Shapeheart Smartphone Bike Mount Review

Sliding your smartphone into a bike pouch on your handlebars – what madness! To reassure you, Shapeheart offers its magnetic mount with ultra-powerful magnets. Promise kept? Find out here.

By Pierre-Maxime BRANCHE. Photos: 3bikes.fr

Today, our phones go everywhere with us, especially in sports. We exercise to music, take photos for friends or to illustrate our synchronized activities on dedicated social networks like Strava, we use GPS to navigate – in short, the smartphone has become an extension of the human. Unfortunately, it’s not always practical to carry your mobile phone with you. Shapeheart, a French startup launched in 2017 by Antoine and Michael, two daily sports enthusiasts, set out to solve this problem.

Initially, the duo worked on a heart rate armband with an optical sensor to offer a more reliable heart tracker than watches and more comfortable than chest straps. The problem: having the sensor against the skin and the phone outside the jersey or jacket. The idea of the detachable magnetic pouch system quickly emerged. One constraint remained: designing a magnet system powerful enough to hold the phone securely, while allowing fluid access and without making the product heavy.

Designing a magnet system powerful enough to hold the phone securely, while allowing fluid access and without making the product heavy

For all phone sizes

Over the past two years, the range has expanded. In addition to the simple or heart rate armband, Shapeheart offers a belt, a water bottle, and a bike or scooter mount. This mount can be installed anywhere, on the handlebars or stem, in seconds, and provides access to your phone with a single gesture.

It consists of a magnetic mount that adapts to all tube diameters, a silicone strap to hold it in place or elastic bands for larger diameters, and a detachable magnetic pouch for carrying the phone, with total rain protection and allowing access to your phone’s touchscreen.

To accommodate all smartphone sizes, this interchangeable pouch is available in two sizes: standard at 8.8×15 cm, for screens up to 5.5 inches, and large at 9.2×16.8 cm for screens up to 6.3 inches. Made of double-layer heat-sealed lycra, this process makes it completely waterproof even when wet. It is compatible with Face ID and has three holes (left, center, and right) for headphones, as well as a reflective strip for visibility.

This patented magnet system supports up to 60 times the weight of a phone for a stable solution that doesn’t move on the handlebars. Note that this system is harmless to the phone because the magnets are located between two iron plates that cut the magnetic field.

Ultra-fast installation

We can’t complain about a long installation time. The Shapeheart bike mount takes only a few seconds to use: position the mount and attach it with the silicone strap; slide your phone into the pouch; finally, “clip” the pouch onto the magnet and you’re done.

With its round magnet, it can be oriented in any direction. We installed it on our round handlebars, then on the stem; the mount adapts perfectly to both tubes despite different diameters. It doesn’t move an inch. You really have to try hard to make it turn and move a few millimeters. Similarly, still at a standstill and once the pouch is clipped, the whole assembly is very solid; you feel a strong resistance from the magnet that secures the pouch.

We slipped our iPhone SE into our standard-sized pouch; the fit was perfect. We also put a Sony Xperia in it, which should have gone into the large-sized pouch. It was a bit cramped, but it still fit. Then, it was time to set off… I won’t hide the fact that I still felt a little apprehension. Although reassured by the magnet’s power during static tests, on the road, it’s not the same thing. Perhaps the speed, the hundreds of micro-shocks associated with cornering angles, and the inevitable potholes would overcome the magnet and send my little SE flying.

Pothole-proof

I first took care to choose where I put my wheels, even more than usual. No problem. After a few minutes, I ventured to take on some irregularities and deformations of the road surface, asphalt repair patches, manhole covers, etc., still no problem. Then, because attention cannot be focused on this mount, but rather on the highway code and the behavior of other vehicles, my mind put aside the fear of my phone falling. With every glance, fortunately, for about forty kilometers, my SE was still there, firmly attached to its mount.

This product perfectly fulfills its task, you can set off with peace of mind

But all that was before the drama. On a descent, in a turn, at high speed, and with a motorcycle on my left preventing me from deviating too much from my trajectory, the pothole appeared. Unavoidable. I held my handlebars firmly, prayed in a fraction of a second, and took the big hit. It didn’t move. The mount didn’t move, and neither did the pouch. Solid. This product therefore perfectly fulfills its task, and you can set off with peace of mind. Moreover, here is a video below of a mountain biker on a descent using the Shapeheart mount during a test organized by the brand.