:confused: I just bought a new Specialized Allez Comp - compact geometry frame.
Problem is..I cannot mount two bottle cages (with bottles in place) because the location of the mounts are too close. Is anyone else having this problem or is it specific to Specialized? I regularly use two bottles and do not want to bolt on more sh*t to seatpost or saddle rails. Suggestions? Solutions?

Thanks
RJ

Some mounts do place the cages very close together. Not all cages are made exactly the same. A cage with slotted mounting holes or holes closer to the bottom would help. It may also be possible to file the mounting holes to elongate them enough to fit, or even drill a new pair of mounting holes in the cage.

Many years a go I made an adpater plate to move a cage. The adapter was a piece of aluminum bar stock, probably 3/16" thick and at least 1/2 inch wide. Two holes are drilled to match the mounting holes on the bike and another pair of holes is drilled and tapped with M5 or 10-32 (english) threads for mounting the cage lower. The adapter is bolted to the frame first, then the cage is bolted to the adapter plate.

I don't know if this would help your particular problem, but Specialized makes a side entry cage that I use on my seat tube. It adapts to use from either side which makes it easier to access a bottle when there is limited room between the cage and the top tube. There are holes placed side by side so you can adjust the angle of entry/exit.

I had a similar problem with my 56cm compact frame and I found the standard stainless King Cages (not the Iris) solved my problem. The position of the bolt holes on the King Cages are such that it gave me the extra clearance I needed without any modification to the cage.

I had a 50 cm compact Allez and now I have a "small" compact Litespeed and have the problem I think you are describing. Side entry cages might help but for me the bottoms of standard bottles would actually touch and the downtube bottle wouldn't fit all the way down into the cage. So the Elite Pateo cages with Bajiji bottles solved it for me. They are narrower than standard bottles and thus the bottle attatched to the seat tube won't get in the way of the one on the downtube. In fact you could use a Bajiji size cage on the seat tube and a standard size cage on the down tube. The downside is they are not standard size so you don't want to lose the bottles (standard bottles won't fit in these cages) and you'll have to refill them more often. This hasn't been a problem for me and the smaller size is much better for my smaller hands to grab quickly and securely. The only place I've seen them online is Competitve Cyclist (the cages come with bottles). They're not cheap but I LOVE them. Hope this helps...
-Keith