BikeConsole: Ride With Your iPhone

Everyone knows they shouldn't be answering texts and reading emails when they're riding a bicycle, right? Still, you might need your GPS app or maybe want to listen to some tunes while on a ride and Bike2Power is offering the BikeConsole Smart Mount for iPhone 5/5s, 5c and 4/4s and the Galaxy S3 and S4 and the BikeCHARGE Power Pack USB battery.

The BikeCHARGE ($59.95) is a weatherproof 2600 mAh battery with a mounting kit. You can get a larger extra battery (they're claiming up to 2.5 times the battery life for your device), but you're really investing in the mounting system that lets you mount the battery on your bike frame or handlebars. It works with anything that can plug into a USB port to charge and the construction is solid.

The BikeConsole is a protective case that's custom fit to a mounting system designed to work with your bike. It's sold at three price points: the iPhone 4 version costs $39.95, the iPhone 5s sells for $59.95 and the Galaxy and other iPhone 5 cases retail at $49.95.

BikeConsole's case has a two-piece construction designed to provide drop protection up to 6 feet plus they're all designed to be splash resistant (IPX4).

The extra length at the bottom of the case allows your audio and power connections to take place inside the case, something that should help with the water protection.

The mount itself attaches with a provided Allen wrench.

Once you attach the case to the mount, the phone can rotate 36o° so you can see it in either landscape or portrait view.

There's also a kickstand built into the case for tabletop viewing. The cavity on the back of the phone satisfyingly clicks into place on the mount itself.

The 5S case offers you access to the phone's touch ID feature for the extra $10, although a safe person would probably turn off the Passcode security feature while they had their phone attached to their bicycle. Bike2Power also offers the Power Plus Mount for about $30 more if you want to add a battery case to the mounting system.

If you need access to your phone while you're riding a back, the BikeConsole offers a flexible solution, since the case makes for a good protective solution you're not using it with the bike mount. If you're taking such long rides that you're draining your phone battery and can't wait until a stop to use an alternate battery, the BikeCHARGE gets the job done as well.