BrianSal05

Hi,
I don't know if this is the correct forum for this question, but I got a vintage shogun selectra that I use for commuting and on group rides, recently I been sticking more to the advanced riders and I have started riding longer distances 50k+, my problem is that my bike only has 1 bottle mount, which causes me to fall behind when I need to stop at a gas station to refill it.

I was planning on adding another in the downtube but my drill is too big and I couldn't find a 90 degree adapter on my local hardware stores. So i thought about adding them to the fork. Would it be safe?
Also I would be adding threaded rivet nuts since I don't have a brazing setup.

The bike has a Tange infinity front triangle and tangaloy fork and rear stays based on another thread.

CliffordK

Vintage steel bikes used to simply have a strap mount for the bottle cages. I don't like the modern repros, but look for good vintage ones. Blackburn? That is, as long as you don't have oversized tubing.

TT riders also like water bottle mounts to the seat.

And, some riders like them on the handlebars.

Andrew R Stewart 

Options- There are clamp on/velcro on cages out there that fit bikes (and other stuff) that don't have bosses.

There are seat post and handle bar adaptors for common cages. Minoura makes some as well as Velo orange (at last check). I still use the TA handle bar cages (no longer made and big $ on EBay) on most all my road bikes.

While a cage with "tabs" can fit specific to bikes cage clips (Blackburn is the best in most opinions) I find cheap and common hose clamps work better then the cheap frame/cage clips. The hose clamps are generally stainless steel and adapt to a number of tubing diameters.

Hydration packs hold more water and often keep it cold longer. Andy

79pmooney

Zephal makes some waterbottles cage mounts that strap on and work well if you can live with the bottle sitting noticeably higher off the tube. I've only used them on metal bikes but the plastic wouldn't hurt CF. You'd have to see if the straps work for your tube diameter and shape.

squirtdad

I am with the don't drill crowd

lots of options

nice clamps https://velo-orange.com/collections/...35950514012310
simple clamps https://velo-orange.com/collections/...tle-cage-clamp
velcro bases https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...ere-base?fltr=
https://www.benscycle.com/king-cage-...portbolt_584/p
handle bar mount https://www.benscycle.com/problem-so...25590-wc0900/p

BrianSal05

Thank you all for the responses, I had seen on amazon those rubber bootle bosses adaptors but didn't took they looked any good. I've taken a look to your recommendations and I'm gonna go that route, but just wondering why is it not recommended to add them after the fact. I would assume that as long as you place the holes in the thicker part of the tubing there would had been no problem.

unterhausen

It's your bike, you can do what you want. But you're going to mess up your paint and possibly add failure points to the frame. It's not like a bike frame has super thick walls just so they can have random holes drilled in them. You probably will get rust if it's a steel frame.

I would look for a water bottle cage that was meant to be strapped on. All vintage cages were meant to be held on by straps. My first bike with bottle bosses only had them on the downtube so I used hose clamps to put another one on the seat tube. I also used a handlebar cage a lot if I was going far. Water bottles didn't used to be so large.

guy153

Actually in a new frame they usually aren't in the thicker part of the tube anyway (which is usually only about the first 80mm or so of the tube). You're relying on the brazed-on boss to get the strength back. Some high-zoot racers from the 70s used band-on bosses so as not to weaken the frame, but this may have been marketing-speak for saving money by not putting them on. So you can add them afterwards, but I have less confidence in a rivnut than a brazed-on boss, and if you're brazing it's going to mean lots of disruption to the paint.

Andrew R Stewart 

The problem with using a rivnut in a steel tube is twofold. First is that the tube wall is rather thin and the Rivnut has to be squashed down all the way to grab the tube wall. The second is that the tube is likely harder than the Rivnut is. So the serrations about the crush zone, on the Rivnut's outside, won't tend to dig into the tube much. Both reasons, if not done well, can lead to the Rivnut spinning in place and the cage bolt not tightening/loosening. Andy