Bottoms Up!

In yesterday’s publish, I discussed I couldn’t determine this water bottle:

Thankfully a sagacious reader got here to the rescue:

Wow, he ain’t kidding!

I had no thought these cages have been now apparently functioning as shops of worth, like Chris King headsets. It’s all of the extra stunning since Chris King headsets are arguably approach overbuilt, whereas that is only a piece of rolled sheet metallic with some holes lower out of it and a shelf bracket to maintain the water bottle from falling by it.

As a result of I’m a person of integrity, I promise my first thought was not that I may promote the cage and surreptitiously substitute it with an inexpensive reproduction:

I used to be additionally not disillusioned to search out that these replicas are out of inventory, as a result of it didn’t matter to me, as a result of I’d by no means try this.

I’m additionally shocked there’s a marketplace for water bottles in any respect, since everybody is aware of the way forward for on-the-bike hydration is app-based water microdosing:

This isn’t the one classic bottle cage for which individuals are asking huge cash, both, and apparently should you’re sitting on any of those (not actually, I don’t advocate sitting on bottle cages, don’t ask me how I do know) you is also set for retirement:

You’ll forgive me for not furnishing the eBay hyperlinks, however I belief no person of their proper thoughts goes to purchase them anyway:

In the meantime, there are additionally some equally costly cages on the street facet, although a minimum of in addition they include the bottle:

And it ought to go with out saying that individuals need a number of cash for these:

I had one on the Vengeance Bike, and it was the very first thing I eliminated:

This was partially due to the form, however largely as a result of it regarded like one thing you’d use to present a urine specimen, and between that and its age I used to be deathly afraid of ingesting something from it.

However sure, all people is aware of you may mechanically cost a premium for one thing if it has the phrase “Campagnolo” on it:

In the meantime, in additional fashionable tech information, behold the shockless rear suspension gravel bike:

Which I discover disconcertingly insectine:

Simply think about a gravel bike that may go additional offroad than all the opposite gravel bikes:

You could do not forget that as a “mountain bike,” and it appears gravel bikes are lastly catching up with the AMP Analysis bikes of three many years in the past:

Need to evaluate the numbers? Right here’s the gravel bike:

And right here’s the AMP, in line with the overview Paul despatched me:

Not wildly totally different, however the gravel bike looks like it’s barely extra of a mountain bike than the outdated mountain bike…aside from the drop bars, although mountain bikes used to have these too:

I’d argue that one cause the mountain bike caught on within the first place is that informal riders discovered the concept of flat bars extra inviting than drop bars. And whereas there have been after all mountain bikes that got here inventory with drop bars, and cyclists who most well-liked drop bars to flat bars for offroad driving, flat bars have been typically the default. But right here we’re in 2025, and now everybody desires gravel bikes, that are just about precisely the drop bar mountain bikes of yore that by no means fairly discovered a mainstream ridership.

Go determine.