.

I paid $10.30 for this cigar at the Tobacco Barn.

Just a quick shout out to my friends at the Tobacco Barn. This is my local B&M. Where I go to hangout with the guys and enjoy a fine stick accompanied by great conversation. If you find yourself in Orange County, stop by the best cigar lounge in SoCal. (website)

Decided to head out to KOH this year to do some networking and spend time with friends. Didn’t stick around for the race on Friday or shoot photos this time around. Right now I am focused on finding a new assignment so I spent as much time as I could saying hello and shaking hands. Here are a few quick iPhone snaps.

Only in Hammertown will you find a short bus ice cream truck.

A few snaps on Chocolate Thunder. Pretty gnarly what these buggies will climb!

Hers is your UTV Winner, Guthrie Racing.

Loaded up the camera and headed for the field next to me house to test out the new cage. Although it is no steadicam, I have to say I was impressed how well it worked. Leaps and bounds ahead of trying to walk this field with the bare camera in my hand. Thanks again to Doug Hall and the other rider who rode into my video, providing a little taste of action. Look for more test videos coming soon. Be sure to watch the HD version.

Mike and I had a little fun today and built up a camera cage for my 5D Mark II. When he showed up at my front door with a cage like the one you see below, there was no way the day would close without us building another one. This is just a teaser post showing the front and back views of the cage as it sits today. We plan on adding cold shoe mounts for the RODE Microphone that should arrive soon and an LED light. We will also add a LCD monitor mount as well. I can see a shoulder arm being added to the next design as well. Stay tuned…

Oh yeah, we built this for under $30. Some metal, PVC pipe, nuts and bolts, bike grips and paint. The lower arms and upper guide arm unscrew from the cage. The cage holds the camera very tight. No shake, rattle or roll here.

Want one of your own? Once the final version is complete, we may just make a few more. If you are interested drop me a line at jordanmayphoto (at) yahoo (dot) com. Be sure to put Deluxe Camera Cage in the subject line.

Look for some pretty sweet video footage soon! I almost forgot! Here is an inexpensive tool that Mike discovered the other day. If you are looking for an easy way to follow focus without spending top dollar, why not use a can opener. Yes, I said a can opener. This one fits perfectly around my Canon lenses and the teeth fit the grooves on the focus ring. $6 at Bed Bath & Beyond. You’re welcome. No, its not perfect but its much smoother than using your hand and easier to remember focus positions.

Considering how religiously I use my iPad, I figured why not also use it in the truck! For navigation purposes that is. The iPad is a seriously cool device that has changed how I read information on the internet. Spending a couple hours searching off road forums made it easy figuring out how to mount and use my iPad for off road navigation.

My iPad is WIFI only meaning it does not have internet 3G reception. In order to have the iPad find my position on a map I need some sort of wifi hotspot (which would probably still not work in remote areas) or some sort of GPS device attached to the iPad. I was very fortunate this past Christmas and received both a Bad Elf GPS and Emprum GPS. They are both basically the same thing. A small GPS puck that attaches to the data port of your iPad or iPhone and provide satellite location to your device. As long as you have downloaded maps of the area you plan on visiting ahead of time, you will be able to track your location and find your way to the trail head or back to camp. There are a number of apps in the Apple app store that allow you to download offline maps, such as Gaia GPS and Motion X GPS. In a future post I will review the Bad Elf and Emprum to determine a champion. As well as what apps I am using successfully for navigation.

After removing the dash panel (instructions link) I cut a small square hole in the dash to allow my fingers to secure the nuts & bolts for the diamond ball head Ram mount. This is a little more crude than my normal installs as I could not find a step drill. This hole was cut with a box knife. I cleaned up the edges before reassembly.

Ram ball mounts do not come with mounting hardware unless you are purchasing a device mount. For example, my iPad cradle came with nuts and bolts for the ball mount to attach to the holder. This diamond shape ball mount (RAM-B-238U) I ordered separately did not. I wanted to point this out as most websites fail at letting people know if parts come with supplied hardware. A quick stop at Lowes and I left with 10×3/4 button head bolts, nylock nuts and 1-inch washers. Choosing a large washer is important to help distribute the load of the iPad against the plastic dash. Sorry for the lack of nuts and bolts photos but I think all of you can see what I did here. Yes I realize the diamond ball mount is upside down. Some of the powder coat was scratched off on the other side when it arrived.

