French bikes had brazed on bottle cages going way back - at least to late 40's I believe if not earlier.
Mike Kone in Boulder CO
> When Raleigh Team Pro's were introduced in 1974, they came with
\r?\n> shift-lever bosses brazed onto the downtube in position to be used as
\r?\n> bottle-cage bosses. I am guessing that if bottle-cage bosses had been
\r?\n> widely available at the time, these top-end bikes would have come with
\r?\n> real bosses, rather than this weird looking kluge.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I think that a custom frame builder could easily just get some flat
\r?\n> pieces of metal, drill them, braze them on the downtube, and tap them
\r?\n> out. So, an exact date for "who did this first" may never be known...
\r?\n>
\r?\n> - Don Gillies
\r?\n> San Diego, CA, USA