Who carries a camera while riding a bicycle?

[100Teraflops]

Personally I would never carry my DSLR while I go mountain biking; my riding style isn't that of going downhill to the extremes, more cross country endurance riding, but I'd always feel weary knowing that an expensive piece of gear is at the back; I have a solid camera backpack but if I fell it'd still hit a lot of force.

If you have an iPhone 4, just do what i do and buy an armband and you'll have your camera at easy reach. Previous gen iPhones same applies but given the lower quality of pictures might want a point and shoot instead.

I dont know about other peoples opinions, but when Im out riding, taking pictures would remain a second priority of mine; enjoying the ride would come first, as such I wouldn't want to have to ride slower than usual, or more cautious than usual - I don't want to always be thinking 'dont go to fast or something - important gear at the back!'.

Your concern about not enjoying the ride is sensible. It depends upon the rider if one is hardcore or not. I will try both using a SLR and a P&S. I am not a street rider, as I ride on trails etc.. The P&S is clearly the winner with the iPhone 4 being a close second place. I have one of the two covered.

 

[Cliff3]

FWIW, the only time I've been tempted to carry my SLR with me is when a bicycle race is in the area and I want to get to a good vantage point when the roads are closed. An example would be next month when the Tour of California is running stage 4 through my town. The downside to that is this prime vantage point is normally at the top of one of the steeper hills in the area, and the equipment I would want to take with me weighs 10 pounds or so. I have enough trouble getting my butt to the top of these hills/mountains, let alone the additional weight of the camera and a telephoto lens...

Otherwise, riding is my primary activity and not harvesting photographs. I have a camera along to capture things I encounter that are interesting enough to cause me to stop, or photos of my companions. A large sensor compact like a Pen EP2 or similar would make for a nice riding companion.

 

[padmasana]

I carry a Samsung HZ30w on road bike rides. It's great for daylight and has a terrific telephoto zoom for when the horses are a little bit back into the fields. I'm tempted by a Canon S95 for better image quality but I'd miss the reach of the Samsung.

 

[FOX160]

I use an Contour 1080 HD head cam
Would not bother with a basic camera you'll probably
shake it to bits also the predictive focus will be going
crazy whilst recording footage.

 

[100Teraflops]

FWIW, the only time I've been tempted to carry my SLR with me is when a bicycle race is in the area and I want to get to a good vantage point when the roads are closed. An example would be next month when the Tour of California is running stage 4 through my town. The downside to that is this prime vantage point is normally at the top of one of the steeper hills in the area, and the equipment I would want to take with me weighs 10 pounds or so. I have enough trouble getting my butt to the top of these hills/mountains, let alone the additional weight of the camera and a telephoto lens...

Otherwise, riding is my primary activity and not harvesting photographs. I have a camera along to capture things I encounter that are interesting enough to cause me to stop, or photos of my companions. A large sensor compact like a Pen EP2 or similar would make for a nice riding companion.

I carry a Samsung HZ30w on road bike rides. It's great for daylight and has a terrific telephoto zoom for when the horses are a little bit back into the fields. I'm tempted by a Canon S95 for better image quality but I'd miss the reach of the Samsung.

I use an Contour 1080 HD head cam
Would not bother with a basic camera you'll probably
shake it to bits also the predictive focus will be going
crazy whilst recording footage.

Thanks for sharing folks. I did not think about the road vibration, nice. Cliff3, I hear ya about carrying 10 extra pounds while riding. Especially riding up and down the 'foothills' in S.F. padmasana, the Canon S95 has been recommended by other cyclist/photographers, as it must be a great camera.

 

[Chappers]

As long as you don't do what I did and had my dSLR and lens in a canvas bag in a basket at the front of my bike. Hit a pothole in the road (UK is now infamous for these) and my kit flew about 15 foot in the air and landed on the road.
One panic attack later, I found my gear safe and sound, but I was lucky.