A bottle cage is device used to affix a water bottle

Water bottle

A water bottle is a container used to hold water for consumption. This allows an individual to transport or carry the bottled water from one place to another. A water bottle is usually made of plastic, glass, or metal, and so most can be recycled. Water bottles can be single use, returnable, or...

 to a bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

. Composed of plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

, aluminum, stainless steel

Stainless steel

In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....

, titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

 or carbon fiber

Carbon fiber

Carbon fiber, alternatively graphite fiber, carbon graphite or CF, is a material consisting of fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber...

, it is attached to the main frame

Bicycle frame

A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, on to which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles, a main triangle and a paired rear triangle...

 of a bicycle, the handlebars

Bicycle handlebar

Bicycle handlebar or often bicycle handlebars refers to the steering mechanism for bicycles; the equivalent of a steering wheel. Besides steering, handlebars also often support a portion of the rider's weight, depending on their riding position, and provide a convenient mounting place for brake...

, or behind the saddle

Bicycle saddle

A bicycle saddle, often called a seat, is one of three contact points on an upright bicycle, the others being the pedals and the handlebars.The bicycle saddle has been known as such since the bicycle evolved from the draisine, a forerunner of the bicycle...

. Most modern bicycles have threaded holes in the frame to hold the bottle cage, often called braze-on

Braze-on

A braze-on is the name for any number of parts of a bicycle which have been permanently attached to the frame. The term "braze-on" comes from when these parts would have been brazed on to steel frame bicycles...

s even though they may be welded

Welding

Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...

, glued

Adhesive

An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...

, rivet

Rivet

A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...

ed, or moulded into the frame material. Clamps are necessary on bicycles not so equipped, such as older or less expensive models.

Locations

The most common location for a frame-mounted bottle cage is on the top side of the downtube.
The most common location for a second frame-mounted bottle cage is on the front side of the seat tube.
Small bikes and mountain bike

Mountain bike

A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...

s with rear suspension often do not have enough room for two bottle cages inside the main frame triangle.

Some touring bicycle

Touring bicycle

A touring bicycle is a bicycle designed or modified to handle bicycle touring. To make the bikes sufficiently robust, comfortable and capable of carrying heavy loads, special features may include a long wheelbase , frame materials that favor flexibility over rigidity , heavy duty wheels , and...

s have a third frame mounting location: under the downtube.

Bottle cages may be mounted behind the seat with a bracket that attaches to the seatpost

Seatpost

A bicycle seatpost, seatpin, saddlepole, saddle pillar, or saddle pin is a tube that extends upwards from the bicycle frame to the saddle. The amount that it extends out of the frame can usually be adjusted, and there is usually a mark that indicates the minimum insertion...

.

Tandem bicycle

Tandem bicycle

The tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement , not the number of riders. A bike with two riders side-by-side is called a sociable.-History:Patents related to tandem bicycles date from the late 19th...

s may have as many as six bottle cages.

Recumbent bicycle

Recumbent bicycle

A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position. Most recumbent riders choose this type of design for ergonomic reasons; the rider's weight is distributed comfortably over a larger area, supported by back and buttocks...

s may have bottle cages mounted to the steering mechanism or behind the seat

Bicycle seat

A bicycle seat, unlike a bicycle saddle, is designed to support the rider's buttocks and back, usually in a semi-reclined position. Arthur Garford is credited with inventing the padded bicycle seat in 1892, and they are now usually found on recumbent bicycles.Bicycle seats come in three main...

 back.

Styles

The vast majority of bottle cages consist of a single hoop of metal tubing or rod bent to hold the bottle snugly and engage the top, or an indentation in the case of larger bottles, to prevent it from bouncing out.

Varieties, often made out of plastic or carbon fiber, may completely encircle the bottle.

Some manufacturers have released non-standard bottles and cages that only work with each other in order to offer specialized shapes (streamlined, for example) or restrict consumers to purchasing brand-specific items.

Mounting

The standard bottle cage has mounting two holes, two and a half inches (2.5") or 64 mm apart, to match the threaded holes in the frame, and through which small bolts pass. Some have a strap, adjustable for non standard bottles.

The holes are usually sized and threaded to accept a 5 x .8 bolt, which means 5 mm in diameter and threads 0.8 mm apart.

Bottle

The standard bottle cage holds a bottle 2-7/8 inches (2.875") or 73.025mm in diameter and five inches (5") or 127mm tall, or with an indentation that far from the bottom for the tab on the cage to engage.

Other uses

Some examples of bicycle lighting

Bicycle lighting

Bicycle lighting improves the visibility of the bicycle rider to others in dark conditions, i.e. to increase the rider's conspicuity and to enhance the ability of the rider to see, illuminating the way forward. Both reflectors and active lights are used to make the rider more visible, and many ...

 take advantage of the bottle cage by using it to hold a bottle-shaped battery to power the lights. This sort of bicycle lighting has proved popular.

Many small tire pumps

Bicycle pump

A bicycle pump is a type of positive-displacement pump specifically designed for inflating bicycle tires. It has a connection or adapter for use with one or both of the two most common types of valves used on bicycles, Schrader or Presta...

 come with a mounting bracket intended to be mounted alongside a bottle cage.

The Trek

Trek Bicycle Corporation

Trek Bicycle Corporation is a major bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Gary Fisher, Bontrager, Klein and until recently, LeMond Racing Cycles...

 Soho 3.0 comes with a stainless steel coffee mug designed to fit in the bottle cage mounted on the front side of the seat tube.

In addition to the fairly standard cycling water bottle, cages have been produced to hold commercial 1 liter and 1.5 liter water bottles.

History

Until the 1960s, cyclists often carried a second bottle on the handlebars, held by a bottle cage fixed to the handlebars themselves and by a third point to the handlebar stem. Such bottle cages are familiar from pictures of the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

. Riders had a cage there rather than have two on the frame, where the centre of gravity is lower, because at the time the Tour's rules insisted that riders carry a pump. The pump took up the length of one frame tube and made a second bottle cage on the frame impossible.