chaadster

Just a quick heads-up to those looking for bottle cages: the aluminum Supacaz Fly cages are not really sturdy enough for gravel. Well, at least not in the seat tube location with the large, 26oz bottles. I’ve been having the problem of the lower bottle stop bending under the weight of the full bottle on hard hits. I don’t think it’s a problem which would lead to an ejected bottle, so while it may not be a serious problem, it is annoying in that it leads to the bottle being farther down than expected, requiring a longer pull to extract the bottle, and in my case, an initally confounding clicking noise over bumps as the bent part of the cage contacted the seat tube.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “yeah, well duh…it’s an 18g caged called “Fly,” so what did I expect? Well, I liked the styling, the color, and the price is the answer to that. I’ve also had good results with Fly on road bikes, so I had some precedent, too. But yeah, it was a poor decision, so I’m needing to find a beefier pair of cages.

Although I’m not a fan of the traditional look of King Ti cages, because they’re available in the desired “3D Violet” purple anodizing, they’re at the top of the list despite their relatively costly $150 price tag. The other rugged and anodize-able options (i.e. titanium options) from Wolftooth and Silca have virtually identical styling, so they’re 6-in-one, half-dozen-in-the-other in that regard.

Is anyone aware of any other options either violet, violet anodized, or of anodize-able?

Koyote

The King Cage Iris is as pretty as any cage out there, and -- more importantly -- it will never let go of a bottle. My oldest pair has over 45k miles and currently reside on a gravel bike that has been ridden down some very fast and rough descents, and they've never lost a bottle. And the design is such that the cages NEVER bend, NEVER need to be reshaped. All for $26.

PS: I just looked at that Supacaz cage. It's made of aluminum and weighs 18 grams. No surprise that it bends easily. An aluminum cage that weighs twice as much would still be a POS.

sean.hwy

I have had these for two years on my gravel bike. Never lost a water bottle. I take my gravel bike over mtb trails with big ruts/drops etc...

$28 for two

ThinkTop Ultra-Light Full Carbon Fiber Bicycle Bike Drink Water Bottle Cage Holder Brackets for Road Bike MTB Cycling

chaadster

There are many good cage options out there generally speaking, but very few as specifically requested in the OP.

Koyote

Sorry about that. When I'm choosing a water bottle cage, my main priority is that it, you know, hold a water bottle.

BJack312

I've never regretted buying King cages.

nomadmax 

That right there ^^^^^^^^^

For me, there is no cage other than King Ti. I've never even come close to losing a bottle out of them, road, gravel or mountain. Buy once, cry once.

mstateglfr 

It does appear that reliable bottle cages that wont bend or break from basic use, are violet in color, and isnt the basic traditional cage design is an uncommon combination.

Maybe just grab some Iris King cages for $26 and to anyone that criticizes you for not having purple cages(which will be nobody), tell them that sometimes less is more and not everything needs to match

himespau 

Huge fan of the Iris. Any way to paint/powdercoat that in your desired color?

Elvo

Never launched a bottle on our rutted steep rocky loose gravel with these either:
https://www.amazon.com/Tacx-T6154-20.../dp/B00XNF3E70

Koyote

If the King Iris cage were purple, I would be starting a thread to ask if there was a way to remove the color.

Purple water bottle cages are the bike equivalent of putting curb feelers on an Electra 225. Hideous.

autonomy

I have been using these $6 Delta cages for years with 21 and 24 oz Podium bottles, never ever had one ejected even on singletrack. They're not welded like most cages, though I never had a problem with those breaking (just marring of the bottles mostly). These do not come in purple though.

djkashuba 

A bit of the original topic but Soma has King Cage Iris on sale now.

https://www.somafabshop.com/shop/pro...90&search=cage

-D

Koyote

Nope. Out of stock.

Fentuz

I have a purple ztto ebay cage which work fine on the mini velo. I ride with the tool box offroad, pump tack, bumpy trails etc. Never lost anything.




i run similar aluminium cages on the gravel

chaadster

Ah, someone who gets it! Nice!

With that design having such high shoulders/sides, do you find it takes extra care, consideration, or time to insert and remove the bottle? It reminds me of the old Ringlé “barrel style” cages from the ‘90s, which were basically a bottle sleeve, and while they held well, they were almost impossible to use normally, requiring a straight pull forward to get the bottle out and pinpoint accuracy to get it in.

I drink on the roll, so easy access is important, too. The color on those looks perfect, though!

Thank you!

Fentuz

i drive on the go and off road and they are good with ssi bottles. Because the cages are a folded sheet of aluminium, you can bend them back if you need more tension.
i have had the black ones for 2 years and they are great for £10

the purple one is a little thicker and is even better on rocky MTB trails.








when on ebay, i searched “mountain bike bottle cage”

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284283577...mis&media=COPY

chaadster

Fentuz thanks…I’ll probably try those purple Zitto (or Ztto?) out. The shorter, lower bottle stop extension looks like it’d address the issue I was having with Fly cages, and just weighing 2x as much suggests a little more structural rigidity, too. And for the price, of course, I can painlessly move on to something else if I don’t like them.

Koyote

My concern with such cages is that little tab at the bottom, which is all the stops a bottle from falling down into the bottom bracket area -- where the rider's feet, pedals, cranks, fd, etc, all reside and are in motion while riding. I'd rather have a bottle launch (out of the top) on rough terrain than fall down like that -- and that little tab, made of aluminum, looks like a prime candidate for failure at some point.

But maybe you guys are on tamer gravel than I am. It varies a lot by region.

Fentuz

Well, like I said, i had them 2 years and 5000miles and the only thing i had to do was retighten the bolts once