There was a Blackburn quick release handlebar cage that looped over the bar & stem and was clamped to the stem with a small aluminum plate and thumbscrew that I used for years on event rides when water was far between and my single bottle on the downtube was barely enough. All aluminum, it eventually bent and came apart, but it was a great item, and if not pre 1983 couldn't help but be on topic to match my Blackburn rear rack.
Just recently checking someone's ebay store after finding one cool item, I spotted another for a $5 buy it now. It's now perfect for road riding a track bike too, takes about 30 seconds to mount.
Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA
Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/
Angel and Kurt,
Minoura makes a nice (modern and off-topic) handlebar bottle cage mounting plate adapter to which a normal bottle cage can be mounted. It's an off-topic item, but replicates the on-topic original HB bottle cage mounts, so it might qualify as a KOF accessory. It's great for getting coffee from PEET's or other java places as well as being a more convenient water bottle location for city riding and commuting.
(I use my downtube-mounted cage for my very-off-topic NiteRider 13.2V dual-beam bottle-cage battery pack.)
Regards,
Jon Spangler in foggy, cool, and breezy Alameda, CA (which means that summer is coming! :-)