Anyone used their cageless bottles off road. They would be nice foie the roughstuff bike but I’m sceptical about their ability to stay put.

Yes. As long as they’re properly clicked into place they seem to stay on. Haven’t hit any rock gardens yet but fine off drops and over rattly rooty sections.

Yep Dartmoor Exmoor Quantock’s Bike Park Wales Trail Centres. Not lost any… Running two on frame

Yup, as above do need to be solidly clicked in but I’ve never had mine come loose.

Drinking from them and refitting it on the move is pretty much certain death, though 😆

They fall off on the road, I can’t imagine they’re any use off road at all. I had four on two road bikes (fished in by the low weight – muppet). I used to lose one every ride. Bumps became a source of fear and cattle grids could launch both bottles into low earth orbit. Yes, they were clipped in firmly, and checked every five minutes, and just before a bump, and just after a bump…

I persevered for months, but finally decided that one of these random high velocity projectiles was going to cause an accident – mine or a friend’s – so back to cages for me.

Oh, and the post up there is spot on – they’re a bit of a git to clip back on. You do pick up the knack, but it never got entirely comfortable.

Ah stuff it then.

I use them on FS and hardtail, not lost one yet.

well my experience is like the other 4 above… they stay put, on road and off road, they stay put so well that getting them unclicked and re-fitted on the move is the tricky bit, which is why I only use them off road now as I tend to drink when stopped off road, on the road they were too secure!

The ‘tension’ is adjustable to a degree with how much ‘squash’ you put on the mushroom fittings so can only assume that people losing them have them adjusted too loose?

Nope. I noticed the compression/fattening effect on the mushroom fittings, too. Squashed those little things so fat and tight I gave myself tennis elbow trying to get the bottle off. A good cattle grid taken at speed had no trouble, though. I even tried swapping the fittings around in case some of the colours were softer and more compressible than others – no joy.

If they work for you, great. But my experience was poor.

I’ve lost one, but that’s because it wasn’t ‘clicked’ in properly on their first ride / use. Not had any issues in the last 8 months or so since.

If they work for you, great. But my experience was poor.

not disbelieving you, just curious as to why yours were so keen to eject as there might be a fitting or compatibility issue.

anything unusual about the mounts on your frame, do they sit proud of the tube any more/less than normal?

I even tried swapping the fittings around in case some of the colours were softer and more compressible than others

this has piqued my interest… mine only came with black fittings (2 sets per bottle), are there different versions already, a mk1 and mk2 perhaps?

Both of my bottles came with a black pair and white pair of bosses. Not noticed any difference in how they work. on two bikes they are on the down tube, on my Rocket they are under the seat tube.

Yeah, I got a colourcoded pair and a black pair with both of mine, nice touch

Ran one for six months off-road so far and only fell out once at the beginning because I didn’t click it in properly. The bottle still looks like new because it isn’t scratched up from putting it into a cage repeatedly.

I’ve used one off road and on road in the lakes. Plenty of rocks and drops off road and plenty of cattle grids on road. It’s never popped off for me. Replacing it on the move though, that’s a hassle!

Same here, rock solid, no issues.

Penmachno at reasonable speed the other day and bottle stayed firmly on its little pegs. Also, many miles on the cross bike without loss. Would echo the whole putting them back on when on the move – sketchy.

I was sceptical to start with but now i think they’re great.

I was thinking about getting one of these, but from this thread –

– harder to use
– prone to losing
– more expensive

hard to see the point now, just to get “clean lines” on the bike!

Really like them on the cross bike for when you sometimes want bottles but don’t want cages in the way at other times.

Odd for it to be so tough to click on yet come out so easily with a bit of vibration, surely something wrong there.

I’ve not got the bottles but have the tool keg and it’s been great so far.

I use one on both on and off road rides and no issues here. great product

I lost mine, twice, was on a hardtail. Replaced by Triton and then by Fabric themselves. They mentioned this the second time it went..

