[Closed] Fabric bottle still ejecting!

Mine works fine, have you retorqued the bolts? You need to do this after a few rides to compress the plastic and force it out to make the fit tighter.

I wondered with these is the issue possibly caused by the variation in distance between the bottle cage bolts. I know its supposed to be a set distance but we know there is variation. With the fixed location points on the bottle you could end up only 'locating' fully on one tab.

Never had one come off whilst riding, either hardtail or full suss. Just lucky?

I'd love to have retorqued the bolts - but I've not got much further than a km without it spitting out a bottle so just ended up sticking the bottle in a bag for the rest of it. It does seem to have marked the tabs on the bottle - almost like they've been scratched off (if that makes sense?)

Had same issue, in the end I was glad i lost the bottle. Complete waster of time for me. No matter what i did to the bottle studs.

I solved it by using an sks anywhere mount.
[img] [/img]
Easy velcro on and off .Stays put whatever.

Tis odd - mine has survived BPW and much gnar without issue. You do need to ensure the bolts are correctly torque and the bottle is fully pressed down so that it is properly held by the bolts.

I have this on my Spitfire. The mount is an old IS to PM with a hole drilled and tapped closer in to match the spacing of a bottle cage. Rather than use the Fabric plastic things, I use M5 cap-head bolts Loctite-ed at the right height to hold the bottle in securely.

It doesn't look the best zip-tied on, but it works. Not had the bottle come out yet.

[img] [/img]

In my experience no they don't work. Have the 710 ish ml version which, for my pootle home stayed on fine and never budged, but as soon as I take it to the wyre forest for something rougher it fell off resulting in 3 or 4 mile diversions riding trails again. I've gone back to the normal cage and don't have to constantly look down. Didn't make a difference tightening the bolts, as soon as the surface became rocky and chattery again it would fall off.

I don't get them...more faff to get back on mid-ride and they aren't as secure. My mate swears by it, but can't confirm if it is better than a normal bottle cage but he says it is better than a bladder on his back. Suspect they work better for road stuff but seem a total waste for mtbing - too much faff getting itback on (as I mentioned above).

There must be something peeps are doing wrong. I know of 2 young lads that ride Dunkeld all the time and both are bloody braaapid. Both use fabric bottles and swear they've never lost one on a descent.

And if you've ever ridden cairn to croft, you'll know how tough it is.

I agree they are not for drinking on the move, but I don't really so that anyway.

I find the opposite to Dickbarton, it works better for me on the MTB than the road, probably because I don't ever try to take a drink from a bottle whilst cycling along on the MTB- if I think I am going to need to do that I use a Camelback

They are a pain to get the bottle back whilst moving so would never use on my road bike

Even the designer doesn't think they work that well!

Have you considered that your bottle cage bolts may not be spaced as the bottle needs?

DickBarton - Member

I don't get them...more faff to get back on mid-ride and they aren't as secure. My mate swears by it, but can't confirm if it is better than a normal bottle cage

They're not better than a normal bottle cage at bottle caging. But they look less horrible. So if you're an occasional bottle user and you don't care about drinking on the move, they can be great- better than an empty cage all the time. But if you're a regular bottle user, or you want to drink on the move, they don't make any sense.

It's a different way of doing bottles, rather than a straight up cage alternative. I like it personally, and both of mine have been rock solid, but I have a feeling they're a bit flawed from all the issues people have

I use the tool keg and have had no issues with it coming loose.
Tighten the bolts a bit more if you are losing the bottle? I have to tap mine in / out fairly firmly.

I am assuming that's it's completely user error on my part given that some people get on with them just fine. But by the sounds of it, about 50% of the people using them are doing the same thing. I've tried following their instructions without luck, and even tightening them more.
It could well be that my bottle cage mounts are right for that bottle - but knowing the bike builder I'd be suprised if they weren't standard spacing and accurate. Went back to my cheapy halfords cage and raced at 'Degla yesterday without absolutely 0 issues, so I'll stick with that for now unless Fabric ever reply to me and suggest I'm doing something wrong

Had an update from Fabric this morning. They've said it could be that I'm using the older platic'y mounting bolts - it sounds like they've been superseeded by a new design that holds onto them much better. Going to give the new ones a try but they also pointed out that they've found some cage mounts aren't 64mm so don't grip. Something I've got to check tonight. They have offered to send out some new style mounts though which is good! We'll see if thees are any better!

tinybits - Member
Even the designer doesn't think they work that well!

 

tinybits - Member
Even the designer doesn't think they work that well!

 

tinybits - Member
Even the designer doesn't think they work that well!

I reckon Benpinnick could be onto something with the mount spacing, I bet there's a huge variation on frames.

Just lost my Fabric bottle for the first time in a year! However it coincided with me losing a foot off my Vaults (wearing 5.10s) for the first time in way longer. Happened on the fastest loosest bit of a series of natural rocky descents down a granite tor in Brittany. Did another lap and it was where I guessed I'd lost it, which was nice. I suspect it had worked a bit loose before I hit that rough patch.

That was on my Bird Zero AM so I'm guessing the bolts are correctly spaced! 😉

So fabric say it should be 64mm - I tried to measure and it's either spot on or maybe half a mm out - difficult to measure with a crappy old tape measure. I'll give them another go with a 700ml bottle 2/3 full, should be the one with the most 'sloshing' force on it but take a backpack with me in case of ejection. To be fair, the customer service (even via facebook chat) was pretty good so got to give them credit there.

What torque for the bolts?

I believe they say 2nm... but I did them up incrementally until they were really tight without much joy. Hopefully the new replacement mounts will do the trick!

I have one eject every now and again. Usually from me not pushing it correctly onto the mounts at the start of the ride.