androidtt

Been using Elite Strada Carbon water bottle holders for both my road bike and tribike's torpedo mount, but holy crap, these things are failing to hold anything in since March. They're a year old, but it seems like that's all it takes for the carbon grips to have flexed too much. A race two weeks ago I lost three water bottles (1 purchased, 1 aid station water, 1 aid station gatorade) on the tribike. A ride yesterday my HydroFlo Purist flung off and shattered its top. @#!$. Time to cave in.

Are carbon bottle holders this failure prone? What do you all recommend?

Biscayne05

Bought 2 and I am satisfied:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/370601171670...84.m1497.l2649

They copied the Spesh Rib Cage

20g

Carbon Unit

I lost a bottle with a bottle cage. I can't even remember who made the cages but I sold them on Ebay and but two Arundel cages. I haven't dropped even one bottle since I put them on in 2007. I will now only use Arundel cages.

catonec 

I also jumped on the ebay chinese carbon waterbottle cage deal. I paid like 25 bucks for 2 and have been plenty satisfied, havent dropped 1 yet

abstractform20

elite plastic cages are awesome. never used the carbon version.

blacksquid

Arundel Mandible in SS.

datlas 

I am a cheapskate so generally get cheap aluminum ones. You can bend them and they won't break for like 10 years.

Yeah they weigh 20g more than carbon but who cares?

If you have more money to burn, get stainless steel ones (King Cages are great) and if even more money to burn, Ti.

valygrl

1 - the ones from performance bike are cheap (for carbon) and hold the water bottle fine.
B - if you are using something other than bike water bottles, all bets are off, the cage isn't the problem, the bottle is.

baj32161

I have always used Bontrager cages and am currently using Bontrager Race Lite cages, with a short experiment with Pro Stryke (crap) cages. I have never had an inch of trouble with Bontrager cages and I do not know, nor do I give a hoot about what they weigh.

WorldIRC

Speaking of Bottle Cages...

I have a Madone 5.2 54CM with two cages, Bontrager RL...along with the Camelbak Podium Big Chill 25OZ.

Problem is the bottle is too tall to get into the Seat Tube cage via top-load (the normal way). The only way to fit it is if i stretch the front open to get the bottle in...obviously can't do this while riding.

Do I get a shorter bottle for the seat-tube or is there a "lower profile" bottle cage. When the bottle is loaded now, the nozzle is right up top touching the top tube.

Silvercivic27

I got 2 of the Ti king cages for a classic bike yesterday and was amazed at how light they were in my hand. They look like they would be much heavier and in fact were lighter than a bunch of other carbon and plastic cages. Expensive but certainly not more expensive than carbon cages. I was looking at fairwheel bikes the other day for mountain cages and they had a carbon one for $140. THAT's an expensive bottle cage!

Silvercivic27

Or get a side loader cage. That's also why I don't run insulated cages on the bike, but I will carry them in jersey pockets if needed.

WorldIRC

Are there any decent ones where the bottle won't go flying when I go over a bump

mpath

I have the Elite Moro d'Elite for a couple of years now, and no issues.

ThinLine

Use a Elite Patao carbon fiber with no problems yet, also have a token cf shaped like the elite....no problems.

androidtt

Thanks. I think I'm going to go with the Arundel. Time to scour!

milkbaby

+1 Elite Custom Race cages (fiberglass reinforced nylon plastic iirc) have that rubbery sizing piece that helps hold the bottle and a good clip at top. About 40 grams, so not weight weenie but not overweight. Bottom tab seems sturdier than most carbon ones too.

I have them on a secondary bike, and I can't bring myself to replace them with carbon cages until they break...

fstshrk

I use the bontrager 34g water bottle holders on my Roubaix. No complaints. They grab the bottle well, they are light (relatively speaking) and easy to get the bottle out from when I want to.

Silvercivic27

I have no personal experience with side loaders but Arundel makes one that people generally seem to be pleased with. Arundel stuff tends to be on the expensive side of the spectrum but it's good stuff. I have Dave-Os on one bike and they haven't launched a bottle yet.

blacksquid

You won't be disappointed. I used a side loader until it pitched a bottle after going over a bump then ditched them. Tacx Tao is not bad either.

BarracksSi

Yup, the Arundel SideLoader cages are really good. I got one each of their SideLoader and OtherSideLoader - since the design is inherently asymmetrical, having the mixed pair means that they're open to the same side of my bike.

I liked them so much that I got the stainless Arundel Mandible cages mentioned earlier for my commuter bike.

Yo Spiff

I prefer the type of cage made from tubular aluminum with buttons at the contact areas with the bottle. Holds them very well.


Specialized cages have worked nicely for me as well.

MileHighMark

King stainless by Ron Andrews. Hand-made in Colorado, elegant looking, affordable, and bottles stay put. I have them on all my bikes, and have never lost a bottle.

JustinHorne

That's what I've got. If you can eject a bottle from that thing, you've got bigger problems.

Mike F

+2 almost too tight Im pretty sure thats what Matt Goss has on his Foil also