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Seen a few bikes recently with bottle cage bolts under the downtube, much nearer the BB that the headtube so wouldn't have thought they're for a mudguard and seems a silly place for a bottle cage. Anyone know whqt these are for? Maybe some kind of bolt on frame protector?
for this sort of thing:
https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/b-rad-accessory-strap-and-mount
Even under the downtube facing the ground?
It's an (American, mostly) bikepacker thing.
I don't get it either, your bottle will get manky but in a dry, dusty California, designers don't seem to comprehend that problem. To be fair, it's probably not that much worse than seatstay bottle mounts like I have on my rigid 29er and can be mitigated with a bit of planning on journeys.
I have them on my tourer.
My msr fuel bottle lives there.
for this sort of thing:
sorry missed "downtube". thought it was odd you said near BB rather than near seattube, and that you'd think it could have been a mudguard mount!
Got one on my 2012 Peregrine, UK designed, not Californian. Never used it for exactly the same reasons as above. Always thought if I used it for water, it would be decanted into cleaner, inside-triangle bottle. Or I'd use it for tools.
They have to be by the BB as the front wheel occupies a deceptive amount of the space available when bottomed out on an MTB (or on a drop bar bike with a short top tube).
You can fit a ~750ml Ti mug with all your cooking gear between the cranks. You could put a drinks bottle there, but it'd be largely inaccessible (your arms are nowhere near long enough, and the cranks/chainring are in the way), and you'd probably need to put a strap round it to stop it falling out, that'd just be if you had a long way to go between water sources and could swap bottles around.
Calling them a bottle mount is a misnomer really, they're not really any more a bottle mount than the ones on the top tube for a feed bag.
I use the under down tube bottle mounts to carry water, useful when I have a full frame bag in the way of the other mounts.
It does get covered in whatever I ride so I decant it into the bottles I have on my forks or take the cap off before I drink out of it.
Calling them a bottle mount is a misnomer really, they’re not really any more a bottle mount than the ones on the top tube for a feed bag.
Seen folks running bottles there too on big (dry) events.
My 2009 Van Nicholas Amazon has them. It's nothing new on touring bikes. I've occasionally used mine for a 3rd water bottle if I've been doing long overnight rides as it's often difficult to obtain safe, clean water when it's pitch black.
I had brant fit a triple set to my custom Ti hardtail so that I could fit an Anything/Gorilla cage.
If I'm doing a "big" ride, I'll stick a cage there with my tool keg in (and a strap to stop it pinging out) leaving me room for 2 bottles in the frame.
I used to put my lumicycle battery in mine. Might start using one of those bottle tool caddies.
Used to have them on my 1989 Cannondale beast of the east frame. But that didn't have a set on the seat tube, so they stuck the extras on the underside of the down tube.
I did use them occasionally, but it was a difficult place to grab a bottle from.
Sometimes it's the only place to put bosses cos there was no room in the front triangle for a bottle and yeah they were for a bottle cage, things have improved with designers putting an ugly kink in the downtube to accommodate a bottle, I've used them for a pump and some of those fix-it sticks Allen key tools in the past, no way I'd put a cage on there.
I get the use case for the mounts on a tourer, gravel, road, but not on a 'hardcore hardtail'.
My BfeMAX has 3 bottle mounts in the main triangle which are super useful, but also a set on the bottom of the DT.
I haven't seen them for months as they are always covered in mud. Would hate to mount anything there.
Enduro-ists seem to like a bolt on widget carrier as almost as much as bike packers.
My new bike only has one bottle cage mount and small front triangle space (it'll fit a 1l bottle, tube taped to the frame, and not much else) and it's annoying me because now my tool carrying options are either a clip on saddle bag that doesn't touch the seatpost. Or investing into one of these disproportionately expensive bar end/steerer/BB mounted spares/tools kits.
Enduro-ists seem to like a bolt on widget carrier as almost as much as bike packers.
Yup, I'm one of those. I hate carrying things so strap them to the bike. I still have no use for 4 bottle mounts.
Top tube bag @thisisnotaspoon? I've got one on my Bizango as it only has 1 set of bottle bosses and I fitted a dropper. Also got one on my Diverge.
LifeLine Adventure Top Tube Bag