Project L'eroica 'vintage' water bottles

So, I've been hunting various classifieds and eBay for the front mounted bottle cages and bottles for my hetchins to wear at L'eroica.....having been outbid by stupid amounts on the various 'Reg' and 'coloral' ones that turn up from time to time, by large amounts of money, It was clear that I needed to do something else.
I want twin ones, which are hens teeth, apparently.

I managed to find a couple of NOS, cheap, single cages from somewhere, for about 4quid each, and they will form the basis of my twin setup.....excuse the crap picture
http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/92749327-2024-4DDC-B87D-C0642DD0060A-22694-00000D358288E123.jpg

I then also tracked down some aluminium water bottles from a company called 'muscletech' that look very similar to the kind I was searching for...here is one, next to a bottle of Loxley ale for comparison...

http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/0EE8116D-6964-4D7D-99BC-06491CB4073A-4321-000008C596118744_zpsa7f4d0f6.jpg

Now I don't want them looking new, and I obviously don't want that black lettering bollox all over them, so I decided to see what I can do with various things.....first of all, 45 minutes with the course emery cloth by hand, and I had this.....

http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/89696396-A9E0-42E9-92F6-95F3D1FB39E5-4321-000008C59C4203F2_zps301b44ad.jpg

I worked it harder in random places, to put some deeper scratches in the aluminium......they were spray painted silver and not anodised, so that was a result!
I then decided to miss out the normal first stage of polishing with the course sisal wheel, so as to leave the deeper scratches in, and moved directly onto stage 2, a white wheel with a green cutting compound. About 20 minutes of light polishing, and I am left with this.....

http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/93BB908F-F0D4-4F25-B286-CF2861B7AC18-4321-000008C5A49909C4_zps314c71b9.jpg

A nice, deep, semi shine, with a good amount of vertical scratches left in situ.....for that vintage, pull it out and put it in a lot, look......

That's all for now.....I've got to fuck off and locate some corks and other bits.

And it's just dawned on me that I haven't even tried them in the cages yet....I hope they fit! More later.....

Search for Swiss volcano stove on eBay... I found the bottle fit most vintage cages quite nicely.

I thought it would be interesting to someone.... I'll press on, regardless!

Have you any idea how fucking hard it is to get a cork to fit that bottle from a normal, real shop? I tried everywhere.... No joy. So the charity shop wielded the cork top from a cookie jar.... A bit of whittling, a bit of home brew hose pushed through, and it looked like this.
http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/B8C9AA93-0328-4E78-A814-DE13E80F2114-10201-0000040C7BEEEF57_zps716c0d9a.jpg

I'm happy with how it turned out..... Comparison shot

http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/5803CA55-2B64-4DDC-98F6-4F3B43F7C604-10201-0000040C6B64845A_zpsc100b8c8.jpg

And how it looks on the bike.

http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/465B8CE7-126B-4C97-B9AB-95B6DBE20CAE-10201-0000040C568E8127_zps226845e0.jpg

Now just left to do is make it a double set up.....!

Good effort sir - they look excellent
Good whittling skills on the cork... from where I'm sat that looks pretty round!!!

Thanks mate :0)
It's not bad.... I dremmeled it, then sanded by hand.

I've glued a load of cork floor tiles together to make some more!

http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/stedlocks/13C6E11E-7ED2-4E3C-A9B4-47F766C99719-10201-0000040C6672DB0A_zpseb2e2fa0.jpg

I wonder if i could make a holder for my trusty Sigg water bottle? Maybe there already is such a thing.

^Exists, but doesn't look retro
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/fuel-bottle-cage-for-use-with-sigg-bottles-prod11261/?src=froogle

I'd wondered about debadging & Duffing up Sigg Fuel bottles

and crafting corks.

In the end I plumped for a NOS REG Isolated Bottle (£10 from Dave Marsh)
Unfortunately it's only 0.25l so I'll have to take a hipflask in my back pocket, but it'll keep the squash nice and cool and most importantly it looks the part!

^Exists, but doesn't look retro
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/fuel-bottle-cage-for-use-with-sigg-bottles-prod11261/?src=froogle

I'd wondered about debadging & Duffing up Sigg Fuel bottles

and crafting corks.

