By Adam Newman
Here at Bicycle Times our portable potables come in all shapes and sizes. We’re never on a ride without some sort of liquid nourishment, usually water, often coffee, and sometimes something even more potent.
Pictured here are three types of water bottles we often carry, and some new bottle cages designed to carry them. From left we have one of our very own stainless steel water bottles made by Kleen Kanteen and available in our online store (hint, hint), a typical 32 oz. Nalgene bottle, a standard Bicycle Times water bottle (also available), and finally an 8 oz. Stanley flask emblazoned with the logo of our sister magazine, Dirt Rag.
To go along with these I’ve gathered a group of cages from TwoFish Unlimited and King Cage. Let’s see how it goes:
First up is the TwoFish QuickCage ($25), a standard-sized bottle cage that uses a rubber bumper and a robust Velcro strap to secure it to any round surface. The latest version is made from stainless steel, and is plastic dipped with a rubber texture to prevent slipping and scratching on our nice, shiny Kleen Kanteen bottles.
The XL Quick Cage ($32) is designed for the larger water bottles on the market such as this Nalgene. It too is made from plastic dipped stainless steel and has two straps for security.
Now let’s step it up to something a little more festive, with this stainless steel flask cage from King Cage. Made by hand in Colorado like all of King Cage’s products, it is designed specifically to fit these Stanley flasks. It retails for $22.
Beverages are of course important, but when you’re touring, so is food! You can carry a camp stove along with this prototype of the King Cage Manything cage—it can’t carry anything, but it can carry many things.
What’s important to note here is that like other cargo cages, this one is designed to mount in three, equally spaced bottle cage eyelets, which we don’t have on any of our bikes. I mounted here with two bolts just to demonstrate. The old adage applies: do as I say, not as I do.
Anyway, the stove—in this case a Jetboil Flash—is secured with toe straps. Other items like large water bottles, sleeping pads, stuff sacks and more could also be used. This design isn’t finalized yet but we’re going to try it out and let you know as soon as it is.
Now you can carry ALL THE THINGS!
Special thanks to the lovely Surly Krampus for being our model today.