Bikebuddy Mk1 on underside of down tube

[Blue Hills]

Been thinking of getting one of these to carry Trangia fuel on the underside of a bike which doesn't have any bottle mounts - that means it has to be the Mk1 I think.

The bikebuddy website is kind of basic so I sent them a mail asking a few questions about it - I didn't ask about ease of use, questions more to do with how it worked/what was left on the bike.

Got this nice reply from Robert Beane - kind of refreshingly direct and free of sales hype:

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To place and remove a bottle from the Mk1 it is necessary to remove the two spring connectors rom the cradles -not terribly easy when the whole thing is upside down ie the bottle has to be supported whilst fitting the connectors.
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Is it really that difficult? I would usually only be doing this twice a day - bottle off in the evening for cooking, replaced in the morning after breakfast.

I'm assuming that the bikebuddy will hold either the 0.5 or 1 litre Trangia bottle, subject only to bike frame arrangement.

For day rides from camp I'd ride with no fuel bottle in though I think I may have read somewhere that some guy had problems catching the holding springs with his feet - I've no idea how likely that is.

After each tour on this general purpose bike I'd take the bikebuddy off to avoid it just getting all crapped up. I'm assuming that that is no problem?

I know there are various devices for adding bottle mounts to a downtube and then using a normal bottle cage but I'm wondering how secure the fuel bottle would be with such an arrangement - weight bearing down etc.

People's thoughts welcome.

 

[Shanecycles]

I use a MK2 in the same position for a 1L water bottle (for 10,000km now), also have a MK 1 under my top tube for my fuel bottle:

The springs clips can be a pain to undo because there's not much finger room, I've added a piece of cord between the two clips so I not have a big loop to put a couple of fingers under.

Tried cycling without a bottle to the shops, not a success, hit a bump, clip unclipped itself and wrapped around my crank, with a bit of mcguiver work the springs where still usable.

I've done alot of offroad, potholes, fast descents, truck/bus journeys and had a crash at 50km/h the bottles have always stayed in place....

A great system but I'm going to get some bosses put into my frame so I can use the MK3 for these two bottles, I assume that will be alot easier.

 

[Yellow7]

Hi.
I'm not sure about the Bikebuddy holder but have Nitto cages on my bike (including down-tube underside) & have never had a bottle fall out (1 litre SiS waterbottles) but no different in essence to a fuel bottle, my fuel bottle (MSR) is strapped to the seatpost tube, perched on top of the rack support arms, if the Triangia are the same size in diameter you should be fine with one of those, there expensive but being steel (stainless) look nice & serve well, I've had many aluminium cages break trying to force larger bottle's in, like the aforementioned SiS bottles!

 

[willem]

The bikebuddy is great, but to be honest I think only the mk3. You could use a Bottlefix to fit an ordinary cage underneath the downtube (I would not use it with a Bikebuddy), and use a Bikebuddy mk3 on the seat tube where you have bosses.
Willem

 

[stewie griffin]

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/bottle-cage-attachment-apb-300-id_4766980.html + a bottle cage any good?

 

[Blue Hills]

Hell, Yellow7, that bottle cage is expensive - looks very nice and I'm sure it works as described by you, but what a price.

Willem - have you used the Rixen and Kaul bottlefix in that position? It's a neat system (I use the mini adaptor thingy for a routesheet) but I was concerned that it drops the bottle further away from the downtube, maybe increasing stress/wobble on the whole arrangement in such a position.

Stewie - I have that Decathlon thingy, though not with me. I've used it on the seatube of a Dahon folder where it works fine (though it's not good for frequently removing) but I'm not totally convinced that it would be OK in that position on the bike.On the Dahon it doesn't grip totally firmly but in that position the weight of the bottle pushes the bottom of the rubbery mount against the seat tube so it's fine.

I'm kinda wondering whether to bodge somethimng with jubilee clips - I know that's seen as sacrilege by some but this frame (it's not my rather posh Hewitt), a good chro-mo hybrid which has been doing sterling service as a tourer, won't suffer visually from it. May enhance it in a kind of street way.

Anyone ever jubilee clipped a normal cage there?

Thanks everyone for suggestions so far.

 

[robgul]

This has been discussed before .. Rivnuts (qv) - it's how the mass-production frame makers fit "bottle bosses"

Rob

 

[Blue Hills]

mm, yes I know about rivnuts Rob.

just because the "mass production" frame makers do something doesn't mean it's right. Won't bore you with the misdeeds of mass production manufacturers of my Dahon and Cannondale - both fun bikes, but .... (and I'm talking about more than rivnuts)

and I understand that we'd be talking about a fair bit for a tool I would only use once to put a bottle somewhere I only occasionally need it.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We purchased the bike buddy as well, but fell out with it and in the end never fitted them to our tourers. We have 2 * 1L trangia fuel bottles between us and a whole load of water bottles. I've attached 2 pictures for what we did. you will notice that some of our water bottle holders are on either an accessory bar or in my case the trangia bottle on the seat post in an ordinary water bottle cage held on using a Topeak Bottle Cage mount. http://www.topeak.com/products/Bottle-Cages/cagemount. We have used 3 of them between us for over 8,700 miles without issue. We started out with only 2 of them and quickly added a 3rd. these are the best pictures of them in use that I could find.

 

[rich p]

That's a canny bikestand Emma! Shame about the circumstances that caused its requirement though.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

That's a canny bikestand Emma! Shame about the circumstances that caused its requirement though.

Next time I think I will try a lighter weight version of the bike stand!

 

[rich p]

I'm sure Willem will be along any second to recommend a lightweight crutch

 

[Blue Hills]

Reporting back.

In the end , on a recomendation, I got a tough water bottle holder from Wilkinsons (£2.99 and rather good - simple design) and jubilee clipped it.
It's solid as a rock.

Never had a bottle there before - with my 700 wheels on that hybrid I discovered that a 1 litre bottle wouldn't really fit so using a 500ml.
There seems to be only a small gap between the top of the botle and the front wheel's mudguard (a bikeshop I went into asking about a possible mounting did wonder if there was enough room with 700 as opposed to 26 inch wheels.

I don't know if this is a safety issue?

Anyone got any views?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Reporting back.

...
There seems to be only a small gap between the top of the botle and the front wheel's mudguard (a bikeshop I went into asking about a possible mounting did wonder if there was enough room with 700 as opposed to 26 inch wheels.

I don't know if this is a safety issue?

Anyone got any views?

If you go back to the picture of my bike, you'll see that there is not much space on mine either, but it never was an issue over 8,700 miles. I guess (without being able to see it) then provided that there is a gap and enough to clear the bottle/mud flap and that there is no chance of the bottle moving, then it should be OK, but I'm only guessing.

 

[Blue Hills]

Thanks for the reassurance - will bodge something to try to make sure that the bottle doesn't move. I have seen a few online pics, including yours, where things seemed pretty close.