Bottle Cage Warning

On my last ride my bottle cage broke. No big deal. Just remove the bad cage and put on a new one. Should be among the easier repairs. To quote The Band Perry, "Uh,Oh!"



I'd not had the cages off for five years Yes, I know, longer than one is expected to ride any one bike. I've made sure the bolts are tight during any cleaning but had never removed them. One of the bolts was rusted into the boss (what I've just learned is the name of the thing the bolt goes into.) so the bolt and boss turned freely in the frame. I wound up cutting the bolt head off, filing it smooth and then securing that end of the cage with zip ties.
The offending bike is a steel framed touring bike so it is ridden in more inclement weather than most but a review of the web shows this to be more of a problem with carbon frames. Bosses are less securely attached to carbon frames. Once it happens there is no easy fix. Frames with lifetime warranties can reportedly be sent back to the factory but who wants to do that. So make removing and lubing the bottle cage threads part of your once or twice yearly servicing. Maybe the bike shops do that as part of their service but I've never seen it in any service your own bike tutorials. While your bike is just hanging around waiting for better weather, check your cages, usually secured by a 5 mm hex head bolt.
Bruce