Correct water bottle cage for 1970’s road bike
01-18-20, 05:15 PM
#26
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Some of the graphics are very good. Better ink/printing than originals.
Usable vintage bottles are occasionally offered. In good condition and with good graphics or no graphics the sellers want money. I own a single good condition TA bottle with KAS graphics that the wife has appropriated.
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01-18-20, 09:46 PM
#27
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I've wondered and gone back and forth on this thing with my '74 Paramount. The more delicate nature of my home repaint job plus the location of the decals means that bottle cage band placement is at best not-ideal and at worst, impossible without obscuring the text/graphics (which I don't want to do!). I currently will put a TT-style seatpost-mounted twin-cage setup for long group rides, which works well. I do like the handlebar-mounted bottle cages, but want one that mounts the bottles low, not high like a Dakar route book/map on a moto or ATV. 
01-18-20, 10:10 PM
#28
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Last edited by Wildwood; 01-18-20 at 10:16 PM.
01-18-20, 11:01 PM
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01-18-20, 11:04 PM
#30
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I've wondered and gone back and forth on this thing with my '74 Paramount. The more delicate nature of my home repaint job plus the location of the decals means that bottle cage band placement is at best not-ideal and at worst, impossible without obscuring the text/graphics (which I don't want to do!). I currently will put a TT-style seatpost-mounted twin-cage setup for long group rides, which works well. I do like the handlebar-mounted bottle cages, but want one that mounts the bottles low, not high like a Dakar route book/map on a moto or ATV.
good idea earlier in thread.
01-18-20, 11:10 PM
#31
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Zafel steel cage I think is still in production can accept tube clamps
01-18-20, 11:21 PM
#32
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01-19-20, 11:47 AM
#33
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By 1976, those cages (the French steel TA) were very well established in the racing world. Widely available, easy bottle removal and replacement, they never* shed bottles and never broke until they had served several lifetimes (and gave lots of warning).
Fun fact: TA kept making those cages many years after they disappeared from bike store because the pro racers who were not big names insisted. The "workers" or "domestiques". The unknowns who worked their tails off 100k before the finish and finished the race inside the time limit but with the team car and everybody else far up the road or gone home. The guys who work hard fro a living. They need to finish in good shape, wake up the next day and do it all over again. Losing bottles on a bumpy mountain descent and very hot day could mean rolling across the line close to physically sick form dehydration and being wasted the next 24 hours. When it came to WB cages, light, sexy and fast climbing came a very distant second for those riders to a cage that never dropped bottles.
If you want to keep the traditional look and all the good properties of those wonderful TA cages, get the modern King cages in either SS or ti. (And those King cages look and function just like the old TA; just a little lighter, a little nicer, a little cleaner appearance. TA got it right. King took it to a new level of manufacture.)
Ben
*if they did get tweaked so bottle fit was less than secure, bending them back to a reliable fit was easy and those tweaks never happened without real cause. Also true of the King cages though being tubular steel, you have to bend the Kings a little more carefully and it is harder to bend.
Fun fact: TA kept making those cages many years after they disappeared from bike store because the pro racers who were not big names insisted. The "workers" or "domestiques". The unknowns who worked their tails off 100k before the finish and finished the race inside the time limit but with the team car and everybody else far up the road or gone home. The guys who work hard fro a living. They need to finish in good shape, wake up the next day and do it all over again. Losing bottles on a bumpy mountain descent and very hot day could mean rolling across the line close to physically sick form dehydration and being wasted the next 24 hours. When it came to WB cages, light, sexy and fast climbing came a very distant second for those riders to a cage that never dropped bottles.
If you want to keep the traditional look and all the good properties of those wonderful TA cages, get the modern King cages in either SS or ti. (And those King cages look and function just like the old TA; just a little lighter, a little nicer, a little cleaner appearance. TA got it right. King took it to a new level of manufacture.)
Ben
*if they did get tweaked so bottle fit was less than secure, bending them back to a reliable fit was easy and those tweaks never happened without real cause. Also true of the King cages though being tubular steel, you have to bend the Kings a little more carefully and it is harder to bend.
Yes, the heavy steel TA cages were great. Only reason we do not still all have a pile of them in use and in the collection is they rust.
01-19-20, 08:15 PM
#34
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Most of the 70's era bikes I had always had a water botttle cage that was a Clamp On style and was usually steel cage. For some reason Braze On cage mounts were more typical on the high end bikes.
01-20-20, 03:05 AM
#35
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Carrying Bidons (water bottles).
For those of you that aren't aware, and for those that may be restoring a vintage frameset; braze on bosses (TA bosses) for cages were listed here in England as early as 1964. My Allin Belgique had them as standard.
You can purchase from TA a device that bolts to the saddle frame rails that a cage can be fixed to - I can supply images.
John.
You can purchase from TA a device that bolts to the saddle frame rails that a cage can be fixed to - I can supply images.
John.
Last edited by hobbs1951; 01-20-20 at 03:14 AM.
01-20-20, 11:21 AM
#36
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After looking for original T.A handlebar mount cages and realising how expensive they are I’m getting a Velo orange cage and using a Minoura handlebar mount that I will either paint silver or strip the paint and polish it up!
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01-20-20, 12:29 PM
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My wish is that someone would clone the TA bar cage, but .... I realize that the demand for these is probably a few dozen folks. The economics make it unlikely that it could be reproduced for less than the cost of a vintage one.
I do wonder what could be done with some stainless steel rod and some bending jigs, though. Might be a fun experiment for someone.
Steve in Peoria
(with enough fun experiments of my own)
01-20-20, 01:33 PM
#38
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I saw one of those in someones (maybe yours) Box o'Crap take, and could not for the life of me figure out what it could possible be! thanks for the learnin'
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01-20-20, 01:41 PM
#39
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As I mentioned earlier in this thread I tried a Minoura cage adapter and it looks kind of clunky. I ended up building an adapter. I would opt for one of these instead. They are like $3.50 on that big auction site. I put one on a Peugeot.
01-20-20, 06:27 PM
#40
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I had this handlebar-mounted ALE cage on my Fuji back in the '70s -- sold it to a forum member a few years ago...
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01-20-20, 09:05 PM
#43
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For reference here is a Blackburn bottle holder I fitted c.1978 along with a Specialized bottle of around the same time. I haven’t used the bottle in ages as I prefer a larger capacity bottle.
01-24-20, 11:45 AM
#45
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Here is how I solved the water bottle issue with my '72 Holdsworth Professional. I didn't want to use clamps on the downtube that could wreck the decals so I built a bottle holder using an old Cateye reflector mechanism. Initially I tried a Minoura BH-60 holder that goes on the bars but it looked bad.
Cheers
01-24-20, 12:09 PM
#46
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Cheers
01-24-20, 02:42 PM
#47
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My personal opinion is that handlebar cages & bottles are ugly af and a huge detractor from a beautiful bike silhouette.
I ended up finding a nice stainless cage in a traditional shape, and some clamps. I considered getting the frame drilled, but decided against that. I had to get some nuts with those little teeth to better hold the clamps closed because they loosened up with regular bumpy commuting. I also used electrical tape inside the clamps to protect the paint. This is a '74 Raleigh Super Tourer
For my other bike, a mid 80's Raleigh, I decided to go with a behind the saddle mount from Tacx, but with some more elegantly designed cages
Here's a better look at them (best pic I could find of them - this was taken right after we got the bikes out of the garage after Harvey flooding - you can see all the rusty bits from being in the water for 2 weeks)
I ended up finding a nice stainless cage in a traditional shape, and some clamps. I considered getting the frame drilled, but decided against that. I had to get some nuts with those little teeth to better hold the clamps closed because they loosened up with regular bumpy commuting. I also used electrical tape inside the clamps to protect the paint. This is a '74 Raleigh Super Tourer
For my other bike, a mid 80's Raleigh, I decided to go with a behind the saddle mount from Tacx, but with some more elegantly designed cages
Here's a better look at them (best pic I could find of them - this was taken right after we got the bikes out of the garage after Harvey flooding - you can see all the rusty bits from being in the water for 2 weeks)
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01-24-20, 05:41 PM
#48
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Minoura Dura Cage. Comes in a variety of colors, not bulky (4.5mm diameter), relatively cheap, clamp-friendly, still being made and sold new.
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A race bike in any era is a highly personal choice that at its "best" balances the requirements of fit, weight, handling, durability and cost tempered by the willingness to toss it and oneself down the pavement at considerable speed. ~Bandera
01-24-20, 07:55 PM
#49
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admitting that most of them were on lower priced machines.
Always wondered how Masi got away with not fitting those reflectors- Raleigh got hit even with the Pro for a time-
chainguard, pedal reflectors, etc.
05-23-20, 10:24 AM
#50
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I found this reflector, and was thinking of using it as a bottle cage mount as seen above. My only concerns are using it as a cable stop and as a bottle cage mount at the same time. I imagine it should be fine, right?
