mstateglfr 

I'm going to buy a couple for my gravel bike as I'm tired of the different aluminum cage designs chewing up bottles due to the gravel dust.

So, any experience with the following?
VeloOrange Moderniste- https://velo-orange.com/collections/...ess-steel-cage
Arundel- https://www.backcountry.com/arundel-stainless-steel-bottle-cage?CMP_SKU=ARU0009&MER=0406&skid=ARU0009-ST-ONESIZ&mr:trackingCode=DC5FD7E3-B564-E411-9BFE-BC305BF82376&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=m&mr:adType=plaonline&iv_=__iv_p_1_g_13362829597_c_928859195 17_w_aud-483074737321la-342329094854_n_g_d_m_v__l__t__r_1o18_x_pla_y_7811_f_online_o_ARU0009-ST-ONESIZ_z_US_i_en_j_342329094854_s__e__h_9017943_ii__vi__&CMP_ID=PLA_GMm001&utm_source=Google&utm_med ium=PLA&k_clickid=_k_CjwKCAjw44jrBRAHEiwAZ9igKHb_LkDc1alcDsjnyhg7g0H6ggIdCA_i-6AJJPnGhO3skYw1bZGoAxoCvF4QAvD_BwE_k_&rmatt=tsid:1042790|cid:213417037|agid:13362829597|tid:aud-483074737321la-342329094854|crid:92885919517|nw:g|rnd:16568732158280018518|dvc:m|adp:1o18|mt:|loc:9017943&gclid=Cjw KCAjw44jrBRAHEiwAZ9igKHb_LkDc1alcDsjnyhg7g0H6ggIdCA_i-6AJJPnGhO3skYw1bZGoAxoCvF4QAvD_BwE
King Cage Iris- King Cage - Bicycle waterbottle cages handmade in Durango, CO

I ask in the context of function over form. If one is poorly designed in use, that matters more to me than if it looks nice.

iab

I'm a fan of the Nitto R. Used them for a decade, never a lost bottle.

RobbieTunes

Most of my bottle cages come on bikes I pick up.
I like the Elite Cuissi Inox (Stainless Steel)
I do not like the thick-wired other Elite Ciussi's all that well.

If @iab says the Nitto works, I believe him.
Many people here like the King cages.

I can say that Ibera carbon-look cages do not hold bottles very securely on some of those seat-post rearward bottle holders. My bottles fell out on RAIN, so I used smaller bottles last weekend on The Wabash River Ride, and they fell out, too.

At least the cheap metal ones I scavenge can be squeezed until they one day, inevitably, die.

The Golden Boy 

I have a couple of sets of the King Cage cages. The Iris set is on my Miyata 1000LT. They look nice- they work nice... I prefer the "traditional" style bottle cages.

My Trek 720 currently has the King Cage stainless "traditional" style cages on.

If I were to get new cages- it'll be the traditional King Cage units.




The Miyata:

M1000LT Drivetrain by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr



I don't think I have pix of the 720 with the King Cages this year....

SurferRosa

For keepers, I always mount the stainless VO cages from ebay. They're $20ish.

The '80s bikes get the moderniste one, and the '60s-'70s bikes usually get the older style.

Flips get whatever aluminum cage is in my bin.

sumgy

I have the Arundel cages and have never had a problem with them outside of needing to squeeze them tighter on the very odd occasion (maybe twice over the past 6 years or so).

canklecat

Yeah, I just started experimenting with various bottle cages after that nearly happened on a recent group ride.

One of my pet peeves is people carelessly handling water bottles or phones and dropping stuff in group rides. It endangers everyone behind 'em.

So I was mortified when a 50Strong plastic cage failed to hold my tallboy Polar insulated bottle on the seat tube. We hit a whoopdee dip pretty fast and I felt the grab strap on the Polar bottle tickle my thigh -- that shouldn't happen. I looked down and the bottle was nearly out of the cage. Yikesamighty.

Those cheap plastic 50Strong cages (a pair for $8) are really handy because on the downtube they seem to hold well enough, while not turning a drink break into an arm rasslin' session. Easy in, easy out, and so far no bottles have popped loose from the downtube cage.

