‘World’s First Bottle Cage Ecosystem.’ When I saw those words, my mind immediately went to some type of bicycle mounted terrarium. To, I don’t know, pedal around your pet hamster on your top tube? Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Dawn to Dusk “ecosystem” is definitely not that. Instead, it’s a collection of bottle cages meant for specific locations on your bike to ensure that your bottles stay in place on your next ride.
Dawn to Dusk calls these cages ‘location specific’ mainly based on their holding power. The Kaptive 14 for instance is rated to their highest level at 14lbs of grip force which is recommended for the downtube of your bike to prevent it from getting jettisoned. It can also be used anywhere else on your bike for easy-extreme terrain difficulty. Cages with lower grip force are recommended for other locations like inside the frame, and lower levels of terrain. Dawn to Dusk has made it easy to identify the different cages based on their names – the numbers match the grip force, so the Kaptive 8 offers 8lbs of force.
If these cages look familiar, you may have already seen most of these marketed by their sister company, XLAB. From what we can tell, these are the same cages with the same grip force numbers just rebranded with a heavy dose of marketing to appeal to the off-road market. We’re not so sure these cages will “revolutionize the way riders carry hydration” but they do look like they will hold a bottle well.
Constructed from 4k carbon weave, the Kaptive 8 & 10 cages weigh in at 39g and sell for $64.95. The Kaptive 14 adds another 10g of carbon for the increased hold and another $5 at $69.95. There’s also the Sideburn 6 & 8 side mount cages with the 6 using a glass filled nylon construction and the 8 moving to their same high temperature, double molded carbon fiber. Each is reach specific meaning you order it in left side access or right. Weights are 39g for the 6 and 33g for the 8, with prices of $24.95 and $59.95 respectively.
Need to mount a cage somewhere on your bike without bosses? The Bear Hug Mount is designed to accommodate that while protecting the frame underneath. Pair it with one of their stronger cages, and you could put a bottle just about anywhere. The mounts sell for $19.95 without a cage and include four Grizzly Grip straps.
The final part of their bottle cage ecosystem is the Aqua Flow bottles. Dawn to Dusk claims that these bottles add an extra 2-3 pounds of bottle retention force to really make sure your bottles stay put.
They’re also available with or without their Dirt Mask which looks like it would do well at keeping out the crud. Bottles are available in standard Aqua Flow for $10.95, Ice Flow Insulated for $13.95, or both of those with the Dirt Mask for an additional $5. The Dirt Mask is also sold separately for $6.95.
