Pritchet, as well as having learned to wash bottles, with practice I've managed to close the cap on my bottle when racing! Next year, I'll be learning to pedal and breath at the same time

But bottles still get messy. Maybe the were prepared messily by someone, or stored in a coolbag where another bottle leaked syrup onto them, or you pick one up at speed from the feeding zone and it forces the bottle to pop open and lose a few drops etc etc. It's not always so, but bottles can sometimes get sticky. And they've been "glued" into my cage at times.

Anyway, just my experience with them, thought I'd share it with others

I was using this version

I wouldn't use the std road 9 grams for racing... No way.

I have seen people pull apart the cage and seen someone pull the bolt and boss from a frame (hilarious bevause it was 5 minutes after him telling me that his 12 pound bike and extremely light custom frame were bomb proof...). It probably wasn't the result of a single hard pull and stuck bottle... These cages can allow your bottles to flop around a bit and put a lot of stress at the bottle boss bolts.


I don't mind the cages really, but as race gear, this is a heavily used piece of equipement that should be as solid as is practical. These cages don't meet that standard.

Can people manage to use them over the long haul? sure. But like lots of other tuner parts, I think they have their place, and they're not day to day race gear.

_________________
charles@pezcyclingnews.com

I have a set of these on one of my bikes as well and have ridden them on my main bike for 2 years without any real problems (some small racing as well). I wouldn't use these for serious racing but only for one reason which is that you can ONLY use conical bottles in them. The definition of racing varies in here but if you do regular and long road races where you sometimes can get in a position where it's hard to get a bottle from your own team think of how annoying it would be if got a bottle from another team or neutral support and it wouldn't fit in your cage on a real hot day! I think that's also the reason those Elite cages for smaller bottles never caught on, not even with the big pro teams. We got those as well many years ago but never used them as they were utterly impractical in races.

If you on the other hand ride criteriums or local circuit races I don't see any real problem in using them to be honest. You usually don't grab any bottles there anyway (if it's even allowed) and on the rare days where you would you'd get your own anyway. Although there might be better cages available I never had any real problems with them and can't remember ever having lost a bottle out of them. For the ease of use, as Pritchet and Danton prove it's really personal if you'd like these or not.

Pez, I had the same problem you state once as well. It was during a race and on a frame and cage combo that must have weighed close to 12 lbs Really annoying but I think it has more to do with either improper installation (I use locktite on those bolts now) or just bad luck somehow then with the cage you use. Riding a Colnago as a main bike I know my fair share of loose bottle cage inserts but I can't say I notice a difference after I started to use the BTP cages, they still need tightening every now and then (maybe every 10-15k km's?) but not more or less then with the cages I used before.

I've had the same 2 cages on 3 bikes for over 4 years. I have never had any problems at all with them. In fact I completely forget all together than they are WW gear. Since I ride a ton I bought them thinking they would last a couple months, 50 months later..........still look brand new.

An mtb'r here -

The design above that has the tab on the bottom I presume doesn't rely only on the conical fit should be good.

The Tune style with no tab and relies on conical bottles can be tricky. You need to twist and pull. I made the terrible mistake of putting ice water in a bottle and like what you read hear the condensation allowed the bottle to stick really tightly. I was in a race near the end and had to literally stop and carefully remove my bottle.

Aside from that particular design is okay - not great. I like these others hear. I've never lost a bottle over rough stuff or anything. I regularly see bottles on courses. Perhaps it's more a matter of handling bottles after the "twist pull" technique.

_________________
__________________________
Ah . . . "Battoowoo Greekgreek"

Get these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/16-Gram-CARBON-WATE ... dZViewItem

Actual weight is between 12-15g, and they are every bit as solid and grippy as the Arundel Trident's they replaced... but even easier to use.

Couple of different ebay sellers have them, I got mine with a BIN deal for $44 shipped for two cages.

These things are the best deal going- besides those 66g a set bolt-on skewers that always pop up on ebay in different colors... for around $15 shipped.

Can I just check with these lightweight cages - are people using them with big (750ml) bottles, or just small ones (Obviously I'm not talking about the 9g BTP cage here!) Thinking about getting something like the BTP universal cage, or something of similar weight, but if it will only take small bottles I'll go with the Bonty X-Lite instead (that works fine with large bottles on my MTB!)

_________________
No scales on the trails

I've been thinking about replacing the ones in the link below with a pair of BTP.


http://cgi.ebay.com/TOKEN-ULTRA-LITE-Carbon-Bottle-Cage-TK9471_W0QQitemZ280204303965QQihZ018QQcategoryZ62132QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

The one in the down tube works very well, but the one in the seat tube looses/spits out the bottle (large) if half full or more when going over simple bumps on the road. Go over a railroad track and the bottle gets ejected like a rocket! I simply wished there was a way for me to "soften" the carbon and re-tighten it some. That would be enough! Is there such a way?

If you have to think about your water bottle/cage its not the right one for racing IMO

_________________
WW Velocipedist Gargantuan

The mountain bike version comes in at 14-16 grams and is strong enough for racing. If the roads were horrible, for extra confidence, go with the 28g titanium King cage.......bulletproof

Strong enough for racing with a big bottle?

_________________
No scales on the trails

NO

I use 750ml with the tune cages no problem.

Again, the tune cages appear identical to some of the BTP's sans lower tab.

_________________
__________________________
Ah . . . "Battoowoo Greekgreek"

Agreed. I've had bottles get so stuck that no amount of twisting could get them free. Try keeping your bottles clean during a 7 hour cyclo. And at any rate, a bottle cage shouldn't force you to think about how clean your bottles are in the first place. And they do put a lot of stress on the frame. I have no experience with the 13g type, it's a completely different design.

_________________
.
I love you guys. Seriously.
_________________

I have Campy Record cages on my bike now. They hold the bottles well but one had the bottom tab snap off and they are not finished on the inside so they stratch up your bottles - and they are 19g.

I've looked at a number of different options. I found this one at FairWheels last night for $70 - called the New Ultimate Carbon Cage - and they claim to be 13g. They look reasonably well made.

Has anyone used these?

_________________
Toughen the pluck up!