RAM X-Grip Honest Review: Pros, Cons and Who Needs It

I will tell you the part the product page leaves out: the RAM X-Grip will hold your phone through the whole Myrtle Beach run, and it will also scare you half to death the first time you hit a pothole at 55. Both of those things are true. I have ridden with this mount for a season on my touring bike, which means a couple of Myrtle Beach trips and a lot of weekend rides, and I have opinions that do not fit neatly into a five-star review.

RAM MOUNTS sells this thing by the thousands, and for good reason. The spring-loaded X design with rubber caps holds a phone without hiding the screen, and the U-bolt base clamps to handlebar rails from half an inch to an inch and a quarter. But the honest review is about what happens at mile 300, in the rain, on a rough patch of interstate, when you are tired and the phone is your only map. That is where this mount earns its keep or gets returned.

How I've Used It

I am Hank, I am 61, and I have been riding for about 35 years. My bike is a 2019 Indian Chieftain touring bike, and every year I ride from Pittsburgh down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, about 600 miles each way, usually over two days with an overnight stop in Virginia. Linda rides pillion on shorter rides, but she takes the car for the long haul. So when I test a phone mount, I test it the way I ride: loaded down, on interstate, in weather that changes three times between breakfast and lunch.

I bought the RAM X-Grip with the U-bolt base and medium arm at the start of last riding season. The arm is 3 inches, which puts the phone just above my handlebar clamp, close enough to read without taking my eyes off the road for long. The whole thing weighs 326 grams, and once it is bolted on you forget it is there. The U-bolt base fits rails from half an inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter, and my handlebar sits right in the middle of that range.

Installation took me about twenty minutes, and most of that was deciding where the phone should sit. I bolted the U-bolt base to the left side of the bar first, because that is where my eyes go when I check the left mirror. That lasted one ride. My glove kept brushing the phone every time I rolled on the throttle, and after an hour of that I was ready to throw the whole thing in a ditch. I moved it to the right side of the bar, just inside the grip, and that is where it has lived for the rest of the season. The double socket arm has enough adjustment to aim the screen at your face, which matters more than most people think. A few degrees of angle is the difference between a quick glance down and a head tilt on every single check. Get that angle right before you take the first long ride.

The phone holder accepts a width range of 1.875 to 3.25 inches and a depth of up to .875 inches. My phone fits with room to spare, and the rubber caps on the spring-loaded X arms grip the corners without covering the screen. That matters more than you think. I have used mounts that wrap around the phone like a cage, and you spend the whole ride tilting your head to see the map. The X-Grip leaves the whole display visible.

What Nobody Tells You About the X-Grip

Here is the part I wish someone had told me before I bought it: the X-Grip holds your phone with four rubber-capped fingers, not a lock. That is the whole design. It is spring-loaded, it is adjustable, and it is heavy duty, but it will never clamp down like a vise. On smooth pavement you forget the phone is even mounted. On a rough patch at speed, you will glance down and see the phone wiggle, and your stomach will drop.

Here is the exact moment I mean. It was a Saturday in May, and I was heading south on I-79, about an hour out of Pittsburgh, running 55 in the right lane because the pavement was rough. The phone was showing the next exit, and I glanced down just as the front wheel found a pothole that the car ahead of me had straddled. The phone jumped in the cradle. Not off, just jumped, a quick shudder that I felt in my chest before I even saw it. I pulled off at the next exit, heart rate up, and checked the phone and the mount. Both were fine. The rubber caps had held. But I will not pretend I did not think about that moment for the next hour of riding. That is the honest version of owning this mount.

That wiggle is not a defect. It is the tradeoff for a mount you can get your phone in and out of with one hand, wearing gloves, without fumbling with levers or screws. RAM MOUNTS knows this, which is why they include an optional tether in the box. Use it. The tether is a small rubber strap that loops around the phone and secures to the mount, and it turns a scary moment into a non-event. If the phone ever does come loose, it stays with the bike instead of bouncing down the interstate.

The X-Grip holds your phone with four rubber-capped fingers, not a lock. The tether in the box is not optional. It is the difference between a scare and a shattered screen.

Rain, Heat and Mileage

I have ridden through a full day of rain with the X-Grip, and the phone stayed put. The rubber caps do not lose their grip when they get wet, which surprised me. What surprised me more was that the phone itself kept working. The mount does not cover the phone, so there is nothing to trap water against the screen. Rain hits it, runs off, and the touchscreen still answers. I keep a small ziplock bag in my saddlebag for downpours, but for a steady light rain I do not bother anymore.

One day that sticks with me was the second day of my Myrtle Beach run last year. I left the motel in Virginia under a clear sky, and by the time I crossed into North Carolina the clouds had stacked up and the rain was coming down steady. I rode the next three hours in it. The phone never moved. The screen collected water like any screen does, and I wiped it with a gloved thumb at every stop, but the mount itself was a non-issue. The rubber caps gripped the same wet as they do dry. That is the thing I keep coming back to: the X-Grip does not care about weather. The tether stayed dry in its loop, and the phone went back in my pocket at the motel that night still working like nothing had happened.

