biketampa

I have a lauf true grit gravel bike. No bottle cage mounts on the fork. I have a long event so throwing some cage adapter mounts on each fork. Is it better to have them located higher or lower on the fork. In training I’m not sure I noticed significant difference but thought somebody here may have thoughts or experience why higher or lower might be better

mstateglfr 

I have never really cared where weight is on my forks- Ive carried panniers on a high mount and low mount, but neither has made much difference to me. Low mount is apparently more stable(weight low is better than weight high), but in practice I havent cared. That is the weight of bags, so im pretty sure the weight of bottles wouldnt be an issue to me. Obviously you may differ though.

An alternative option is Wolftooth's b-rad system. You can mount bottles in line or side by side. web pic from site is below.
https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/...s/b-rad-system
https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/...cessory-device

biketampa

thanks. I’m currently able to fit two bottles inside the triangle (along with frame bag) and a bottle under the down tube. So I’m adding 1-2 bottles on the forks. I didn’t notice much difference when adding the mounts high vs low. This is a self-supported event hence the need to carry a bunch of crap to make it to next convenience store. I could use a camelbak but those aren’t really my favorite. And fortunately this location is very flat so it’s not like I need to climb a bunch of hills all weighed down

msu2001la

If this bike has the carbon fork I think it has, I would be very cautious about clamping down adapters on it.

biketampa

why is that? They’re two fish adapters. Just a rubber backup against the fork that is held in place by a Velcro strap

Quick cage adapter

scubaman

+1 for the caution about clamping anything to carbon fork blades, and carrying weight that way. Also, Lauf fork blades aren’t round, and it also looks they they get a bit narrower as they go down. So either you need to clamp tightly to keep the bottles in place, which is risky for the fork blades; or the bottles may slip down as you ride - at best, leading the clamp and the bottle to rattle against the top leaf spring, and at worst, leading the bottle to rotate into the wheel.

I'd recommend a different plan, such as a cage mounted to the underside of the downtube, and/or a hydration backpack.

biketampa

in my riding the adapter hasn’t given me issues. The rubber backing can sort of flatten against the fork. I can’t imagine being able to pull the Velcro strap hard enough to damage the fork blades. To me, the fork blades aren’t particularly narrow.

dwmckee

I'd put my extra bottle or two in a jersey pocket or in the frame bag.

biketampa

frame bag might be a good option. I have a fair amount of crap to load up but that might work.