Water Carriers: Update #4

Note the position of this seat tube mounted water bottle cage.

 In my last update (seen here) I mentioned these custom made 'Popsicle Sticks' that DG machined for MJ years ago so MJ could move his water bottle cages in positions that better suited his needs. These are a precursor to the Wolf Tooth B-Rad System rails. I mentioned that I had plans for these machined bits of alloy. 

So, to the left here, you see a grainy image of a seat tube from my Raleigh Tamland Two and the water bottle cage on that tube. Notice how the bottom is higher than the front derailleur clamp? That means that any size bottle I put in that cage interferes with a top tube mounted bag like a Tangle Bag, for instance. 

I wanted to use one of the Popsicle Sticks to move the position of this seat tube mounted cage as low as possible. There are a couple of things to note here. One- I had to allow for clearance of the front derailleur clamp. Two- I had to find shorter water bottle bolts to bolt the cage to the Popsicle Stick at the bottom so the bolt would not interfere with the derailleur clamp. Fortunately, DG machined some spacers and gave them to MJ, who in turn passed them on to me, so that the spacing away of the Popsicle Stick to the seat tube was not an issue. Finding really short water bottle bolts? Could be a problem, that is unless you've been wrenching on bicycles for 20+ years and have been hoarding bits and baubles. 

You can see the special spacers that DG machined to go with the Popsicle Sticks here.

I also had to find longer bolts for the Popsicle Sticks that would find enough purchase after going through the base and spacer. The original bottle boss bolts only stuck out maybe a couple of millimeters after adding spacers. No good for holding a full 24 ounce bottle on rough gravel! So, once again thanks to my hoarding of fasteners, I had no trouble at all finding brand new stainless bolts to mount the Popsicle Stick with. 

Another nice touch here was the counter-sunk pocket DG machined into the stick to allow the mounting bolt's heads to not interfere with the water bottle cage. You can see the bolt heads peeking out in the image above, but I can assure you that they were buried into that aluminum bar once I fastened the stick on the seat tube of my Raleigh.

Here you can see the completed project. Note how the really short lower bottle cage bolt misses the front derailleur clamp.

Fortunately I found a short bolt for the lower mounting hole of the water bottle cage which barely passes through the Popsicle Stick but avoids contact with the front derailleur clamp. Good thing I decided that short bolt was worth hanging on to! 

As you might imagine, that beefy aluminum bar is not flexing at all and the cage, and therefore the water bottle, is secure for any long haul in rougher terrain. Everything clears, and all the bolts are just the right length to do their jobs. I test rode the set up and there are no issues other than that this bottle is a little harder to reach now. Hey! I have long arms! I can stretch yet......

The full view showing that now I have plenty of room for a Tangle Bag, or the equivalent.

So now instead of my cage and bottle sitting above the front derailleur clamp, the cage is lowered so that the bottom of the cage is a good two inches below the top of that clamp. This easily opens up the entire area under the top tube for a 'half-frame' bag, like a Revelate Tangle Bag or customized equivalent. That and a top tube 'tank' bag, like my Bike Bag Dude Garage Bag, and a couple of Chaff Bags and I will be set up for any super-long ride with the Tamland. 

Using one of the Chaff Bags as a water bottle holder, I now can get five bottles onboard the Tamland when originally this bike could only do two bottles. It was an oversight of mine to not advise Raleigh to put on under-the-down-tube water bottle mounts. I also am fortunate that Fyxation made this fork for quick release wheels and added bosses so that I could expand the versatility of this bike even more. In fact, I'm pretty sure that with another B-Rad 4 I could get another water bottle cage up on the down tube above the one already there. Maybe I'll do that as well someday.

So, that leaves one more Popsicle Stick. I have a plan for that one as well which I will show you all soon. Stay tuned for that...... Oh! And by the way, someone asked in the comments about my cue sheet holder and light mount for the pink BMC. I've not forgotten about that. That will get shown soon as well....