Heat is a different story, and it is not the mount's fault. On a 90-degree day in Virginia, the sun beats down on a dark phone screen mounted at handlebar height, and the phone will overheat and dim itself to protect the battery. The X-Grip cannot fix that. No mount can. What the X-Grip does well is get the phone up into moving air, where it runs cooler than it would in a tank bag or a pocket.

After a couple of Myrtle Beach trips and a lot of weekend rides, the rubber caps still look new. The spring tension has not loosened. The U-bolt has not budged. I check the bolts before every long ride, the same way I check my tire pressure, and I have never had to tighten anything more than a quarter turn. That is the RAM MOUNTS reputation showing up in real life: the thing is built to be adjusted and forgotten.

The Vibration Question

Every phone mount review has to answer the vibration question, so here is mine: yes, you will see vibration in the screen at highway speed. No, it has not damaged my phone. The X-Grip holds the phone firmly enough that the image stays readable, and the rubber caps absorb some of the buzz. Modern phones have image stabilization in their cameras, and the maps app does not care about a little shake. If you are the type who cannot stand any movement in the screen, this mount will bother you. If you just need to glance down and see the next exit, it is fine.

The worst stretch I ride every year is the concrete section of I-95 through the sandhills of North Carolina, where the expansion joints thump every few seconds for miles. The first time I hit it with the phone mounted, I expected the worst. What I got was a readable screen and a phone that was still in one piece when I stopped for fuel. I checked the camera that evening, took a few test shots of the motel parking lot, and everything focused the way it should. The image stabilization on the phone has never thrown an error, and the lens has never rattled loose. One full season of that stretch, plus the rough pavement around Pittsburgh, and I have no horror story to report. I am not saying vibration is a myth. I am saying this mount has not hurt my phone.

I have read the forum threads about phone cameras being ruined by handlebar vibration. I cannot tell you that will never happen to you. What I can tell you is that I have run this mount for a full season, my phone's camera still focuses, and the phone's optical image stabilization has never thrown an error. The weight capacity maximum on this mount is 2 pounds, and my phone is nowhere near that. Keep your phone in the middle of that range and you are riding the way the mount was designed to be ridden.

What I'd Change

The included glue tube for the rubber caps is a nice touch, because those caps are the only part that wears. If you take the phone in and out a dozen times a day, the caps will eventually lose their tack. The glue tube lets you re-stick them, which is smarter than making you buy a whole new mount. But it is also a hint: RAM MOUNTS knows the caps are the weak point, and they are telling you how to fix it yourself.

The medium arm is the right length for my bike, but I can see how someone with a taller fairing or a different handlebar setup would want a different arm. The arm is 3 inches, and it is not adjustable. You pick the length when you buy. That is not a con so much as a warning to measure your setup before you order. The U-bolt base is adjustable, the arm is not.

Who This Is For

The RAM X-Grip is for the rider who wants to see the whole phone screen, get the phone in and out easily, and never think about the mount again. It is for the touring rider who uses a phone for maps, music and the occasional photo stop, and who understands that a mount is a tool, not a safe. If you are the kind of person who checks your bolts before a long ride and carries a tether, this mount will serve you for years.

It is also for the rider who values a brand that stands behind its work. RAM MOUNTS backs the X-Grip with a lifetime warranty, and in a world of cheap plastic mounts that crack after one winter, that matters. I have owned cheaper mounts. They held my phone about as well as a rubber band holds a stack of coins. The X-Grip is the first mount I have trusted enough to stop thinking about.

Who Should Skip It

Skip the RAM X-Grip if you ride off-road, where the bike is bouncing and the phone is taking real impacts. The X-Grip is a street mount. It is heavy duty, but it is not a dirt bike mount, and no amount of rubber cap will change that. If you are jumping whoops with a phone on the bars, you want something that locks the phone down completely, and you want to accept that the phone might not survive the hobby.

Skip it if you cannot stand any movement in the screen, or if you know you will not use the tether. The tether is the difference between this mount being a good idea and a gamble. I have used mine every ride since the day I installed it, and I have never needed it to save the phone. But I have also never once considered riding without it. If that sounds like too much fuss, buy a mount with a locking mechanism and accept the bulk that comes with it.

The Bottom Line

I have used the RAM X-Grip for a full season, and I will use it again next season. It is not perfect. The rubber caps wear, the phone wiggles on rough pavement, and the arm length is a decision you have to make before you buy. But it holds my phone through rain and heat, it leaves the whole screen visible, and it has never once let go. For a touring rider who wants a simple, honest mount, that is the whole job.

The RAM MOUNTS X-Grip with U-bolt base and medium arm is the mount I recommend to anyone who asks, with one piece of advice attached: use the tether, check the bolts, and enjoy the ride. That is the honest review.