surak

I want to replace the aluminum Blackburn cages of unknown vintage on a tandem that I ride on gravel trails. The cage in the back is prone to ejecting bottles on descents, the other cages don't hold the bottles too tightly but adding some rubber bands around the bottles seems to hold them in place.

I don't need or want anything fancy, just whatever works and can hold Podium Chills and Polar insulated bottles. Any good suggestions?

redlude97

lezyne power

Seattle Forrest

I bought a pair of cages on Amazon for about $10. They weren't advertised this way, but came in obviously counterfeit Enve packaging. Haven't dropped a bottle yet.

jideta

tacx deva

shoota 

I haven't found a cage that's readily available anywhere that doesn't hold a bottle.

redlude97

there are a lot of cages that launch bottles, especially on gravel

DrIsotope

The Arundel Sport is reasonably priced, comes in 9 colors, and if anything-- might grip a bottle too tightly. My wife rejected one after a single ride because of how tight it holds bottles. The Sideloader might be even more grabby. I use both without issue.

The Elite Custom Race isn't quite as aggressively grippy as the Arundel Sport, if you find the Arundel being too tough.

phobus

King Cage. Tubular stainless steel means you can spread the cage apart or squeeze it together to adjust the grip, but I can tell you that my Iris cages are crazy tight out of the box.

Noctilux.95

Well you have never owned any Supacaz cages.

veloz

Bend the cage to fit tighter. Polar bottles have offset shoulders - rotate so they fit under the cage bail. Blackburns hold my bottles secure on downhill washboard gravel. Tight fit on the bottle shoulders matters.

Rides4Beer

I just can't see spending $60+ on a cage. I had some cheap carbon cages on my road bike that looked great, but would launch bottles on a hard hit. Switched to these and haven't had any issues, still reasonably priced and lightweight. I have them on my gravel bike as well, and have yet to lose a bottle and I've done some really hard rides/jumps. I haven't had to adjust them at all, but since they're alloy, you could make them tighter if needed, but they've been great for me right out of the box.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

DrIsotope

Shimano PRO used to make a cage they simply called "FRP," and it's my favorite cage ever. Light, cheap, doesn't look bad, I've never lost a bottle out of one.

But mine are so scratched and worn from use, I feel like they don't hold on to a bottle as well as they once did. The redesigned one is hideous.

I too cannot and will not spend $60+ on a bottle cage. I won't spend $20+ on a cage. Arundel Mandibles look great. Dealer invoice is like 50 bucks a pop. Nope.

LeFreakyBone

I've been super happy with my Iris cages, I now have 3. Haven't lost a bottle yet

ksryder

King Cage are the answer. The stainless steel version are reasonably priced.

But if you don't want to spend that much, here's an under-the-radar option from Cateye that doesn't get much love but I've never lost a bottle with them.

https://www.cateye.com/intl/products...sories/BC-100/

Bryan C. 

I use the large podium chill insulated bottles and have had good luck with the Specialized rib cage bottle cages. The bottles are certainly secure, maybe even a bit too secure for some. They dont scratch up your bottles and even have one that has a multi tool attachment included.

With multi tool. $50

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ri...=267206-172258

Without tool. $25

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ri...=228215-156089

Jazzguitar

I know they're not cheap but I've never once lost a bottle with my Arundel Mandible cages.

surak

Bending my Blackburns doesn't help. Perhaps they're too worn out to hold position. The Polars that I have are large and the shoulders are much higher than where the cages grab, but luckily I haven't ejected any since wrapping some rubber bands around them.

I use the rib cage on my Roubaix, and yeah they hold tight. I don't even try to pull out the bottle on the seat post when riding.

I see that King has a traditional cage and the Iris. Any pros and cons to the design of the Iris over the traditional?

gus6464

Supacaz ones suck? I have been eyeing the oil slick one.

ksryder

I have the traditional cage and haven't lost any bottles over thousands of gravel miles but also I'm not using the Podiums.

As others have mentioned, my understanding is that the Iris cages are super duper tight. Might be what you're looking for.

lynch.cr

I have used King Cages (Traditional) and the Arundel Mandible with great success. I haven’t had any issues with either ejecting podium bottles, which are all I use.

surak

Lots of thumbs up in the thread for the King Cages, I'm convinced. Just ordered 4 of the traditional ones since I found them at a (slight) discount from BikeTiresDirect.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

TimothyH

Arundel Dave-O are the more robust version which I use for gravel.

A patient shopper who isn’t picky about color or finish can find either the Mandible or Dave-O for less than $30. Excel sports had the mandible for $28 at one point a few years ago.

DrIsotope

As the dealer invoice on the Mandible is right about 50 bucks, that's a neat trick.

TimothyH

I'll sell you mine for $40.

-Tim-

zpl

I haven't seen anyone mention the Bontrager Bat Cage yet - it's very affordable and IMO holds bottles quite well without putting them into a death grip.