Bottle cages

The Lezyne Flow is a bottle cage done a bit different. Lezyne have made a name for themselves by taking old, boring bicycle bits and bobs, giving them a bit of a zhush, making them work better, be more shiny and somehow muchly desirable... and that's exactly what they've done here. Except it's not that shiny.

An ant's jaw. Huh? That's what Arundel reckon their Mandible bottle cage is like. It's strong but light. Like an ant's jaw.

This one had me a bit peeved... but more of that later. First things first, the Comtat Ultra-Light Plus carbon bottle cage is light. Ultra light. The test version came in at 20g on the road.cc scales (1g lighter the claimed 21g on the site). And it's cheap. Well, at £24.99 pretty damn cheap for a carbon bottle cage. Comtat has a price-to-weight comparison on its website, and it confirms that it's, erm, cheap and light.

The SKS Topcage is pretty typical example of the sort of bottle cages available at this price, it's fairly light and holds on to your bottle well - the only problem I had was getting the bottle in there in the first place.

At first glance, the SEAM carbon bottle cage is a stylish-looking and well-finished piece of kit that would look in keeping with many a top end carbon frame. The carbon weave construction shows through the lacquer coating and the neat SEAM carbon logo looks understated and classy.

You can be the equivalent of an alpine st. Bernard and carry your own medicinal tipple whilst out on your next ride with Ahearne Cycle's Spaceman hip flask and holder. Basically it is a rather crudely welded, modified, bottle holder with a raw, unpainted finish that bolts onto your standard bottle mounts and which holds a generic hip flask snuggly in its grasp.

Blackburns Swerve bottle cage is a sleek, simple looking item, Blackburn say that "the new Swerve Titanium cage pushes the limits of bomber strength and feather weight". How nice can a bottle cage be?

Blackburn's Camber full-carbon water bottle cage is lightweight and strong and it does its job really well.

The mouth is large so getting your bottle in there is easy even when you’re riding fast over a rough road, and the side ribs flex slightly to provide plenty of grip. The lower cradle stop might look a bit fragile but it’s actually super- sturdy while a lip at the top stops your bottle jumping out if you hit a big bump or pothole.

Salsa’s Nick Less is an undoubtedly elegant stainless steel cage with excellent detailing and secure purchase of most trade type bottles. While arguably a tasty accompaniment to classic steel framesets and those fussy about keeping their bottles blemish-free, objectively £17 buys two nice aluminium examples and bikes on calorie-controlled diets can have two carbon varients for the same weight.

Comtat's Ultra-light Carbon Bottle Cage certainly lives up to its name, weighing in at a mere 26g. The cage is constructed of a lacquered 3K carbon weave, which results in a high gloss black finish with the carbon weave showing through and the Comtat name picked out in white script.

From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, it has a classy, expensive look and finish that would complement any frame, but will no doubt appeal to those with carbon frames in particular.