I didn't take it that way at all. I must have missed it .

I appreciated your response and the efficiency of you solution.

My previous post wasn't a shot at your solution as much as it was a shot at how companies find ways to convince us we want to spend more on products that don't actually work because they provoke more primal and shallow desire.

Your solution is a middle finger to that.

I like it.

What about (in addition to the various elastic type solutions) just going to home depot and getting some grip tape?

I'd say tape it to the inside of the cage, but it's much easier to wrap it around the bottle. I used to do that back when I kept the flat kit in a cage, and it made it much more difficult to remove. Though with a flat kit, you're hopefully never using it during a race, or max once.

Thanks for the response - I appreciate it! Honestly, it's so hard to feel "feeling" through typed word in a forum - both as a "receiver" of a message and also as a "sender" - so in thinking back to my post I felt like it might have been snarky - glad it wasn't felt that way!

Totally with you, on the frustration with products and services. I think part of the fun I have now is just rolling with the discovery process for finding what works in a situation - although thinking back to my first race where the bottles were ejecting, I certainly did not have peace of mind! :)

I like that idea! I was a bit worried that the grip tape would either be too tacky or would eventually rub the carbon fiber through, so in addition to the zip-ties I actually also put 2 strips of duct tape vertically on my Camelbak Podium bottles, one strip on each side of the bottle. So far no ejections in half a dozen fairly bumpy races or many dozen long training rides on paths and roads. The ties with duct tape make it tight enough that I do need to use a slight twisty motion, both to remove and to insert the bottles, but I've practiced that and am comfortable doing it without looking while staying in aero position.

i've never seen a bottle eject under any circumstances if:

1. you don't freeze the bottle;
2. you use a proper cage for the purpose. in this case the proper cage would either be: dawn to dusk, say, kaptive 10 or kaptive 14; or xlab gorrilla or gorilla xt. basically the same cage;
3. your bottle isn't too terribly thin or flimsy.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Then there is the question of aero bottles / cages (for the downtube and seattube) like the Elite Crono CX. I’ve lost two so far on dodgy surface, and had the third eject in the weirdest circumstances (fast descent on perfect tarmac, no vibrations whatsoever).

Rather than hugging the bottle, the cage grabs it by two indentations in the sides.

This rules out the cages you mentioned, as well as brilliant DIY solutions like zip ties, sticky tape and (probably) velcro.

I’ve put elastics around the cage and bottle, but this only works until you have to use the bottle - so only good for the odd tram rails to go over out of T1.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Thanks for the reply Dan! Interestingly, I would think my situation satisfied all 3 criteria when the bottles ejected, as I didn’t freeze them, had xlab gorrila xts [EDITED for correction -> I have Chimp cages, not Gorilla], and used Camelbak Podium Chill bottles. Maybe these bottles aren’t stiff enough?

I wanted to ask about info you have related to angle of the bts mount. I was using xlab mount and, looking at the side of the bike with 0/360 to the top and the front wheel to 90, the mount was angled down and back to about 240 degrees. Maybe this created too much bounce? I changed a number of things at once so can’t say for sure angle solved it, so wanted to see what your experience/info has been. Thank you!

Hello Mrfreeze - did you email our customer service department already by chance?

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Candice Turner
CEO
XLAB - Aerodynamic Triathlon Accessories
Dawn to Dusk - Off-road Specific Storage Accessories
http://www.XLAB-USA.com http://www.dawntodusk.bike

Hi, Candice, and thank you for checking in on this! I don’t believe I had contacted support yet re: the Xlab cages and wing, as they were on the used bike I bought about 3 seasons ago and themselves were at least a couple/few years old when I got it. When the bottles came out at my first couple races, I started experimenting a bit with angle, zipties, and tape I’ve had zero ejections since.

EDITED TO ADD: a correction to my earlier post. I have 2 Xlab Chimp cages, not the XTs that I previously posted.

We are more than happy to look at your gear - even if they came used on the bike :)

Chimp cages do have a nice grip, but they are unfortunately not as tall as the Gorilla or Gorilla cage so they only support part of the cage. The high sides of the Gorilla in addition to the piercing arms help support bottles better. The only time I recommend Chimp cages at the rear of the bike is if someone has one of our Delta 4xx models with an Aero Pouch and find it difficult to pull a bottle out :)

Hardware might need a refresh too - so definitely worth taking a look!

