climber7

any thoughts? i'm not a weight weenie and would never spend $100 on a bottle cage, but i think the carbon cages look cooler than the cheap alloy cages on my bike now. there are some for sale on ebay for like $20/cage (like these: https://cgi.ebay.com/2-CARBON-CYCLE-B...item415731423d), and i'm thinking about getting some for the improvement in looks. also, my mom might be getting a bike and would need bottle cages anyway, so one of us has to buy a couple at some point.

anyone have those or something similar? any issues with durability, breakage, etc. in cheap (or even not cheap) carbon cages?

RiPHRaPH

The tabs at the bottom will break off within a month. Put a bottle back going over rough road and you can blow right through the bottom. I eventually went back to the vintage ones. At least with the Performance cheapies you can keep on returning and returning them.

max power

if you haven't had personal experience with them breaking don't post

Louutah

Search (I think) "D3 carbon bottle cages" on ebay. I purchased a pair for 22 bucks shipped. Arrived in 9 days, look great and have held up with Camelback Podiums, both 20 and 24oz bottles.
I frequent my LBS as much as possible, however 1000% percent markup seems alittle extreme.

Jumpinj98

I bought a pair of karbona aero cages for 50 bucks shipped off ebay. There are very sturdy and light.

datlas 

Rumor has it that many Wal-Marts have "Bell" carbon cages on sale for something well under 20 bucks...worth checking out.

That said IMO carbon cages are silly and I suggest aluminum, stainless steel, or Ti.

RiPHRaPH

Can I comment as to the design then? Is that OK? Me thinks that max had better power down.
Some cheaper carbons are ok, but can also have too much bottle slipping.

jgjulio

I have these...
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...jsp?spid=57300

They are super light and look nice on my bike.
Could not justify the cost of carbon for virtually no weight difference.

alanknm

Heh.. When I was picking up my bike the LBS guy asked me about what sort of cages did I want ?

He said anywhere from $9.99 to $125 for carbon. I asked if the carbon ones where any lighter and his response was "nope. Here's what I use."
He pulled down the cheapest plastic cages and said. "I had a slow day last month and started weighing the different makes that we carry. These," holding up the $9.99 cages, "are the lightest and most durable ones. I have them on my own bikes"

I think that they were even less that $9.99. I got two of them. If they break.. fine, I'll buy some more.

Davinci..

I think his point was that if you dont have any experience with ebay carbon cages(ie, chinese), maybe its not appropriate to just "guess", or just make crap up.

Ive had mine for a year and a half.. and the bottoms have no broken out, they are ridiculously solid. And if you had been anywhere near these ebay carbon cages, you would also know, that bottle slipping is the absolute last problem you'd ever have with these things.

I got mine for $24-$26 shipped. The generic ebay carbon cages, are light, strong, and a tremendous value..

Carbon Unit

I have learned my lesson. I will never buy cheap carbon cages off of Ebay again. I had a set for a few months, I can't remember the name but I lost a Polar bottle with them. I sold them and bought two used Arundel cages for $40.00 and they have worked perfectly for the past 4 years. They are also much easier to put a bottle in and remove than the old stainless cages that I had before the cheap Ebay cages.

Agave

Same here but you forgot to say they add 10 watts.

Minimum.

TromboneAl

I've had this for a while, and like it very much. Tacx Tao, $15.

wrr1020

Mine look exactly like the one in the link below but it seems they've gone up in price. I bought my mine back in December from a Chinese seller and got them for $21 shipped. Took awhile to receive but the price is exactly what i wanted to spend. They've held up perfectly fine and look really nice as well. Solid, inexpensive, and look great. I don't see how people spend close to $50-100 for an Arundel or similar branded carbon cage. Huge waste of money.
https://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-3K-Full-Car...item483c16639a

coasting 

i say go for plastic ones. elite and specialized make nice ones.

climber7

thanks for all the feedback. seems like plastic might be a good choice. are those specialized or elite cages reasonably durable, at least as far as plastic goes? i know they obviously won't be as strong as metal, but i've seen comments about some - e.g. those tacx cages - breaking kind of easily...

coasting 

the elite i have work well so far. very secure and easy to extract the bottle. i don't know what else to want from a bottle cage. it's not going to be hit or worn out.

sbxx1985 

This.

2ndGen

With a little patience and about $50. more for the pair over
a set of ebay cages, one could have the best cages around.
With an unconditional warranty, you only buy them one time.
Not only that, performance matters.

My big Camelbak Podium Ice bottles slide in an out easy.
No struggling, no fidgeting. And once in, they are locked in.


Lucky me... (2) for $78./shipped.


https://www.astronomy-pictures.net/te...0677585391.jpg

climber7

yeah, fair enough. i guess all i wanted to hear was that they won't snap in half when i go over a bump, and i know you guys wouldn't recommend stuff of poor quality, so it was probably an unnecessary question. just trying to reassure myself that it's a reasonable purchase.

VT Biker

Why spend so much money on something that can easily be replicated with a Monoura aluminum bottle cage at close to $7.00 per cage? Hey - spend your money as you wish. But seems the benefits are low compared to the price, and you lose the durability.

Val23708

I use these on all my bikes - 34g each. also comes in black.

2ndGen

Because looks are subjective and I love how they look and on top of all that, they come with an unconditional warranty.


Thank you.


Ever heard of Arundel cages failing?

rat fink

Probably, the best value in a bottle cage is the Tacx Juno:



I've gotten them for as little as $10.00 a pair. They're are light-years ahead of basic alloy cages and don't look out of place on any bike. However, they are not blingy.

So then, I submit the Rib Cage Pro:





They look good on most any bike, are even more durable and are very secure while being easier to remove and replace a bottle with than even the Tacx Tao. I honestly like these better than even a lot of carbon cages. The S-Works one is even nicer, for a fee.

guadzilla

The el cheapo carbon cage I got on Ebay looks *exactly* like the $50 carbon cages on Competitive Cyclist's website.

I got these to put on my soon-to-arrive Lynskey, mainly for the bling factor.

The best cages I own so far are Tacx Taos. Hands down. I have them on a couple of different bikes with slightly different location of the cages, and the bottles just slide in perfectly, even if your hand is slightly off.

I am not such a big fan of the Specialized Ribcage style cages pictured above - they look nice but I have lost a bottle from them and the top lips dont "guide" the bottle in nearly as surely as the Tacx Taos.

V.