Lezyne Side Load Flow Cage, as mounted on a Transition Sentinel.
It’s not often we post a negative review. With so many great products out there and so little time, we prefer to highlight the positive experiences we have and pass on the negatives. However, having posted about the Lezyne Flow Cage SL side load Water Bottle Cages (as seen at the Sea Otter Classic) and the Flow Storage Cage, I felt a follow up was needed now that we’ve actually used them.
Initially I was intrigued by the color options, lines, and smart-looking organization. We’ve big fans of the pumps and a number of other products from the brand, so I reached out to Lezyne looking to try one. As they weren’t interested in sending us one to test, they dropped from our minds until an industry buyer friend passed one along, so I bolted it on and hit the trails.
Unfortunately, the cage failed in its primary function; it doesn’t do the one thing we need a water bottle cage to do, which is to hold a water bottle securely and reliably.
The Flow Cage with a Camelback Podium Water Bottle – one of our favorite bottles.
The Flow Cage does look great, like the rest of the product line. It’s available in a nice range of colors too, which is great for adding a bit of flair to customizing the look of your ride. And at a listed weight of 48 grams they’re light. The oval mounting holes offer a small bit of adjustment on the frame, which makes a big difference when it comes to squeezing a tube or frame bag and water bottle cage into a limited amount of space. The side load cage makes it easy to access bottle in compact frames where there isn’t a lot of space, and its easy to get the bottle in and out. And there’s where my problems began. It may have been a bit too easy.
It’s easy to squeeze a bottle in and out of this cage… but unfortunately, far too easy.
This is perhaps the first resin cage I’ve used for some time that failed in its task; on hard hits, my bottle ejected from the bike. Fortunately, a friend following me down the trail identified my bottle as it bounced down the trail without me and got it back to me.
Looking to validate this issue, I consulted friends that run a shop and shuttle service in Southern Oregon. They’re dealers, and have outfitted quite a few riders with the cages. Apparently, quite a few customers have left water bottles all over the watershed on the local trail system.
How we’d fix it
The cage just doesn’t wrap around enough of the bottle, and without that overlap, it simply isn’t secure enough on hard hits.
Bottom line, we’ll give this one a pass for mountain biking and recommend you do the same. It may surfice for less aggressive riding, but there are a number of other similar products that are far more reliable. We reviewed the Blackburn Wayside Entry Cage and the Specialized Zee Cage in the past, and they’re both still in rotation in the Bermstyle fleet years later. We’ve also recently received Topeak’s Ninja side load cage (and attachments) recently for a review, which looks to be a good option as well. (review is coming soon)
In the meantime, the next time I sell a bike, it’ll most likely include a free bottle cage.
