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Wildcard Deck FAQ
What is the Wildcard Deck?
A modular platform for mounting accessories like lights, bike computers, phones, trackers, action cameras, and water bottles, specifically for bikes with clip-on aero bars.
Who is it for?
Bikepackers, ultramarathon cyclists, anyone who has aerobars and needs to attach more than a couple of accessories to it.
Are there limitations on what it will fit?
You can download and print a drawing of the deck (LTR | A4) to see how it fits on your setup.
- The mounts only fit bars with a round 22.2-mm cross section (most aerobars).
- Lengthwise, your bars need a 115-mm extent of straight clear space for the mounts to fit (“B” in the diagram here). You may have better luck with J-bend bars or straight bars than S-bend bars.
- In terms of lateral space between bars (“A” in the diagram here), there are different numbers depending on whether you use P-clamps or quick blocks, as the P-clamps have more offset between the bar centerline and the attachment point.
- With P-clamps, the maximum distance between bars is 140 mm measured center-to-center.
- With quick blocks, 111 mm.
- There is no minimum distance. For extremely close-set bars, you may need to orient the mounts so that the attachment points are outboard of the bars rather than inboard.
What should I get?
At minimum:
- One Wildcard Deck
- One set of either P-clamps or quick blocks
- A GoPro base for each headlight that you want to install
- To install a computer, order either a GoPro base and the appropriate tilt-mount socket, or a flat-mount socket by itself.
What is it made of?
The deck itself is made of 3.75-mm thick 6061 aluminum. The quick-block mount is 3D-printed nylon. The P-clamp mount is stainless steel and silicone.
How much stuff can I attach?
It depends on what you are attaching. Probably up to 4 items to the top of the plate and 2 to the bottom.
How does it work?
The plate is based on the observation that GoPro finger-joint mounts and Garmin sockets have become de-facto standards for installing gadgets. It provides a series of holes for mounting either one, to permit flexible configurations of gadget installations. The plate attaches to your aero bars at 4 points so that there will be no wobble and some redundancy in case of failure. The central rail of the deck provides a series of holes spaced 20 mm on center for securing GoPro mounting bases or bike-computer sockets. You can attach accessories top and bottom, even through the same holes if you use long enough screws. GoPro bases let you adjust the angle that the accessory sits at.
Additionally, there are three M5-threaded holes, with the first and second spaced 25 mm on center, and the first and third spaced 65-mm on center. The first pair is for mounting a Quad Lock base; the second pair is for mounting a standard bottle cage.
The speed holes between the mounting holes also can be used as mounting points for hardware that doesn’t fit the 20-mm spacing. I recommend adding washers to distribute the load on the nut if you do this.
How do I mount the deck on my aerobars?
You have two options for mounting hardware: P-clamps and quick blocks.
- P-clamps precisely fit 22.2-mm bars. They result in very secure, semi-permanent attachment. Installation takes more time and trouble than quick blocks, and these have a slight (~20 g) weight penalty. These are recommended unless you have a specific reason to use the quick blocks.
- Quick blocks are intended mostly for people who will need to disassemble their bars to transport their bike to an event. You don’t want to mess around spending more time than necessary reassembling your bike the night before a big event. These provide a way to secure the deck to your bars using velcro straps (included) and/or zip ties. Setting them up the first time takes only a few minutes, and once positions are dialed in, the deck can be removed and installed in less than a minute.
What headlights are compatible?
The following list shows how you can attach the lights of various brands to the deck. It is not intended to be exhaustive. If nothing better is available, there are “cradle style” GoPro adapters that will work with most oblong cylindrical lights. Note that many lights cast a beam that is symmetric around the horizontal axis, but not all do (particularly StVZO lights). If your light’s beam isn’t symmetric, you should take care to mount it right side up.
- Cateye: offers an adaptor between their slide-on mount and GoPro mount.
- Cygolite: offers an adaptor between their slide-on mount and GoPro mount.
- Exposure: offers several GoPro adapters that fit their various lights.
- Gloworm: offers a bolt-on GoPro mount.
- kLite: native GoPro mount.
- Kryptonite: as far as I can tell, there is no adapter for mounting a Kryptonite light using either a GoPro or Garmin interface.
- Igaro: offers a tiny bolt-on GoPro adapter.
- Lezyne: offers a GoPro mount that replaces their “ladder strap” mount.
- Lupine: offers GoPro mounts for their lights.
- Magicshine: all their road-oriented lights natively use either a Garmin mount or underside-mounted GoPro mount.
- Moon Sports: offers an adaptor between their slide-on mount and GoPro mount.
- Niterider: offers offers an adapter between their slide-on mount and GoPro mount.
- Outbound: offers an adapter between their cam-lock mount and GoPro mount.
- Ravemen: offers an adaptor between their slide-on mount and GoPro mount, and a bolt-on GoPro mount for certain lights.
- Sinewave: offers a tiny bolt-on GoPro adapter.
- Specialized: as far as I can tell, there is no adapter for mounting a Specialized light using either a GoPro or Garmin interface.
- Trek/Bontrager: offers an adapter between their slide-on mount and GoPro mount (which they refer to as Blendr, but the “fingers” have the same specs).
- Zéfal: offers an adaptor between their slide-on mount and GoPro mount.
How would I attach a phone?
There are three mounting systems I know of that would work.
- Quad Lock. This is your best option. I recommend this combination of a “concealed small” base, “short lever head,” and “knuckle adapter.” You will also need either one of their cases or an adhesive-backed puck that sticks onto your existing case.
- Peak Design offers a Mobile Creator Kit for compatibility with a GoPro mounting base. The Peak Design attachment mechanism is very slick. This is a fairly expensive option, and there’s an offset between the GoPro connection and the phone connection that may not be ideal for this application. Again, you can either buy one of their cases or buy an adhesive-backed puck that sticks onto your existing case.
- SP Connect also offers a Creator Kit that includes several pieces, only one of which you’ll need. Again, you can buy one of their cases, or an adhesive-backed or clamp-on puck. I’ve never used SP Connect myself.
You can buy an adhesive-backed Garmin puck, but in my experience, Garmin sockets break easily when subjected to a phone’s weight and moment of inertia, so I do not recommend that.
Can I install a Garmin or Wahoo socket directly on the deck, without the GoPro adapter?
Yes. This is “flat mounting.” To give the sockets the best support, mount them at the intersections between the central rail and the support arms—this is the only option for Wahoo sockets, as their holes are laterally aligned.
Can I remix your design or fabricate it myself?
Yes. You can download the .STEP files for the deck plate and quick block. The rest of the pieces are all commodity items. Let me know what you come up with—I’d love to see it.
Wildcard Deck by Adam Rice is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Can you customize the design?
Yes. Simple changes to the design will raise the price of the deck due to one-off production. More complex changes will involve a design fee as well.