Mounting Water Bottle Cage

Both my bikes have it on the down tube. I start out with ice and the condensation does not get into the front derailleur, also for me it is easier to reach.

hawaiianrider said:

Christmas morning I awoke to discover, to my immense delight, a new Trek 1000. For some time now, I have wanted to enter the sport of road cycling, and now that I have the elemental component (i.e. the bike), I am ready to learn everything there is to know about the subject.

I have been riding it every day, experimenting with the shifting, practicing different positions and pedaling speeds, etc. I have many questions, but a rather trivial one to which I cannot seem to find a definitive answer to regards the position of the water bottle.

Should I mount it on the seat tube or the down tube? Are there aero-dynamic attributes to either placement? Both are equally accessible, and I want the mount which maximizes performance, if such a choice affects it. I have examined pro bikes and most of them have two water bottles, so it is probably of little consequence, although I did see that on the time trial bikes, some riders had it mounted only on the seat tube. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

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Typically, if you only have one, it goes on the down tube; mostly for the easier reach. Performance advantage?...get a carbon fiber cage with titanium cage screws.

hawaiianrider said:

Should I mount it on the seat tube or the down tube? Are there aero-dynamic attributes to either placement? Both are equally accessible, and I want the mount which maximizes performance, if such a choice affects it. I have examined pro bikes and most of them have two water bottles, so it is probably of little consequence, although I did see that on the time trial bikes, some riders had it mounted only on the seat tube. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

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I mounted 2 cages on my Trek 2100, since I want to be able to carry enough water for 2-3 hour rides. I generally drink from the one on the down tube, and switch them when that one gets empty; you can switch with one hand with a little practice.

I find it easier to grab the bottle from the downtube cage, thumb at the bottom of the bottle, pull straight up, rotate bottle so that it's bottom-end up, pull the nozzle with your teeth, drink & push nozzle closed, reverse move to put bottle back. That way you don't have your elbow sticking out while you drink. That's why I drink mainly from the bottle in that cage...

hawaiianrider said:

Should I mount it on the seat tube or the down tube? Are there aero-dynamic attributes to either placement? Both are equally accessible, and I want the mount which maximizes performance, if such a choice affects it. I have examined pro bikes and most of them have two water bottles, so it is probably of little consequence, although I did see that on the time trial bikes, some riders had it mounted only on the seat tube. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

The aero modelling study here: analyticcycling.comRiderAeroStudy.htmlOpen ↗ shows that it's better to mount it on the downtube. In real life, that aero advantage is going to mean squat when your knee accidentally knocks the bottle from your hand and you have to turn around to pick it up. Mount it where it's easiest to access. For me, that means the downtube anyway since I don't have to pedal bow-legged trying to get it into the cage.

I carry both, and always use the one on the down tube until empty then switch the bottles. So, with what I have read here, the downtube is usually preferred. I would add a vote to installing both. In a race you may want to remove the redundant one.

As far as drag, the difference between the worst possible mounting and the best possible mounting are unlikely to impact your aerodynamics nearly as much as your riding position.

Go for what works comfortably... unless you race and continually find yourself wishing you had been to the finish line a second sooner, then experiment.

However, a humorous thought just hit me... if the wrong people read this thread, there will be an aero-weenies group created to discuss the miniscule difference in drag of various components.

And when the aero-weenies and weight-weenies merge, "I have narowed my options to two choices. Should I buy one water bottle to save 0.1 gram or the other to reduce my drag coefficient by 0.00013?"

Then of course the pundits will have to ask about style of riding, and point out the decision is different based on hill climbing versus spinning.

Oh, back on topic, congrats on the new bike! Enjoy the ride!

Maybe we need to invent some type of aero shape water bottle.......

capwater said:

Maybe we need to invent some type of aero shape water bottle.......

Yeah, it could look something like this: excelsports.comnew.aspOpen ↗ 😉

dgregory57 said:

And when the aero-weenies and weight-weenies merge, "I have narowed my options to two choices. Should I buy one water bottle to save 0.1 gram or the other to reduce my drag coefficient by 0.00013?"

At least one of them will advocate drilling some holes in the bottle to lighten it up.

Put the bottle where it's easiest for you to reach. A tiny difference in drag from the bottle is negated a thousand fold if you have to stop pedalling to get it.