I will not be getting into the darker period prior to my current recovery (which is going great now, thanks for asking).
I want to focus today on a new camera, engineering fails of camera clamps, sun and mountains. How I got me and my bike safely through air travel, you can read here.
The camera in question is the X3 by Insta360 and yes, both the naming strategies of their company and their camera models is less than ideal in my view. Whereas their cameras are actually very good for their intended use, and great fun to use (not sponsored or affiliated in any way).
While there is plenty of info on their cameras online, I want to issue a warning about the levers on the clamps that hold those cams to our bike frames (or, whatever else).
As I found out due to failure on location, those levers are sometimes fixed to the threaded bolt they are meant to turn, by a left-handed thread, and some glue. Yes, you read that right. And yes, I was stunned to find that out, with a lever detaching from the clamp while turning it right way…
Even with my most recent, less-than cheap (and now ‘retired’) clamp, the glue gave up, and so instead of fastening the brackets around my handlebar, the lefty-thread just unscrewed the lever from the threaded bolt, which left me stunned in the presence of such a sad design choice. Those levers need to be locked in place obviously, withstanding both left and right turns to safely open and close those clamps. And no one in their right mind would even assume this could not be the case! So before you buy, try to find out about this point of failure, it is my second model in one year!
I tossed the thing in the bin on the road across Tramuntana to Sa Calobra, and since that third morning on the island, I was only able to film handheld (and because I am not suicidal and like to have both hands on the bars, only ascends have been filmed 😉 .
The resulting clips show the extra exhaustion caused by going up hill with only one hand on the bar, but more importantly, beautiful scenery. Here you go.
And before the clamp failure, I went from Paguera to Puigpunyent via Galilea: