Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Realized I forgot to mention that I see you are using the underside bottle cage. Just a warning- I have seen those snap(and by seen, I mean I have experienced it as well) when they are not supported with a strap and when using basic aluminum bottle cages or inexpensive plastic cages.
The basic aluminum cages dont really bend(they do a slight bit) and when stressed, they just snap at the weld. Same with basic plastic cages.
Stainless steel cages will bend before breaking.


Anyways, the cages werent designed to hold weight with the lip facing down. That causes the cage to stretch due to the bottle constantly pushing down on the lip of the cage. They were designed to rest at an angle where the lip is facing up(on either the downtube or seat tube, the lip of the bottle is facing at an angle up or at worst, its level and vertical.
When a bike is on rough ground so there is a lot of bouncing and dynamic force, the stress on an under the downtube cage is a lot greater than if only smooth pavement is ridden.

If fuel is stored there or water, strapping the bottle to the downtube will take stress off the cage to reduce the chance of it breaking, and itll help ensure the bottle doesnt bounce out(not that ive seen that once or more...)



-end ramble-