Getting a new bike and want to see if there is a better way to transport water bottles. For Olympic/sprint races I just have one bottle on frame and that’s fine but I need a second one for longer races and more importantly for training. My new bike only has bosses for one cage on the frame and I do not want to carry one behind the seat (they fly off and are too hard to reach for) so I think my best option is a BTA set up. On my current bike I have a profile design cage/mini bars zip tied to the aerobars and it works ok, but just ok (kinda hard to reach + getting the angle right with the zip ties was tough so that the bottle did not tip forward making it easier to fly out - usually have to add a rubber band to make sure it does not fly out). My requirements/hopes and questions about a new set up:
-holds regular size water bottles
-water bottles do not go flying out
-easy to pull bottle out and drink from it (I have no interest in the straws - tried them and don’t like them)
Has anyone tried setting it up so that the bottle faces backward? I thought that might make it easier to take in and out.
Has anyone with a P2/3/5 tried setting up a bottle cage on the top tube behind the stem using the bosses for the screw on storage box? Not sure how’d I’d do it or if it would fit but I was curious as it would be out of the wind and most easy to reach.
I would very interested to see (or failing that get a description) any DIY set ups that folks have come up with that fit these requirements. While I have looked online at some of various commercial options - torpedo, xlab profile design and they all seem pretty expensive for what they are and not particularly suited for what I want (easy to switch out bottles easily, can hold regular bottles, no straw, etc. That said, I am ready to be further educated if there is some thing out there I am missing. Thanks in advance.
I just got a Felt IA14. I rigged up a BTA bottle holder by simply using a carbon cage (purchased from eBay) and zip ties. Bottle lays flat between the bars, with the spout of the bottle facing me. Easy to take in and out. Zip ties hold it firm and it didn’t cost me a fortune. Pretty pleased with how it worked out. I don’t have a pic on me, sorry!
I rigged up a BTA bottle holder by simply using a carbon cage (purchased from eBay) and zip ties. Bottle lays flat between the bars
+1
another low-tech cyclist here, bottle cage held by zip ties, never lost a bottle yet, easy to access and replace…
faces forward rather than back which allows stabilizing the back of the cage with a ziptie to the bars…
I’ve made all sorts of aluminium brackets, but in the end, I’ve settled on something simple
A piece of PC-ABS with a hole in one end the diameter of the stem, clamped down with the stem cap and a zip tie
Then a couple of bolts to the cage, with a space tube on the rear bolt.
The “n+1” holders for the bottle holders are anchored on the base bar, separately. This is the standard way of anchoring, and it should work like that. However, with long bottles filled with water the holders tend to rotate around the basebar.
That’s why I took additional measures to define the position of the holders such that they cannot rotate anymore:
-The front one with a strip to the aerobars.
-The rear screw of the rear holder is longer such that it rests on the stem (with a piece of plastic glued to the stem such that it will not scratch).
It looks all a bit messy and not very aero but it is very stable and I use it already a couple of years in training and races.
