I did this after seeing your post and the bracket broke at the bend Did you add supports to yours?

This lives in my garage and longs to be elsewhere. I might have to practice my eBay chops.

As a fan of handlebar cages, I own one of the well made Minoura adapters that let you use a regular cage on the handlebar. It's a very solid bracket and not a bad solution.

I will say that I think the TA bar cage is a better solution than mounting a conventional cage to the bars. The key difference is the loop of wire that extends upwards at the front of the cage....




This helps guide the bottle back into the cage, making it a bit quicker and easier compared to a conventional cage.

That little loop also provides the springiness to grip the bottle. The designs that just have a solid ring of wire around the bottle will either allow the bottle to rattle around in the cage or won't accept a bottle that is slightly larger. Trust me... you want a bit of grip! Otherwise, the first bump will launch that bottle out of the cage and onto the road.

Steve in Peoria
(illustration borrowed from the 11th edition of the Cyclo-Pedia catalog, drawn by D. Rebour)

I have no additional support. It is really solid even after the banging it has taken.

My friend Enzo sells reproductions too.

https://www.ebay.it/itm/Water-Bottle...IAAOSw7xZd6O5e




And a double - https://www.ebay.it/itm/Water-Bottle...IAAOSwTLpdSwWY

Looks like Enzo and I shop at the same place. Only he's got better business sense ...

single

double

Happened to me too. Mine didn't survive the Belgian cobblestones with a full bottle.

I do like the solution, though, so I may try again someday with a more robust bracket: the classic Dutch "snephaak", used to mount a front light:

I'll have to get a photo but I found a second bar-mount cage this afternoon. I assumed it was a badly finished T/A but it appears to be a Taiwanese copy and includes a bottle. Instead of chrome plating it looks more like the galvanized finish you see on garbage cans. The bottle looks like a copy of an old T/A bottle with two tops, a sipper and a sprinkler.

Back with pix. Looks kinda T/A-ish, right?

Enzo includes bottles.

But yes, probably the same manufacturer. And you buy from Enzo because he sells things like first-gen Campagnolo skewers. You do the repro stuff as an add-on.

I didn't realize that the exact version in that photo is a readily-available aftermarket part. There was one on the Polycarbonex frame I picked up. Just as strong as an old Raleigh lamp bracket.

The only problem is the single mounting tab. Mark my words, no matter how hard one wrenches on it, the bottle cage will eventually slip.

-Kurt

Ah, I didn't realize that. Thanks for pointing it out. In that case it's actually a pretty good deal, IMO. I like those ribbed bottles.