After getting a new roof carrier I’ve had to remove the bottle cage on my bike as it interferes with the down tube clamp.

The Fabric bottle without a cage looks like a possible solution to this but reviews seem somewhat mixed and contradictory. Has anyone owned one of these long term? Do they hold fast or rattle loose?
Cheers

Not a direct answer to your question, but…..bikes (especially expensive ones) mounted on the roof of a car, especially a Golf or BMW, just look so ****. Remember Hyacinth Bucket with her skis? Like that.

Bikes in the car to keep them safe and dry, or get one of those A-Team type vans that everyone seems to drive these days.

From experience i would not bother.
I have been through 4 bottles in the last 12-18 month’s.
If you plan on going off road you have to really tighten the studs to stop the bottle falling out, which makes it pretty impossible to remove and put back while riding…

Heh.

But yes, they work ok. Even better with cap head M5 bolts. Not to bothered about ease of use riding as I use a Bell Super 2r.

Got them on two bikes, not lost a bottle yet. The bottles themselves aren’t great though.

I use fabric’s cageless on both my gravel bike and comencal meta v4. Used on uplift trucks and chairlifts and never lost a bottle. But still easy enough to remove and use while pedalling. Only downside I can see, is a little paint scuffing of my frame where the bottle rubs when it is removed. Great product!

I’ve been happy with mine- IME they’re too much of a hassle to drink out of while moving, if I wanted to do that regularly I’d get a cage but I don’t. Had it fall out once but I reckon I probably just didn’t seat it right. I like ’em but I don’t use bottles much- it doesn’t do the same job as a cage imo.

Awful. Very hard to put the bottle back when moving. And I coach “taking a bottle” for racing. Just not worth it. And I have one on my cross bike!

I ran one and no matter what I did to bolt tension the thing fell off. I eventually lost the bottle somewhere around the Forest of Dean, which short term was a pain as I was mid ride with no water but long term a blessing as it meant I could go back to a normal cage

Mine works fine, I like the bottle and have no issues using it whilst riding.

I thought mine was fine until I tried an XC race with it, too difficult to get back in place.

I eventually lost the bottle somewhere around the Forest of Dean, which short term was a pain as I was mid ride with no water but long term a blessing as it meant I could go back to a normal cage

Worth noting on the ‘normal’ comment here, if you lose a cageless bottle on the first day of a trip, you might not be able to pop in any old bike shop and buy a replacement. A ‘normal’ cage, however, will take any cycling bottle, and pretty much anything else you can fit in.

davidtaylforth – Member
…Bikes in the car to keep them safe and dry, or get one of those A-Team type vans that everyone seems to drive these days.

The perfect STW reply.

Ask for a recommendation for a water bottle, and get a recommendation to buy a new vehicle. 🙂

(Must admit I was thinking the same – I hate seeing good bikes getting exposed to high speed water blasting on top of a car.)

restrap bottle

Have an unbranded one of these in the office, I guess from the same supplier. Works pretty well, not used it on the bike but seems much easier to replace and less easy to pop off unintentionally. Might be worth looking up reviews.

My riding mate has one. The bottle constantly falls off. As I said to him this week when the bottle fell off again, it’s fixing a problem that doesn’t exist with a solution that is worse than the original.

I’ve had one for a long time and never had a problem with it falling out. It isn’t the easiest to put back whilst riding but I don’t race and so can stop for a drink and a have a breather. It’s a good product I think. I’m not sure what people are doing to have it fall off reguarly. It comes with two sizes of mushroom bolts to fine tune it and the first size I used worked great.

Thanks folks. Mixed reviews but it’s more for carrying a sweet top-up drink (awaits comments about hydration strategy) for refueling while stopped in addition to a camelbak so drinking while riding is less of a concern. It was hard enough getting the bottle in past the the shock while on the go anyway. Evans have them for £8 on sale so might be worth a punt.

As for the comments about roof mounting bikes… well obviously buying a T6 would be a less self-indulgent solution to the problem but if I can’t put the bike in our 8 year old Renault because it’s got kids, their bikes and associated paraphernalia in it I have to risk causing offence and stick it somewhere else. First world problems eh?

joemmo – Member
..but if I can’t put the bike in our 8 year old Renault because it’s got kids, their bikes and associated paraphernalia in it I have to risk causing offence and stick it somewhere else. First world problems eh?

Child seats on roof rack, bikes inside. The kids would love it, their mates would envy them, and your bike would be safe. Priorities… 🙂

Good point. I could probably fit the smaller child in the roof box, that way they wouldn’t spoil the aesthetics of my vehicle any more than the roof box or the peeling paint already does.

Great idea executed terribly

Never lost a bottle despite jumps ragging it etc.

Absolutely terrible cap to drink from. The dimple fills with mud and you have to wash out the lumps prior to drinking or have mouthfuls of mud. So so annoying as it could be great. If it was a flush top you could just wipe it.

And mine leaks.

So so shit.