Jarrett2

Anyone have any suggestions on a less rattly bottle cage for chipseal roads?

I've just been using this kind:


On long stretches of rough ass Texas chipseal, my bottles will develop a rattle. A slight turn of the bottle stops it, but I'd rather not have to do that.

Since they are the only things that rattle on my bike, I'd love to put a stop to it if possible. Any ideas?

chasm54

Take your pick. Most of the plastic ones will grip well enough to minimize rattling.

sstorkel

I've had good luck with Specialized Zee cages and even better luck with Zefal Wiiz side-mount cages. The Zefal design is the better of the two, but they look a bit clunky on the bike. I've generally found steel bottle cages to be more noisy and less secure than plastic cages.

dr_lha

These are cheap, cheerful and don't rattle at all:

Amazon.com : Ibera Bicycle Lightweight Aluminum Water Bottle Cage, Black : Bike Water Bottle Cages : Sports & Outdoors

bikemig 

Stainless steel is the way to go. You can bend it if you have to. I like the blackburn chicane. It looks good, works well, and doesn't cost a bomb.

fietsbob

Specialized. makes a fiber reinforced nylon cage and their Own Water bottles.. they have been fine for decades..

aluminum ones (&Ti) can be bent to grip plastic bottles better ..

but you can (and may have) un bent the cage taking the bottle Out.

Adding a Toe strap around cage and bottle you can cinch them tight , no matter what you have ..

Jarrett2

I hear the plastic/carbon fiber ones rattling constantly on other people's bikes. Not sure if that's just the bike or the bottle cage though.

I wonder about these:

Wiggle | Elite Ciussi Gel Bottle Cage | Bottle Cages

I like the anti-vibration angle.

DrIsotope

I have the Shimano Pro Deluxe Bottle Cages. They were about $7 each, they never ever rattle against the bottles, and they're within about 5g each of $60 CF cages.

dagray

I use Serfas cages and have no rattle.

chaadster

I do have a pair of those expensive, $70 Lezyne Carbon Cages, and while there's very little to justify the price, they do hold bottles great, are easy in/out, have an integrated pump mount (yeah, I couldn't resist the matching Carbon Road Drive pump!), look hot (IMO) with a glossy 3k finish, and they do not rattle. Of course, they never need adjusting, as metal ones do, for positive bottle retention.

They're probably a dumb way to spend $140, but if you're inclined, they're very nice.

bassjones

I have Cannondale (probably made by somebody else) plastic cages on my bike and they've never rattled at all.

Jarrett2

Y'all must have some really smooth roads where you ride. Everyone's bottle cages rattle here.

jr59

I would suggest you buy a set of King cages and go with those. Try the Iris if you don't want your bottle to move, they are a bit harder to get the bottle out of, but hold your bottle very well. The standard cages work very well, and are the gold standard of bottle cages.

not the cheapest, but i never worry about losing a bottle or a rattle

chaadster

King *used to be* the gold standard...like back in the '90s MTB scene.

There is nothing special about King cages, especially now that titanium isn't the weight weenies' material of choice.

jr59

who said anything about ti? The OP asked for opinions on cages that don't rattle and hold his bottle.

Just b/c somebody has been building a product a while, doesn't make it bad. In fact, it shows just how good it is!

brawlo

Just bend the ones you've got so that they grip the bottle tight. It's the very reason that pro teams apparently use the same style of bottle cage for the Paris~Roubaix. If they won't stay tight, perhaps the metal is fatigued and you need new ones. Find some stainless steel ones like bikemig mentions. They should handle repeatedly being adjusted to hold the bottle tight and should offer more resistance to becoming loose too.

chaadster

Without Ti, King wouldn't even have a rep.

Also, I wasn't suggesting or implying King are bad, only that they don't have a monoply on secure bottle cages.

chaadster

Even if it were true that Paris-Roubaix teams use the same style of cage, which it isn't, it's neither the style which makes a good cage, nor to say that pro demands mirror those of rec cyclists.

Even though they can share the same cage style, there's a difference between small gauge aluminun rod frames and large gauge tubular titanium ones. Frame spacing at the bosses, shaping of the upper clip and whether retaining grips are used, all factor in, along with bottle size used, to determine whether a cage will hold a bottle securely.

And that's just retention; we haven't even talked about ease of entry/removal yet.

Jarrett2

Thanks for all the tips, I bought a couple of these:

brawlo

Good choice, as used by Team Sky at the P~R Bike modifications for Paris-Roubaix | CyclingTips

Take note if teams use such things on such a demanding course. P~R is well known for how rough it is

ciderguy

I have a pair of Profile Design Kages on my bike. Affordable pricing at under $10 each. No rattle and holds bottles well.

Jarrett2

Follow up, these worked like a champ. Did 50 miles on my terrible roads this weekend and no more rattling.

Cyril 

Run some electrical or duct tape around your bottles...a band at the top and a band at the bottom.
No more rattle and you have a bit of tape at your disposal to effect minor repairs.

Jarrett2

Yeah, I tried that first. It didn't work.

XXLHardrock

I always thought that when bottles started to rattle it meant it was time to squish the cage together a bit to hold it tight. Not that it was time to buy a boutique water bottle cage.