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Ryder Innovation Kinetic Cage & Strap

8
£11.99

VERDICT:

8
10
Extra positioning options for well-filled frames, plus handy storage strap
Big range of position adjustment
Handy storage for tube & tools plus CO2 canister
No left-hand side-entry option
Needs to come with a couple of big washers
Weight: 
106g

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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The Ryder Innovation Kinetic Cage & Strap is a side-entry bottle cage that grabs a bottle well and gives you the ability to carry small accessories in its built-in storage. Best of all, its long slots for fixing bolts let you position it much higher or lower on the bike than a standard cage.

The Kinetic Cage's main point of difference from almost every other cage out there is those long slots. They give 10cm of adjustment over a standard cage so if you like your cage higher to make it easier to reach or lower to make room for something else in the bike's main triangle, Ryder's got you covered.

2022 Ryder Innovation Kinetic Cage - storage unit unattached.jpg

I wanted to carry a pair of 710ml Camelbak Podium Chill bottles during the recent heatwave. I'd already fitted Topeak Alt-Position Cage Mounts (as reviewed by Mike a few years back) to lower my cages and make room for a frame pump under the top tube of my Scapin, but a Chill bottle in the seat tube cage still interfered with the pump. The Kinetic Cage allowed me to move it down even further, preventing the clash.

> Cycling hydration: Is 1 water bottle or 2 best on long rides?

I also used the Kinetic Cage on the down tube, where its side-entry feature is more usable if you're right-handed. It's not very side-entry though, more like diagonal entry. That's still handy, but you can't shove a bottle in from the side the way you can with some side-entry cages.

> Read more road.cc reviews of bottle cages here

If you don't need extra space above the cage, you can use the slots to bring it as high as you like to make it easier to reach down for your bottle, or you can push it right down to clear, say, a frame bag under the top tube.

2022 Ryder Innovation Kinetic Cage - on bike.jpg

I used the Velcro strap to carry a spare tube, a pair of tyre levers and a hex-key multi-tool. The Velcro strap is held in a removable storage insert that also houses sleeves for a CO2 canister and Ryder's SlugPlug tubeless tyre repair widget. Take care to push the lever that latches the storage insert into place down hard until it clicks or it can simply fall off. You can guess how I found that out.

While I'm handing out caveats, make sure you use washers under your bottle cage bolts to spread the load over the plastic body of the Kinetic Cage. You can get 15mm-diameter M5 washers from fastener suppliers; the cage should really come with a couple of them.

Rivals

The £12.99 Topeak Ninja Master+ Cage X1AJ (tested by Stu earlier this year) has many of the same functions but comes with tyre levers, while the Kinetic Cage gives you a strap and storage sleeves. Other side-entry cages like the Giant Airway, and Bontrager Side Load are more expensive without any of the Kinetic Cage's extras, so overall the Kinetic Cage is a good deal.

Who should buy the Ryder Innovation Kinetic Cage & Strap?

If you need greater flexibility in positioning your bottles, the Kinetic Cage is for you, and you can get it without the strap for just £7.99. If, like me, you hate carrying things in your pockets and want tubes and tools to live permanently on your bike for when you need them, then the complete package is a very good thing.

Verdict

Extra positioning options for well-filled frames, plus handy storage strap

road.cc test report

Make and model: Ryder Innovation Kinetic Cage

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

The Kinetic Cage is a bottle cage with extra storage capability, but its biggest USP is that it has far more up and down adjustment than a standard cage to help fit it in frames where you want a bit more space.

Ryder says:

An adjustable bottle cage to allow you to run accessories within your front triangle or fit larger bottles in smaller frames

Unique design allows custom positioning on the bike frame - 6cm higher or 4cm lower

Smooth curve design minimizes bottle scratching

Right side entry for easy release

Clip on storage inserts and velcro provide storage options (includes horizontal and vertical insert)

Velcro strap included

Slyder sleeves for CO2 and SlugPLug storage

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10

Tidily moulded.

Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10

It holds my bottles firmly, the extra strap is handy to carry a spare tube and tyre levers, but the big advantage during the heatwave was being able to set it very low on my seat tube so there was room for a 710ml Podium Chill Insulated Bottle. At almost 27cm tall they're a lot bigger than your typical bottle.

Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10

I haven't managed to break it yet.

Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

It gets extra points for the storage and adjustment features that you don't get on comparably priced standard cages.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Very well. It holds a bottle firmly and allows you to position it as high or low as you like.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Being able to fit an oversized bottle.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

It's a pity the side-entry function only works from one side. I fitted the cage on my seat tube and I'm right-handed, so it wasn't ideal for me.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

The £12.99 Topeak Ninja Master+ Cage X1AJ has many of the same functions but comes with tyre levers, while the Kinetic Cage gives you a strap. Other side-entry cages like the Giant Airway and Bontrager Side Load are more expensive without any of the Kinetic Cage's extras, so overall the Kinetic Cage is a good deal.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes. In particular being able to carry a large frozen bottle on a hot day!

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

This is a really good combination of versatile cage and storage provision. It gets marked down only for not having a left-handed-entry version, and for the omission of the fat washers it cold do with to protect it from its mounting bolts.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 55  Height: 5ft 11in  Weight: 100kg

I usually ride: Scapin Style  My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, general fitness riding, mtb,

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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