I picked these Inox cages up on Nashbar for $10 a piece, and they're my new favorites. They're stainless, so not that light (or not as light as CF or Ti), but they're plenty durable and work great.
Sorry, but this is the best pic I've got.
"I've courted brain damage like some courtesan of darkness."
I would avoid aluminum cages - they are light, but mar your bottles (which really only matters if you have light colored bottles).
You can get various brands of carbon ones on ebay (pretty pricey for a bottle cage though), and some do not retain the bottle well. I have heard good things about Arundel carbon.
I like the Blackburn/Performance stainless MTB cages - they are identical as near as I can tell. They are slightly heavier than the road model but are quite a bit stronger. Stiff welded constuction, no paint to wear, fairly cheap. Good stuff.
Ed
I was ripped off by a former member of Roadbikereview with over 4000 posts! Click the link below for details.
The King(?) tubular Ti & Arundel CF cages are both extremely light - the former looks like a standard old school cage and the latter looks pretty modern. Both work fine...
I've been using the BTP Carbon fiber cages for over a year and half. I'm amazed that a 15 gram cage, including the mounting hardware has been so durable and holds the bottle so well. I also bought a set of thr Performance Bike Forte carbon fiber cages when they has a 2 for $29 sale and found these to be excellent cages although one of them weighs what my two BTP weighs although 30 grams for a cage is plenty light.
Originally Posted by steel515
I had a blackburn whose top piece came off.
I'm considering, "one-piece Al/steel bottle cage" or
titanium or carbon fiber.
Whats the best material? Are the "new designs," better than the old?
if it holds the bottle and doesn't rattle everything's cool, right? maybe alum ones mar your bottles, so what?
I certainly can't claim to have tested every bottle cage extant, but I can say that over the years (including last summer, the most recent year) I have seen plenty of bottles bounce out of cages. I'm guessing that, in fact, there are a fair number of cages out there that don't hold the bottles all that well. And I know there are a bunch that rattle. Aluminum cages leave your bottles pretty much black and splotchy - it's not a look that many people are going for. Most of us have some pride in how the rig looks, and IMO the "black bottle" is not a welcome plague. Finding a reasonably lightweight cage that doesn't launch bottles, rattle along, and disfigure your bottles seems a reasonable quest.
They're cheap, light and hold the bottles more securely than any others I've tried. They do scrape the bottles, but my kids leave water bottles at the pool or the football field long before they look too bad for me to use. Because you have to pull the bottle straight up out of the cage, Profile cages don't work in some spots on our tandem and, I'm told, on the seat tube of small, compact frames.
I had a bad experience with the IRD carbon cages. Although very light, sacrifice was secure bottle retention and robust build quality. IRD accepted return of a cage they said 'sounded defective' and promised to replace it. Several months later they have not sent a replacement and have not responded to email. Avoid.
How many times I gotta say it? it aint a taint, its a gooch...
I like the look of them, but wonder if carrying the weight so high would cause the bike to feel different. Also, where do you keep you spare tube and tools?
I use the Elites in black. Aluminum, a bit heavy, very beefy, the vinyl buttons really hold the bottle in place well. They don't scratch or color bottles either and I've had a set for almost 2 years. $10 each, it was a no brainer for me. King SS cages age great too...
I'll second AilBaba's opinion on the IRD cages. My buddy's dad uses them and is constantly dropping bottles. With a certain amount of fluid in them, at the right speed with the right bump, the bottle on the down tube comes out. A full bottle would stay in, an empty bottle would as well, only when its half full (or half empty depending on what type of person you are). This is a guy with a 13 lb roadbike so he had to have them but realized we eventually would stop waiting for him. They were replaced.
You're right Kerry, I shouldn't have made light of the question and I apologize. I haven't seen many water bottle cages fail, and the bottles I usually see fall out were rather hastily put back in place. Personally, I don't mind marks on my water bottles but I can see where that would matter to some.
Anybody have any experience with the behind the seat bottle cages?
As I said above, I've not used every cage, but every seat mounted system I've seen has effectively been a bottle launcher. They were relatively popular a decade ago, but everyone around here quit using them either because they got tired of going back for their bottles or they got tired of all the crap they took from everyone else when they had to go back for their bottles
I was out doing a solo century and a triathlete hooked up with me and we were sharing pulls. I looked at his bike, 2 bottles in the frame (with some drink) that between the bar thing with the straw and 2 big bottles in the launcher. I asked how far he was riding with all that water, he said "80 miles". he asked me how far I was riding and I said a century.
he said "a century with 2 medium sized bottles?" I pulled a $5 bill out of my jersey pocket and said "these weigh less and there are stores all along the route".
Elites, just to stay on topic. I'm not concerned with marring my bottles, life is way too short.
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Originally Posted by torquecal
I'll 2nd those Elites.............
