The last couple of long (for us) runs we've done, we wished we had bottles on the bike. Was looking for the relevant lights for smudge (other thread), and saw these cages and thought they would look snazzy on the Helios. then again, could just get ultra cheap ones for about half the price. any advice?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Bottle cages
(17 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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They look nice
Ease of fitting them to bike
The retention of the bottle on the road
Ease of access to the bottle
Those are my three factors for cages ahead of looks and price which varies between £3 and £10 if you are mental and want carbon cages. If going for four cages you could mix them up two fancy for the fancy bike, two plain for the plain?
Posted 11 years ago # -
You can find a lot cheaper cages that will do the job just as well. They are all very light anyway.
Posted 11 years ago # -
response A: just what I expected you to say
response B: surely you appreciate the aesthetics of the design?
Posted 11 years ago # -
The most important thingmy is how nicely it grabs your specific bottle. Take it into the shop to test for the Goldilocks of easy vs secure placement.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Having just bought a couple of bottle cages....
Got a nice balance of aesthetic v. price for a pair of side loading plastic cages from Lezyne. Needed side loading as both mounts are on the downtube (it's apparently a CX thing, a bottle on the seat-tube would mess with shouldering the bike, though I've not seen many CXrs with bottles on the bike) - one dresses to the left, the other to the right. The plastic is sturdy, and shiny, and 'fits' the bike.
But as Uberuce rightly points out, it's actually how well it holds your particular bottle that is the main deciding factor (then looks, then price, in my world, though too high a price and that starts to take precedence - I've seen some cages well in excess of £50, which is just insane).
Posted 11 years ago # -
on the helios, the cages will be almost horizontal - does that make a difference?
Posted 11 years ago # -
They also look like they will not mark bottles in the way cheap aluminium ones can.
Posted 11 years ago # -
From an entirely non-scientific standpoint I'm going to suggest that a 'standard' bottle cage is designed to be slanted so that gravity helps keep it in. In practice it probably has very little to do with it, but given the choice I'd consider side entry.
]The cages I got (though got them cheaper (about half the price!) from Amazon, the link for which I can't find...)
Posted 11 years ago # -
What I look for in bottle cages is resilience and the necessary ductility to be bent back into shape after getting lightly mangled when the bike slips when resting on a stupid non-Sheffield-style rack, like those at Meadowbank Sainsbury.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I just got some Elite Custom Race bottle cages for my Wilier in order to stop the bottle marking that Cyclingmollie mentions above. I was less concerned about the bottles that the ear-bashing I was getting for the road grime that the dirty bottles were then leaving in the sink after being washed.
They got their first test last night with Camelbak Podium bottles and, despite concerns that the bottles didn't look like they were all the way in, did a good job of gripping them over some fairly rough surfaces at fairly high speeds. And the bottles stayed unmarked.
£7.99 from Wiggle, or £8.99 if you prefer the "Stealth" ones (matt black).
Posted 11 years ago # -
response B: surely you appreciate the aesthetics of the design?
Not really, but then I'm probably a traditionalist when it comes to these things.
will not mark bottles in the way cheap aluminium ones can.
Depends on the bottle and the design of the cheap aluminium. Which raises another plethora of choices, for bottle shape, size, colour, brand...
Posted 11 years ago # -
As Bruce said, not every bottle will work with every bottle cage. Some will be too loose, some too tight. My main bottle inventory is:
Spécialités TA: x2 (was x3 but I lost one on the Erskine Bridge)
Syncros: x1
Sigg Wide Mouth Sport aluminium: x2
EBC aluminium: x1I also have a 500ml nondescript bottle from a conference and the 750ml Cycling Scotland bottle that I used to keep citrus degreaser in.
Cagewise, I use the Specialized Ribcage Pro, which is a great fit with the TA bottles and most others including the EBC alu. My Sigg bottles are a fraction smaller and rattle in the Rib Cage, so I stuck bits of handlebar tape to the inside of the cage, but makes it a horrendously tight fit with the others. In the velomobile I use a Token Mono Q carbon cage mounted vertically which fits the Sigg really well. I still have my original Specialized Rib Cage which still works great and is about 15 years old.
I like the Siggs (if not their price, which is shocking) because I'd never realised how much cheap bottles taste of plastic.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Topeak do a range of adjustable cages: LINK. I have an EX on one of my bikes. It allows you to adjust the grip for the particular bottle you're using, even if you've popped into a shop for a bottle from a cooler and don't have a cycling bottle with you. Nice and sturdy, easy to use. The only risk would be id some scrote realised they could completely unscrew the adjuster to leave you with half a cage - they really should have made the adjuster the same colour as the cage.
At the other end of the scale, my carbon road bike has its own-brand carbon cages which set me back about £25 apiece. Crazy but they do look the part!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Don't chose those adjustable EDC Revolution cages, They are made from plastic which is too flexible to hold the bottle securely.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I like the Specialized Rib Cage if you can find them in a sale, bit pricey otherwise. V light, and good grip on the varied bottles in the Snowy household.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I'm very much a traditionalist when it comes to
bidonbottle cages and like nothing more than the heft of a 6mm aluminium cage. It's not fancy, or aero, or even that light compared to many but I can always count on it to keep the bottle in no matter what. Plus they last much better than thinner metal ones, they tend to fatigue very early given the battering the roads subject them to.Posted 11 years ago #
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