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Location: Rochester, NY
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Bikes: Stewart S&S coupled sport tourer, Stewart Sunday light, Stewart Commuting, Stewart Touring, Co Motion Tandem, Stewart 3-Spd, Stewart Track, Fuji Finest, Mongoose Tomac ATB, GT Bravado ATB, JCP Folder, Stewart 650B ATB
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The usual way to insure water is gone from threads is to wipe them off and let them evaporate off any remaining moisture. Using a water displacer (as in WD40) to further rinse/flow moisture off the threads is another idea. Q tips can leave the cotton fibers behind but that shouldn't be a problem.
What is a problem with many current bottle mounts is how they are installed and what they are made of. These days most all Al (and carbon, more later)( frames use what's called a Rivnut. They are essentially hollow and internally threaded rivets that are placed in the frame's hole and then compressed on their self, just like a pop rivet.
One problem this method can bring is that sometimes the threaded portion of the rivnut is deformed and can cause the bolt to not easily thread in, or out. The rivnut can become uncompressed enough to spin within the frame's hole. This is worsened by thin wall tubing and by tubing that is not embossable by the AL rivnut, the rivnut doesn't get a good enough "bite" into the tube and in time can loosen.
Any corrosion or grit inside that rivnut will increase the friction between the bolt and the rivnut. This increases the need for that rivnut to be really tightly installed, lacking this the rivnut can spin in the frame. While there are stainless steel rivnuts most all I see are AL. Which can corrode on it's own over time and exposure. Corrosion is of greater volume then the base AL is and will bind up even SS bolts. If non SS bolts are used then galvanic corrosion becomes a greater issue (especially if you carry fluids with salts in them and they drip off the bottle and onto the cage/bolts, or if you ride in wet and salted conditions.
The usual method to address all this is to use a water phobic coating on the bolts, like an oil, some grease or anti seize. The far less usual method is to remove the bolts periodically and clean off the threads in the rivnuts as well as on the bolts.
Carbon frames often use an epoxy as well as the compressing action to secure rivnuts in place. These rarely come loose IME. The absolute worst application of rivnuts are on steel frames due to the even thinner walled tubes. The steel tubes won't allow the softer rivnut to get a good bite also, independent on how thick the tube wall is. Andy
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AndrewRStewart
Last edited by Andrew R Stewart; 04-15-24 at 08:15 AM.