SkunkWerX

I'd like to hear from the folding bike community regarding horizontally mounted bottle cages, good? bad? neutral?

Background: I just joined Bikeforums and also just recently purchased a "generic chinese" folding bike. More about the bike in future posts.
It has standard mounting studs on the tube to mount a bottle cage, and the bottle would be horizontal.

I use vertical cages on my full sized bikes, and also use a hydration pack for longer rides.
I'd like any input about mounting a bottle horizontally.
Leaks? Bottle coming loose? Anything else?

downtube

I was worried about that a long time ago. I had an issue pulling the bottles out because they were too close to the stem.....so I put the cage on backwards. The bottle slides out with no problem. I don't recall dropping a bottle, but I'm sure it happened at some point.

Thanks,
Yan

osco53

My Dahon Speed P8 has bottle cage holes on the top tube,, I don't feel comfortable using them.
I carry water In my cooler bag. Cold drinks are a nice thing btw..

If I am going far I ride my LWB recumbent..

prathmann

The downtube on my Bike Friday isn't horizontal, but it is much less inclined than on a regular bike. It's usually not a problem, but I have had a bottle come out a couple times on particularly bumpy roads. I'd expect this to happen more frequently with a horizontal mounting unless the cage design held the bottle very securely.

SkunkWerX

Thanks guys, this is what I am looking for.
Yan, I did look at mounting either direction, backwards facing the seat tube I gain an extra inch, but it may be an awkward reach.
Prathmann, thank you, that is what I was picturing, a loose bottle on bumps. I do ride gravel sections and trails.

Maybe a cam levered (removable) bottle holder on the seat tube, instead?

Nightdiver

They work okay as long as there is sufficient grip either from tightness of the fit, or through friction. For example, i tried putting a stainless bottle in a plastic cage and it bounced out while going over some bumps. But I got a rubber coated cage that was a little smaller in diameter, and I haven't had the bottle move at all. Also tried a tighter fitting plastic bottle in the plastic cage and no problems there either. Another option is the Two Fish velcro mount cage that you can put on your handlepost.

SkunkWerX

Night diver, thanks. Where I will be riding bumps and vibration are a given, so a tight fit will be a MUST. Have been looking at the removable vertical mounts for handlebars and seat posts. I may go that route. Thanks again everyone.

fietsbob

perhaps, put a toe stap around the bottle cage for extra security ..

I do this for the under the downtube bottles on my touring bikes.


My Bike Friday has a Bottle cage mount on top of the top tube . It works fine, on those.

I just have my Abus Bordo Granit lock mounted there, in my case, instead ..

ThorUSA

usually less problem than anticipated. It helps to use regular sized bottles instead of large ones obviously. The twofish Biologic bottleholder works extremely well .... for my personal use I have mounted two bottle holder to a klickfix baseplate and now can use it on the front tern attachment, or the caddy I have mounted on the handlebar which would put the bottle inside ... and leaves room for the front attachment for the kanga

iamclaus

To get an extra pair of bottles on mine I put them on the tall steering tube with a pair of Topeak CageMounts with Topeak X-15 Adapters. The X-15 adapters allow the bottle cage to tilt backwards to get the bottles in and out of the cage, otherwise the CageMounts needed to be installed much lower on the steering tube to allow the bottles to be removed. With the Adapters in place, there is some wobble, but I haven't found it to be a bother.



Having the cages attached does interfere with the fold on mine, though, and a an allen key is needed to remove one bolt from each of the CageCounts to remove the cages. I might opt for some sort of quick-release cage mount to simplify things a bit. Perhaps the clunky-looking Topeak QR Cagemount. The quick-release options from monkii look interesting, but I'm hesitant to order without first knowing just how their cages fit the slighlty-wider-at-the-bottom Camelbak Eddy bottles I prefer.

Amt0571

I have an horizontal bottle holder on my Dahon Mu. Providing the bottle holder has a lip to grab the bottle everything works well.

My bottle has only fallen once, and that was on a technical trail more suited to a mountain bike.

1nterceptor

I used a Two Fish Quick Cage that velcroed on the stem for long rides 50 - 100 miles.
Worked okay; didn't get in the way of my Brompton's fold. But I've been using a Hydrapak
lately. Carries my water, tools, spares, snacks, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgAo...6zPoymgKaIoDLA