Fabric Gripper bottle cage

Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Fabric says: "Our streamlined Gripper cage is cleverly designed so you can get to your bottle quickly, on the go, while keeping a low profile on your bike. This cage holds any standard bicycle water bottle, but it is optimised to fit our Gripper bottle perfectly for ultimate security."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Fabric lists:

The Gripper cage is made of fibre-reinforced nylon for strength and low weight

Optimised to hold a Fabric Gripper water bottle

Securely fits any standard water bottle

Integrated ridge grips water bottle securely

Elongated mounting slots fit any bottle bosses

Width: 80mm

Length: 138mm

Weight: 38g

At 38g, the Gripper cage is lightweight, but strong and flexible. Testing shows that it can be bent a long way out of shape but still springs back again to its original form.

The Gripper cage is optimised for Fabric's own Gripper water bottle, and the lip on the cage fits perfectly around this. It works best with other bottles that have a pronounced, rounded collar, as this fits into the lip on the cage. If the bottles do not have a curved, rounded collar, then they will not sit down properly in the cage. For example, an Elite water bottle does not have a rounded collar, and is more flat, so I found Elite bottles did not properly fit and gaps were evident around the bottle.

No problems during testing. I tried it on all the various mounts of the bike, and flexed it a long way out of shape, but it still returns to its original form.

It's a similar weight to other bottle cages on the market for similar money.

Slightly more expensive than some similar (and lighter) cages, but good quality and seemingly durable.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Used with shallow necked bottles, or the matching Fabric bottle, it works flawlessly. However straight-sided bottles don't sit as well. There is a knack to lifting the bottle up and over the lip area, to extract it from the cage, but this is why it holds the bottles in place so well. Once you are used to this, it's no problem.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The retention of bottles is excellent. If you have a shallow-necked bottle that suits the lip of this cage, I would be amazed if it worked its way loose.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

It's just a bit plain looking for my liking.

Use this box to explain your overall score

The selling point for the Fabric Gripper bottle cage is that bottles don't come loose, and it excels at this. However, to get the best out of it you will need shallow-necked bottles that fit into the curve of the cage. Straight-necked bottles do not sit as well. The nylon construction is durable and should prove long-lasting, but the cage is slightly more expensive than others on the market. Not everyone will like the plain looks, but it performs well.