Carbon Water Bottle Cages

The weight difference is a couple of grams. If you want them then get them but only hard work and dedication to your training is going to make you faster.

No.  The weight savings is about the weight of one swallow of water.

But if you like to ponder that sort of thing, check this out.

Wow, you can get a bottle cage that weighs 4g!!!  Doesn't look like it will hold the bottle in place very well though. 

Edited by tridantri 2010-01-24 12:31 PM

But if you are going to get one (or three) then do not opt for the "name brand" cages as the prices are ridiculous. I bought three of these no name brand and they have worked great over the years.

I had carbon cages (bike shop gave them to me for free w/the purchase of the bike) and my water bottles always popped out - which made them useless (on a seat mount.. I think it's an x-lab).  Stopping to go back and get the bottle or being without your nutrition is going to cost you more in terms of time than the weight savings will get you.  Plus I was always freaked out riding whenever I hit a bump wondering if I would lose the bottles.

Hmmm ... may be there was a reason why those particular carbon were free?  Which brand were they?

If you have rear bottle cages then at one point or another you will hit the "right" pot hole or train track that will eject bottles - regardless of whether they are carbon, titanium or aluminum.  Most cages are designed to "dig" into the bottle a little in order to keep friction against such occurances - and some cages are designed better than others.

More often than not a bottle is ejected through a cumulative effect of rough terrain - e.g. the first bump will loosen it, the next a little more and then third *bam* it is rolling down the street.  Whenever I go over rough terrain or a pot hole, I reach back to ensure my bottles are seated in their cages. It has gottent to the point where it is now instinctive and I do it while still in aero.

Regardless of what type of cages you use with a rear hydration system, you might want to do the same in order to prevent launching your nutrition.

I have carbon bottle cages... not for the weight savings necessarily, but because they hold my bottles the best.

I use the X-Lab Gorilla bottle cages. I have not launched a SINGLE BOTTLE since I put them on my bike. I was using a Profile Design Plastic model and I lost at least one bottle on every long ride. Kind of a bummer.

They are pricey, but WELL WORTH the money:

www.xlab-usa.com/gorilla.html

That link should work... it looks weird, though...

I use Gorilla cages as well for the same purpose.  I haven't launched any either.  They are costly, but if you are performance member with BT you can get a nice discount at trisports.com.   

Notice that all 3 of us do our long rides on crappy Midwestern roads! Freeze! Thaw! Freeze! Thaw! Pothole! Crater! Freeze! Thaw!

Take it from us... this is what works!!!!

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Kind of begs a good question:  For long rides where you know you can fill up on water, do you just put your drink powder in the bottle and fill the water down the road, or do you carry the water the whole way?  I'm doing IMSG in May, and prefer the EFS drink to the Gatorade, but at the same time, don't want to  carry multiple bottles up the hills.  Wondering if I should just put the powder in my rear cage bottles and add water at the top of hills.

Thoughts?

Sounds like a lot of work to me.

Plus, you are going to want to be getting fluids in you throughout the bike ride.

I didn't carry ALL my bottles with me... I kept a couple in SN, and swapped them out quickly there. I carried 3 bottles most of the ride... but I was drinking them the whole ride thru. Very important not to get dehydrated on the bike.

Special needs at IMFL was a complete time sponge ... easily added 10 to 13 minutes as the bags were difficult to find and, if I recall correctly, there was no water available at the special needs stop.

For IM CdA this year I plan on taking what I need on my bike and then "living off the land" through the 112 ride.

I run carbon cages.

Then again my bike is a rolling project to get it insanely light while still being fully functional under all race conditions.

X5, Whizzzz is so smart.

Next time don't take a nap while you're there.   I was in an out in less than 1 minute the last two IM races I had. 

I've never stopped at Special Needs. I can't even imagine why anyone would have to, to be honest.

Start with your drink in "disposable" bottles and carry the powder (pre-measured) with you.  Drop your empties at the water stop, pick up a water, take a few sips and then mix your drink powder into it at an opportune moment.  A Gu flask will hold 2 servings of drink mix, so you can stash as many as you need in your bento or just buy the single-serving envelopes (most companies make these).  I think the flask is easiest, though. 

Daremo (I think it was him) has a point about living off of the land, but I just can't stomach Gatorade.