maxo wrote:
On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 08:10:33 -0700, Fast Turtle wrote:


Has anyone seen something like this ?


metal fatigue, especially along welds? Sure. Must have been scary for the
guy behind you.

I once had two 1.5L bottles of Polish sparkling mineral water fly off the
back of my m/c at 50mph on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. I had the pleasure
of watching them explode on the roadway and the look of horror on the
driver behind me. Needless to say, I got a "bungee net" the next day...


I've been hating my old plastic Specialized cages from the eighties, but
now they're starting to look good. :P

I have had two incidents with water bottles and holders. One holder, a
cheap one with thin wire was killed when my grandson stepped on it
trying to get onto the center bar for a ride. Now I buy only LBS welded
thick steel holders and they don't break, they don't even give when I
stuff in an oversize plastic bottle. The other incident was similar last
Monday when I went from pavement to dirt at maybe 25 or 30 MPH and the
bottle bounced out just before I hit the 'Emergency' brakes. Washboard
roads and high speeds with no suspension make for some really nasty
rides. After I went back and got the bottle I drove the gravel and
potholes much more carefully and had no more incidents. I have seen some
Chinese holders at Wal-mart that appear to have rubber bungie cords to
hold the bottles in place but since I am not trying to support China or
Wal-mart I have not tried one yet.
The best bottles I have are on the fat side and have to be squeezed into
the non forgiving metal cages, and don't fly out on big bumps. I may fly
off the bike but I am reasonably sure the bottle would still be there
after I picked myself up.
If you are going for seriously bumpy off road stuff you might want to
try some rubber bungie cord tricks to secure the bottles, kind of
Fred-ish, but it might work.
Bill (Semi-Fred) Baka