Review: Velo Orange Mojave Cage

Image courtesy of Velo Orange

 Note: The Velo Orange Mojave Cage was purchased by Guitar Ted for test and review on this site. Guitar Ted was not paid nor bribed for this review and all opinions are Guitar Ted's.

The Velo Orange Mojave Cage is a cage for oversized bottles, such as a Nalgene bottle, or any cylindrical canister/bag that comes close to the diameter described by the Mojave Cage's two sprung arms. 

I have used this cage on my Singular Gryphon Mk3 bike as a fork mounted accessory. The cage does have multiple mounting points on its back plate and could be positioned in many ways. Typical uses besides a fork mounted cage might include a down tube, either above or below, or off a rack of the type that Tumbleweed Bicycles makes, or the Old Man Mountain Elkhorn or Axle Pack racks. 

Initially I used a plastic food canister with the Mojave Cage, (seen HERE) and that worked quite well. Because the canister was pliable, the cage could actually make an impression into the plastic and eventually this almost molded the canister into the Mojave Cage! 

This made getting the plastic canister out a chore, but it was doable. I likely would go with a harder plastic canister for a longer tour to store dry food items in if I were planning a bike packing/tour. I don't have a Nalgene, or equivalent canister to try this with, but I do have an ancient Thermos bottle/canister which I tried as a carrier for some coffee on a recent outing. 

The Thermos would not fit all the way in, but the cage held it anyway!

The grip of the Mojave Cage is pretty stout if you have a larger diameter canister or bottle. The Thermos seemed to be on the larger side for the Mojave Cage, but that was not the limitation I thought it was at first. Actually one of my mounting bolts was protruding out enough that the steel edge of the Thermos was catching on it, which acted like a stop. However; the Mojave Cage's grip was so strong I figured I would give it a go and see how the cage would handle a Thermos filled with coffee on rougher trail with only half a grip on the bottle. 

Of course, I was risking destroying an antique Thermos jug, but hey! Someone has to test these things, and this looked like a good way to test the Mojave Cage's grip level. I am happy to report that coffee was enjoyed alongside a local lake and it was a very good morning. The Mojave Cage was not fazed by this test at all. 

The Mojave Cage delivered my coffee to this spot with no issues.

Final Word:

I think if I were to go on an extended trip by bicycle and needed a bigger cage for water, food, or other storage that the Mojave Cage would provide me with a safe, reliable way to do just that. As long as the canister you choose is large enough to spread the arms a bit on the cage I would think that the grip this cage exerts on things would be perfect for such a trip. 

One thing about this design which might be a concern is that if your canister is larger in diameter, those arms get really tough to spread apart far enough to release the canister. The hand strength required to push the arms apart (a pinching motion, by the way) is pretty high in such cases. Perhaps smaller hands or weaker hands would be prevented from moving the cage's arms enough to release a larger canister. It is something to think about, say if you are cold, wet, or really tired after a long day in the saddle. 

Other than that, I like and recommend this cage to anyone looking for something along these lines to carry oversized bottles on their bicycle. You can find a more detailed description of the Mojave Cage here.