[CR]Water bottle and cage sizes over the years

Perhaps the group could humour me a moment and tell me if I'm being fed a line of ... something. I recently won an auction for a bottle and cage:

http://ebay.com/<blah>

I was surprised when it arrived yesterday to discover it was, in fact, small. That is to say smaller than normal, like a child's bottle or perhaps for someone with really small hands. I had a similar vintage (~'75?) ALE cage that was rusty that I thought this would replace but it is far too small to fit a regular bottle in.

I sent the seller a note mentioning my surprise about the size to which he replied:

"David, It's smaller because it's vintage. It's the vintage way of bicycle drinking, the bottles were to put in pockets behind; it was easier to drink"

Riiight. So then why do my regular plastic bottles fit in all my old cages. Even the old style spring loaded REG cage that would pre-date this one for sure.

Thoughts, opinions, facts?

Thanks,

David Bilenkey
Industrial Designer
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
dbilenkey@sympatico.ca