The Orbiter mount is a novel concept designed and machined in Colorado USA that uses several industry-standard components revolutionizing the levels of comfort & control attainable with loaded bike travel, all while enabling field maintainability anywhere in the world!
What this thing does:
The Orbiter is a steerer based gear mounting system that allows your handlebars to freely 'Orbit' any racks, packs or snacks held by The Orbiter.
This means that like a cargo bike, your bike can now have front accessories that dont move with your handlebars making riding with gear easier and more energy efficient on technical and or steep terrain!
The Goal for this system was to make it so modular, such that the potential use cases are only limited by your imagination and creativity!
How this thing works:
❯ First and foremost, The Orbiter is a hardware mounting system designed to accept bolted assemblies including our PALS panel
❯The Orbiter is novel in the sense that it uses dual sealed cartridge headset bearings and other standard headset parts allowing mounted gear freedom of rotation about your steerer tube. This enables effortless turning with an up front load saving you fatigue and in turn (pun intended) allowing better balance throughout your days ride.
❯ To keep The Orbiter assembly still while turning, an included Voile strap is used to secure a threaded rubberized (for frame protection)
foot to your headtube & bolts to the included T-Brace & mounting arms. This assembly removes load from the bearings giving longer bearing life and smooth performance on all types of riding!
How it revolutionizes bike travel:
❯ The mounted items are situated lower than the handlebars resulting in a lower center of mass giving you better control while riding
❯ The Orbiter remains still as you turn so you dont have to over compensate or struggle to turn the mass of your handlebar bags over difficult terrain saving you energy and frustration. With the Orbiter mount, your bike will handle as if it were un-weighted!
❯ A problem with bikes with front suspension is that front racks are inherently incompatible unless your frame was made especially for a bolt on rack. Now, many front racks can be bolted direcly to The Orbiter assembly. They can also be bolted to our PALS panel giving you the exclusive capability of attaching a free floating rack to your suspension bike!
The Orbiter mount is a steerer-based mounting system that uses standard 41.8/42mm sealed headset bearings to provide a robust and stationary cargo mounting platform that remains stationary when turning your handlebars!
Here are some key features & uses:
- Complete package only weighs 280g!
- The included aluminum PALS panel enables you to mount any MOLLE/PALS accessory directly to your bike and is designed to interface with the mounting arms of our Orbiter & Li-BAR-ator mounts. The PALS panel also gives you 29 adjustable bolt on points using 20 and 40 series hammer head T-nuts!
Read more about the PALS panel features and uses here
- The slots on the PALS panel are designed so that the existing handlebar accessories you may currently have are compatible!
- Uses 2 standard 42mm/41.8mm 45° x 45° cartridge headset bearings found in any bike shop world wide as well as 2 headset compression rings to keep any part of the orbiter from scoring your forks steerer.
- Designed around a standard 1-1/8" steerer tube for bikes with a threadless headset! (most modern bikes)
- The main body of the orbiter features a large port in the center plenty big for your cables to route through keeping all the important bits tidy and away from any possible snags and snares.
- The holes drilled into the mounting arms are able to accomodate a standard 7mm OD threaded 'rivet nut' allowing the mount holes to be able to become a bolt-on platform themselves! Pro tip: standard convex (8mm ID)
V-brake washers for bikes can be used as spacers since the flanged rivet nuts can be longer than the mounting arms are thick.
- Provided weight support system uses a lightweight coupling nut and Voile strap that adjusts to any head tube diameter and allows you to bolt directly to the Orbiter via our provided T-Brace which keeps the Orbiter body in line with the frame and stationary while turning.
- All bolts are of standard size and are metric threaded, meaning should you lose a bolt or nut, you should be able to find a replacement easily and cheaply anywhere in the world your adventures may take you!
The Orbiter comes equipped with our secure tool-less detachment mechanism that allows you to easily remove and attach your mounted hardware quickly and easily allowing you to keep your gear safe when not in sight.
