Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

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epa611
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Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by epa611 »

Anyone got these both fitted to a pannier and can you post a photo. Any pros/cons? My wife's bike has only space for one bottle and we need some more whilst touring.

TIA.... Paul

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foxyrider
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by foxyrider »

Not got myself but have fitted a few for customers over the years.

Apart from cost I don't think there is really a con, it only takes a couple of minutes to fit them and they can be removed when you don't need them. And you don't have to even have Ortlieb panniers to use them.

One big plus, you can add as many of them as you have space for on your bags. Oh and they weigh next to nothing which is always a bonus.

Of course you have to quite certain of where you are fitting them, you do have to puncture the material for the fittings although you can of course repair the holes it's better to get it right first time!
Convention? what's that then?
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pjclinch
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by pjclinch »

I have and use these, they work well and are reasonably easy to fit (and this is someone who is not mechanically gifted, I found the cost of the panniers inspired just the right amount of care and double-checking).

Not really convenient to get a picture on here in the near future (relevant panniers on loan for a couple of weeks), but Google is Your Friend and on mine they look very much like the images a quick search will show up.

I have mine on a pair of SportPacker Plusses. I use the bottle cage on the 'bent where the bag position puts it in a more convenient place than the bike's own mounts, and the extra pockets are useful for extra loading of things like tool bags when touring, to save digging. Attach detach is easy, but not to the point of insecurity, and the mounts don't obviously get in the way when not in use. I haven't done an immersion test to check the waterproofing, but there've been no obvious leaks in the years I've had them on.

Good kit, I like them. As foxyrider notes, the only obvious downside is paying for them.

Pete.
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thirdcrank
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by thirdcrank »

I found foxyrider's post interesting - it's based on a lot of experience fitting these to other people's panniers. I've done it once ages ago, and posted about the traumatic experience more recently, but it was still a long while ago. As I posted then, I cannot understand why they don't fit the fittings as standard: they would sell a lot more of the accessories. I suppose the thinking is that you can fit them anywhere, but the reality with cycle panniers is that they can realistically only go on the back. A good idea which could be better executed IMO

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iandriver
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by iandriver »

I've got one attached to a shoulder bag. It's holds the bottle very securely, it has withstood Flemish cobbles and off road riding without loosing the bottle. I too have mine pointing backwards. I can take a closer up picture if needed. Bottle seen on the right of the black bag.
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pjclinch
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by pjclinch »

thirdcrank wrote:I found foxyrider's post interesting - it's based on a lot of experience fitting these to other people's panniers. I've done it once ages ago, and posted about the traumatic experience more recently, but it was still a long while ago. As I posted then, I cannot understand why they don't fit the fittings as standard: they would sell a lot more of the accessories.


OTOH, they'd waste a lot of time fitting things that a lot of customers never used and didn't want to pay for.

thirdcrank wrote:I suppose the thinking is that you can fit them anywhere, but the reality with cycle panniers is that they can realistically only go on the back.


Most Ort panniers are symmetrical and the way the fittings can be moved "front" and "back" are largely interchangeable. I'm a relatively unusual case in riding a 'bent where the bottle cage facing forwards is just what I want, but if you're using front panniers I don't really see why pockets couldn't face forwards, and front and rear there's no particular reason not to mount them on the side if that's where you want stuff. And you can also put them on a rucksack, bar-bag or any other bag from any manufacturer.

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thirdcrank
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by thirdcrank »

FWIW, the panniers I fitted them to are the smaller Ortliebs which are often considered front panniers, of course. Mine could just as easily sit on the front with the pocket facing forwards (where the white reflector might be more appropriate.) My main point here is that someone shelling out an arm and a leg for some of the best kit available, doesn't necessarily want to start making homemade holes in something touted as watertight as a duck's undercarriage. I managed it 100% successfully and other may be less innately worried / more gung-ho than I am.

