So I didn’t really like spending $40 to buy those fancy boa cages by xlab to keep my rear bottles in place. I also was tired of using rubber bands. So I decided to put on my thinking cap and come up with a better solution. I wanted to make the inside of my cages “grippier,” that much I knew. So, the obvious solution - grip tape! Grip tape as in that sandpaper like stuff with adhesive backing that skateboarders use on the decks of their boards. SoulSticks in Flagstaff was kind enough to give me a 12"x12" section of MobGrip tape for free. Thanks guys! Then I took one of my trusty profile design kages (the plastic, although carbon would work fine for you weight weenies) and wrapped the interior with grip tape. I cut away the excess with my trusty xacto, so just the plastic had grip tape on it. (I apologize for not having pics. I don’t have a digital camera. I normally borrow my mom’s, but I’m not home.) Then I stuck a water bottle in. Then I tried to remove it. It wouldn’t budge. I guess a bit less tape is needed! So then I put tape just on the “spine” of the cage. This is still VERY grippy. May be too much, we’ll see. But closer. I think a very thin strip of this stuff will do the trick. Cost? $0. It will work on basically any non wire-frame cage, although I suspect if you were delicate and were able to make a really thin band of grip tape, you could do it on a wire cage.
So head down to a local skateshop (or go online). Save a lot of money. Keep your bottles in the holders!
How many matings of bottle to cage do you suppose it will take before it wears a hole in the bottle?
Eh, since bottles are very nearly free ( I manage to come home from every race with more than I brought ), seems like a very good solution/insurance to prevent launching a bottle of your nutrition and blowing a race.
I’ve thought about something like this, I’ll have to give it a shot. I’m currently in the buy the cheap metal cages and bend the crap out of 'em, camp, but that’s getting old, as they all seems to eventually break, and they cost more than bottles.
A lot. It’s quite a fine grit. Plus if you need rear cages, you are usually dumping the bottles at aid stations and picking up new bottles there. So it’s not an issue of durability, generally. But, were you to use it for training, I certainly don’t see it chewing through your bottles. And if you are going to use it for training, I’d imagine that you’d just be rotating them from the rear to a single on-frame cage (like for p3 owners), so again, not a constant in/out.
I did the same a few years ago, except I use the rubber based adhesive backed stuff sold in hardware stores. It is intended for use on steps or on concrete around pools to lend traction. Seems to do the same as yours, but is not gritty like sandpaper, while it does have considerable texture for grip.
Given he’d already spent $40 per cage in the first place. It was an insinuation that he should have purchased arundel first. I.e, SAVE YOUR MONEY, purchase Arundel first. Rather than Save Your Money, Make your own.
However, I guess if your never going to purchase a cage then sandpaper may be the way to go. I don’t know, maybe I just don’t get it?
The plastic Profile Kages are what, $10 apiece at the most?? That’s what Rappstar said he’s using. So hes spent $20 rather than $90. That sounds like saving money to me.
That being said, if you really care about your bottles, you could just use adhesive sandpaper like for an orbital sander in a fine grit (I’d say the deck tape is about 200, or “medium” really) or superfine grit (like 80 or 100) and see if that held. Still cheap. Still easy.
Duh… Of course… Thank you (I’m not a morning person…). That’s what’s nice - lots of options. I also like the idea of that rubbery stuff, which is basically all the “teeth” on those boa cages are.
I thought your idea was a good one worth a good easy one. I thought I might give it a try with a bottle cage that I’ve attached a Tacs bhind the saddle mount that I use to carry a spare tire etc. I happened to be at the hardware store so I thought I’d look to see if they had some thing like the skateboard grip tape. I came across True Value self adhesive foam gripping pads 1/2" x 2-5/8" strips for any surface. Come in a pack of 4 strips.