In the end I plumped for a NOS REG Isolated Bottle (£10 from Dave Marsh)
Unfortunately it's only 0.25l so I'll have to take a hipflask in my back pocket, but it'll keep the squash nice and cool and most importantly it looks the part!

My Sigg, which i use mainly for climbing/hiking etc has its own thermal jacket which would be great to use when out on a long ride, if i had a cage for it. Otherwise it gets stashed in the backpack.
Has anyone ever made a cage for a thermos flask? That would look amusing.

http://www.bikebuddy.co.uk/shop.asp

I'm possibly working on the idea of getting a mate of mine to knock some up... He is a brilliant metal worker and has a company... Then creating more of these bottles and knock them out as sets.... Only because of the nightmare I had finding some.

http://www.bikebuddy.co.uk/shop.asp

Cool, would look even better with a 1970's era tartan Thermos flask strapped to the frame.

^^ Sounds like a good idea.
Cheap 70's TA-knock-off downtube cages are easy to find, and those modern Oxford handlebar mounts, but no-one does a vintage style handlebar cage. VO do a cast aluminium clamp like the Oxford ones which you can fit to their vintage cage - which is probably the best you'll find.

IIRC Elite made a Fausto Coppi anniversary edition aluminium bottle back in the 90's' to go with their Ciussi cages, but no vintage cage.

You're not alone in improvising your way of this problem - a quick UTFS called up this http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-833004.html

I feel their pain......would there be a call for some of these if I knocked them up?

This is the finished article.......twinned!

I've made them deliberately old looking......but not battered.

Best way to find out would be to knock up a smallish batch and see how they go. at the weekend my dad mentioned he was after a vintage style bar-mount cage for one of his bikes - you could also try hawking them via classic rendezvous forum too. They look convincing, not 100% certain on the hessian string though

I know what you mean, but that was the style that took my fancy :0)

I wouldn't be looking at a business, just to help others, like myself, who were looking for something like it......this is why

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-ALUMINUM-WATER-BOTTLES-AND-BOTTLE-CAGE-VINTAGE-HERSE-SINGER-ROUTENS-/290780159620?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D2346833986367777349%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D290780159620%26

I was outbid loads of times.....and I didn't go cheap!
I reckon I could knock out a single, with a bottle, for something like £25.... A double for something like £35 ish....... Depending on how much my mate wants for the cages.

Anyways, there only seems to be us 2 looking at this, so there probably isn't the demand!

Nice work buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut on the stoppers, those little pipes, how do you suck if there's no tube to let the air in?

this is my setup

It is the Simplex Type Tour de France version.
If you want detailed photos, measurements etc for possible manufacture, PM me.
The seal is not airtight, so easy to drink.

Thanks for the email bud.....something for me to work on!

Mine were rattling like a skeleton in a tin can having a wank, so I wrapped them in some leather from a welders apron....they look like this now...

Shit?

I like it, however I think that with the leather you're trying to hard.

I agree.....but I need to stop the rattles. I deliberately steered awa from honey leather to make it look rougher......any other ideas?

Again a little try-hard, but I've seen them bound with string and painted in shellac

To be honest that ^ was what I was thinking of when I covered them with leather.... Lack of time for getting/learning how to/applying the shellac put me off!
The leather literally took half an hour to cut to size, punch the holes, and string it on.... It stops the rattles for now though, and time is running out!
The other option was to put something around the rim of the cages, a bit like brooks toe clips, but that was a bit of a faff..... I tried an old leather skipping rope, spilt down the middle and tied with some of the hessian twine (4 rolls for 99p.... I've got fucking loads of it!).... They'll do....
I'm not trying to be poncy with it, just solve a problem neatly (ish)

Magnuswiniwick in his Surly Cross Check thread wrapped his in banana yellow cloth bartape.

Another suggestion for the creatively bereft. All three look good IMO

That's a cool solution..... No fuss, nice and clean. Not yellow though, for me :0)

Here's a nice bottle cage spotted at the weekend.
There were some quite decent repros of these knocking about, the lads from the Dulwich Paragon with Hetchins' got a bulk deal on some similar to these.