Bjforrestal

While searching the Internet to find a solution to my dilemma of adding a water bottle cage to my seat tube, the best/only solution I found was hose clamps. All other doodads were wanting me to mount the cage to any component other than the frame. I even saw one that mounted o a helmet. Background: 70s steel frame, paint not in perfect
condition but is pretty good for the age. This bike will be added to my stable of commuters(which currently has 1, so its a very small stable. Also will be set up as the grocery getter and the all around utility bike) if I go this route, electrical tape will be used to avoid further scratching under the clamps. So, here are my questions;

1. Has anyone done it, or found a different/better solution? Don't mind spending a little extra. I do want the cage on the seat tube and not on other whacky places. I won't drill, too many variables there. Other clamp/attachment ideas welcome!

2. If you have done it, or any other clamping method,anything I need to look out for? Do they stay tight, any other issues that you've run in to?

Thanks in advance!

fietsbob

you might find bottle cages with ears to go under a Hose clamp.. they are less common ..

two-fish makes a rubber block/velcro strap on bottle cage ..

Zefal has a do-dad, a plastic hose clamp with a raised part made to thread into ,

and KlickFix has band on bottle cages ..

American Classic Had a nice band on bottle cage scheme , but that was 25 years in the past


and last mention Riv Nuts work very well and are done cold, no heat involved..

Bjforrestal

Rivnuts, I saw a YouTube video on them. Looked like some specialty tools involved in installing them? Thanks for the list of different solutions!

I-Like-To-Bike

Done it over 12 years ago on two bikes, original hose clamps have never even had to be readjusted in all that time.

dscheidt

Cheap cages sold at Wal-mart and Target often include the clamps. Might want nicer (less rust prone) clamps, but the cage is designed to be clamped if required.

fietsbob

actually there are work-arounds for special tools.. one of them is using a seat post QR , that is also 5mm thread.

like a poprivet pulling the back towards the front expands it, but the thread of the insert is what pulls it outward.


so a bolt thru a stiff enough washer over the outer flange , tightened up, will also expand the riv-nut.

and tighten up ones that feel loose..

Greyryder

I've got one of Minoura's clamp on bottle cage holders. It'll mount to anything on the bike that's round, including frame tubes. It can be set to be parallel or perpendicular to the frame, or anywhere in between. Does hold the cage out a bit from whatever you mount it to, though.

Jay H

I used hose clamps to mount two trek bat cages to the front fork of my Salsa El Mariachi. I used a dremel tool to ream out a channel in the plastic for the hose clamps to go through and it worked great on the Great Divide...

Jay

Dwayne

Back in May I did a three day trip, and to carry additional bottles I used two methods to mount cages on my fork legs.

On the right leg I used an SKS mount. Worked very well, didn't sleep, easy to mount (and take off and steal if that's a concern), and relatively cheap. https://www.amazon.com/SKS-Bottle-Ada...dp/B0045HY85M/

On the left leg I put a section of old inner tube around the fork leg to prevent scratching and provide grip, and used two hose clamps. Worked just fine.

PatrickGSR94

OT question about those trekking bars, is there any kind of weird or excessive flex when gripping the ends of the bars where you have the brakes and shifters mounted? Seems like there would be with that much "bar" between the stem and the actual ends of the bars.

Dwayne

Surprisingly, no, they're actually pretty stiff. I've used steel ones years back that were like wet noodles, but these are aluminum and pretty thick.

PatrickGSR94

alright cool, now carry on!

gregjones

Two Fish.

I use this. It's the 21st Century. A modern invention, called insulation, is nice to take advantage of.

jyl

If your bike has standard (traditional, steel frame) tube diameters, then the "proper" way to do it is with $3 water bottle cage clamps like

https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...age-clamp.html

and a cage that has "tabs" like these, but preferably longer ones

https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...w-version.html

I suppose hose clamps will work, but they are pretty ugly . . .

I-Like-To-Bike

Why are the out of stock $3 Velo-Orange water bottle cage clamps prettier or more proper than readily available 25¢ hose clamps?

jyl

If you have to ask . . . yeah, mismatched wheels roll just as well as matched ones, and hose clamps will hold on a bottle cage.

Other sources for the correct clamp:

$10.00 https://www.bikepartsplace.com/discou...clamps-silver/

$0.99. https://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewi...d=400536317030

acidfast7

klick fix makes some nice durable water bottle holders

https://www.klickfix.de/index.php?mod=13&lang=en

sorry about the german only webpage but it has the best photos:

https://www.amazon.de/Rixen-Kaul-Halt...fix+bottle+fix

shibbyman23

I'm using hose clamps to anchor the front rack plates to my front forks from swinging forwards or backwards, will these hold fully loaded?

rumrunn6

hose clamps or zip ties, but they aren't pretty

babaluey

You can get stainless steel hose clamps from a marine supply store, and forget about rust.

fietsbob

Or 'Jubilee Clips' as the British call hose clamps ..

like using any Vacuum cleaner is Hoovering, and any message over the Tannoy is a public adress thru speakers .


that too is a specific companies product becoming a generic term

https://www.jubileeclips.co.uk/

NOS88

Yes, I've used stainless steel hose clamps on a steel frame that had no mounts. They work fine. I put a layer or two of electrical tape aroung the tube before installing, and the paint was fine when I took them off each year for a total bike cleaning.

Paramount1973 

I'm not going to put Rivnuts into the seat tube on my Paramount. I'd use hoseclamps before I would do that.

Vintage_Cyclist

Hose clamps are rock solid and not really much uglier than standard water bottle clamps. If the paint is rough, I wouldn't even think twice before using them. If you're really worried about the paint, use some trimmed electrical tape, rubber from a tube, etc. under the clamp. If you have excess band sticking out after installing you can trim it back with some snips (mark the spot, remove, trim, reinstall).

shibbyman23

These are what I used and they held up! I didn't put the tape because the bike was old so I didn't care about scratching, but good idea though.