I am riding the Brisbane to the Gold Coast Cycle Challenge 100 km ride on my Cell Bikes singlespeed this weekend. I was planning to ride non-stop, so one of the challenges was getting enough fluid on the bike to stay hydrated. I stopped at Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar and took a few photos of my setup.
The Cell Bikes fixie frame has one set of braze-ons for a water bottle cage on the down tube. It does not have a second set on the seat tube like most road bikes. The solution was a set of Elite VIP Bottle Cage Clamps with a stealth black Elite Custom Race Resin Cage purchased from Wiggle. I have read that sometimes these mounts can slide down the frame tube. Because I have only had it on the bike for a couple of rides, I have tied a piece of spectra line around the top tube as an insurance measure. Over the last 70 km of riding, the cage clamps have not moved, so I may remove the spectra line after the Brisbane to Gold Coast ride.
The cage at the back of the saddle is less successful. This is a Tacx bottle cage saddle mount with a stealth black Elite Custom Race Resin Cage. The Tacx saddle mount can be set up with one bottle cage or two. I originally set it up with two cages, but even with bottles only half full, unfortunately it sagged. I set it up with only one cage for this ride, and the first bump going out of our street, it sagged again. I continued riding to see whether it would eject the bottle. Sure enough, halfway down Highgate Hill at about 50 km/h, the bottle launched from the cage. I can’t blame the Elite cage. They were not designed for saddle mounting and have performed faultlessly on my frame mounts for thousands of kilometres. The Tacx saddle mount, on the other hand, should not move from the position that I mounted it in.
The upshot is, I will be removing the Tacx saddle mount and just riding with two bottles mounted in the frame. It looks like it will be at least one stop on the Brisbane to Gold Coast ride for me this year.
Cell Bikes singlespeed at Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar
Three bottle cages on my Cell Bikes singlespeed
This is the position I wanted the Tacx bottle cage saddle mount to be in — an upright position would minimise the chances of the bottle being ejected
No matter how tight I did up the bolt on the Tacx bottle cage saddle mount, the bottle kept sagging
Elite VIP bottle cage clamps — the spectra line is my insurance policy against the clamps slipping
Elite VIP bottle cage clamps
Enjoying the view of the Brisbane River and CBD
Blackboard art at Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar