How to install an extra bottle cage mount

[Jules]

My On One Scandal only came with mounts for one bottle cage, which I found annoying. So I thought I'd try a DIY mount on the seat tube and share my experience with fellow Hubbers.

 

Tools required: centre punch, drill, 3.5mm drill bit, miniature file set, rivnut tool, M5 rivnuts.

 

First I marked where I wanted to put the holes. It is worth taking some time thinking about this. You want the cage low enough to get the bottle in and out, but not so low that you can't fit the rivnut tool in.

 

I used a centre punch to make small indentations in the frame. This ensured the drill bit didn't slip.

 

You need a 7mm hole for an M5 rivnut to fit. I enlarged my 3.5mm hole with a small file. I used the file because this helped ensure the hole was perfectly in the centre of the seat tube. It also made access easier in the close confines of the frame's triangle:

 

 

It took about 5 minutes of careful filing to get the hole big enough. Then it was time to install the rivnut.

 

 

 

 

 

The rivnuts installed:

 

 

And the bottle cages on:

 

Edited September 13, 2013 by Jules

[JarradVZ]

You are amazing Jules!

[jcmeyerSS]

Nice.

Let us know how it handles VG this weekend.

[DJR]

Nice post

[Redlight]

Will I be able to do my seat post?

[Capricorn]

the top hole is on an interesting spot. Hope you filed the edges to be nice and notch free. But very neat job.

[johannrissik]

Nice post, thanks.

Where did you find the rivnuts and the tool? The local kooperasie goes as far as "paprivets"

[Big H*]

Will I be able to do my seat post?

 

Would that be good idea????

[HowellingWulf]

Well done. Crafty. Thanks for sharing.

[DIPSLICK]

 

 

Would that be good idea????

My first Santa Cruz we done it on the seat post, never had a issue, and I am not the weight weenie side of cycling, the Santa Cruz is a tough monster to get your water bottle out, so the seat post worked like a charm

[SwissVan]

Nice one

Did the riv nuts have a notch on them on the collar to help prevent them rotating or were they just round / flat?

 

If you do this also need to make sure the cage is high enough so that the bottle when in the cage does not chafe on the opposite down tube

 

 

 

 

[Jules]

Nice post, thanks.

Where did you find the rivnuts and the tool? The local kooperasie goes as far as "paprivets"

 

The rivnuts came with the tool which I bought at the Tool Shop in Randburg. It was the last one they had in stock, but they are ordering more.

 

Nice one

Did the riv nuts have a notch on them on the collar to help prevent them rotating or were they just round / flat?

 

If you do this also need to make sure the cage is high enough so that the bottle when in the cage does not chafe on the opposite down tube

 

There are no notches on the collar, but I think there is plenty of grip. I made them as tight as I dared. One of the reasons I took on this project was that the existing rivnuts that came with the frame had become loose, so I used the tool to tighten those up as well.

[David Marshall]

You can get rivnuts from industrial suppliers and even Makro. You don't need a tool if you are only doing one or two rivnuts. A piece of flatbar with hole in it and the right sized hi tensile bolt is strong enough to set the rivnut. Can be used to tighten loose ones as well.