I’d just like to check if you have the newer studs with a ‘2’ stamped on the stud itself, this will be visible when the bolt head is removed. These are made of a softer, grippier material that absorbs road vibrations and can be adjusted by tightening further which splays out the stud to grip the bottle better.

I didn’t use the replaced one as I ended up just putting a cage on.

I’ve been using one for most of this year on my mtb, riding rough and fast rocky trails I have never lost the bottle once, I added some washes to lift the bosses up off the downtube for extra clearance, you need to make sure the bottle is properly pushed all the way on, this way I can almost lift the bike off the ground by the bottle alone!

The person who has been losing them on his roadbike; wtf are you doing to them!? I cannot understand how that’s possible.

DezB – Member

I was thinking about getting one of these, but from this thread –

– harder to use
– prone to losing
– more expensive

hard to see the point now, just to get “clean lines” on the bike!

I have the bosses on 2 bikes that I hardly ever use bottles on- I’d not put a cage on them for such infrequent use but it’s handy occasionally (works really well as a battery holder, I convered one bottle for this). My road bike still has bottle cages because they’re better and I use bottles on it more often.

The person who has been losing them on his roadbike; wtf are you doing to them!? I cannot understand how that’s possible.

Well, I didn’t think I was doing anything spectacular with them. Filling them with about 500 ml and riding around my local Welsh roads at my usual sort of pace. They were fitted to two different road bikes (a Giant and a Planet X) so I don’t think there was an intrinsic bottle cage boss issue. They were a very early batch – I had them on pre-order for some time – and there’s an intriguing comment up there about a design change to the studs, that’s something I will definitely check tonight.

They always seemed perfectly okay up until the point of ejection. They were so bloody tight it seemed inconceivable that they would eject. But one would depart almost every ride. And I can categorically guarantee that they were on properly. There’s a couple of bulges in the v-notch mount on the bottle that produce a characteristic “clunk” as the bottle goes into its home position. Plus, I was getting pretty paranoid about it, and was applying positively ridiculous amounts of force to ensure they weren’t going to launch into the undergrowth. But they still did.

I wanted these to work, and I persevered for months. But… coming back to regular bottles and bottle cages felt like “coming home”. The bliss of just effortlessly popping that bottle back into a bottle cage was something I hadn’t realized I was missing. I’m afraid that if I was assured these would never eject again, I’d still stick with cages now.

So, sorry if my bad experience was out of kilter with everyone else’s – I was just offering my experience to help the OP make an informed decision.

TBH they’re not a substitute for a cage, you can’t use them the same way.

One of the guides in whistler had one on his hard tail. If he can shift down that terrain at that speed without one budging then I’d be happy with buying one and it not budging. I just don’t need a new bottle and cage or I would.

NSMB had a review with similar experience to the user above – kept coming loose

Definitely seems there are bad ones out there

Never lost one and I’ve had them since before they were launched. But yes they are a git to use but I still like it. I’m not prone to drinking on the move, so I don’t really care that they are a faff. Means I can leave the bosses on all my bikes and the bottles themselves are excellent so I use them on and off the bike. I can see why people who use bottles on the go wouldn’t get on with them though.

I’ve been using them on my hardtail and FS , managed to send one flying down a rocky trail on the FS and it split the bottle . I did send Fabric the picture and they sent me a new one and also advised on checking the tightness of the mounts . I do give them a check from time to time and can tell if they need nipping up when clipping the bottle on . I seemed to have mastered the art of removal/refit whilst riding too 🙂

ive got one for my process because the cage bosses are on the underside of the downtube. always stayed put. if anything its a struggle to get off, certainly only reach for it when ive stopped rather than on the move.

I run one on my HD3 because there’s no room for a conventional cage & it’s been solid.
Not the easiest thing to clip in properly while on the move, but I’ve used it for a weekend in Finale & countlless local rides around my local trails in Switzerland & Germany.
Not thrown a bottle yet.

My experience was the same as mttm, would lose them a couple of times a ride. Maybe a faulty batch? Really wanted them to work!