Hi All

I’ve just taken delivery of my 2012 Trek 6500, and very pleased I am with it too.

This is my first new bike in 19 years so as you can imagine I’m a little behind the times tech wise 🙂

Anyway here’s my question. On the underside of the down tube there are two allen bolts similar to a bottle cage mount. They are way too low to be crud catcher mounts as they are right down by the BB.

What are they for?

bottle mount

I’ve NEVER understood having a bottle mount there!

I’ve NEVER understood having a bottle mount there!

other things than bottles go in bottle cages.

HTH.

Suicide bottle mount.

It’s a simple as that, a bottle mount?

Seems like a very vunerable place to put anything, even if it’s a tool kit or whatever.

I guess it’s just a couple of bolts that’ll never get used 😀

Sometimes you want 3 bottles on your bike.

I’ve mounted pumps to those under side ones before now

Brian Lopes seems to like it

+1 for being a very silly place to put a bottle.

Unfortunately, both my full suss bikes only have bottle mounts on the underside of the down tube, right in the filth firing line of the front wheel. They’re only one dog turd away from being rendered useless.

You can of course use them to mount batteries for lights or pumps etc.

Light battery, pump etc can go down there. and be out of the way.

arcoolc, don’t listen to these guys they are pulling your p*sser, there’s a small bash guard you can get for the under side and that is where it bolts on, curves down in some versions under the BB I understand.

jamesco – are you sure about this? On a Trek 6500?

I too think it is a third bottle cage mount. I beleive they come from the golden age of cycle touring when as well as watar one might have wanted to carry a bottle of liquid fuel for the camping stove. Or as said anything else that will fit. Never understood them on general MTBs unless they are going to be used for touring.

It sounds like OP has no use for them though and just wondered what they are for. I think that has now been addressed.

Google bolt on bash guard under down tube, see what you get .

I beleive they come from the golden age of cycle touring when as well as watar one might have wanted to carry a bottle of liquid fuel for the camping stove

I suppose that makes a lot of sense. And looking through the replies (thanks for those) it is clear there are a few potential uses for the mount point.

I might look at using it for the battery. I only ever do night rides once in a blue moon so will have to get inventive rather than having a permanent cage there.

i’ve always thought it for a camera mount, for those ‘arty’ behind the front wheel shots – but then i am totally rad!! 😛

bash guard under down tube

a link to this thread….and (literally) a couple of pictures of a mount which appears to use the existing bottle bolts.

Those bottlecage mounts on the downtube have been on bikes for years and years and years, downtube guards are a relatively new thing, and as hinted to above, would not really be appropriate for a Trek 6X00.

It’s a bottle cage mount.