I currently have a pair of Tacx Tao cages on my Flyte.



They look great, and so far the one on the downtube has worked great. However the 56cm compact frame makes getting a smaller bottle in/out of the seat tube cage difficult, and my large Polar bottles impossible. Before I go back to the traditional aluminum style cages, wanted some input if there are any other (non carbon) style cages out there that allow for some easier entry by a bottle coming in at more of a side angle. Many thanks in advance.

I use the Bontrager Batcages and love them...they don't look right on every bike (i.e. the Merckx so they aint there) but they would look great on the Flyte.

Never dropped a bottle but easy to get bottles in and out of.
Shown here on the Bottecchia:

why not go with some of the side-loading cages??

+1. I picked up a pair of these for $6 apiece this weekend. They look completely unbreakable -- the material is very strong yet malleable -- and inserting/removing bottles is a snap. There's a reassuring little thump as the top clip of the cage latches onto the bottle.

One of the best parts of the cage design is that there are a few different verticle openings for attachment to the frame. So you can position the cage lower on your frame than you could with other cages. This is handy even on my non-compact frame since I like to use a pair of larger 750ml bottles on long base rides.

I personally find the Tacx Tao cages too bulky, and they don't grip some of my bottles very securely, which I guess makes sense since Tacx bottles are ever so slightly wider than most.

chopper, I'll check those out next time I head over to the LBS. They're a Trek shop and might have some.

Taco, I may end up doing that so I can load a large Polar bottle on the bike. The Texas heat is right around the corner and my regular ole Nashbar bottles let a full load of ice melt in about 10mins.

Those cages should work Cuda, look at the vertical cage on my Wedge, that's tight, but I still can get a small bottle in and out while riding



Please excuse the season of winter commutings grime on the bike



As suggested, maybe look for those side entry cages.



Here is a Bontrager that would look great with your Flyte

I googled it Here


That or get a Camelbak Mule... I just picked one up for MTB'ing

https://www.wisecyclebuys.com/index.a...PROD&ProdID=68

Pick up a pair of CatCages on eBay.



They're aluminum, available in Blue, Red, Black or Grey, and you can mount them so that they're side-entry or front-entry.

^ ^ ^ I had one of those cages on my Mongoose mtb when I had it. I actually ended up using JB Cold-Weld to attach it to the frame as there were NO bottle mounts on the frame. Well, actually that's not true, there was one set UNDER the downtube. Not sure if it was designed that way or my particular model got it's downtube flipped upside down while welding...

A small 17-20oz bottle would probably fit in the Tacx cage on the seattube. I can use a 24oz in it if I strubble with getting the bottle in/out (which I'd only do at a stop, it's a pretty stiff fit). But the bigger Polars are a no-go. When you're in the middle of the Hotter Than Hell Hundred, you want your ice to last as long as you can.

My Catamount MFS has its bottle mounts on the underside of the downtube. I imagine Catamount designed those cages to work with their underside cage mounts. If you look close at the picture, you can see the American Classic cage immediately in front of the pivot:

I've been using the Specialized Rib cages for almost two years. They are easy to get large or small bottles in and out of. They are also fairly inexpensive. I used them on my Scott and bought some new ones for my Tarmac. I have the Tacx Tao cages on my Cinelli and I have to agree that they can be a pain in the butt.

The Elite Patao carbon cage has a funnel type upper lip (see pics), that should allow the angulation on bottle entry that you seek.

The Patao is used by professional teams, such as here on Landis' bike. It really holds bottles securely.




I got mine from this Hong Kong ebay supplier for $40 each (Patao's retail for $ 90).

https://cgi.ebay.com/New-Elite-Patao-...QQcmdZViewItem

Yea.. you can probably sneak the Polar bottles past the Pataos. I have them on my 56cm Motobecane and I can get the bottles in and out okay.

Reviving this thread to get input on a cage that I'm about to pick up and give a go:



and/or



Anyone with this cage comment on how easy it is to get the cage in and out from a relative angle? Thanks.

Not sure about bottle entry but am curious about how far down the "arms" extend into the collars on the first one. Would it come apart at the wrong time? I'd pick the second just for the better design

i had this problem as well on that small azz pilot. even the side entry didn't work because there simply wasn't enough room for the polar bottle.

ya know what my solution was??? i got a bigger, standard geometry bike!! have 2 arundel cages that work great so far. i haven't tried the polar bottle yet, but it really doesn't matter if it fits or not. the biggest thing -- this bike fits. off topic tho, sorry.

cuda - those cages in the last picture didn't work for me either.

whatever you do, don't waste your money on a CF cage.

look how well they worked on the kemmelberg.

Botto.

My polar bottle has enough space to fit physically in the space I've got, but need to pull the top of the bottle sideways a fair bit before pulling it out (or vise-versa for going in). I've got a couple traditional shaped aluminum cages at home I guess I could try out as a last resort plan, but was hoping to get something a little different for this bike.

As far as how far the bars go down into the frame on the black one, not sure, the second one is certainly a better design but doesn't come in black and is twice the price. Granted, neither are that expensive, but still 2 for 1 is something to consider.

I've got a Giant bottle cage that is a very similar design to that and it's rubbish. Fine for getting bottles in and out of, but the metal is far too malleable, so I periodically have to bend it back into shape. The metal is also wearing away at one point where the bottle rubs every time I pull it out or put it in!


(amusingly, elsewhere on the site where I found this photo, it was pictured upside-down. Someone once posted a picture of their bike here on BF with two of them, each upside-down)

+1 for Patao's I have them on my bike, they allow for some height adjustment at the bolts. They hold well too and are easy to transfer the bottle in and out. I had the Tacx Taos like yours and got rid of them after about a year. They seem too thin and flex quite a bit, also the plastic around the mounting bolt snapped on one. Just dont seem that well made, more of a pretty thing.

i dig my bontrager race lites. they were $15 each at the local trek dealer. later.

70kph down the cobbles will pop many bottles out (and fillings, crowns and other dental work).

time to paint that drywall.

maybe, but they've been descending the kemmelberg for years w/o the devatsation the had on wednesday.

would you like a link to a pic of jimmy caspar, with his lip split open to his nose?

not having a bottle cage that holds bottles, or can be pressed/shaped to make sure they hold bottles, doesn't help.

I looked at those, seemed like the angled entry would be kinda tight, but could be the fact they weren't actually attached to a bike at the time.