How to Install a Water Bottle Cage
Here’s a simple one! In today’s post we’ll tackle an easy (but super useful) upgrade, adding a water bottle cage to your bike!
This is some great “gateway maintenance” if you’re just getting started turning a wrench or your kids want a bike project they can work on too. Fast, easy, and really really hard to mess up – let’s install that hydration station!
What You Need
- 4mm allen wrench
- Water bottle cage
- Braze-on bolts (already on frame)
- Water bottle
Let’s Install!
We’ll begin by removing the bottle cage bolts in the frame. Decide where you want to mount your bottle and focus on the two bolts on that tube.
Use your fingers or the allen key to turn them counter-clockwise until they pop out.
Just make sure to keep track of those bolts once you remove them. They tend to bounce into hard to reach spots or just straight up turn invisible when you drop them on the shop floor.
Next, position the bottle cage against the braze-ons where you’d like it mounted.
Hand tighten the bolts to hold the cage in place.
And once you’re satisfied, tighten ‘em down with the wrench to really secure everything up.
For the top bolt, you may have a hard time getting your y-wrench in there, but it's an easy job for an L-shaped allen wrench!
But if the y-wrench is all you've got: no worries! Firmly, but gently, bend the bottle cage back until you have clearance to get your wrench in there. Then tighten the bolt down.
The bottle cage is aluminum, so you don't want to bend it everyday because it'll fatigue, but it makes installation easier and it's a handy trick for when you pick up a new bottle that might have slightly different dimensions.
And now your cage is secure!
Go ahead and pop your bottle in there to see how it fits.
If it’s too tight or loose for your bottle, gently bend the back cage to where you need it.
Just get everything snugged up, and you're ready to go!
All you need to do now is fill the bottle with your favorite beverage and hit the road! Now hydration’s never out of reach.
