After losing a bottle on today’s ride – presume it bounced out of the bottle cage – does anybody have any recommendations on bottle cages?

Are the side loading style any better than a generic alloy traditional style bottle cage?

I have a bird shaped one from pdw and it grips like a gibbon in a hurricane.

I just bought this one and can recommend it. Easy out, easy in and grips very well.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-custom-race-resin-bottle-cage-stealth/

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-custom-race-bottle-cage-2015/

These. Have used them on cx bikes, road bikes and mtbs over numerous years. Never lost a bottle including riding the three peaks and plenty of MTb races.

Fir extra security a few loops of electrical tape around the bottle will hold it firm but can make it hard to retrieve the bottle.

Never had any problems with the alloy ones myself (aside from cheap ones breaking – although they still held bottles). They can bend, so you just need to make sure they’re gripping tight.

The generally more expensive plastic and carbon ones that wrap right around your bottle….you’re never likely to lose a bottle out of one of them. Take a fair bit of abuse before you break them too.

Elite Cannibal if you can find them. Excellent cages.

I reckon having the “rubber band” bit further up the cage than on the Custom Race works better.

Spesh Rib Cages are also good, as are the Zee side loaders. Latter only really good where there’s less space, though and don’t always work as well with Camelback Podium bottles (Which is all I use).

thanks folks, will check those out.

Elite Ciussi alloy or Arundel carbon. Never lost a bottle from either. The Elite plastic cages score the bottles.

I like the Elite Custom Race, although find they get a bit less grippy at retaining bottles after a couple of years. Cheap to replace though !

I use a King Cage Ti. It’s awesome and unapologetically bling. You can get one in stainless steel if you think that £40 for a bottle cage is ridiculous.

Elite Cannibal, better than the Custom which I prefer on my road bikes.

Lezyne Flow cage is easily the most secure bottle cage I’ve used. THey look like shite though and I’d never put one on my bike.

This thread has prompted me to replace my weakening elite custom ones on Defy, think i might try the Cannibal ones reccomeded above, just about the same price too at Wiggle

Mt Zoom ti for me. A bit pimpy, without being bling, light, sensible price.

Alloy jobs for me, cheapo ones work well enough but the Blackburn ones I have seem a bit better, the odd gentle bending so it grips bottles better is handy, can’t do that with plastic or carbon…

Elite custom races have always worked well for me on the road.

off road id suggest that nothing beats moving to a camelback derivative (personal preference being a btwin).

Lezyne Flow cage is easily the most secure bottle cage I’ve used. THey look like shite though and I’d never put one on my bike.

Ha, I never realised they were so offensive. I have 3 or 4 of these across various bikes and I like ’em. As above, they’re very secure and really wouldn’t ever lose bottles. On my full sus, my bottles have always survived rocky bridleway smash-athons. They’d be no good if space is tight though – the bottle needs to go more-or-less straight in.

Black plastic bontrager

King Cages all the way..
Grips like Shit to a blanket.

Iris king cage in stainless steel job done.

Another vote for Bontrager. Best I’ve used…

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/bontrager-rl-bottle-cage-black.html

Wish I’d known Teasel – think I binned all of mine.

Lezyne where room isn’t an issue, Spesh Zee side loaders when it’s tight.

I’d recommend King Cage Iris too. Look great, not too pricey, not too heavy.

some new Elite Cannibals ordered, plus a couple of new podium bottles as old ones were getting a bit foul 🙂

King cage on one bike and Arundel on the other. No bottles lost.

Have used King Cages in titanium for years and no bottle losses. Changed over to a generic carbon cage for quite a flat ride recently and lost a bottle. Have just bought a bike with Specialized Zee cages and they are very, very secure (as are the King Cages)

thegreatape – Member
I have a bird shaped one from pdw and it grips like a gibbon in a hurricane.

I’ve just bought one of these as I liked the look. Haven’t tested out on anything too bumpy yet but I’m pleased to hear it should be ok.

That’s with a Camelbak Podium bottle Normal Man, no danger at all of it falling out.

Cheap 4 quid alloy Blackburns kept full 700ml bottles in over Paris Roubaix Sportif, and you can bend them to grip more.

Not very pimp, though, sorry.

Ha, I never realised they were so offensive. I have 3 or 4 of these across various bikes and I like ’em. As above, they’re very secure and really wouldn’t ever lose bottles. On my full sus, my bottles have always survived rocky bridleway smash-athons.

😀 yeh, they probably look ok on an MTB; don’t really look right on a roadie. But FML, you’ll not lose any bottles with them.

That’s weird… I got a pair of though Elite custom cages and found that they did not get on with Camelbak bottles, had to keep shoving them back down every 15 minutes as they were jiggling their way out.
Replaced them with a pair of Tacx Deva cages which are ace, easy insert and remove and hold all my bottles, Camelbak and otherwise nice and securely. If it matters to you then the Tacx cages are used pretty much every WorldTour team that doesn’t use the Elite cages.

That’s weird… I got a pair of though Elite custom cages and found that they did not get on with Camelbak bottles, had to keep shoving them back down every 15 minutes as they were jiggling their way out.

I found the same with Elite Custom races and Camelbak Chill bottles, which don’t have the same cut out part way up. My podium bottles are fine, although as I posted earlier, the cages tend to stretch with time.

Have just ordered some Cannibals on back of this thread – reviews say they are great, although can be a bit tricky getting bottle out !

King Cage Iris are lovely and grip bottles exceptionally well. I had them on the Krampus until it was stolen.

That being said I have cheap black (maybe plastic coated steel) Zefal on the Chromag that appears to hang on to bottles adequately. It hung on to a Camelbak podium bottle round Cwmcarn yesterday with no issues.
Which is a shame as I can’t justify replacing it yet…