I just bought a new bike; my 3rd from the classifieds here, and all have been great transactions. Slowtwitchers are definitely not all assholes.
Anyway, it has no bottle cage bosses whatsoever, and I think I’m going to make a behind the seat bottle mount. I don’t think I can even use an off the shelf behind the seat system because I have no seat post exposed to clamp it to. It’ll probably end up being something that clamps to the saddle rails or the seat post clamp itself.
So I’ve seen all sorts of behind the seat setups, with the bottles pointing in all sorts of directions. What’s aero and practical? Laid down at an angle (which of course would be more prone to launching 'em out)? Tucked in tight to my back? Should I just get a Burley trailer and strap a Camelbak to it?? Inquiring minds want to know.
Quick pic of the bike, to show what I’m talking about:
Holy cr@p! How much drop you got there? That’s quite the negative-rise stem.
Anyway, I can’t really say what would be most aero (a Camelback under the jersey, probably), but there was a really cool set-up I saw on a thread a while back when the Hydrotail was just coming out, and it put the bottles almost horizontal (pointing forward) and angled inward slightly (the front was wider than the rear), and hidden behind the thighs. Wish I’d grabbed a copy of that pic… One of the early-season IM threads…
Hey, that saddle clamp setup might be perfect! Thanks for the link. What cages are you using with yours, and is it prone to launching them over bumps? I’m doing the FL Challenge in Clermont in Oct., and the pavement is rough in a number of spots.
I don’t know what the seat tube angle is, but I was able to get the same saddle placement relative to the bottom bracket as my 76 degree QRoo, even using the setback seat post that’s on it. The drop is somewhere in the 6.5" range from saddle to arm rests, and felt good on my initial 20 miles on it today. I am pretty much at the limit of my neck mobility though. I may swap a straight stem on it for long races, don’t know yet.
You bought a bike that will be used for triathlons, where you need to carry water on the bike for some distance for your consumption that has no practical place to carry water? I just wanted to get that straight. It’s a cool bike, but in my view missing an essential detail - a place to carry water. And when I say a place to carry water, I am only talking about frame mounts as that in my mind IS the only practical place on the bike to carry water, so I will reveal my bias there.
I just use regular performance bike cages - in my experience with them pointing back instead of straight up and down they are actually less likely to launch. I have launched a bottle only once this season with that setup. Some people have luck getting extra retention from rubber bands around the bottles also.
You can’t mount it low, as it clamps to the saddle rails. Normally it clamps to the section of rail closest to the rear of the saddle, but if your saddle is far enough back, you can mount it to the same section of rails that the seatpost clamps to. This brings it a bit lower, but that’s about it.
I have room for a seat bag beneath my set up but it is tight. There is more room beneath the minoura stand (http://www.tri-sports.com/midocasamo.html) but the bottles are farther away from your body, which I think would be less aerodynamic. You can mount a saddle bag above the profile design aqua rack (http://www.tri-sports.com/profaqrac.html), which attaches to the seatpost.
I’m not sure what you mean about washers between the brackets - there are washers on the bolts that clamp to the saddle rails, but they are just little metal washers that come with it. I don’t think there are any other washers on mine.
You bought a bike that will be used for triathlons, where you need to carry water on the bike for some distance for your consumption that has no practical place to carry water? I just wanted to get that straight. It’s a cool bike, but in my view missing an essential detail - a place to carry water. And when I say a place to carry water, I am only talking about frame mounts as that in my mind IS the only practical place on the bike to carry water, so I will reveal my bias there.
Dude, that’s one sweet ride. And it’s steel - so he can always add bottle bosses later, if he so desires. Hell, he could add a pump peg, a chain hanger and pannier mounts if he really wanted to… But a lack of water bottle brazes on a steel frame just isn’t a big deal. You ought to know that. ;-p
I use a really old Minoura double behind the seat bottle holder. It clamps onto the rear of the seat rails (I have the same saddle as you have pictured) It’s made of folded sheet metal. I believe their newer version (mine is about 12 years old and I love it!) is just some bent aluminum bar that can only hold the drink bottle holders. My sheet metal one is suitable for holding the 2 bottle cages, plus a CO2 inflator all on the outside, and there is even sufficient space between the seat and the holder for a spare tube bag. The bag is almost completely hidden and the whole setup works incredibly well for me. The bonus is that I believe the height of the bottles is just about perfect. Too high (like most people) and the thop half of the bottle grabs air coming off your back. Too low like some others and they grab air under your thighs, plus they are a too low to grab easily
Behind the seat is great, and what about an aerobar drinking system (that gets filled from the behind the seat ones)?
Surely to Christ you don’t reach down and grab your bottle off the frame every 10-15 minutes when you could just refill your aerobar bottle from the behind the seat bottles every hour or so.
I have one drink bottle boss on my P2K and I only attach a cage when I’m doing really long rides (over 6 hours) and there isn’t anywhere to pick up fluids for more than 4 hours. Otherwise it’s one aerobar bottle and 1 or 2 behind the seat bottles. Works a treat.
This was almost certainly built as a dedicated TT bike, not a tri bike. Maybe the former owner can elaborate.
I bought it basically to fuel my assault on the 40k TT record in the category of “Formerly Fat Guys Over 40 Who Live in Orange Park, FL”. I anticipate shattering that record soon. I will use a camelbak for TTs, but I need to train on it, and I will probably ride some tris on it also.
I could add bosses, but I don’t want to repaint it, at least right now.
Although, as a “non-custom owner”, one could debate the above I suppose.
You might call Steve Rex after noon Tue-Sat and ask what he thinks about drilling for cages, that is IF he is back from that certain ride in Paris yet. wink wink
(almost a sin now showing the rest of the bike, but that would be The Supreme Hijack!)
Enjoy the bike. Call Steve and ask him about drilling. Seriously man.
You’re welcome to hijack the thread with pics of your bike. I knew you owned one and have posted pics in the past, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a picture of the complete bike.
Rex does beautiful work, and this frame is a neat example. Having built a couple of frames now myself (TIG, not fillet brazed), I have a better idea of just how much work went into this one. The down tube and seat tubes look like they were formed from round tubing; they’re not true airfoils but they’re so narrow I’d bet they’re more aero than some of the fat “aero” carbon frames.
I may call Steve, but I have been subscribed to the framebuilder’s list for a long time and seen custom builders’ posts when new owners of frames they built long ago call them for details, advice, etc… It seems this is not a favored tactic.
I have one of my TT bikes with the same seat you have. I got hold of an older model Specialized behind the seat clamp. It is good for one bottle, but my bike is a Zipp and has the corner of the beam up near the rear of my seat. I drilled 2 holes in the plastic piece under the rear of that same seat and mounted half the clamp directly to the back of the seat. The bottle sits tight up against the seat and at the same angle as the rear of the seat. its a great setup for a 1 bottle system.
