King cage stainless steel are £20 each. They will last you for ever and you can bend them in for extra hold on the bottle. BPW reds and blacks on a kiddie-wheel hardtail, bottle stayed put.

Edit: And with the traditional bottle cage design, they’re a little bit side entry anyway. used mine with a frame bag OK.

For pure strength of hold, Elite Ciussi, add grip tape to it for maximum hold. It’ll rough up your bottles but you won’t lose then.

+3 Blackburn mtn

Got a super cheap Halfords one that never lost the bottle in 4 weeks in Nepal. Not side entry though.

whitestone

If you get two RH (or two LH) then they will open to different sides of the bike when mounted on downtube and seat tube so if you want them both to open to the same side you need one of each then mount accordingly.

a good point i actually wandered off to the garage to check as I was riding at weekend with a bar bag in place and downtube is left exit but really should be right as much prefer to drink with right hand looked and seattube isn’t side entry so can’t swop – disappointed

been using Elite Ciussi cages with [policallybad]camelbak podiums which seem bigger?[/noAK47inmytookit] on rough gravel roads and easy singletrack no problem

Got a Specialized one on my bike. Cafe cab be adjusted to either left or right exit.

Got a side entry lezyne for the GF. Ended up with the bottle in her backpack. It was a rubbish cage.
Now got a cheap Decathlon one on there. Cheap and it works.

where did it snap ?

About halfway along its length on one side

Had a fabric one,lost the bottle too many times.

Got a fidlock magnetic one, absolutely bomber, expensive though and does mean you are pretty much tied to a bottle.

Fits in small places and doesn’t look odd when it’s empty

One of the best purchases this year!

Not quite in spec but the Topeak Modula Cage II is good.
Not side entry but adjustable for 0.5l to 1l bottles.
I use one with a Skidmore adaptor to lower the position under a half frame bag.
Holder £8.95 Adaptor £14 ish – other makes available or make your own.

I’ve had a few… King Cage Iris are probably the best I have used.

Elite Custom are OK but not as secure as Iris. Have them on my Grrrrrravel bike.

Currently have a Zefal plastic coated steel one that I have adjusted.

Spesh Zee here too

Elite.

Zee have one flaw, lots of bottles don’t fit in there properly, apart from that they’re good.

Also a zee here. Held a bottle secure even during a crash that dislocated my shoulder. Got the topeak plastic one on another bike which was also good if you can cope with the plastic

I have ordered a couple of zees, as they don’t look too bad and consensus seems good. Just hope my bottles fit, I have enough though, so sure most will

I use an aluminium water bottle from Edinburgh Bicycle co-operative there own brand; revolution. They are a whole 99p. This with their the raleigh alloy water bottle cage, 4.99, never lost a bottle. The water bottle gets scratched to hell, but have used the same ones for years, doesn’t look to pretty but works brilliantly.

King cages are brilliant 568 miles on the Highland Trail I did not lose a bottle. 😉
[url=https://flic.kr/p/27G9Jv5]33711468_10156540602396474_8602089757469573120_n[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr