Touring - How can I mount water bottles to my racks?

I have a Surly Long Haul Trucker with Surly Nice racks. I'd like to put a couple of water bottle cages on the racks. Problem is that all of the cage mounts I can find are made for tubes that are much bigger diameter than those of the bike rack.

Advice anybody? Thanks

The easiest, if perhaps the least elegant solution is to use hose clamps. I don't know if there are any bottle cages made specifically to mount to racks.

I have a Surly Long Haul Trucker with Surly Nice racks. I'd like to put a couple of water bottle cages on the racks. Problem is that all of the cage mounts I can find are made for tubes that are much bigger diameter than those of the bike rack.

Advice anybody? Thanks

http://recklesscognition.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/methods-for-attaching-water-bottle-cages-without-screws-and-bosses

"My Surly long haul trucker with surly nice racks and water cages"



no, not mine. that's the caption under the guy's lht photo. me? i'd get a 2-liter water bottle
and bungee it to the top of the rack.

yet another surly

http://bike.paullieberman.net/articles/front-rack-mounts

dang, that google is awesome!

I have a Surly Long Haul Trucker with Surly Nice racks. I'd like to put a couple of water bottle cages on the racks. Problem is that all of the cage mounts I can find are made for tubes that are much bigger diameter than those of the bike rack.

Advice anybody? Thanks

I used to worry about having enough bottle cages on my bike. These days, I have to wonder: why bother? I only ever drink from one bottle, the one mounted on the down tube. About once an hour I stop for a break or to take photos... and swap a different bottle into the down tube cage if the current bottle is getting low. Next tour, I'll probably just keep extra bottles in my panniers and refill the one on the down tube as necessary. This might have the added benefit of keeping the stored bottles colder, since they won't be directly exposed to the sun.

How about the Back of your front Panniers , Ortlieb even makes bottle cages to do that.


You can also put a couple bladder bags inside the panniers and refill the bottles
mounted, handy, on the frame..

I had 2 bottle bosses on the top of the down tube, 1 under , and 1 on the seat tube..
.but these were make, not, just buy off the peg, bike frames.

Nashbar had some stacked 2 in one bottle cages, they sold out eventually..

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going with hose clamps. Cheap, and I carry the water without compromising other luggage space.

The hose clamps should work fine. That said I have found that it works best, for me at least, to limit the water bottle cages to two and to carry extra water in pannier or what ever luggage I am using.