Choosing a mountain bike map board for adventure racing or orienteering can be a difficult proposition, at least here in the US. Most boards come from international sellers and it can be hard to assess quality and compatibility without actually ordering. That's why we bought and tested every adventure racing bike map board so you don’t have to.

How we evaluated the boards: Each map board got a 10 point inspection using the criteria below and we’ll weigh in on how they performed across all categories:

Installed weight: The total weight including all parts when mounted to a bike.
Board material : What is the actual map board made of and how flexible is it?
Top cover type: How well does the map board protect your maps from the elements?
Bike attachment components: How easy is it to mount to your bike, and how strong is the connection?
Durability: Are we going to break this thing?
Cost: Base cost in local currency or approximate USD. Shipping not included
Ships from / availability: Where is it manufactured and how can we order one?
Expert trail tests: We mounted up each one of these boards for a test ride with veteran adventure racer, Nicki Driscoll. Here’s what she thought
Wild card: What stands out about the product that might be unique or interesting.
Overall impressions: What we really thought about the product

Expert Trail Tests

**THE EXPERT TESTER:** Adventure athlete Nicki Driscoll with her bike and our full lineup of tested map boards. Driscoll has raced with Rootstock Racing and the Women of AR team, competing in adventure races around the world. A three-time USARA National Champion—including one overall coed title and two wins in the all-female category—she has numerous race wins to her name and a wealth of experience in adventure racing navigation

We were joined by veteran US adventure racer and top navigator, Nicki Driscoll for a marathon review session at a local park. Each board was mounted to Nicki’s bike as it would be during a race. She then rode an approximately 3km loop consisting of gravel roads, trails, and some challenging singletrack. Nicki’s objective was to assess the in-race stability of the map boards and shake out any other details that might be important to mountain bike navigators. Her comments are based on her experience with these products, as well as others, over many years of navigating for adventure races.

The models we tested: (click through for a detailed review)

On fairness and impartiality

We tried our best to evaluate these map boards from every conceivable angle, both objective and subjective, in ways that hopefully will inform your map board purchase decision as an adventure racer and/or mountain bike orienteer. All the products were purchased outright by Adventure Racing Insider and no compensation was received for this article.

Initial Findings

After ordering and receiving all seven of these mountain bike map boards, we set out first to test them as objectively as possible. Directly out of the box, there were noticeable differences. Some of the boards seemed much more flexible than others. Some were easier to swivel. Several of the boards came with a variation of a mounting rack we’ll refer to here as a ring and claw: the ring attaches to the board for stability and the claws attach to bike handlebars. Some of the newer boards sported some innovative looking mounting solutions. Some designs were much newer than others and a range of materials were used by the makers of these products, from anodized aluminum to 3D printer filament. Using our static test rig, we set about to quantify all the differences we could before taking them out for field tests.

We also considered other factors such as cost, overall materials quality, along with other relevant information, all of which can be found in the Original test data

So which mountain bike map board should you buy?

While we won’t be making any explicit recommendations or declaring winners, hopefully the information in this report will help guide your decision. We hope you can use this data to find your preferences, check your budget, and make an informed purchase.

Notable but excluded designs

The following map board designs didn’t make the final cut for this review. While we would have loved to review more mountain bike map boards, we found that these designs were not available to us. Whether the products were discontinued or simply not available in the US, we couldn’t get our hands on the designs to review them:

Rixen Kaul KlickFix ‘Sunny’: A more inexpensive and modular design from a German bike shop. A smaller version of this is available on Amazon called the KlickFix Freeliner, but the size is quite small and not suitable for adventure racing maps. The larger “Sunny” size board does not have a price listed and does not appear to be available. The mounting parts for this map board are modular and they’re all available online for those who wish to try a DIY* approach and construct something with a custom size board.

NTR Cycling: An Australian design priced at 145AUD is currently not available.

MapDec: This UK based bike shop made a map board holder at one point but it no longer seems to be available online.

Windchill: This 125AUD map board rack is custom made for your bike’s handlebars and it appears to have a similar board design as the Orifix and Miry boards. This product is not currently available in the USA though so it has been excluded from this review.

Gritty Cat: Another Australian design, this board is very similar in construction and price (59.99AUD) to the AR Nav Supplies map board that we reviewed here. They have some fun artwork but alas this design is not available in the USA so it has also been excluded from the review.

Decathlon / Geonaute: Sold by Decathlon sports at one time, it appears that the Geonaute mountain bike map boards are no longer available for retail or wholesale purchase.

Fishian: A Russian brand whose website has not been updated since 2010 shows several models of bike map boards but they do not appear to be available.

*A note on DIY:

In addition to the models of map boards we reviewed here there are adventure athletes who would prefer to do it themselves and construct their own map boards. There are lots of different ways to approach this engineering challenge and if you’re keen for a new project build, here are a few resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMbzd-faRM0

https://www.navigatetoyouradventure.com/2011/07/diy-project-mtb-orienteering-map-board.html

https://www.instructables.com/Bike-Map-Board/

https://www.printables.com/model/20034-bicycle-map-holder