Touring - Let's see oddly placed water bottle cage pictures

I'm trying to come up with places to mount an extra water bottle cage or two on a standard DF touring bike. I've got a handlebar bag and a GPS mount and a fairly short, steep stem, so using minoura mounts there may or may not be possible.

If anyone has managed to mount bottle cages in odd places and made it work with a loaded setup (loaded = 4 panniers + or a similar load), I'd love to see pictures! Right now, I pack extra water bottles in my panniers, but reclaiming that space and having the water be easier to access would be wonderful.

Hey neilfein, I have a 900mi ride coming up at the end of the month and I'm doing the same thing...looking for places to put water bottles on the outside of my bags or frame. I had some braze-ons installed on the down tube of my '88 Rockhopper Comp for my fuel cell, but that's a pretty common place for cages on touring bikes.

If I come up with something cool, I'll send you some pics. Like you, I'm going to want to reclaim some of the space in my bags.

Jerry H

This isn't what you asked, but maybe a Camelbak would be a possibility. I wore one on the Northern Tier and it wasn't bad. Sure, it would have been better to have nothing on my back, but carrying the Camelbak wasn't a problem. I always had plenty of water, and if you fill it with ice before you add water you'll have ice water to sip for hours.

I have a large topeak bottle cage with a 1.5l bottle hanging of the bottom of my rear non-drive side pannier. My initial concerns where to keep it out it away from the spokes. The cage is threaded through the pannier straps at the bottom of the bag and then zip tied to the buckles on the outer side of the pannier to keep it away from the pannier. I found that it balanced better facing backwards and I think in this direction would pose a reduced risk if it were to hit the wheel.

I rode the bike like this through Mexico, Belize and the top Guatemala on some rough roads at times with out any issue (did break one of the zip ties but the bottle didn't seem to want to go near the wheel when it did) and liked being able to put some more water storage lower on the frame. We were also using water bags but these were strapped to top of the rear rack above the tent and I also have a small cage behind the seat tube...

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_WJUi2ScZhLM/S7o-I5ZHsNI/AAAAAAAAEoA/aL4On2gOO6Q/s400/SDIM2288.JPG

larger picture here... http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gC9ITLaM0BJk9zBMFbcrOw?feat=directlink

and of the cage behind the seat tube...

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_WJUi2ScZhLM/S8Fb2UrBPpI/AAAAAAAAFts/7h4Lo4Kv_-I/s400/SDIM2997.JPG

When I need more cages, I zip tie one to each side of the head tube extension. Puts the bottles right near my hands. Couple more could ride on the forks above the panniers.

long haul trucker on the racks 150461 150462 and on the midfork brazeons of a trek 520. I always bring at least a 4 liter water bag to strap atop the rack for extra water capacity when needed.

New product from Ortlieb:
http://www.therandonneeshop.com/products/show/86-bottle_cage
lets you mount a bottle to your panniers

I win. Someone lock the thread.

I win. Someone lock the thread.

Um... you may indeed win. Details, please? Pretty please?


New product from Ortlieb:
http://www.therandonneeshop.com/products/show/86-bottle_cage
lets you mount a bottle to your panniers

You may also win the thread! Do you have more info on how these attach?

This isn't what you asked, but maybe a Camelbak would be a possibility.

+1 on the Camelbak.

Can millions of mountain bikers be wrong?

Bekologist - how did you mount the bottles there on the fork? I only have a single eyelet on each side of my front fork.....looks like a good idea ;)

That is why I brought a Salsa Fargo, I'll never go thirsty again, 6 water bottle mounts:



Three front triangle H2O bottle mounts
under downtube reinforced H2O bottle mount
Two fork leg H2O bottle mounts with bonus strap mount boss

150652

New product from Ortlieb:
http://www.therandonneeshop.com/products/show/86-bottle_cage
lets you mount a bottle to your panniers

You can get these at The Touring Store (http://www.thetouringstore.com/index.htm), even though they're not on thew website yet. (You need to call them.) I ordered a set, $14 each.

I'd still like to get a bottle cage on my Tikit for when I'm using it without panniers, so keep the pictures coming!

You using panniers up front? They mount to the front fork easily, and depending on your geo they can be easy to reach.

It's a Performance saddle mount. Go figure, it wouldn't fit on the saddle.

Fork mounted:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3562/3681735857_88c620742f_b.jpg

+1 on the Camelbak.

Can millions of mountain bikers be wrong?
I also use a Camelback bladder, but I don't like to have anything on my back so I put it inside the handlebar bag. That provides additional insulation so the ice lasts all day and it also keeps anything else in the bag cold. Handy when getting some perishable groceries along the way.

