Third Bidon Cage

Quoted message said:

Peter Cole said:

landotter said:

Exactly why I don't ride with clubs any more. The [censored] percentage is
astronomical. Why should I care what grown men think? FWIW, the few
club riders I've *tried* to ride with around here invariably had more
money than brains, and were the most reckless jagoffs I've ever ridden
with.

Although I might phrase it more delicately, I pretty much agree with
your sentiments. I'm not sure why I still do club rides, but I often
ride between packs, or at least with a small group of familiar riders.

Hmm. There have to be differences between different clubs and
different riders, no?

There are all kinds of rides. Around here we have the gamut, from real,
organized races (require at least a day license) to "ice cream" rides.

The "club rides" I was referring to are those fast rides, usually weekly
over the same course, where things get competitive. It's not uncommon
for racers to show up for those rides ("training"😉, and many of the
competitive riders show up for things like charity rides and club
centuries, often riding in their own packs.

I like to ride fast, with small groups of similarly matched riders, but
it gets difficult to pick who you wind up riding with on these weekly
rides, especially when they start getting popular. On the opposite end,
the "ice cream" rides tend to be too slow and too short to be very
interesting.

In both the competitive groups and the doodlers I find a lot of sketchy
riding. There have been lots of crashes, virtually all of them easily
avoidable. The doodlers often weave about as they chat, without much
regard to traffic. The competitive types often ride over their heads for
fear of getting dropped, jockeying for position in the pack. When I can
get in a smooth 5-6 person pace line, I'm happy. It hardly ever happens.

Bob C said:

Anyone care to comment on a proposal to fit "Rivnuts" under the downtube on
my 8 yr old aluminium framed mountain bike for a third bidon carrier?

--
Bob C

Hello there.

I mounted a third bottle holder and cage on my handlebars. (There is an
image of it at http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=207546979&size=l
which also shows the Profile Designs water bottle holder. That cage
expands to fit many different size bottles. I have even put a 1.5 litre
bottle in the downtube cage.) It is great there as it is easily
accessible. I like water bottles because I can carry both a flavoured
drink and plain water. On really long or hot weather rides I also carry
two bottles behind the saddle. I find the handle bar and saddle mounted
bottles to be the easiest to access whilst riding. Another neat thing
about the handlebar mounted cage is that I can put a cup of coffee in
the cage to drink whilst commuting.

I did have a bicycle many years ago that had a beneath the downtube
mounted bottle. A bottle carried thee can get very dirty very quickly
if you ride through any water or mud. It is also very hard to get at
whilst riding.

I use the Powerade sports drink bottles. The caps on the 710 ml bottles
are very useful. Those caps have a flip-up cover which protects the
drinking spout from dirt. The cap also fots the Gatorade 591 ml size
bottle but not the larger Gatorade bottle. I get very long plastic
straws that are used for slushy drinks. The straw is easily inserted
into the Poerade bottle through the valve in the bottle cap. With that
I can drink from the bottle without having to remove it from the cage.

I hope some of this is useful to you.

Cheers from Peter

Marcus Coles said:

Bob C said:

Anyone care to comment on a proposal to fit "Rivnuts" under the downtube on
my 8 yr old aluminium framed mountain bike for a third bidon carrier?

My experience with aluminum rivnuts for bottle retention off road has
not been good. They eventually come loose and you need to pull the
bottom bracket to clean out the mess when you drill them out to replace
them or listen to them rattle assuming you have a sealed BB. Monel
rivnuts are supposedly more durable in this application in a steel
frame, I don't know about using them in aluminum.

I wouldn't recommend carrying a bottle under the downtube
for riding off-road anyway. It is going to get very dirty. If you
ride anyplace where there are horses or cows, you may
have to worry about more than the average good clean
edible dirt, too. Some tourists carry a non-water bottle
down there, like a fuel can, and then it might be less of
a problem.

Ben

Bob C said:

Anyone care to comment on a proposal to fit "Rivnuts" under the downtube on
my 8 yr old aluminium framed mountain bike for a third bidon carrier?

--
Bob C

Hi Bob.

OOPS! I forgot to mention some thing that may be very important if you
do ride off-road over rough terrain. An under-the-downtube mounted
water bottle is likely to get caught on debris or obstacles such as a
large exposed root, small branch or large stone. That could rip the
rivnuts right out of the frame and possibly cause serious damage to the
frame.

Cheers from Peter

Bob C said:

Anyone care to comment on a proposal to fit "Rivnuts" under the downtube on
my 8 yr old aluminium framed mountain bike for a third bidon carrier?

depends on quality and thickness of the tube. if it's a high end "beer
can" thin tube, i wouldn't do it. fatigue initiation.

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Quoted message said:

Marcus Coles said:

Bob C said:

Anyone care to comment on a proposal to fit "Rivnuts" under the

downtube on

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

my 8 yr old aluminium framed mountain bike for a third bidon

carrier?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My experience with aluminum rivnuts for bottle retention off road has
not been good. They eventually come loose and you need to pull the
bottom bracket to clean out the mess when you drill them out to

replace

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

them or listen to them rattle assuming you have a sealed BB. Monel
rivnuts are supposedly more durable in this application in a steel
frame, I don't know about using them in aluminum.

I wouldn't recommend carrying a bottle under the downtube
for riding off-road anyway. It is going to get very dirty. If you
ride anyplace where there are horses or cows, you may
have to worry about more than the average good clean
edible dirt, too. Some tourists carry a non-water bottle
down there, like a fuel can, and then it might be less of
a problem.

Ben

Sheep are even more of a concern because they carry the giardia parasite.

Chas.