I’m racing Harryman Half next weekend, a course notorious for launching bottles – at least from my experience. Does anyone know of a product that can help keep your bottles secure? Did a forum search, google search, Amazon search and didn’t find anything. I have X-lab carbon gorilla cages and I like to keep my bottles behind my seat. I don’t want BTA or on the downtube. I’m thinking if I can’t find a solution, I’ll just tie a plastic bungee strap with a middle loop – to go over the nozzle – onto either side of the cage and snap that on and off the bottle.
Cinch through the bottle cage and pull over the bottle valve.
I’m a fan of edpm rubber bands for that.
Zip-ties have worked a charm. No ejections since starting to use them, not even over the thick rubber mats placed over the railroad tracks at Chattanooga. Wove them in and around the outside of each cage. Adjustable tension is nice. Nope, not embarrassed about the look. Yep, rolling 3 BTS to eliminate down-tube and seat-tube bottles.
See also next-to-last-pic here https://www.triathlete.com/gallery/st-george-pro-bike-gustav-idens-giant-trinity-tri/
LOL on the zip ties. I stumbled on this just the other day when I needed a quick fix after the lower screw came off the bottle cage. I used a zip tie to hold it together and it worked like a charm in St. George! Preventing bottle rocket wasn’t the intended use but it worked like a charm!
I use a couple turns of electronically tape on the top left and right part of the cage.
I think I’m going to go with your suggestion of an interwoven zip tie. BRILLIANT! The only modification is that I’m going to use black zip ties and keep the color scheme stealth. Thanks!
Add another vote to using zip ties to add tension. I’ve been doing it with some no-name ali-express carbon cages to years.
For those that have a bottle they like to reuse and your bottle cages are risky, try putting one of those silicone “livestrong” style bracelets around the bottle. It adds a ton of grip to the bottle itself.
Hey look mom i bought a pair of $90 carbon fiber bottle cages that don’t work unless I bind them with zip ties.
So much fail.
Hey look mom i bought a pair of $90 carbon fiber bottle cages that don’t work unless I bind them with zip ties.
So much fail.
I did get a good laugh out of this! Mainly because both the carbon fiber cages were free with the xLab BTS mount on the $400 2009 Trek TTX 9.5 that I rode to 66th bike overall this past weekend at Gulf Coast 
So much fail, yes - and so much win for the money! I was going to switch over to black zipties but now I might leave them or go with an obnoxious color just to draw even more attention away from the carbon fiber
I was going to switch over to black zipties but now I might leave them or go with an obnoxious color just to draw even more attention away from the carbon fiber
Need to color-match the frame.
As others have said hair ties or rubber bands looped through the cage then attaching to the water bottle valve. That has done the trick for me for years without issues. I have also drilled small holes on each side of the cage then used an elastic tie to tighten the cage.
Soccer lace covers? They’re elastic and a big rubber band. The kid’s sizes might work and double as a partial shoe cover for a TT. Lol.
I’ve done the same.
I wish there was a like button.
tire pressure?
tire pressure?
Hi Andy! Funny enough I have HED Jet 60 plus front (80 psi) and HED Jet Plus disc (85 psi). Problem is the course has nasty frost heaves in the road and when you hit these on descents, shit goes flying sometimes!!
PSI sounds highish but I have no other numbers about you or your tire sizes. I totally get the frost heave thing.
Since I am invested in this thread then the only thing left to do is play the curmudgeon card and suggest bending your metal bottle cages in so they hold the bottles tighter.
good luck at the race.