Magnetic Cyclo-Cross Bottle
Race specific cyclo-cross bikes rarely have a bottle cage or even bottle cage bosses, the reason being that it's harder to get one's shoulder and arm through the frame to shoulder the bike. But then if you fit a bottle cage just for training taking it on and off becomes an extra task.
Condor designer Ben Spurrier came up with a novel idea based on something we discussed last night whilst cross training with one of the guys from USE lights.
To get to our training session we rode from London to Surrey (45 minutes), had a training session (90 minutes), and rode home (35 minutes). All that time spent riding without water is not a good idea, but carrying bottles in your pocket isn't that comfortable.
"My idea is that you buy the system and it comes with, say, 3 adhesive-backed magnetic strips and you simply stick the strip to your bottle. Maybe you can also buy the strips in packs of 3 separately.
The magnetic block/holder is shaped to support the curves of the bottle and attaches to the downtube via a rubber band so you are not reliant on bottle bosses and before the start, you remove the whole system."
Thoughts...?
Comments
You would obviously have to have a strong enough magnet to keep the bottle on the frame, but easy enough to pop off. The trick would also be making the magnetic fit assist in the connection, a little like the Apple Magsafe power adaptors work.
Also if you made the bottle tear dropped in section (i.e. thinner and taller at the top) it might be easier to swipe with your hand and then relocate, after all this is a different action to using a traditional bottle cage.
Would it not also be light enough for Road use?
Anyway a very interesting idea.
Also you'd need to line up both bits of the tape which might be a hassle? Wouldn't know till tested.
Would you need to remove the bottles before a race? Because if it's mounted to the down tube like a normal bottle holder would be shouldering the bike shouldn't be a problem anyway.
Neat idea. Hope it works out!
I'd buy it. How soon will it be ready?!
How about if you made the strip internal to the bottle, either as a floating pouch or suspended fitting that sits in the neck of the bottle?
That way you could use a stronger magnet as you wouldn't need to be so concerned about the bulk.
It would always pull towards the mount, no matter which way you put the bottle back on the mount, so the bottle would line up in the mount without having to line up the magnet . The force of attraction would also help guide the bottle into place.
It would also make the system more transferable between bottles for users, although that's not really going to encourage repeat purchase beyond about two. Then again that would also make it a viable option for a third bottle mount for audax/touring types.
Or you could slip a double skinned sleeve case over a standard bidon.
Velcro and mud don't tend to mix well, according to the guys at USE who used a Velcro system when they were testing their Flare light bracket before settling for a rubber strap. The mud tends to clog up the loops and then stop the other part connecting.
The magnetic strip could be wider than the magnet mounted on the bike to make the attraction easier to make.
flickr
