Water Bottle Cage Recommendations

[RShea]

So I need 2 new bottle cages for a touring/gravel bike I picked up. My number 1 criteria is that they hold the bottle in place. My second criteria is that they are not the highest end budget wise carbon fiber bottle cages- can't see paying $150 for more for a set of bottle cages. What I have found to work were the now discontinued Specialized Cascade (first version) cages that I have on my road bike.


https://www.dobrerowery.com/images/kategorie/2011/rower_czesci/bidon/watermark/cwpx_af32bbff5ef082a40888a05aa6213433.jpg[/URL] What I have never found work over the long term are any of the metal cages as over time they bend and become loose and no longer hold and secure the bottle.

Some I have looked at are either the hard plastic (not sure if while they hold the bottle also will tend to also scratch the heck out of the bottle as you slide it in and out or make for it hard to remove the bottle unless you are stopped or pull the bottle straight up and out.)
Like this styled:

https://images.amain.com/images/large/bikes/msw/wc3930.jpg[/URL]

What works for you that you would recommend?

[buttahflake]

I prefer Elite for cages. I’ve only lost one bottle and the road it happened on wasn’t really a road at all.
Like $20

[VTskibum]

King Cages Steel or Ti are great, been running those on a Ti Hardtail for years with only a few ejections when crashing riding S/T.

I'm also a fan of the Lezyne Side load cages which I run on my FS bike w/ tight frame and one on my gravel/cx bike as well.
https://ride.lezyne.com/products/flo...enhanced-black

[Peruvian]

I use these alum side load cages from Planet Bike - https://www.planetbike.com/sideload-...gaAqY_EALw_wcB

Cheap, easy to use, and you can bend the metal to secure the bottle if you plan on riding rough terrain.

The only issue is they only load from one side so the down tube and seat tube cages load from opposite sides.

[rideit]

Also a fan of Elite Cannibal cages, do the job, load from either side, don’t break the bank, don’t release the bottles, and are pretty light.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Elite-SRL-C....m46890.l49286

[gravitylover]

If you're going to be venturing further afield think of steel cages so they can be welded by most average Joes with a backyard garage. Shit breaks, get something serviceable. If not those Elite cages are pretty good.

[54-46]

Been using King cages for years...

[rideit]

That is a good point for bike packing or international travel...

[Name Redacted]

I like side pull cages, mainly out of necessity. I think mine are specialized zero cage II. If you are ever going to have frame bags inside your triangle the side pull allows for you to maximize that space better since you don’t need extra room to pull the bottle out.

[milestogo]

King Cage. Bend em tight, never had an issue on my hardtail, even with an XL water bottle. Side pull specialized plastic cage on the FS bike, just because of tight space.

[east or bust]

specialized zee cage ii

really don’t see how it would be possible for a bottle to fall out, they’re cheap


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[SKIP IN7RO]

4 of my 5 are the Arundel Trident.

[RShea]

I use these alum side load cages from Planet Bike - https://www.planetbike.com/sideload-...gaAqY_EALw_wcB

Cheap, easy to use, and you can bend the metal to secure the bottle if you plan on riding rough terrain.

The only issue is they only load from one side so the down tube and seat tube cages load from opposite sides.

If you can bend the metal then I find they only hold until the metal gets bent the other direction so the bottle again becomes loose. Hence my "no metal" comment, as I do not want to be dealing with bending metal cages.

[RShea]

I like side pull cages, mainly out of necessity. I think mine are specialized zero cage II. If you are ever going to have frame bags inside your triangle the side pull allows for you to maximize that space better since you don’t need extra room to pull the bottle out.

Good point on the frame mount bags. I think unless I have a pretty big triangle bag though, I should be OK as this is a 58 cm frame and not a smaller one. I see women and small or extra small having issues and needing side pull.

The Specialized Roll Cage was on my possible list also which can be set for left or right side pull or center even also. They are not the hard plastic like the MSW I linked above.

[Skistack]

Been happy with these cages from Amazon. Like the plain carbon fiber look.




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[RShea]

If you're going to be venturing further afield think of steel cages so they can be welded by most average Joes with a backyard garage. Shit breaks, get something serviceable. If not those Elite cages are pretty good.

Not going to be wandering that far, at least not while working still, actually don't like to do 3 or 4 days straight of riding like any of the week or more long tours expect.

[kalisto]

Elite cages, run them on all my bikes, not even sure I've ever had one break... (now i'm sure one will break on me).

[detrusor]

King cages. Great quality,


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[Andeh]

I highly recommend the Wolf Tooth Morse cages - they're King cages, made by the same guy, but have a longer mounting bracket with more holes in it that let you slide the cage up or down. This can often help you fit a size larger bottle than you'd normally get.

[dfinn]

I've got these on both bikes, really like them, haven't lost a bottle since switching to them.

https://www.blackburndesign.com/p/cl...r-bottle-cage/

[toast2266]

X5 or whatever on King Cages. And they look classy as fuck.

Although on any full suspension mountain bike, I prefer a side loading cage since things tend to be a bit tight in the front triangle.