Dawn To Dusk Bear Hug Mount

The Dawn To Dusk Bear Hug Mount is a quick and effective way to add another bottle cage to your bike. With two strap lengths and a flexible design it'll fit most places on your bike.

You can never have enough of a good thing. Like bottle cage mounts. Especially when you head off bikepacking with frame bags, you've likely lost one or two bottle locations. Being able to add a few more back on might make your trip a whole lot better hydrated or convenient.

> Buy now: Dawn To Dusk Bear Hug Mount from Multisport Distribution for £18.99

This is basically a cage mount on a plate you strap to your frame, and of course those carry more than just bottle cages; think pump clips, 'bento box' top tube bags and the like. It's a pretty simple concept, and Dawn To Dusk has done a good job executing it.

The kit includes the plate, two sets of straps – one long, one short – and two lengths of bolts to suit varying thicknesses of accessory. The straps cover tube diameters between 35 and 77mm. 77mm is pretty chunky – I have large hands, and that's too big to close my grip around.

Measuring 19mm wide, the ultrasonic-welded straps have hook and loop fastening on one side and a pliant rubber coating on the other to avoid scratching your frame. Of course the usual caveat applies – it's not the strap that will scratch, rather the particles of dirt that work their way in between. As always my advice would be to tape your frame.

The composite base plate holds two replaceable M5 nuts, and as they're nylock nuts you don't need to threadlock them. However, there's nothing to stop the provided bolts carrying on through the soft rubber foot and into your paintwork, so it's important to gauge the depth carefully. It would be good to see some sort of metal backing underneath the nuts to prevent any risk of over-driving the bolts.

If the tube diameter is right, it's also possible to thread the straps in such a way that the end is underneath the accessory you're mounting. This provides an extra level of security for the strap, which is very handy and comforting when holding critical water or tools down below.

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

Not that it's really needed, mind... my harshest test was holding a full 740ml bottle on the top tube of my eMTB as I battered through two batteries and quite a few thousand metres of climbing and high-speed descending. The mount didn't move at all, resisting any forces trying to tilt it to one side. I imagine the most common application for the Bear Hug Mount will be on the outside of the down tube, but other possible locations include on the seat post or underneath of the top tube.

A word of warning: I wouldn't try this on a fork. Although at first glance a great solution, under impact – say with a trailside rock or root – any load could rotate into your spokes.

Whilst the Bear Hug is designed for two-hole bottle cages, I can't see why you couldn't strap two to your bike aligned to fit a three-hole cage or cargo deck. The grip force of the Bear Hug is rated at 14lbs – possibly to match that of their top-rated Kaptive 14 cage.

Value

At £18.99 with two sets of straps and a set of bolts, the Bear Hug is sensibly priced. You'd pay £25.70 for the Granite Design AUX kit (though you get a cage as well there), or £10.99 for the SKS Anywhere Adapters.

Both of these options only include one set of straps, however, so you might need to factor in extras. The SKS straps are – like the Bear Hug – good for up to 77mm, but for smaller tubes you'll either have to put up with lots of slack or cut the strap short, meaning it's now no good for going larger.

Overall

If you want a really solid, multi-scenario option for holding bottle cages or accessories, the Dawn To Dusk Bear Hug is tough, effective and very easy to trust.

Verdict

Great way to quickly and securely expand your bike's luggage capacity