Feel free to email us, either nasales@airobike.com for customer service, or myself directly candice@airobike.com.

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Candice Turner
CEO
XLAB - Aerodynamic Triathlon Accessories
Dawn to Dusk - Off-road Specific Storage Accessories
http://www.XLAB-USA.com http://www.dawntodusk.bike

This is my experience from working for an event company and being the 'bike course guy' most of the the time. I pick up more Camelbak bottles than any other bottle. Especially the design below... there is something about the twisted bump design that does not work well with staying in cages. If that is the style you're using.. I blame the bottle not so much the cage. I've also experienced it myself, them bouncing out of cages...



Otherewise I use X-Lab cages on my TT bike, a Gorilla for my BTA and a Gorilla XT BTS. Not sure how they'd handle a Cameback because I'd never try it... espeically the sort above.

Camel bak bottle design sucks. They changed for the new ones, so new ones are better. That's the old design and I have no clue why it's so popular among cyclists and triathletes.

Here's my 2 cents.

1. Use a heat gun to make the cage tighter. Originally cages are tight enough but through the time, they get stretched out due to the bottle being in there all the time and from the sun. Heat it up with a heat gun and cool it down with the cold water. It will stay right for a while.

2. Buy this one.

https://www.amazon.com/...7961522461&psc=1

Hi Andy. I raced on May 14th and had a great race! I took your advice and lowered my PSI to 75 . I actually did not get a chance to put zip ties around my X-lab carbon bottle cages or do any other modifications and, sure enough, I didn't launch a single bottle! One rider in front of me immediately launched both his bottles on the bumpy roads. One rider even crashed badly in the middle of a 3-mile descent where the roads were riddled with potholes; however, I just floated over the rough sections and had one of the fastest descent splits of the day. It's almost miraculous what lowering my PSI did for improving my overall ride experience. Thanks!

Glad the race went well.
Also thanks for the validation on the tire pressure recommendation, it is always nice to hear back when things work.
andy

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Andy Tetmeyer (I work at HED)

The last three rides I've lost bottles. I'm using Gorilla XT cages and canyon bottles. First ride I blamed myself as I thought maybe I hadn't pushed the bottle all the way in. Second ride made sure they were pushed in and still launched one, third ride went OCD feeling bottles and sure enough they keep creeping up. Left to long between checking and sure enough launched a bottle.

Very confusing as on the side of the road and even while riding the bottles are hard to take out and need a twist so dammed if I can work it out...

Sloshing water in bottles can be like a water hammer that will knock the bottle gradually loose even in a super tight fitting cage. Happened to me with metal cages that I bent so tight that you had to stop and could barely get the bottles out with both hands. Still ejected them on long rides.

In my experience angle of the cage can also make a difference in ejecting or not - might be something to check or experiment with.

Hi there,

Wove has just released our water bottle retention loop that can be used with any cage and bottle: https://wovebike.com/bottle-loop

Rudy von Berg and Jason West have been racing with it and it's prevented any lost bottles.




Rudy using it behind the saddle: hhttp://www.instagram.com/...hid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==[/url]
Rudy using it for his between the arms bottle: https://www.instagram.com/...hid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Jason West using it behind the saddle: https://www.instagram.com/...hid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

Whoa!! Frodo could’ve used this couple weeks ago!

just updated our bottle retention loop handle with a glass filled nylon and an updated ergonomic shape:


Same function. Can attach to the top bolt hole of any waterbottle cage with any saddle or set up, including cages zip tied to saddles:

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

Excuse my ignorance, but how do you put the bottle back into the cage, and resecure it? Behind the saddle?

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

You put the bottle in like normal, making sure not to stuff the loop into the cage, and then place a finger in the loop and pull it back over the nozzle of the bottle. We definitely encourage people to use in training to get any coordination needed down, but it only take several times to get that down. The rear bottle is most often used as a spare to rotate forward to the rider’s between the arm set up. The rider then chooses to leave the behind the saddle cage empty, or place an empty bottle in it, or use it to hold on course bottles.

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram