memebag

I bought some $15 Tacx Deva cages a few weeks back:



So far they're great. Bottles held tight but still easy to get in and out.

C9H13N 

I hate metal cages, especially cheap aluminum ones.

Elite cages are my favorite. They are cheap ($15), sturdy, and come in lots of colors. I like the Cannibal side loading version better than the Custom Race for ease of use while riding.

one4smoke

Best one I've seen yet...

https://www.bikeradar.com/us/road/gea...cage-12-46188/

veganbikes

I would recommend heading down to your Local Bike Shop (LBS) they probably have a decent selection of cages to choose from and you will be buying local which generally is better than supporting billionare Jeff Bezos.

For cages I go with Bird Cages on pretty much every bike. Generally the bikes that don't have them yet are awaiting me getting one or in the case of my vintage road machine they have a more period correct Jim Blackburn cage I picked up to keep with theme of the bike. The Bird cages while a little more costly hold onto bottles exceedingly well and look really great doing so. I have never dropped a bottle or had one go loose even my fuel bottle on the down tube and if my bottle happens to be a touch wider than a standard cycling bottle I can bend the wings.

sw20

this is what I use, cant fault it!

https://www.evanscycles.com/elite-cu...FQi-7QodCI4GIA

canklecat

While I agree with supporting the LBS whenever possible and practical, Amazon is also a major local employer, both for warehouse employees and delivery drivers. Family, friends and acquaintances have worked for Amazon. They say it keeps them busy but pays well for this area and they've had worse jobs.

Yesterday the guy checking me out at the Dollartree said he used to work for Amazon's warehouse and misses the fatter paychecks. I asked him how the work environment compared with my old job on a heavy freight dock. He said it wasn't nearly as rough as a trucking freight dock and paid better.

Not defending the new job economy, making everyone a "contractor" with few or no benefits or job security. Just pointing out that Amazon is a local employer for some major metro areas, not really any different from an LBS.

And as far as I'm concerned an LBS still needs to earn its business. Too many small businesses fall into the trap of stagnating and thinking customers owe them rather than the other way 'round. If they stay reasonably competitive and offer a little extra -- like sound technical advice or info -- I'm willing to buy locally. Which I do for about 1/3 of my bike related purchases, including tubes, patch kits, lights, a saddle bag a couple of weeks ago, etc. That shop has done good repair work for me.

But they don't carry everything I want or need and I'm not willing to pay the much higher prices they'd charge to special order something. So Amazon gets about half of my bike related purchases. The rest are split between Nashbar and others.

southpier

I've read they can shatter, spewing shards of carbon fiber throughout the peloton.

Lazyass

If you get aluminum, get ones that have the "braces" (the part that bolts to the frame) clamped to the cage, not welded. I ride chipseal roads and I had a couple snap at the welds in a short period of time. Always on the down tube, not the seat tube. I only buy stainless cages now. Aluminum bends too easy and marks up the bottles.

veganbikes

Unfortunately that is a poor argument. Amazon is not local, yes they might have a warehouse or offices or what have you in your area but that money you are giving to them online isn't going to help those local folks out very much. Jeff Bezos doesn't become a billionaire by paying his employees well and worrying about their health and safety though he still could but like most of his ilk they prefer just making money hand over fist and not worrying about the little person.

Sure the job at Amazon might be better than a retail job in a dollar store but that isn't saying a whole lot. I don't think a lot of people list their dream job as cashier at Dollar Schlub ; )

canklecat

@veganbikes -- If we extend that argument far enough we'd need to eliminate REI and most chain bicycle stores from being "local bike shops". So only my actual nearest bike shop, only a mile away, qualifies.

And if local means locally sourced, we'd eliminate every bike shop that doesn't sell bikes or accessories made in the US.

Since Light & Motion lights are at least designed and assembled in the US, that requalifies REI and disqualifies my actual local bike shop. Because REI carries the L&M but my LBS doesn't.

Detroit Bikes are made in the US -- from imported steel. (I may have inspected one of the last American steel manufacturers 20something years ago when I was a gummint safety inspector). Local enough? But there isn't a authorized retailer in my city to take delivery and assemble the bike, at least to qualify for the refunded shipping cost. But I can buy a Chinese made Trek or Electra from the nearest LBS. At least those bike companies began in the US.

The global economy makes it unrealistic to classify employers so easily as local or non-local, whether for the purposes of sustaining a local economy or supporting local employers and employees.

kevindsingleton 

I like these cages. They adjust to accommodate almost anything, and provide ample security for whatever is contained:

https://smile.amazon.com/Topeak-Modu...er+bottle+cage

Not lightweight, and not under $10, but those weren't my criteria, when I bought them. I use aluminum and stainless cages on other bikes, and maybe a plastic or carbon fiber on my "fast" bike, too.

aplcr0331

I buy the Elite Cannibal cages from Merlin Cycles. Look great, light, wear pretty well relatively cheap and fit lots of styles of bottles very well.

veganbikes

My argument was less everything has to be made in the US (though that would be nice or at least made in NA) REI is not a great bike shop from going there and knowing folks who have or still work there. However at least they are fairly decent to employees and the stores look cool and are somewhat of an odd iteration of a Co-op. Though I can somewhat agree with parts of what you are saying especially regarding the global economy.

Detroit bikes were using MUSA True Temper have they changed (at least from MUSA obviously changing from True Temper makes sense due to TT being idiots).

IamAlan

+1 on the TACX. Especially since my bottles are insulated aluminum.

Clipped_in

Arundel Sport cages are excellent and you can get them from Merlin or Ribble for right about $10. They are light, and they simply work--extremely well and don't scratch up your bottles like metal cages do. I use them on all my bikes. A much better cage than any cheap carbon offering.

nataliereed17

I like to buy one of these thankyou guys!

newenglandbikes

Another good list of water bottles for cyclists can be found at Bicycle New England.

MikeyMK

I'm struggling to find a good side-entry cage for my GT Quatrefoil.

plastic cages aren't the prettiest but they are best for holding a vast array of different containers.

sdmc530

Specialized makes some great side entry versions, called sidewinder or something.....have them on one of my bikes. On my daily use road bike I have one called ribcage from Specialized and its good too.

this could go on and on and on.....kind of like a lube thread

Rootman

I recently got an ebike, I mounted the old tried and true aluminum bottle cage to it but was having trouble pulling the bottle. The cage was mounted on the seat post a little higher than normal due to the battery being mounted in the triangle. I got one of these: Lezyne Side Load Flow Bottle Cage. Works like a charm.

noimagination

I prefer SS cages. You can bend them inwards to tighten the hold on the bottle (the hold loosens after a while). With alloy cages, eventually they crack from doing this, but you can bend SS many more times without cracking.

I've never tried plastic or carbon cages.

Pendergast

The Zee Cage is the Specialized side loader. I have the plastic ones on my mountain bikes. They're pricey for plastic(around $20-25, I think), but they do work well. They also make them in carbon, but I just won't pay $60 for a water bottle cage.

dwolsten

I'm going to second the recommendation for Specialized: I have two of their "Rib cages", which is a plastic page that retails for $20. It's quite light for a plastic cage (33g I think), not as light as carbon but much lighter than metal, and it grips my insulated Polar bottles quite well. The only downside is that it isn't cheap (but again, it's not nearly as expensive as a high-quality carbon fibre cage).

MikeEckhaus

I use Bontrager RL cages on all three bikes. A couple of the cages have been mounted for years. No failures, never lost a bottle. Lots of colors available, although mine are all black. The mountain bike has a side entry Bontrager RL on it. Also, no issues. I had some Forte (Performance Bike house brand) cages on one of my bikes for a while, but they both broke in the same place. Didn't lose a bottle though. Performance replaced them both immediately, as they warranty that stuff for life anyway. I still changed that bike over to the Bontragers since I didn't want to have failures again.

musicmaster

I'll second the "Elite Custom Race" cages. I got mine from Merlin for $8/each and outfitted them on all my bikes. No issues, light and they stay in place.

Only downside is the 21oz Polar Chills don't fit, but the 25oz version does.