The only purpose of a water bottle cage is to hold a water bottle securely, right? This is never more apparent than on the race course, when going back for a lost bottle is out of the question, and can be the difference between a good placing, and not finishing. However, there are many cages on the market--some very light and expensive, some more cost friendly and "heavy"--that hold their bottles most of the time. "Most" is not good enough for me, and so I was a little skeptical when I was presented the Emporelli Dolomiti carbon fiber bottle cage by my friend
Emiliano and the good folks at
Fair Wheel Bikes in Tuscon, AZ.
The Dolomiti's claimed weight is 15 grams. I was not able to confirm this weight, as I don't have a proper gram scale, but going off of the manufacturer's claim, the Dolomiti is among the lightest bottle cages currently available. My skepticism came because to achieve such a low weight, it is inevitable that a minimum of material is used, and in doing so stiffness usually suffers. Stiffness is king for bottle retention in traditional cage designs.
Aesthetically, the Dolomiti has a pretty standard look to it, though it is of the quality that no paint or graphics are needed to hide imperfections in the carbon weave. One feature of this cage that is not often seen in the bike industry, is the use of a tinted resin. This permits a subtle color to be added to the cage, while allowing the carbon fiber weave to show through (as well as not having the addition of extra weight/durability issues of paint). My cage showed a hue of blue in direct lighting, though there are other colors offered.
I was told to throw everything I had at this cage to see if it would do it's job, so I mounted it on my mountain and cyclocross bikes, and hit it with the best that the local terrain has to offer. I also used large 24 ounce water bottles (the other common size is 20 oz, as seen in the picture), because that's what I normally use, and the heavier weight of the bottle shows a cage's true mettle.
Verdict:
I was pleasantly surprised with the Dolomiti. Over rough terrain and smooth, big hits and small stutter bumps, I only lost a bottle once. That lone ejection came when I yard saled it after a fast, loose corner. It was a pretty violent wreck, and at that point, I was picking up a number of things off the ground (glasses, pump, ego), so I'm not going to fault the cage for having to pick up my bottle. I did notice while riding that my bottle vibrated side to side quite a bit, and in the long run, seemed to cause the bottle cage bolts to back themselves out. Putting thread locker on the bolts should eliminate this issue. Also, I would think that using this cage on my road bike (and smoother terrain) would at least mostly eliminate the problem.
My only knock on this product is it's cost. At $130-140, and with similar, only slightly heavier products on the market for half the price or less, some people may have trouble justifying the cost/benefit of this purchase. In the end, the Emporelli Dolomiti water bottle cage is a fine product that looks good and does it's job, all at a minimalist weight. For those who have deep enough pockets, there may not be a better cage out there.
Very shortly, I will be posting reviews of compression garments by 2XU. I have been using their Elite Tights for about a month and a half, and am just trying out their recovery leggings and socks. Also coming soon will be reviews of Rudy Project's new top of the line Sterling helmet, and Garmin's brand new Edge 500 bike oriented GPS. I just got back from a UCI 2.2 Stage Race in the Dominican Republic, and was able to record 7 of the 10 stages we raced (unfortunately without power readings, though). Shown is a composite map of all the stages (some overlap) superimposed on Google Earth satellite images. 
