The recent $60 bottle cage thread received a lot of attention, with many different opinions. I see people all the time with nice modern bikes outfitted with POS bottle cages. Here's a case for buying quality cages:

Our regular Saturday morning club ride this time of year is really a great ride ROUTE MAP. The ride is about 75 miles (from my house) and it skirts around the valley perimeter on the way out and includes a climb up a distant canyon. The canyon has four or five cattle guard crossings that we take at full speed coming down. There is a re-supply/re-group stop in the town after we descend the canyon. A few miles after that stop there is an elevated railroad grade crossing that is not very smooth.

On yesterday's ride we had about 15 people of very mixed abilities and experience levels. As we made the rail crossing after the stop (with bottles completely filled of course) I get torpedoed by a bottle from the guy in front of me. Well, we weren't going fast so I stood my ground and rode over it and crushed his bottle. Everybody stopped while he seemingly lamented the loss of his bottle. Personally, I was just glad it didn't throw me for a 10 count. He only had one bottle now, but it wan't a hot day and he'd be fine to get home. But, I was thinking about what if that had happened a few minutes earlier at 30+ mph coming down the canyon as we crossed one of those cattle guards?

So my point is simply this: Make sure if you ride with others that you are responsible enough to have bottle cages that have sufficient holding power to restrain a filled bottle when you hit some big bumps! I see a lot of crappy cages on nice bikes. Also make sure there is a secure fit for any bottle you use!

Secure cages come at all price levels. I agree that the bottle must be secure, but would dispute that spending a bunch for cages is the only way to accomplish that. Of course, if by quality you mean the technical definition of the word, satisfying the user's expectations, then we have no argument. I expect my cages to secure my bottles. If they do that, they are, by definition, high quality.

Stainless steel ftw

King stainless cages are possibly too secure at <$20

+1 steel

Yep, this is one place where steel rocks. I think this is the all time best cage:

I think there is a rule somewhere that your cage material must match your frame material.

I used to have cages that visually resembled this and the one on the downtube liked to eject bottles at the most inopportune times...

I agree with the OP's premise - if your bottles aren't secure then please buy new cages for the good of the people behind you on that fast descent.

Zactly! You don't have to lay down a bunch of coin to get a quality cage.

Arundel Dave-O carbon cage for me. Easy in and out. No ejecjted bottles.

The MIC carbon ones I got from eBay work almost too well.

$10 bottle death grip.

Could be the shape of the bottle. I've been using the same steel cages for 8 years with out issue and last year using some new bottles they torpedoed when I hit a rail road crossing. Needless to say I do use these bottle on the bike any more and have not had a problem since hitting crossings or any rough roads.

You must have had one of those faux TA cages then, . Sure your YMMV but there was a reason why so many racers used these for a long time. With steel, you can just bend them to make sure that they hold your bottle securely and there is no reason to spend $60 to make this happen.

True, elegance and simplicity in customization.

I wint with the Ti ones from King for my Ti bike... they are fantastic. Pretty sure they are SO light, mt bike weighs less with them on.

CORRECT!!!! I am using the Lezyne flow cages and they are great....hold the bottles nice and snug

The weld on both my King ti cages broke. I sent him an email and had new ones in three days. Great customer service.

i have Elite Custom plastic cages. no problems and i hit all kinds of bumps and holes on our lovely RI roads.. 12 bucks on PBK

Same here. All metal cages eventually loosen up - they'll be good for a while, then you start regularly ejecting bottles. It starts all of a sudden, and even if you bend the metal cage back into shape it will soon start again anyway.

My Arundel (only use one for now although I have a second) on the other hand... four years now and not a single ejected bottle. And I descend a lot of roads like Tunitas Crk, Bolinas-Fairfax, Alpine, Alba Rd, and other SF Bay Area goat trails where the pavement frequently resembles cattle crossings. Can't remember what the Arundels cost, but it only hurt once. (Unlike looking for my water bottle in a roadside ditch, which hurts every time.)

Yep, had to start bending them in more often... then one broke. Damn metal fatigue!

Regardless, I have Dave-O cages now and yeah, they're pricey but I like 'em and they definitely work great.

/thread

I've been using metal cages for years and thousands of miles. I've never lost a bottle.

42 grams.

Secure grip.

Looks great.

$20 at CC, but can be found cheaper.

I love the Arundel stainless cages - good looks and good grip