Just had my new hardtail delivered and was wondering idly what I could use them for…..

Seems a bit like cars still having tape players up till a couple of years ago!

Could put a cage in there and then fill said cage with a bottle.

Cage could contain liquid or tools or crack cocaine.

On my CX bike, I use them for bottles and a pump bracket.

When I had my hardtail, I just went the tarty route and put some fancy coloured bolts in there.

Still playing teenage mutant turtle paratrooper are we youth?

All my bikes have bottle cages on them.

Sweaty back only when strictly necessary.

Yes. I generally fit a bottle cage. Don’t always use it, but it comes in handy for those massive rides in really nice weather when extra water is a good thing.

🙂

Camelbacks are a necessary evil to strap body armour to for the climb up to the spoooky wood isnti t?

Still plenty of people using them

My only gripe with my new frame is that it only has one set – and I wouldn’t buy a frame that didn’t have at least one pair

Yep. got two of them on the bike, far nicer than a pack on my back making me more sweaty than i need to be.

It seems to be quite ENDURO, bottle cage and bumbag, oh and get your mates to refill your water and carry your stuff and lend you tubes and tools.

all my bikes have cages on, if not two – I’m really not a fan of a sweaty back!

Bottle cage FTW. Tube/Co2 pump strapped to seatpost. Multi-tool and minipump in jersey pockets. Done.

When I’m going on a quick hour blast round the local woods a bottle / bottle cage comes in really handy.

So much quicker to sort out than the Camelbak when you just want to get out of the house quickly before it gets dark.

Its always fun trying to watch someone fill a camelback in a stream ….

Yes – use 2 on all bikes. Much preferred to a sweaty camelback.

My only gripe with my new frame is that it only has one set – and I wouldn’t buy a frame that didn’t have at least one pair

Got that issue on one bike, so I jubilee clipped another cage directly to the seat-tube. Solid, if not pretty.

Road bike and HT have bottle cages on, FS doesn’t have bosses so it’s camleback all the way with that. Quick blast locally doesn’t require water though.

So much quicker to sort out than the Camelbak when you just want to get out of the house quickly before it gets dark.

Yep the pick it up and pour water in thing does get tricky with a camel back, and the fact my tool, pump and spare tube are in there. It’s just murder really.

When I was up racing last year some muppet with just 1 bottle for a 50km ride was bouncing ungracefully down the rough trail in front getting in the way when his bottle fell off his frame. He though I was being sarcastic when I shouted he had lost his bottle. 50km and 30c would have been nasty.

I use mine, annoying though when the screw thread in the frame comes loose… 😕

I use cages on every bike I own other than the DH bike and the 160mm bike as for the former, I have water at the car and for the latter I tend to have a camelbak with me.

I’ve probably had as many camelback failures – splits, valve coming off etc as bottle drops. Use the cheap alu cages and bend them to make it a tighter fit.

Depends what bike its on. By the sounds of it being a hardtail its an xc bike so yes needed.

No bottle cages on a frame would be deal breaker for me.

Or you could just forget they are there if your not going to use them.

When I had a custom frame built in 1986 it had 3. My next custom build will also have 3

Actually this might sound daft, but I’d love one on my dh bike, thirsty business, pushing. I’ve got a tiny wee squeezy bottle I can fit in a pocket but a skinny half-sized bottle would be the business. Everything else offroad, I wear a camelbak.

I agree, forget the rucsac…

My MTB has a bottle cage for two reasons:

[list][*]Big rides (6+ hours) – more liquid required than I can carry in the Camelbak. Also handy for putting energy drink (w. electrolytes) in, preventing manky bladder.[/*]
[*]BMX track / pump track – don’t want Camelbak getting in the way, leave the water bottle on the start ramp and don’t worry about anyone nicking it.[/*][/list]

I use mine, annoying though when the screw thread in the frame comes loose…

Pop Rivet the cage on. That’s what I did when the thread stripped…straight into the old captive nut fitting.

I would have said the same a couple of years ago. I’ve started using them now (bottles and cages) for local couple hour blasts. It really is so much nicer hammering the single track without a back-pack.

I have to agree that they spoil the look of the bike though, but I only notice that when it’s parked up!

I use bottle cages and bottles. for up to 3 hours a couple of bottles do fine, for more than that my camelback bladder comes out. Still use the backpack for the kitchen sink though.

Unless I’m going for a bigger day in the hills, I try to ride without a pack whenever I can, so yes, I ride with a bottle on the frame. I used to cart all sorts of stuff around my local trails in my camelbak, seems really stupid now.

And bottles can always be filled from streams, and I’ve not died from that yet.

Ok ok! so you all love them!

I used to bung a bottle on and go occasionally but to all those people who say they never have enough liquid and need the bottle as well….3 litres not enough? I don’t think I’ve ever needed more on a ride except when doing 150 mile days touring when there is always somewhere to refill

To those who just use a bottle – and have dropper posts…..where do you stick your tube, pump, multitool, phone, tyre levers?

I use them for water, tools and for night rides the battery pack for my lights. I wouldn’t have a bike without them.

yup.. i wouldn’t buy a frame that didn’t have them!

bottle in bottle cage.. tools in under seat pouch..

only wear a rucksack on long day rides where i need to take food and more/spare layers of clothing

where do you stick your tube, pump, multitool, phone, tyre levers?

Jersey pockets

If you have to ask ….

I do use a bottle on the cx bike when out bridleway bashing – it’s fine apart from the unavoidable bit of sh1t that always lands on the mouthpiece.

yuck

I always take a bag with jacket food and tools but I prefer to have a bottle on the bike rather than the awkward hard to clean/fill and never know how much you’ve drank bladder.

never know how much you’ve drank bladder.

This is why I switched to bottles. Riding 5 or 6 hours without really knowing how much fluid you are taking in isn’t too much fun as I invariably don’t drink enough (or at all if I am distracted by nice, fun singletrack 😀 )

Can’t stand cleaning the Camelback bladder either and prefer to ride without a pack where a couple of large bottle and a stuffed jersey get the job done.

A ton of crap on the mouthpiece is just part of the MTFU experince of MTB 😀 Not hard to have a quick swill to wash it off on the go.

Often wonder what the hell people carry in those backpacks…………

tools + dropper post?

i use one of these..

Lezyne Micro caddy

its got all my tools.. some park patches, a c02 cartridge and a micro pump in it..

and it doesn’t clamp to the seat post so no issues with the dropper and it doesnt flap about either!

My rides are usually fairly short, like no more than a couple of hours. Bottles work for me

WRT this weekend, two cages and two bottles. That’s it!

Would hate not to have them