A modified Camelbak Unbottle hung from the top tube works great for me, holds 4-5 bottles worth of water and insulates a bit too (uses standard Camelbak bladder: 2.8L or 100oz):

http://a-world.net//files/bf/KonaSutra/tour/2010/04/13/01.jpg

http://a-world.net//files/bf/KonaSutra/tour/2010/04/13/02.jpg

You using panniers up front? They mount to the front fork easily, and depending on your geo they can be easy to reach.

Yeah, the fork is blocked, unfortunately.

A modified Camelbak Unbottle hung from the top tube works great for me, holds 4-5 bottles worth of water and insulates a bit too (uses standard Camelbak bladder: 2.8L or 100oz):

That's clever!

I do something similar to AdamDZ. I have these (http://www.rei.com/product/610510) clips ziptied to my headtube, have a Camelbak and Platypus bladder in a backpack laid flat on my rear rack, and just run the tubes along the top tube. Easy access and out of the way

Note water bottle mounted on water bottle mount.

http://bfaber.smugmug.com/Travel/eurekatoeugene/IMG1092/866332032_4QNDk-L.jpg

That's clever!


I do something similar to AdamDZ. I have these (http://www.rei.com/product/610510) clips ziptied to my headtube, have a Camelbak and Platypus bladder in a backpack laid flat on my rear rack, and just run the tubes along the top tube. Easy access and out of the way

I had this Unbottle laying around so I was gonna do something like rocketshipready did, I was inspired by seeing 'bent riders hanging bladders behind their seats. But then while messing around I realized that the Unbottle fits nicely under the top tube, and tube is slanted so it should work out perfectly. So I've sewn on some webbing straps with Velcro. I didn't even need a tube extension, it was a just a perfect fit. And it's just about as wide as a water bottle so it doesn't get in the way of pedaling.

I've been looking for a way to do this recently, because I want to carry a small fuel bottle.

Stephen Lord hangs a bottle from the top tube.

http://ic2.pbase.com/o6/85/557985/1/109391924.fn1uqAcX.StephenPakistanRobertsRoughstuff1.jpg

When I asked him about it, he said:

"About the bottle cage attachment, that is a Minoura accessory. It only has one attachment point on the frame so it wouldn’t last long if not supported at both ends with plastic cable clips and an extra strap through the Sigg bottle top. That setup was the best I’ve had, though the 1.5L bottle is a bit too wide really. 1L bottles are easier to fit and your knees are less likely to hit them. On a later trip I used some plastic clip attachments made by Elite to attach the bottle cage, but they didn’t work as well. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve really cracked the issue of carrying lots of water on the bike, I’ve yet to see a really great solution for carrying 4-4.5L on the frame."

I bought the Minoura attachment (Mijome07 is using two of them in the photo with the yellow bottle), but when I went to fit it, it seemed a bit crappy. I might look at the Ortlieb bag cages.

James

By the way, this guy has compiled a page of all the cage attachment devices he could find. It's a pretty comprehensive list.

http://www.nordicgroup.us/cageboss/

(I think fixing the cage to the back of your helmet is going too far, though.)

I use a bottle beneath the down-tube but this position needs some though:
Dirt kicked up by the front wheel can contaminate the bottle so use one with a flip top.
The force on the bottle cage is much higher when the bottle is hanging down. Ive snapped one cage due to stress. I prefer a cage that completely surrounds the bottle with a loop. A tough plastic one such as flexible glass-reinforced nylon is ideal.

My homebuild Xtracycle. I fix the bottle cage whit zip ties, and also i enlarged it to fit a bigger bottle.
http://media7.dropshots.com/photos/524848/20100510/185719.jpg

http://media7.dropshots.com/photos/524848/20100510/190048.jpg

I installed the Ortlieb bottle cages on my front roller panniers the other day; you need to poke holes in your panniers to install them. It's not an easy install, I swear it seemed like the fabric was healing before I could put the screws through it.

After getting everything installed, I tested the rig by filling the panniers with paper towels and holding them closed under the shower. So far so good! I took them on a ride around town, and all seemed well. They're packed with all my stuff for a long tour that starts tomorrow. (You can remove the cages without using tools and flat-pack them.)

This thread has been great!

I loved the *look* of those ortleib mounted ones, but I'm concerned about how they may affect the waterproof qualities of the panniers. How large of a hole did you have to punch? Are there washers on either side, or?

I started a thread about adding the Ortlieb pocket (similar to the bottle cage) a couple of weeks ago. There are some comments in that.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?639034-Has-anyone-used-that-Ortlieb-pocket-add-on

I sewed a pocket on each of my front pannier to hold extra bottles.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XBmIFG33BBM/Tk6Lex7j6WI/AAAAAAAAG8M/D5wrlAIN-fY/s1223/Revpackand+Kriega+on+fuji3.JPG

odd bottle cage, with a hole on the bottom, using a p clamp I mounted it to the top tube. It's angled slightly to the right, mainly so when the bike is on it's kickstand and I'm standing around it I have a place to put a cup of coffee.