H20 Cages, Loose VS tight VS smooth VS bumps

[steamer]

King Iris definitely hold tighter than a standard King. That said I find standard Kings ok for road riding, but they launch bottles on gravel. Iris are great for gravel use.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by steamer

King Iris definitely hold tighter than a standard King. That said I find standard Kings ok for road riding, but they launch bottles on gravel. Iris are great for gravel use.

Yeah, as I wrote the last time a thread on bottlecages came up,

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

I have two King Iris cages on one of my bikes, and I will certainly grant this: Those cages will never launch a bottle! But I often feel like I'm getting a biceps workout just trying to extract the bottle from the cage. I prefer a slightly less tenacious grip from my cages.

The only cage that I've had a consistent issue with launching bottles, be it road or off-road, are the Tacx Tao. They suck...and their suckiness is twofold: not only do they launch bottles when riding on even modestly bumpy surfaces, but the L-shaped tab that supports the bottom of your water bottle is prone to snapping off if you hit a larger-than-modest bump. I broke 4 or 5 of them JRA before Tacx told me they would no longer replace them for free, and suggested I try a different model

...which, ironically, became my favorite bottle cage: the Tacx Allure.
Of course, it's no longer made.

[BRad704]

I like the Mandible also, but don’t love paying for them.

On the cheap but effective side, I’ve been using Bontrager BatCages for MTB, Gravel and hot CX races with zero lost bottles. Plus they’re “made from recycled plastic” and only $14 each.


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[buckfifty]

for gravel, I use arundel mandibles. vise-like grip on bottles. only drawback would be that it rubs off the graphics on bottles so I only use my very worn bottles with them. also, it only has two height adjust positions to mount.
I also have the silca ti cages, also good but you're looking for overall grip, the mandibles win

[Nomadmax]

I like King Ti cages for all types of riding, they really grip.

[Blue Jays]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

"…They suck...and their suckiness is twofold: not only do they launch bottles when riding on even modestly bumpy surfaces, but the L-shaped tab that supports the bottom of your water bottle is prone to snapping off if you hit a larger-than-modest bump…"

Sounds like the infernal Campagnolo Record carbon fiber cages. I am tempted to send them for repair if cost-effective.
Even with gentle use the bottom tab invariably snaps. So incredibly annoying for such an expensive component. Grrrr.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by buckfifty

for gravel, I use arundel mandibles. vise-like grip on bottles.

Yep.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by BRad704

I like the Mandible also, but don’t love paying for them.

On the cheap but effective side, I’ve been using Bontrager BatCages for MTB, Gravel and hot CX races with zero lost bottles. Plus they’re “made from recycled plastic” and only $14 each.


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These are my go-to for rough-surface riding as well. The profile looks a little off for skinny tubed bikes, but they look good on alu or carbon and the hold is unparalleled.

[Likes2ridefar]

Think I will try the bat cages and iris and report back how they handle my gravel/single track riding.

The bat cage looks the same as bontragers carbon versions pro and xxx

Are they? The bat cages are aesthetically not ideal for me but can get over it if the higher zoot carbon models are inferior.


https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...olorCode=black

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

Think I will try the bat cages and iris and report back how they handle my gravel/single track riding.

The bat cage looks the same as bontragers carbon versions pro and xxx

Are they? The bat cages are aesthetically not ideal for me but can get over it if the higher zoot carbon models are inferior.


https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...olorCode=black

The pros are really nice, but from what I’ve seen, that glossy finish gets chalked up pretty quickly from bottles rubbing against it

This is the bat cage. And I agree that it would not look quite right on a skinny round tube steel frame classic bike. But anything semimodern should be just right




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[BdaGhisallo]

Arundel Dave-O cages for me. They feel totally secure - I've never come close to losing a bottle - but still allow the bottle to come out easily.

I found the Mandibles increased the risk of me losing a bottle, though. Not from their hold which is considerable but more because I have to pull the bottle so hard to get it out that sometimes it would fly out of my hand once I'd gotten it free!

[d_douglas]

Originally Posted by robt57

>Which best for rough terrain, yet still hold em in well?

>Which ones strictly smooth Pavement use?

>Road ones you had to give up for bumpy terrain of medium to rough sorts??

You get the idea.

Ciao

If you can deal with ugly plastic cages, the Velocity ones are amazing for rough trails. I think they are actually marginally undersized, so they squeeze a bottle and there is no way it would eject after hitting a bump. They come in all kinds of colours and are resin.

https://www.bikewagonmedia.com/media/img/jb/98953.jpg

the bonus is that they are about $4/ea. I have a set of muddy ones ready for my new bike when it is done.

[jlwdm]

Only Arundel for me - no issues. 2 Mandible and 1 Stainless.

Jeff

[avalonracing]

If you have a bottle come out of a King Iris cage you might be too dead to worry about it.

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by avalonracing

If you have a bottle come out of a King Iris cage you might be too dead to worry about it.

lol, I hope that is the case…I’m going to try hard to eject a bottle after they arrive next week!

Most here say mandibles work but I’ve popped two bottles just in the last week on trails.