Bar Fly 4 Road Max and Bar Fly 4 Road Mini review

California based Tate Labs created its first ‘front and center’ bike computer mount 4 years ago and since then the range has expanded and evolved to include the latest Bar Fly 4 Road Max and Road Mini mounts with additional GoPro and Di2/EPS accessory mounts, triathlon and time trial mounts, mountain bike mounts as well as a range of accessories including fenders, bags and grips.

We decided to put the Bar Fly 4 Road Max and Bar Fly 4 Road Mini to the test and review them using a Polar V650 and Garmin Edge 520.

Unpacking the Bar Fly 4 Road Max and Road Mini

The Bar Fly 4 bike computer mounts come packaged and secured on printed cardboard, to remove and get started you simply under the plastic wire ties behind and your ready to go. You will notice on the packaging the Bar Fly mounts have a lifetime warranty and will fit 31.8 mm and 35.0 mm handlebars.

In the photo below you can see the Bar Fly mount has a 2.5 mm allen key bolt that is fastened from the top side of the mount into a captive nut that’s sits in the bottom side of the mount. The shim is used on 31.8mm handlebars and for 35mm bars you would use the mount without the shim. With the mount open slide into position on the handlebar and line up to center, you can clip in the bike computer to check the alignment and then tighten the allen key up (1.25-1.5Nm) once in position.

The Bar Fly 4 Road Max weighs in at 43 grams while the Bar Fly 4 mini weighs in at 39 grams.

Ready to roll.

Features and Photos

The Bar Fly 4 Road mount comes in either a Max size, or Mini size. The Bar Fly 4 Road Max can be used with Garmin 810 and 1000 computers, Polar V650, Mio, Magellan and Wahoo bike computers. The Bar Fly 4 Road Mini can be used with Garmin Edge 520, 510, 500, 200, CycleOps Joule, Cateye, Bryton and Pioneer bike computers.

Both the Mini and Max can be purchased with just the bike computer mount attachment or in a bundle that includes either a GoPro, Di2/EPS or light mount as shown in these to photos below.

The Bar Fly mounts are made from plastic and included reinforcing webs top and bottom to prevent flex and vibration.

The Bar Fly 4 Road Max with Polar V650 mounted.

And more of the Road Mini.

Review Summary

The Bar Fly bike computer mounts are well-engineered being both lightweight, and strong enough to prevent vibrations through the computer. Both the Polar and Garmin mounts reviewed provided the same click into place feel as the original equipment mounts that came with each computer so there were no concerns about the computers not being secured properly.

The Bar Fly mounts are easy and quick to mount and like other out front type mounts they just put the bike computer in the right place, there’s no reason to run any bike computer on the stem, they just look better and are more functional on out front mounts, plus with Bar Fly you can mount accessories like the GoPro, Di2/EPS or lights underneath keeping everything looking tidy.

One advantage the Bar Fly has over competitors is the head adapter can be changed instead of the entire mount if you change bike computers, so, for instance, I could put the Garmin adapter on the Road Max instead of the Polar and start using a Garmin 1000.

I didn’t see any downside to using either of these two Bar Fly mounts and would recommend using either depending on your computer.

You can read more about the Bar Fly product range, specifications and fitting at barfly.com