That’s a bold statement, and is meant to get your attention. It also happens to be true.
In a cycling world where watts/kilogram and once exotic materials are commonplace, many cyclists make component selections based upon weight, fashion trends, and “high tech” in lieu of reliability.
Behold the humble water bottle cage! Many riders select carbon (often essentially plastic or resin), carbon fiber, titanium, or even aluminum over steel, thereby saving ca 20 grams only to end up losing their water bottles on bumpy gravel or pothole strewn roads. Hence our statement about saving 665g (the nominal weight of a full 20 oz bike bottle); this is weight you don’t want to lose!
It isn’t that carbon, carbon fiber, titanium, or even aluminum bottle cages are inherently bad; some cages are just better designed than others. Choosing a well designed, reliable bottle cage is important for group rides; not only is losing a bottle inconvenient to the rider, it can also be dangerous, as it bounces into the path of others, potentially causing crashes.
Further, it is an environmental issue- although it is accidental, lost bottles make cyclists look like litterers! We hear complaints from local municipalities each year…
Many people have seen too many Tour de France videos, where pros toss their bottles to the side of the road, and don’t realize that amateurs don’t throw bottles on group rides. They have no idea that most of our “discarded” bottles accidentally bounce out of their holders.
Our course crews routinely pick up dozens of jettisoned water bottles after the Hell of Hunterdon each year. Our record find was close to 50 on one road alone! And while we are diligent, we don’t find every lost bottle.
Our advice is to pick a cage that holds your bottles tightly and that doesn’t flex under heavy loads. These 2 factors, in concert with vibration is what typically cause bottles to be lost.
We are fans of well-designed stainless-steel cages (particularly those made by King Cage) because they’ve held our bottles for years; we’ve never lost a bottle since we began using them.
We’d much rather select bottle cages that are secure and negligibly heavier than to lose our bottle(s) during the ride. The fact that stainless cages are also typically less expensive than other materials is a nice bonus. Don’t just take our word on the subject, Ex-Pro Bob Roll agrees with our selection, (though he chose the Ti version).
So, please check that your cages hold your bottles strongly, are not bent, broken, or worn out (while cages often last a long time, their lifespan isn’t infinite). If you have any doubt, replace them; your local bike shop probably has a number of good inexpensive options in stock.