I'll just say that my larger rear panniers are two Carradice Super C's. (I cannot call them a pair because one's a replacement and a different version from the original pair.) I'm eternally grateful that the folk at Carradice unilaterally decided on the positions of the rear-mounted pockets without consulting me. Had they sold them separately with a sailmaker's sewing kit I'd have passed on the offer. :wink: I know my own limitations: four critically positioned holes in Cordura = OK but at the limit. Sewing cotton duck, = no-no.

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PS Not a word to Lawry9 please, but I've a fifth pannier used singly on my Birdy. :shock: That's a small Super C with the red webbing and the external pocket faces sideways. Again, the decision about its position was taken out of my hands, but I was spared the task of fitting it.
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foxyrider
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by foxyrider »

thirdcrank wrote:FWIW, the panniers I fitted them to are the smaller Ortliebs which are often considered front panniers, of course. Mine could just as easily sit on the front with the pocket facing forwards (where the white reflector might be more appropriate.) My main point here is that someone shelling out an arm and a leg for some of the best kit available, doesn't necessarily want to start making homemade holes in something touted as watertight as a duck's undercarriage. I managed it 100% successfully and other may be less innately worried / more gung-ho than I am.



FWIW the method of fixing the accessories is exactly the same as that used by the factory for fitting the standard hardware (you might even have a smaller 'puncture' than the punched holes the factory make) so if done correctly (it is quite hard to do it wrong) the water tightness is unaffected.

I've fitted the various bits 'front', 'back' and on the outside of bags, you really can make yourself a set of luggage that suits your needs much better than fixed locations decided by someone sat in some office. And when you don't need them, just unclip and Bobsuruncle. Oh, and if you change bags you can take them to the new ones :D
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
thirdcrank
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by thirdcrank »

I'm not questioning / doubting / criticising the construction of Ortlieb luggage. I am saying that for at least one customer :oops: performing a DIY job to fit an external pocket was a stressful experience.
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pjclinch
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by pjclinch »

thirdcrank wrote:I'm not questioning / doubting / criticising the construction of Ortlieb luggage. I am saying that for at least one customer :oops: performing a DIY job to fit an external pocket was a stressful experience.


Oh, it was stressful for me as well, but stressful for 15 minutes a few years ago I think I can take.
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thirdcrank
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by thirdcrank »

I'll post one more time on the spurious excuse that bouncing the topic may attract more answers for the OP, especially more pics. (BTW, my Ortliebs are on long-term loan or I'd have had some pics up already.)

I worry about worrying. I had a 24 hour blood pressure monitor fitted last week and every time it started inflating, my stress levels went up. It had to have two goes twice, once when I was trying to keep up with my 6yo granddaughter coming home from school, then when my natty Goretex flat cap blew off and I had to chase it down the road, ten minutes before I saw the nurse to have it removed (the monitor, that is, not my natty Goretex flat cap.)

It took me a lot longer than 15 stressful minutes to fit (Ortlieb pocket, that is, not monitor or NGFC) if you include agonising at each stage, making a more substantial template than the paper one supplied, deciding exactly where it should go, marking the positions of the holes, making the holes then the final fitting. That's all why I still remember it so vividly, but my tea is now ready so I will spare everybody more of this drivel. :oops:
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Edited to correct an appalling spelling error: two/too :oops:
Last edited by thirdcrank on 18 Mar 2019, 9:41am, edited 1 time in total.
whoof
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Re: Ortlieb bottle cage and additional pocket

Post by whoof »

Have you considered alternatives?
This is a bottlecage mount for handlebars.
https://www.biketart.com/accessories-c5 ... gIhGvD_BwE
This one is for behind the saddle.
https://www.topeak.com/global/en/produc ... 5-tri-cage

Disclaimer. There are other handlebar and saddle mount available. I have never used any and I'm not recommending them just suggesting an alternative that might want to be considered. I'm not making any comment on Ortlieb.
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