The RAM-HOL-AP8U iPad Cradle works for both the iPad and iPad 2. Ram supplies two small black bumpers indicated with red arrows (2 pictures down you can see the bumpers on the back of the iPad). The thinner design of the iPad 2 needs help securing it firmly inside the cradle. Although the bumpers help, they do not secure the iPad as I would like it. As most of you reading this already know, things shake off road. A LOT. I added two small strips of 3M foam pad to the base of the holder which I am pointing to in the picture and now the iPad is firm. No play and will not scratch my device.

Originally, I ordered the RAM-B-201U-C Ram Mount Aluminum 5.25-inch Long Length Dual 1.0 Socket Arm to use with the cradle. After mounting it in the FJ, I swapped it with the RAM-B-201U Ram Mount Aluminum 3.0-inch Standard Length Dual 1.0 Socket Arm that was on my SPOT Messenger. The longer arm worked fine but I did not need its length to position the iPad where I want it. Also, the closer you keep the weight to the hard mount, the less movement you will get in your device. Simple physics. I will use the longer arm for my SPOT Messenger.

Thats pretty much all there is to it. After putting everything back together I fired up the iPad and took a drive. I already had local maps downloaded and the device was working perfectly. It will also be handy to have some movies and my music library on the road.

There are a few reasons why I ended up dash mounting the iPad versus my original plan of using the seat bolt floor mount (RAM-B-316-1-AP8). After reading several poor reviews of how shaky the seat bolt arm is, the idea was thrown out the window. I also didn’t like how the arm got in the way of passengers legs. To remove the arm when the iPad is not needed looked to also be a pain. On the dash, the iPad is out of everyones way and can be removed in seconds. When mounted and not in use I can lay the iPad flat against the dash and it is out of the way if the passenger air bag should deploy. Having a ball mount on the dash also means I can mount just about anything I want to my dash within weight considerations. Ram Mount makes 100s of mounts for all sorts of devices. I would not mount a laptop to the dash in this manner. Too heavy.

The cradle itself after some added padding works great. I purchased an extra ball mount plate for the back so I can move the arm to either position when needed. The clip that locks the iPad in place is solid. I would take caution in loading and unloading your iPad so you don’t scratch the glass. As long as you aren’t rough with it I don’t foresee any problems.

Something else I wanted to touch on that has me boggled. I found many people online that chose to purchase the cradle with locking mechanism. Riddle me this. If you lock the iPad to the cradle but you can simply untwist the arm from the cradle and steal the entire device, what is the point of the cradle lock? If you remove the twist lock on the arm and replace it with new hardware that requires tools then I could see it being useful. Don’t forget to also make sure your dash or floor mount are secure. If I leave my FJ parked for any solid period of time I will take the iPad out of the mount and hide it from sight or take it with me. I think any iPad or laptop in plain sight is waiting to be stolen so keep that in mind. I don’t keep extra devices for off road excursions in my FJ unless I am actually heading off road. That stuff can stay at home safe until needed!

Parts List

RAM-HOL-AP8U  Ram Mount Plastic Apple iPad and iPad 2 Mount Cradle
RAM-B-201U  Ram Mount Aluminum 3.0-inch Standard Length Dual 1.0 Socket Arm
RAM-B-238U  Ram Mount Aluminum Diamond mini Plate with 1-inch ball
10×3/4 Stainless Steel Button Head Bolts (2)
1-inch Stainless Steel Washers (2)
Nylock Nuts (2)
3M Foam Pad Strips (2)

Total cost of parts not including iPad – $48
Time spent to install – 2 hours (including going to Lowes)

I wanted to give a quick shout to GPS City where I purchased the Ram parts. These guys have one of the best GPS websites around. Really great video reviews of all the products they sell. When I want to see what a mount really looks like or works like, I usually visit. www.gpscity.com

A few weekends ago, I headed out to meet up with a few old friends to tackle Blackstar. Neil and the guys at The Path were nice enough to help organize an old school STR group ride. I miss riding with the old STR gang. Truly good times were had! Thanks again to Neil and Tracy for helping get everyone together and providing snacks at the top!

Thanks to the guys who snapped pics of me and to those I borrowed a few pictures from off STR, thanks! If you want me to link to your gallery please let me know! As you can see below the STR group is always full of shenanigans. Yes, that is a blow up doll.