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As my new Orbea Occam has bottle mounts I’m in the market for a tight fitting cage and bottle combo. Something that I don’t need to use on the move but will let me drink on uplift days etc.
Not losing the bottle far more important than anything else. Except price and colour (!)...it needs to be a black and or orange.
Am I best just trying things out in a shop to get a good fit or is there a tried and trusted combination out there?
cheers...
Bontrager bottle cages work for me on the cross bike. SIS bottles, but most are pretty similar. The cage is a tenner from Pedalon with free postage. Loads of colours, black definitely, not sure about orange, but probably that too.
Lezyne Flow + any bottle.
Lots of colours on the Bontys. Thanks, I like the look of them!
Elite cage in whatever colour you want. Any bottle. Job jobbed.
Arundel are by far the best cage you can get, done many XC and Multiday XCM events and never lost a bottle, ever, even large bottles. Bloomin' expensive mind! I've lost bottles from most other cages....
https://www.arundelbike.com/product-category/bottle-cages/
Arundel! How much??? Wow.
Good to know lots of cages work well, it’s been a while since I had one off road.
I’ll see what my local shops have and go from there...
Specialized Zee cage might be useful for you. It's a sideloader so easier to retrieve/replace bottle if you are struggling in the frame triangle. Team it up with a Specialized bottle and that's a solid combo. I hit the deck at over 20mph last Friday evening. I'm a mess but both my bottles stayed in place 🙂
Specialized Zee cage works for me , I'm yet to lose a bottle.
Enve cage is too tight.
Simple option here. Tacx Deva from Halfords and pretty much any bottle you like - it's a good, tight fit on any that we have in the drawer and they are pretty light too. Personally, I like Elite bottles, especially their insulated ones.
I've had plenty of others (Bontrager XXX stand out in particular for being a sack of shit) of both cheap and cheerful and exotic lightweight, and the Tacx ones just work and for just over a fiver, can't be beaten (IMHO).
I now use on all of my MTB, road and CX bikes, the latter being the biggest challenge but has never come close to shedding a bottle.
Cheap cage, any bottle, bend the cage in a tad so it's a bit of a tighter fit. Job jobbed, as they say.
Blackburn MTN cage, bent in a bit, then whatever cheap bottle you like the look of. The bottle will still be there after the apocalypse.
That said, I've yet to lose a bottle on the gnarmac bike (Elite Cannibals and Camelbak Podiums) or the endoooooooro gnarpoon (Specialized Zee and Podiums again)
Spec Zee cage here too. Been using for the last few weeks with a Camelbak Podium bottle. I prefer more gravity oriented riding and have yet to lose the bottle.
The cage is black with minimal graphics and the bottle is a stealth so all black too. These things are important.
Another thumbs up for the Specialized Zee cage, can't fault them.
Specialized Zee are good but very bottle specific, most standard bottles don't fit very well IME. What Yak says, Elite are ideal.
+1 for Spesh Zee side-loaders.
Cheap cage, any bottle, bend the cage in a tad so it’s a bit of a tighter fit. Job jobbed, as they say.
Not in my experience, at least with the old school ali tube (or is it rod) ones. In a rigid mtb the forces generated by a full bottle just kept on bending the thing loose again. Mostly them forces are up-down, which would suggest side-loaders are more secure in principle. But in any event a modern one made out of fibre-reinforced nylon (so can't be bent back) is gonna be better if it is half decently designed.
If you really do not want to lose the bottle, these are ace, used them myself for Flanders and Paris-Roubaix
Lezyne Power bottle cage. Simple, but very solid design. Less likely to bend/loosen than the old style metal cages. Mine has never lost a bottle.
Mt Zoom ti cage, I use Specialized bottles (Eurobottle) because I like the mouthpieces, but I've never lost one. Can bend the cage a bit if you need to.
Elite here, never lost a bottle from one, cheapish, light and multitude of colours.
Elite Ciussi is the default choice for road rides on cobbles and holds bottles better than anything I've encountered. Bend it inwards and/or apply grip tape for even more security.
Lezyne flow are cheap as chips and hold Camelbak bottles very tight.
Blackburn MTN cage, bent in a bit, then whatever cheap bottle you like the look of. The bottle will still be there after the apocalypse.
^^This^^
Although I've found the cheap "Lifeline" ones from CRC/Wiggle (for ~£2) to be reasonably robust and happy to be bent in order to hold a bottle tighter...
I've started using an Elite Corsa 1L bottle too now just for the extra water capacity, being bigger when full it does need a decent cage to hold onto it...