Like most people who get really into Bikepacking I’m always experimenting with kit set ups and ways of loading my bike up. For me the ultimate is to not use a backpack, it’s so nice to not be carting extra kit on my back and if that means a heavier bike I’m really not bothered.
I’d seen somewhere on Instagram someone who had modified their Blackburn Outpost cages to add an addition bottle cage. Previously I have used the excellent Gorilla Cages, but having seen the Outpost cages they appeared to hold their contents far more sturdily and looked like they would deal with this additional mod well too.
So to start off with I drilled the back plate of the cage so that is mounted on the three cage mounts on my fork legs, rather than the two it comes drilled for. Then on the sides I’d added the additional two holes for a bottle cage.
Then I got some aluminium tubing from B&Q to act as a spacer and some long M5 bottle cage bolts to bolt on the additional cages. These are secured with nylock nuts to stop them rattling loose.
These spacers were necessary because of the size of the carbon fork legs, it gives enough for the bottles to clear the leg comfortably.
So I’ve done quite a few trips now, both short and longer, and I’m pleased to say that they seem really secure and have not loosened off at all. Best of all it means I can get all the kit I want on the bike and ride without a backpack.
I stole this idea from Jim last year, it works really well, I have put this setup through some serious abuse on a suspension fork and it didn’t move.
Awesome Phil, glad it worked for you too
Wow excellent, do you sell this modified cages? 🙂
Hi, no I don’t sell them, but it’s pretty easy to do yourself
Is there a reason why you didn’t just mount the bolts for the extra bottle cage in the slots that are already on the side there?
Hi, yeah I needed to get the bottle cages lower than the slots allowed so I modified it.
Hey there, that looks very good… and I see that you also drilled another additional hole on the top of the “regular” back plate there … can you maybe tell me what is the distance in cm between to additional hole in the very top of the back plate and the lowest hole in the backplate … is it 17/17,5cm or less? Would be a great help, best, Sascha.
Hi, the extra hole is the standard 64mm pitch that bottle cages are usually spaced at, hope that helps….
Great idea, but I’m curious,
Were you worried about the extra weight on the forks ? I have heard of carbon eyelets being ripped out with only a couple of kg on them – I always strap around the inside of the fork just in case!
I did wonder about it, but I used decent length bolts, ensured everything was torqued to the correct spec and it all worked OK. I’ve not had any issues with it. The cages I use have really good retention, so I’ve not had any problems. Cheers, Jim.