Re: [CR] Handlebar water bottle cages

David- Any water bottle cage can allow the bottle to pop out (It's not the cage that is doing it, but the forces from a bump) and depending how tightly the bottle is held/contained the chance is more or less. Now the Blackburn "traditional" shape cage is particularly poor in a handle bar (or under down tube) location when the cage is essentially up side down. The loop that goes over the body of the bottle is constantly being stretched open. So that over the miles the vibration forces make the bottle's tightness less and less. Same thing happens with the behind the seat cages. Now if the cage has a fully surrounding the bottle design that doesn't have the spring like nature of a traditional design (and the classic steel TA frame mount with it's plastic claw is another traditional design) the cage won't bend more open over time as easily. This is an example of where aluminum is a poor choice as it is not as stiff or strong as the heaver steel. Look at all the frame mounted cages that are drooping from the weight over time, especially those mounted on the seat tube.

I manipulate my TA handle bar cages so that the bottle is not just a drop in fit but a little bit of a twist and push fit. Still I have had a bottle pop out when not fully seated in the cage. But that's my fault for hitting a big enough bump and not tending to my bottle securement well. (Ask me what's it's like to have a bottle drop onto the road and get trapped under the rear wheel going over 40mph... And that was from a down tube cage). If you keep on top of the cage's ability to hold a bottle the frequency of popping out will be very little. Andy.