New brand offers modular handlebar mount for electronics

IRVINE, Calif. (BRAIN) — Morsa Design, a new brand launching this month, will offer modular accessory handlebar mounts with optional adapters to accept action cameras, lights, GPS computers and more. Morsa mounts, made of a carbon nylon material, start with an arm that fits 31.8 bars and accepts one or two adapters for electronic devices, which mount to the arm positioned in front of the handlebars.

The system has been in development for more than two years, is made in the U.S., and will be available to dealers this month from J&B.

A Morsa mounting arm will retail for $20. Adapters will be $10 each and include mounts for Garmin Edge computers, GoPro, Shimano and Garmin action cameras, and Rokform smart phone cases. Morsa also will offer a universal accessory mount that will accept any accessory designed to fit 31.8mm handlebars, such as Cateye or Polar computers or bike lights.

All the mounts can be rotated for the optimum angle for viewing, lighting or video recording. They can also be moved back and forth along the arm and can be rotated to position the device upside down or rightside up.

Morsa also will offers bundles, for $30 or $40, that include the arm and one or two mounts.

Morsa will be delivering parts to J&B this Friday for the first time. In addition to wholesale distribution through J&B, Morsa will sell direct to consumers through its website, which will go live soon. Morsa will have a minimum advertised price policy set at full MSRP, said founder Jeff Bobbitt.

"We will try hard to police our MAP policy," Bobbitt said. "Protecting the brand is key to longevity and discounting is not in our cards."

Bobbitt is a longtime bicycle and powersports competitor and engineer, who has worked with Keith Bontrager as well as Honda's motocross and supercross teams. He also worked as a suspension engineer in IndyCar racing and spent 12 years as a track support and R&D engineer for Toyota Racing.

He said he came up with the idea for mounting bicycle accessories in front of the handlebar several years ago, after using a Garmin computer on his mountain bike for heart rate-based training. He set the idea aside and in recent years several other brands, including K-Edge and Barfly, have begun offering center mounts.

The Morsa products offer more options and adjustability, the company said. More information available on the company's Facebook page.