Originally Posted by
nhluhr
I particularly hate the fact that aluminum cages can be bent - this means they can get loose. Also, since it's such a soft metal, they start leaving dark gray marks on your bottles as the metal rubs away over time and this gray metal dust makes its way to your hands and your bar tape.
On the other hand, a carbon or well made plastic cage is a permanent shape that never gets loose and never transfers some of itself to your bottle, hands, and bike.
Yea, that (the aluminum residue) is why I quit using them, although the painted ones seem to avoid that problem. On my lighweight "zoot" bike, I currently use a set of Blackburn plastic cages which work very well, look good, are light, and didn't cost much. All the other bikes in my family ((6 or 7 others) have painted aluminum cages, and like I said, I've just never had a dropped bottle, ever.