GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll: GamJams Reviews: Bottle Cages

Maybe I'm alone here, but one of the fun parts of outfitting a bike — new or otherwise — is selecting the bottle cages. If you do it just right, it makes everything else look better. But it needs to be functional, too. We've all been behind someone over a bump that sends bottles flying. We can all agree that's about as uncool as it gets.

Check out what the GamJams Ambassadors use:

Remember that bit about holding your bottle over bumps? Read what District Velocity has to say on the subject: "As we hit the gravel section, it didn't take 100 feet before the large number of potholes sent bottles flying out of cages."
Here's a vote for the Bontrager Race Lite cage, as posted at lazyeyesusan. "I've used 'em on mountain bikes and road bikes and find they perform admirably."
Want another vote of confidence? There's one at Algomaha, where the Race Lite cages are used exclusively. "The top lip holds a bottle very securely. I've never dropped a bottle from these. Plus, they're cheap."
What do we love about the Chuckwagon? Stuff like this: "The perfect bottle cage." The rest of the review lasts six more sentences, all of them short.
"Perfect" is probably the furthest word from BRILF's lips, as he reviews the unimpressive Serfas CC-1 Cirque: "I lost a full bottle the first time through the gravel, and a half-full bottle the second time through the gravel. They've also jettisoned bottles on moderately bumpy pavement, and once over a manhole cover in the corner of a downtown crit."
Rude Siggy had some color-matching problems with his new bike, so he did what any sensible racer would do: He bought properly matching cages. "The blue didn't match the blue perfectly, so I spent some green on some new bottle cages."

Next reviews: Seat packs (July 23)

About GamJams Reviews:
All cyclists are experts, at least when it comes to our equipment choices. We know why we chose what we chose, and what we think of the product after we've been using it. GamJams Reviews channels that collective expertise - category by category - into a tidy package of articles designed to help all of us make better equipment decisions. Buying what pros get paid to use is one way to go. But the candid testimonial of fellow racers who paid out of their own pocket - that's an endorsement that really counts.

In addition to being GamJams Tech Editor, Bryan Redemske is a professional writer and Cat 3 racer. He drinks a lot of coffee.