How to silence bottles and bottle cages

[lechatnoir]

I have an annoying bottle cage on my road bike. Even smoothish roads, a 1/4 full to full bottle sounds like I'm stirring a bucket of rusty spanners. It's the cage on the down-tube and the same cage on the seat-tube is quiet.

 

I've considered putting some grip-tape on the cage to hold the bottle tighter, but would also like to not have holes in my bottles.

 

I could change the cage or the bottles, but if there's some sage advice out there, I'm all ears

[Veebee]

run some insulation tape around the bottle where the cage grips it.

works for me

 

[BaGearA]

Specialized zee cage. Thank me later

[Bateleur1]

What material is your bottle cage?  I remember long time ago my allu cages often made rattle noises (and they never lasted long).  For long now I use carbon cages and never had a problem.

[TNT1]

sounds like I'm stirring a bucket of rusty spanners. 

Grip tape or tape around the bottle wont solve that sound.

 

It sounds like you have a loose bottle cage (or loose internal cable routing that you think is coming from the cage area)

[TNT1]

 to hold the bottle tighter, 

 

I could change the cage 

Good old steel (or aluminium for the weight weenies) and just bend it so it holds em tighter. Ah, I miss the bad old days...

[lechatnoir]

What material is your bottle cage?  I remember long time ago my allu cages often made rattle noises (and they never lasted long).  For long now I use carbon cages and never had a problem.

 

cage is carbon. It's definitely the bottle in the cage and not a loose cage as if I twist it a bit, the sound is gone, but returns a few bumps later

[Schnavel]

Specialized zee cage. Thank me later

 

+1 or the Spez rib cages.

 

I have never lost a bottle with either of these cages and never had any rattles. Several riding mates have changed to these cages after losing bottles and never had issues since.

 

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/bottle-cages/384821/specialized-side-entry-carbon-cage

Edited October 27, 2020 by Schnavel

[robbybzgo]

I once had an aluminium/metal cage that had unknowingly broken (couldn't see the break) and when the trail got rowdy the cage made a terrible noise.

If you have your bike tool kit and spares in a bottle (some riders do) cut up an old bike inner tube and use a roughly 10/12cm section and tie it around your bottle including the bottle cage binding them together. No more noise!

[LuckyLuke]

I just put some rubber bands around my bottles, stop the rattles and keep the bottle in the cage on rough terain