JulesCW 

I recently acquired an early Specialized Sequoia. I was dismayed to realize when stripping the bike for a good clean and overhaul that it was only supposed to have two sets of water bottle mounts -- one on the top of the down tube, the second on the underside of the down tube -- but that someone along the way drilled two more holes on the seat tube for a third mount -- as you can see from the photo they did not even drill both holes in a line! These had self-tapping metal screws holding on a cage. I'm now pondering what to do. Should I have this fixed -- have the holes filled? If so, how best to do it economically and with minimal paint damage (the paint is generally ok, and this is not a bike I'm budgeting for a repaint). If not that, what should I do, if anything? Input appreciated.

Doh! Not supposed to be holes here....

Andy_K 

If your Sequoia is like mine, the factory bottle bosses have a star shaped reinforcement plate. If the upper hole isn't too far off center, a frame builder could add on a couple of proper matching bosses where these holes are and get them properly aligned. Then you would just need to match the paint to have it looking as good as new. That's what I think would look best, but it's probably not the most economical solution.

As a cheap alternative, you could put in some rivnuts where the holes are. I think that would make the holes larger, though, and might preclude a proper fix in the future.

What I would do is put some tape over the holes and ride the bike until you see how much you like it.

pcb 

D'oh! is right.

Framebuilder-ish folks should chime in, but AFAIK shouldn't present a structural problem left as is. You didn't ask, I'm just observing/saying.

Proper/best reversal would involve heat/brazing and, at a minimum, a fair amount of post-repair touchup paint.

IMHO best solution is to install rivnuts into the holes and use them to attach a bottle cage. I'm not sure how much bigger you'd need to enlarge the holes to install the rivnuts, but it might give you the chance to nudge the top mount a little closer to center.

I'd be looking for a bottle cage with a little meat around the mounting holes to allow some judicious filing to get the cage as close to straight/centered as possible.

Nice Velo Sport sticker, btw.

mhespenheide 

Personally, I'd tape over both holes and attach another water bottle cage there using accessory clamps. As Andy_K points out, I wouldn't do more until I was sure that I liked the bike enough to do metal fabrication and paint work.

Vintage_Cyclist

I'd cover the holes with DMR hinged clamps for another water bottle cage. Maybe put a small piece of old inner tube over the holes to seal them against water getting in.

They're available from some of the UK vendors, but Velo Orange recently started selling them too.

I'm using them on my 82 Sequoia.

Andy_K 

That's not terribly ugly, which is something I wouldn't say about most clamp-on bottle holders.

I kind of like the under-the-downtube bottle mounts in an ugly duckling sort of way. It's not at all convenient, I can't mount a full size bottle without it bumping the fender, and I make a point of transferring the water to the upper bottle rather than drink from the nasty lower bottle, but, you know, it's different.

Vintage_Cyclist

They're rock solid and don't shift around at all, plus they're about as close to the frame as you're going to get with this sort of thing (unless you go with the brutalist hose clamp method).

The downtube bottle is my go-to position on rides and any other bottle locations are just storage that gets swapped-out as needed.

abshipp 

I haven't used them yet, but when I had my 710 modified I had the guy doing the brazing add a set on the seat tube (my biggest annoyance with early '80s Treks is they only have one set on the downtube) as well as a set below the downtube. I like knowing they are there if I need it. Thankfully after the 650b conversion I had the room to put a full size bottle.

repechage

it’s for a flask... need something to keep ya warm at camp.

clamp on cage
proper repair
rivnuts- ( I have seen that done on grail bikes! Oh my!)

JulesCW 

Thanks all. I think for now I'll go with tape over the holes and a put on clamp-on cage -- thanks to Vintage_Cyclist for the link to the mounts that V-O sells -- they look a lot better than any others I've seen, and I could also use them for a 1970s Paramount I have.

That will work well (and will drive me less nuts than seeing what's there now!), and still leaves my options open for later repair or remediation should I really want to go there.

gugie 

Or camping fuel. If you select the right camping fuel, it can double as an evening warmer.

repechage

In California, denatured alcohol is now contraband. Wild. Frustrating, as it is a good solvent for a few things that there really is no substitute.
Well, M.E.K., but that it actually much worse.

bikingshearer 

I like this call. For one thing, it preserves the Velo Sport sticker. It was (not "is", sadly) on the short list of truly iconic Bay Area bike shops - I now live maybe eight blocks from their old location. Those of us of a certain age who lived in the area recall Velo Sport and Peter Rich with something approaching reverence.