But after that yikes moment, I bought a single Tacx Deva plastic/carbon fiber bottle cage (didn't fit on the Trekenstein so it's on the Ironman seat tube), and a single Pro Bike Tool aluminum cage (fits the Trek with washers/spacers to suit the quirky cage mounting threaded studs Trek used instead of the usual bolt holes). Both are lightweight, look good and hold bottles securely on the seat tube. I would have preferred the Tacx Deva on the Trek but the bolt recess was too narrow for an 8mm socket. Wouldn't have been a problem if Trek had used a conventional frame hole for Allen key bolts.

But not the stainless types the OP wants. Pardon my digression.

masi61

I've got the Elite Ciussi stainless on my Flyte. They are classic looking and hold the bottles OK. I have had to push down the arc a few times to make them hold a little tighter.

I use the Arundel stainless cages on my Cannondale CAAD3 R1000. These ones are much beefier. If you need absolute confidence that the bottle will not pop out, I would highly recommend these. They are pretty classy looking too. If a cage can hold a bottle too tightly, then these Arundels might be guilty of that.

tmh657

I won't spend the money for King Ti cages. Never used the stainless version. VO Moderniste. 34 grams.



Blackburn Chicane stainless, $15 & 41 grams.


I like stainless cages. Not too many $$ and look good IMO.

mstateglfr 

That is an absurdly good looking bike.

canklecat

Daaayum. Do want.

I shouldn't have looked at this thread again. Now I gotta rethink my whole matchy-matchy bottle cage strategy.

Manny66 

I have them on a couple of my bikes,never really noticed anything remarkable.I dig the unpainted look though.

kingston 

I have King Iris cages on my gravel bike. VO Moderniste is kind of an inverse Iris. I think the Iris feels a bit more secure, but they are both good. Standard stainless cages I've used (King & Blackburn) are easier to access but not quite as secure, so I wouldn't put those on a gravel bike. Never used the Nitto or Arundel mentioned above so no opinion on those.

nomadmax 

I use King cages stainless and Ti. My absolute favorite is the Ti because of how they hold, not for the weight savings.

bwilli88 

I have been using the Velo Orange SS cages and really like their Mojave cage for 32/40/48 oz bottles.
Velo Orange Retro Water Bottle Cage with Tab:

JohnDThompson 

One of my daughter's friends had a VO stainless cage fail at the weld holding the cage to the mounting piece. The cage is stainless tubing, so I was able to save it for her by slipping a piece of a nail into the tubing as reinforcement and silver brazing it together. The repair is barely noticeable.

steelbikeguy

I've got King stainless cages on a couple of bikes and they've been outstanding!
Here's a shot of my Raleigh Team with them installed:




... but the question was about the King Iris, which I don't have.
I do have some Trek stainless cages with the same sort of shape, and they have also performed quite well.




While I don't take these bikes on gravel, if at all possible, they still have to handle Illinois potholes, railroad crossings, etc. No bottles ejected or bouncing partway out.

Steve in Peoria

Salamandrine 

The King Iris cages are very secure. I have them on I guess what might be called a gravel bike (clem smith) and have never lost a bottle, even on pretty rough washboard at speed. They are a bit snug though and wouldn't be my first choice for a road bike where'd I'd be drinking while pedaling most of the time.

Road bike gets Nitto R. Aesthetics vs function is a false dilemma. There's no zero sum gain thing. The Nitto cages have both. They work great and have been 100% reliable, and are beautiful. I did eject a bottle once, but to be fair it was on a very rough bump, the bottle was frozen, and it was one of those SOMA crystal bottles that are pretty slick compared to typical modern bottles. Bending, er, cold setting the cage slightly tighter fixed that.

I also have one a VO "retro cage". Seems nice enough, but haven't used it yet. Intention is to replace a Zefal reissue cage that is flaking off its chrome. I had also heard that VO cages had some problems with breaking, but supposedly it's been fixed. That said, if you're looking at the Moderniste, why not get a King Iris instead? Maybe one reason would be to get a more retro looking polished finish. The King cages have a sort of modern industrial look because they are not polished, but left with a mill finish.