Thanks for tuning in this is The Sweet
Cyclists and today we're going to be
reviewing the Fabric Gripper Bottle and
Bottle Cage. Here we have Fabric's
Gripper Bottle Cage and their Gripper
Bottles. The bottle is a standard 600
milliliter water bottle and this is the
'bikes bikes bikes' decal version.
The Gripper bottle cage is designed to work with
any standard water bottle and is fiber
reinforced nylon. Price-wise the 600 ml bottle
has a retail price of $8
while the fiber reinforced
nylon cage is $15. It's available in
different colors and water bottle
is also available in a insulated version, which
is great if you ride in warm weather.
Packaging is really simple, there is not much
unboxing to do here aside from a simple tag here.
We just pop this open and it comes right
off. As with all the Fabric's products the
graphics themselves on the actual
pamphlets and cardboard backing are
really nice high contrast white on their
iconic light green color.
We have a simple zip tie holding the
bottle cage on and with that off you can
see individually these are both standard
items. The bottle cage will work
with any bottle and the bottle will work
with any other bottle cage but you can
see when I put them together this nice
integrated grippy texture really works
together. Now let's take a look at the
weight of these items, the cage by itself
is 36 grams while the 600 ml
gripper bottle is 68 grams. Now let's take a
look at the fit and finish of the Gripper
bottle cage and the Gripper bottle.
Starting with the bottle cage you can
see it's a rather standard design, really
minimal with a rather tall profile. This
is a top entry bottle cage and as I
mentioned it's available in different
colors. This is the red version and it has a
matte finish. It's constructed from
nylon so it has a very smooth texture to it.
What makes this unique is the
integrated grippy
non-slip texture on the top portion.
What really makes this bottle and bottle
cage work together is the
raised lip here you can see on the top
that matches the profile of the
bottle. It provides you a really
secure fit mounting.
You have two embossed holes here for
standard bolts. Bottle wise this is the
bikes bikes bike decal version, it is available
in different colors. This is 600 milliliter and
as I mentioned they have the insulated
version it's pretty standard. I think
it's between an elite bottle in terms of
the softness and a Camelback bottle but
really easy to use. This has a standard
bite valve so you see you pull it up and
then you push it down when you use it.
It's a push pull type valve and this
means it will leak if you leave it
upside down so you have to push
it back in again. You have that nice
grippy texture here and the really
well defined grip ring. It is really
easy to hold and the texture means even
with gloves on it definitely is not gonna
slip out of your hand.
As with any bottle the important part is
how clean can it be. Usually bottles get
pretty nasty especially when you
use a drink mixes.
Here's the nozzle, it's a really simple
mechanism you can see there's just two
tabs on the inside holding that together
and you can actually push them in for a
full cleaning and pop it out. So you see
mechanism really simple you just have
this nice soft silicone cap part that
you can easily clean and it's nice and
large. You don't have a lot of grooves on
the inside, that's one issue with the old
Camelbaks they'd have a lot of inside
grooves which would be really hard to
clean. Here it's a nice cylindrical
profile on the inside so it is
really easy to clean. You can
see the little grooves here it makes it
easier to put back in so to put it back
in you just kind of squeeze it and then
it goes in easier then it goes out and
then pop it in and that's it. High
flow nozzle and and really easy to modulate
especially with how soft it is. Now what
makes the products unique is when you
use them together
they're really molded for each other so
as we saw that little raised lip here
matches the profile of that ring
perfectly. Now let's take a look at
the bottle and bottle cage mounted on
my Specialized Rubaix. You can see they
work really well together that raised
lip here prevents it from being lifted
off accidentally so you can really hit a
lot of bumps or potholes and don't have
to worry about the bottle. To remove the
bottle you just pull up a little bit
this will stretch out and then it'll
easily come out. My only main complaint
here is how tall this is so you can see
when I lift up it'll actually hit the
top so to remove it even with this 58cm
frame you have to pull and
really yank it out that's one reason I
wished a little bit lower. Now let's
compare the bottle and bottle cage
versus some other products on the market.
Here I have a standard Planet Bike metal
bottle cage, this is the profile we've
all come to expect. Really standard you
have a nice two prong design here it's
flexible and you can almost flex it in
your hand. Then the bottom that's flat
to hold the bottle in place compared to
the Gripper version you can see this is
a lot taller. That's one of my criticisms
especially if you have a smaller frame
you're not going to be able to put the
bottle in as easily as you would with a
shorter cage as this comes all the way
top. That's something to watch out for
but with the raised lip here you can see
it's a lot more secure and you have more
contact between the bottle cage and the
bottle unlike a standard bottle cage. Now
being made of nylon this is not a fancy
carbon-fiber cage so it's a little less
sexy visually but at $15 and only 36
grams it's quite light. Bottle wise we
have a couple more interesting
comparisons here, I have the standard
CamelBak Podium 3 here on the right and I
have the Fabric Gripper. You can see
profile wise really simple and quite similar.
This has a ring as well
but a little bit higher and it has a
more slowly sloping profile while this
one's a little more extreme. You don't
have that grippy texture here on the
standard Podium bottle but what sets
the Podium bottle apart is the jet valve
nozzle. You can see that here
so this is non leak so I can flip it
over won't leak and then it's also easy
to drink as you just have to provide a
little pressure. However this one is
obviously easier to clean and a
simpler mechanism than the jet valve.
Also you have no positive lockout with
the Fabric bottle so with the Camelbak
you can always put it in a lock mode
which will which is great for
transportation so it won't leak when
it's on the road. Maybe a more fair
comparison is the Elite FLY bottle, this
one's a little well used but you can see
quite similar. Softness wise the Elite is
really soft as they're so lightweight
that the material is really thin but I
would say this is between
the Camelbak and the Elite. So softer
than the Camelbak but not quite a soft.
Design-wise again pretty simple pretty
similar they all have standard outer
diameter it's just again the grip ring
is a little bit more steep so a little
easier hold and you have that integrated
texture. The nozzle caps are also a
little bit different the lead is really
simple while the Fabric has these nice
grippy textures on them to make it
easier to handle.
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Now let's go over the pros and cons for
the Fabric Gripper bottle and bottle
cage. I really like the modern design of
the bottle and cage they've really clean
simple lines as well as multiple color
options that let you mix-and-match with
your bike. They also are really well
designed to work together that lip on
the bottle cage which really holds down the
bottle so you don't have any danger of
dropping a bottle on a pothole or a big
bump. They're also really easy to clean,
both the bottle and the bottle cage
their designs make it really easy to get
inside the nozzle as well as remove any
dust or dirt from the cage itself. Some
of the cons are the push and pull valve
on the bottle. I really prefer the jet
valve on the Podium bottles as it's a
lot easier to use and no drip so if
you flip it upside down you won't lose
any water.
Also another con is that the bottle cage
is better designed for this bottle. It
will work for other bottles but with
some bottles that don't have that
indentation there that lip will actually
cause it to not fit flush. Also the tall
profile of the cage makes a lot more
difficult to remove a bottle so if you
have a smaller bike frame this might not
be a good combination for you. Taking
everything to account I would give the
bottle and bottle cage combination an
8 out of 10. I think it's a really
well designed combination and really
matches with other Fabric accessories.
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