bikemig 

Looking for a TA water bottle cage for a Mercier 300 I'm rebuilding. Let me know what you have.

Unca_Sam

I've seen a few at the co-op. Black, not necessarily translucent. Co-op is closed until at least the end of the month though.

bikemig 

Yeah, it may take a while to track one of these down. I almost bought a bike last year just for this cage. Heck I should have done it,

Narhay

Unless there have been clones of that cage made I am sure I have sent a few very rusty examples off to the big pile in the sky.

clubman 

Lot's of clones or knock-offs made in the past.

bikemig 

Are there? I'm not familiar with them. They were--I thought--the best water bottle cage ever made. I'll take steel over aluminum or carbon anyday for a water bottle cage. And the plastic piece at the end did a nice job of holding your water bottle in place. This is one cage that wouldn't eject your bottle in a race.

Heck I almost bought a CCM last year because it had one of these cages. I wish I had!

bikemig 

Send the rusty ones my way but save one for your Mercier 300, . I'd happily pay the post from Canada for the others.

clubman 

Until I find a real one, this one's going on my Cinelli. Cheaper finish all round. Unless of course TA quality slipped at some point but that's not their style.

bikemig 

Where did you get this? I may settle for a fake TA.

Unca_Sam

This one is obviously aluminum. I remember there being as many as 4 last time I looked closely. It is not the stainless cage I think you're looking for.

T.A. in a circle

Made in France

bikemig 

I like this. I'll think about it but yes I'd prefer the stainless if I can find one. Still black would look good on this bike since that black is the secondary color on my Mercier. Is this something in your co-op which is closed? This is the bike as found in the "wild."

Unca_Sam

Yes, this is one I bought from the Co-Op in January or February, or ten years ago? It's hard to tell the difference now. There are definitely clones, maybe a few other TA's like mine, and IIRC none in Stainless. We do have some stainless cages from Velocity that seem to be missing hardware.

bikemig 

And here is a Bike Forums thread with lots of love for the TA water bottle cage,

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...e-cages-2.html

clubman 

From an old shop 15 years ago. I think these were pacific-rim made, sold in cellophane bags with cardboard flap. Dirt cheap too.

bikemig 

I don't know how I missed this zefal chrome water bottle cage with leather. This may have to do since it is available at a non-crazy price:

Narhay

I had one and it sent my water bottle flying across the road after I ran it over with the back tire.

gaucho777 

Fyi, it is possible to remove the anodizing on the alloy TA cages like above, and then polish to a shine. It's kind of a pain to get in between the tubes where the mounting plate is. They will fade a little with use, but can be freshened up with a quick rub of metal polish. The chrome ones look great when new but will rust.

It's not a great photo, but the cage below on the seat tube is steel, and the cage on down tube is alloy. Note also the difference in construction. One has a welded (brazed?) on mounting plate, while the version on the seat tube has the mounting plate folded around the cage tubes.



The black ones are nice on the right bike.


Here's another alloy cage I stripped & polished.


(Sorry, none for sale. Just wanted to point out some of the differences and that the gray alloy ones can be polished.)

bikemig 

Still looking for one of these

tricky 

I have one that is white (painted) with a black plastic piece. Let me know if that's up your alley and I'll get a pic of it.

bikemig 

I'll look at it. Is this aluminum painted white with the black plastice piece? thank you for posting.

tricky 

Magnet test says it’s aluminum. It’s not minty. One of the mounting tabs in back looks like it was bent in at some point. And the main tubes swivel in the tubes that are part of the mounting bracket. Not sure if that’s normal. I haven't used these before.

bikemig 

Yeah these are the aluminum ones; odd that it was painted. It likely started out life like this:

79pmooney

Yes, they were, The current SS Kings are better, (Hold the bottle just as well, don't rust, look better and probably last longer.) I've switched because the Kings exist. But I rode the TAs for 30 years and still have one in use. (1967 to 2020. That's a decent run.)

I was told several times by different shop owners that TA kept making the steel cages long after the US market was abandoned because there was a small but very important market that wouldn't go away, that in fact begged TA to keep making them. The professional racers who were no-name domestiques. The laborers so critical to getting the stars to the finish line (and who often finished hammered an hour later. These were the guys who did their work then dragged themselves over the mountain because they HAD to finish to be able to suit up, start tomorrow and do it all over again. Losing that WB 40k from the finish doing the rough descent on a 97 degree day when the last support vehicle was well up the road? Absolutely NOT OK. Grand tour ending for him, quite likely a major setback for the team in days to come and possibly costing him next year's contract. Steel TA cages? Bike's heavier but those bottles don't fall out. Priorities. So, please, please TA, keep making those cages!

I still have several but they are way past giving to anybody.

Ben

bikemig 

Yeah my guess is that most of these were actually used and that's why the supply is small. TA is still making cyclo tourist chain rings, why not the water bottle cages?

The king cage looks good. The VO "retro" cage wouldn't look half bad on my Mercier 300 since it is based on a French design from the 40s.

mountaindave 

I have the VO Mojave (larger version of this) on two of our Treks and they not only look appropriate, they hold a ton of water in a Nalgene or insulated bottle of your choice. They are adjustable which is handy at preventing this from happening again...


No further ejections happened after adjusted properly. Good thing Nalgenes are tough...